Mendocino County Today: Thursday 9/18/2025

By AVA News Service on September 18, 2025

Former Sheriff Tom Allman and Elk Legend Bobby Beacon in Sunday’s Boonville Fair Parade (photo by Lisa Nunes)

INLAND TEMPERATURES will cooldown Thursday with the arrival of cloudcover and precipitation. Thunderstorm activity is expected Thursday through Saturday. After a short period of drying, rain chances increase again early next week. (NWS)

STEPHEN DUNLAP (Fort Bragg): 50F under clear skies this Thursday morning on the coast. The moisture I mentioned yesterday is in So Cal this morning & working it's way up the coast. We have a slight chance of rain late tonight then the fog routine for the weekend. Another shot of rain next week?, we'll see.

GUADALUPE ARIAS-PENA: Hello everyone! I am excited to share that five other members and I of the Anderson Valley FFA and I have been given the incredible opportunity to attend the National FFA Convention in Indianapolis. Over the past few weeks, we have been working hard to raise funds for this trip. To help cover the costs of flights, admission tickets, and visits to local attractions, we are hosting a food sale and selling raffle tickets. Your support will make a meaningful difference in helping us represent our chapter at this national event. Thank you so much for your consideration and generosity!

SMALL AV BASED CREW seeking honest and dependable person wanting to learn carpentry, deck building, remodel work, etc. Previous experience is less important than attitude and desire to learn, so if you’re glued to your phone then this isn’t the opportunity for you. Earnings depend on the individual. To learn more and arrange a meeting, contact Alan: 707-272-8593, or Geoff: 707-272-4748.

DANGEROUS DRIVING SCOFFLAW CONVICTED BY JURY

A Mendocino County Superior Court jury returned from its deliberations late Tuesday afternoon to announce it had found the trial defendant guilty.

Defendant Jewelina Priscilla Acosta, age 35, of Ukiah, was found guilty by jury verdict of driving a motor vehicle on June 20th while under the influence of alcohol and driving a motor vehicle with a blood-alcohol of .08 or greater, both as misdemeanors.

The defendant was also found guilty of driving without being in possession of proof of being insured, an infraction.

The jury found true a special allegation that the defendant -- while driving under the influence -- was motoring southbound on Highway 101 at over 100 miles per hour on both the roadway and shoulder south of Perkins Street in Ukiah.

Prior to jury selection, the defendant was convicted by plea of two additional misdemeanor counts of driving a motor vehicle on a suspended license, said suspension due to her driving with an excessive blood alcohol in 2023.

Such piecemeal admissions are a common defense strategy undertaken in an attempt to prevent a jury from hearing evidence during the prosecution’s case-in-chief of the suspension and, more importantly, the reason for the license suspension.

The law enforcement agencies that presented testimonial and other evidence during the trial were the California Highway Patrol and the California Department of Justice forensic laboratory.

The prosecutor who successfully presented the People’s evidence to the jury during this week’s trial was Deputy District Attorney Sarah Drlik.

Retired Mendocino County Superior Court Judge John Behnke, sitting on special assignment in his former courtroom, presided over the two-day trial.

A FORT BRAGG MURDER TRIAL SHOWS THE LIMITS OF SNAPCHAT EVIDENCE

by Elise Cox

Clandestine fentanyl is frequently manufactured to resemble Oxycodone (Image courtesy of the DEA)

FORT BRAGG, Calif. — A 17-year-old college-bound girl overdosed on fentanyl and died. Now, her dealer’s dealer is charged with second-degree murder.

The evidence includes an unused fentanyl-laced tablet found in the girl’s bedroom, bags of fentanyl confiscated from the dealer’s home, statements by the girl’s friends and her dealer, and Snapchat photos, videos, chats and location data.

Two investigators with the Mendocino County Major Crimes Task Force testified Wednesday at the Ten Mile Branch of Mendocino County Superior Court about both the evidence — and its limits — during a preliminary hearing that has stretched across multiple dates since May.

At a preliminary hearing, prosecutors present their main evidence and witnesses to a judge, who decides whether the case should proceed to trial. The defense may cross-examine witnesses and suggest alternative interpretations.

Defense attorney Justin Petersen highlighted inconsistencies in the prosecution’s case, beginning with the fentanyl tablet found in the bedroom of Alyson Sanchezllanes, who died Jan. 17, 2024. Investigators testified the pill was “extremely similar” to tablets seized from Kailand Ignacio Garcia, accused of supplying the pill to Sanchezllanes’ dealer, Elohi Triplett.

But Petersen pointed out the pill found in Sanchezllanes’ room contained 37% more norfentanyl — a chemical precursor used in clandestine labs — than those from Garcia’s house. It also tested positive for trace amounts of cocaine, methamphetamine and acetaminophen.

No such substances were found in the pills linked to Garcia, Petersen said, pressing investigator Alex Johnston on whether he knew how many fentanyl dealers were operating in Fort Bragg. Johnston said he did not know.

Petersen also raised the possibility that Sanchezllanes’ death was a suicide, citing testimony from a friend who said she tried to protect herself by taking only part of a pill at a time. Another friend described her as trying to quit fentanyl and even taking meth as a substitute.

Investigator David Rowan, who reviewed Sanchezllanes’ social media posts, disputed that theory, saying several people described her as upbeat. Sanchezllanes was participating in the Upward Bound college prep program, had asked for her weekly work schedule at Harvest Market the night she died, and told a co-worker to message her in the morning.

That same night, she shared a picture of the moon with the caption: “I forgot that it felt like this.”

To make the murder case, prosecutors leaned heavily on Snapchat data supporting testimony from Triplett and an associate that he had bought the pills from Garcia earlier that night and sold them to Sanchezllanes at a friend’s home near the Wiggly Giggly playground in Fort Bragg.

While Snapchat photos, videos and chats disappear after being viewed, they remain temporarily on the company’s servers until all recipients open them or they expire, allowing some content to be retrieved by law enforcement.

The app also collects geolocation data, though it is less precise than services such as Google or Facebook.

Rowan said he compiled videos tracing the movements of Sanchezllanes, Triplett, Garcia and another friend, which corroborated Triplett’s account.

Testimony ended Wednesday before Petersen could cross-examine Rowan. The preliminary hearing is scheduled to resume Oct. 1 at 1:30 p.m.

(mendolocal.news)

STATE HOSPITAL PATIENTS REMEMBERED

by Carole Brodsky

Event coordinator Annie Esposito and former State Hospital patient Julia Wood speak to the gathering about the importance of never forgetting the memory of these individuals. (Carole Brodsky—Ukiah Daily Journal)

Community members, students from the Developing Virtue Secondary School, and one former patient from the Mendocino State Hospital gathered together at the Ukiah Cemetery on Monday to honor deceased patients, whose cremains were moved from the long-shuttered State Hospital to a single grave at the cemetery.

A headstone marks the location of the individuals, but there is still little known about some of their identities and, more importantly, why they were admitted to the psychiatric hospital.

Annie Esposito, co-coordinator for the event, read a statement submitted by Disability Rights California, which is as follows:

“Today, we face the daunting reality that more of our peers are being placed in locked facilities with new laws that promote involuntary hospitalization and forced medication as a solution to our civilization’s ‘problems.’ In the wake of CARE Court and Proposition 1, our state is weaponizing institutionalization to restrict our freedoms and remove our peers with disabilities from our communities- to make them disappear and segregate them from society.

“This is why it is important that we come together at our Remembrance Ceremonies, either virtually or in person, as we seek to raise awareness, honor, recognize, and restore dignity to our peers in the past and in the present. By celebrating on this day, we seek to create a future beyond stigma, discrimination, neglect, mistreatment, ignorance, and judgment.””Every year on the third Monday in September, we gather here to honor the people who were buried here anonymously, their ashes co-mingled,” said Esposito.

Q.Z. Lau, who has been working on uncovering the history of the State Hospital, noted that as a part of his research, he has visited the State Archives three times, and that each time he was unsettled by the way the cremains of the patients were referred to by hospital officials.

“There is a letter by a hospital superintendent asking how to ‘clear out the cemetery,’ which was located on the hospital grounds,” says Lau. The hospital has for many years been the home of the City of 10,000 Buddhas- a monastery, elementary and secondary school, museum, library, and restaurant.

“That letter is intimately linked to the people buried here today,” he continued. “What I felt from the letter was the sheer banality and insensitivity of the hospital officials at that time,” he said. “The patients weren’t considered as people- they were the hospital’s problem of nameless bodies that needed to get moved. We need to remember that everyone is loved, even if we don’t know their names.”

Developing Virtue School Principal Jin Jr led the group in a prayer for the deceased- from the Buddhist Prajnaparamita Sutra, known as the Heart of Wisdom. “May peace be with all of us, and may all who have perished rest in peace,” she said.

The Raging Grannies were on hand to sing an original song specifically about the deceased patients, and songwriter/musician Edie Morris put together a musical rendition of a well-known bereavement poem, “Immortality.”

Do not stand
          By my grave, and weep.
     I am not there,
          I do not sleep—
I am the thousand winds that blow
I am the diamond glints in snow
I am the sunlight on ripened grain,
I am the gentle, autumn rain.
As you awake with morning’s hush,
I am the swift, up-flinging rush
Of quiet birds in circling flight,
I am the day transcending night.
     Do not stand
          By my grave, and cry—
     I am not there,
          I did not die.

”I was a patient,” said Julia Wood to the assembled.

“So many people didn’t belong as mental patients. They spoke differently. They looked different. They talked differently. But I didn’t shut up. As long as I’m alive, this event will be here. Tell your family that people who didn’t have mental issues were placed here because of secrets.”

The students who gathered for the ceremony were deeply moved. “This was my first time to see this kind of ceremony,” said one. “I feel the emotional connection to the deceased through the songs that were sung.” Another said, “The hospital location is now the place where we study, so we can now see the connection to its history.” “I love that we’re coming together to honor these individuals,” said a third, and “I learned a lot from everyone’s stories,” said a fourth.

The hospital was one of many that represented early experiments in mental health treatment. Unfortunately, racism, classism, homophobia, and other societal attitudes resulted in many individuals being wrongfully classified as “insane,” with an inordinate number of women being lobotomized. “The first lobotomy at Mendocino State Hospital took place in 1948, and was conducted on a female who had a graduate degree, something that was quite rare at that time,” noted Lau. “It appears that she probably had what would today be classified as epilepsy.” At its peak, over 2,800 patients were housed in the hospitals. What is today known as “mental health” was then referred to as “mental hygiene.” The hospital was operational from 1893 to 1972. “As I see homeless people on the streets, I have heard some people yearning for facilities like this to reopen,” said Lau. “I believe this is a distorted form of nostalgia,” he concludes. This nostalgia comes at a time when Fox News host Brian Kilmeade was roundly chastised for saying homeless or mentally ill people should be executed.

“I will never forget. I will never forget,” Wood concludes.

Flowers were left at the gravesite, and the County of Mendocino’s Behavioral Health Department provided snacks for the gathering.

(Ukiah Daily Journal)

MAJOR CRISIS IN FAMILY AND CHILDREN’S SERVICES

by Mark Scaramella

What started out during public expression at last Tuesday’s Board meeting as a seemingly innocuous staff request to delay a planned organizational restructuring, has turned out to be a major crisis in Mendocino County’s Family & Children’s Services (FCS), a division of Mendo’s Social Services Department currently being run by the recently hired DeNeese Parker who has very little background in what used to be known as Child Protection Services.

A senior Social Worker in FCS named John Weston read the petition from FCS staffers entitled, “Pause the Proposed Family & Children’s Services Restructuring”:

“We, the undersigned employees of Family & Children’s Services, respectfully request that Social Services management pause the implementation of the proposed staffing changes.

We are deeply concerned that these significant shifts, particularly the reassignment of experienced staff away from areas in which they excel, are being pursued without adequate staff input. Such actions risk harming clients and further destabilizing the department.

Key concerns raised by staff include:

Client Safety: Staff who have worked with families for years have expressed that their clients’ needs will not be met under the proposed changes, potentially placing children and families at risk.

For example, requiring investigators to carry ongoing cases undermines their important role and creates conflicts of interest. This could result in important information being omitted in detention summaries or key details being overlooked, ultimately causing families and children to “fall through the cracks” without the benefit of fresh oversight.

Past Issues: The department has previously faced legal and organizational challenges when similar changes were attempted under inexperienced management. Staff have repeatedly shared that the Fort Bragg office piloted this model within the past decade and found it did not serve the best interests of clients or the department. Ignoring these lessons risks repeating past mistakes.
Data Integrity: Staff report that the data used to justify the changes was selectively presented, leading to unrealistic goals and diminished trust in management. Issues such as scheduling conflicts, delays in data entry, and overtime hours being categorized as on-call rather than regular shift work have distorted the accuracy of this data.
Morale: Staff morale has already declined as a result of the proposed changes, compounded by the use of disrespectful language toward employees. Out of 34 social workers, more than 10 have left the department within the past year, and turnover is expected to rise if these changes move forward.

We believe there is still time to meet state guidelines in a thoughtful and collaborative manner. A more deliberate approach would allow management and staff to work together to identify strategies that truly strengthen our department and protect the families we serve.

Therefore, we respectfully propose that management:

Delay implementation of the proposed staffing changes, :
Renew the social worker staff waiver, and,
Collaborate with current staff to create an equitable plan that draws on the knowledge and experience of frontline staff and staff leaders.

Failure to engage with staff on these matters will not only weaken the Department’s ability to serve vulnerable families, but may also expose management to further legal, contractual, and labor relations consequences.

We urge management to act responsibly by respecting staff expertise, upholding client safety, and working with us to develop a sustainable path forward.”

The petition was signed by 36 FCS staff members.

Response from Board Chair John Haschak: “Thank you.” No referral to staff. No request for response from the CEO. No ad hoc committee. Again: This was a very reasonable request from almost EVERY staffer in Family and Children’s Services about a subject that has been the target of multiple Grand Jury reports.

The Grand Jury has criticized the County several times in recent years over chronic staffing problems in FCS with no visible improvement. Now it appears that the County has chosen to “reorganize” FCS to make it look fully staffed by reassigning senior FCS workers into inappropriate positions and counting positions as full while at the same time making no attempt to retain qualified staff.

The problem has become worse in recent months as problematic individuals have been put in key management positions in FCS creating problems for staff and the children and families they serve.

In attempt to get County management to pay attention to the problem and correct the management deficiencies in FCS someone in FCS prepared the well-written and researched Grand Jury complaint below which has now become public. Instead of dealing with these problems, Social Services management and Executive Office staff are now engaged in trying to figure out who wrote the complaint so they can be singled out for retaliation.

But the complaint, coming as it does on the heels of the Grand Jury’s own complaints about previous FCS staffing problems, is likely to be followed by not only another critical Grand Jury report, but continuing and worsening staff problems.

The Supervisors must do more than their usual comatose “thank you” in response or vulnerable children will be harmed and lawsuits will follow.

[back] Supervisor Maureen Mulheren, Chair John Haschak, and Supervisor Ted Williams
[front] Vice-Chair Bernie Norvell and Supervisor Madeline Cline

Executive Summary

Mendocino County Family & Children’s Services (FCS) is facing a crisis of leadership, ethics, and practice that directly endangers the safety of children and the stability of the workforce. In order to avoid signing a waiver acknowledging the County’s failure to meet state staffing requirements, upper management is forcibly reassigning the few master’s-level social workers to Emergency Response (ER), regardless of whether ER is their area of expertise or professional strength. This maneuver is not designed to strengthen services or improve child safety. It is a numbers game, a manipulation of staffing optics to appear compliant while destabilizing every other unit in the Department.

These decisions are being made by new upper management including the [Social Services] Director, Deputy Director of Children’s Services, and a soon-to-be ER Manager, none of whom have child welfare backgrounds. The Deputy Director and incoming ER Manager have never conducted a child welfare investigation, carried a dependency case, or worked in the field of child welfare. Yet they are unilaterally imposing changes based on mandates and appearances of compliance, while excluding supervisors and disregarding the realities of frontline practice. This disconnect between leadership and practice creates conditions for catastrophic failure.

The cultural climate of leadership only deepens these risks. In a staff meeting with the Director, Deputy Director, and Manager present, a master’s-level social worker voiced concern that forced ER reassignments would drive more qualified staff to leave the Department. The Director’s response was dismissive: “All you need to do is give a two-week notice.” In that same meeting, a manager (no child welfare experience) openly stated she pursued a master’s degree so she would “no longer have to be anyone else’s bitch,” a remark that exemplifies the toxic leadership culture. Rather than valuing education and professional growth as tools to strengthen practice, education was reduced to a means of escaping accountability and belittling staff.

These actions directly violate the National Association of Social Workers (NASW) Code of Ethics, which requires practitioners and institutions to prioritize client well-being, act with integrity. respect the dignity of all people, and ensure services are provided competently. Forcing social workers into roles outside of their professional competence disregards ethical standards and compromises the quality of care provided to children and families.

The consequences of such systemic failures are not hypothetical. The Gabriel Fernandez case in Los Angeles County stands as a tragic warning. Gabriel, an eight-year-old boy, was brutally murdered after multiple reports of abuse were mishandled by a child welfare system plagued with inexperienced workers, poor oversight, and decisions driven by bureaucratic compliance rather than child safety. Investigations into Gabriel’s death revealed that the absence of qualified leadership and effective supervision were central to the failure to protect him. Mendocino County is now recreating those same conditions: unqualified leadership, demoralized and destabilized staff, silenced supervisors, and practices driven by optics instead of safety.

The current trajectory of Mendocino County FCS undermines the professional judgment of social workers, erodes public trust, and most critically places children at greater risk of harm. Unless meaningful reform is undertaken to ensure qualified leadership, ethical staffing practices, and trauma-informed, child-centered decision-making, the Department will remain vulnerable to the same tragedies that have devastated other counties and communities.

Documented Concerns

Toxic Work Environment and Unaddressed Workplace Violence

Staff, including social workers (SW) and supervisors (SWS), have endured verbal threats, intimidation, and hostile behavior from a supervisor who remains employed. Documented incidents include:

“I should choke you the fuck out” — while standing over a social worker, and yelling.
“I should slap you in the face” — while raising a hand to strike.
“Get the fuck out of my office.”
Charging at staff in a threatening manner.
Standing up at a table during a Child Family Team meeting, leaned over the table, slammed her hands down onto the table and yelled at the facilitator, “Why don’t you facilitate this meeting?” (Parents, attorney service providers and staff were all present.)
During a zoom staffing meeting with staff including the acting Deputy Director, Managers, Supervisors and social workers, a supervisor yelled at the meeting facilitator to get off the meeting and do their job, when the facilitator’s primary role was to facilitate the meeting to develop a plan.
A manager telling staff she got her master’s degree so she did not have to be anyone’s bitch.

Despite multiple reports to HR, upper management, and the Executive Office, no investigation or disciplinary action has occurred. Victims remain exposed to ongoing intimidation, creating a pervasive culture of fear and normalizing violence in the workplace.

Favoritism and Conflicts of Interest

Leadership has repeatedly demonstrated favoritism that undermines accountability and fairness. Examples include:

Altering job qualifications to allow the promotion of an unqualified individual to Senior Program Manager.
The Deputy Director spends extensive personal time with certain supervisors, including private lunches, after-hours meetings, and closed-door sessions.
Deputy Director does not speak with the leadership team, rather making decisions with a manager with no child welfare back ground and a supervisor who is out of compliance with all her cases/referrals.

This pattern creates a culture where rules and standards only apply selectively, rewarding disruptive or unsafe behavior if the individual has the Deputy Director’s protection. This is not trauma-informed practice and contributes significantly to the toxic environment.

Child Safety Compromised by Staffing Practices

Due to chronic understaffing, case-carrying social workers are barred from conducting placement visits with their assigned children. Instead, unfamiliar staff conduct these visits without adequate knowledge of the child’s history or needs.

This practice:

Destroys continuity of care, as children cannot rely on trusted relationships.
Causes retraumatization, as children are forced to repeat their stories to strangers.
Violates trauma-informed principles and undermines professional standards of child welfare practice.

Mismanagement of Emergency Response (ER) Leadership

Emergency Response (ER) is the County’s most critical child protection unit. Veteran ER leadership with decades of experience has been removed and replaced by a newly hired program manager who has no prior child welfare background. The individual has never conducted investigations, case management, or used 5040 child welfare tools such as Structured Decision Making (SAM), hotline assessments, safety and risk assessments, or family strengths and needs assessments. Moreover, this manager lacks basic knowledge of core ER functions.

The Deputy Director is adamant to meet state mandates NOW, rather than working on a solid plan. The department cannot meet the state mandates by January 2026; therefore, renewing the waiver will allow the department to work on a strong plan that can be implemented by the ending of the waiver in 2029.

However, the new Deputy Director would destabilize the department and run staff out to other counties rather than work with her leadership team with experience to develop a working plan.

This appointment destabilizes the strongest and most effective unit in the department. Under prior leadership. ER saw more than 50% reduction in open petitions (last 2 years), minimized referral backlogs, and strengthened voluntary case services to keep families safely together outside of court. Replacing experienced leadership with someone lacking both professional expertise and personal credibility jeopardizes these gains, places children at heightened risk, and diminishes staff trust in management decisions.

Lack of Transparency and Dishonesty in Leadership

Deputy Directors and managers routinely provide contradictory, misleading, or incomplete information to staff.

For example:

A Deputy Director emailed a manager confirming the supervisor’s removal, then denied having made the statement when confronted, despite documented proof.
Major staffing and disciplinary decisions are made in secrecy, excluding supervisors and managers directly impacted.
Deputy Director privately meets with a supervisor and identifies their change in units; however, does not meet with the supervisor who is being moved out.

This dishonesty fosters confusion, distrust, and a lack of accountability at every level of DSS.

Tolerance of Abusive Supervisors

The supervisor with the documented history of threats and intimidation (outlined in Section 1) continues to hold authority and is now expected to be transferred to Emergency Response (ER), the County’s highest stakes unit.

Her violent, angry outbursts put staff and families at risk. She has never been reprimanded despite numerous complaints, signaling that abusive conduct is not only tolerated but rewarded. This further entrenches a toxic and unsafe work environment.

Disrespectful Leadership and Unlawful Directives

During a meeting with staff, a manager announced she had earned her master’s degree, so she no longer had to be “somebody’s bitch.” This derogatory comment left social workers feeling defeated, devalued, and unworthy. This same manager told staff she was going to be the “asshole” during a meeting with social workers, social worker supervisors, and managers and would not listen to social worker input, although the meeting was specifically for the social workers input.

Additionally, the Deputy Director has explicitly directed staff that they cannot report fraud under any circumstances, despite state and federal laws requiring such reporting. This instruction puts staff at risk of legal liability and undermines public accountability.

Further, social workers and supervisors have knowingly left youth in illegal respite placements, depleting both grant and County funds. In some cases, youth who went AWOL were not picked up or recovered, leaving them unsafe in the community.

Illegal Detentions, Policy Violations, and Questionable Relationships

On-call supervisors with master’s degrees have made illegal detentions, violation of rights and failed to complete placement paperwork, leaving children unsafe and resource parents exposed to liability. Policies that are mandatory for some are ignored by those with personal connections to management.

In addition, there are persistent concerns about the appearance of an inappropriate relationship between a supervisor and the Deputy Director. This supervisor is regularly observed :n the Deputy Director’s office after hours, during private lunches, and in closed-door meetings unrelated to her duties. After a recent high-level leadership meeting, the Deputy Director immediately went to this supervisor’s office for a private session, raising concerns about favoritism and conflicts of interest.

This conduct contributes to unsafe practices, favoritism. and the perception of compromised integrity within DSS leadership.

Waiver Manipulation and Misuse of Qualified Staff

In order to avoid signing a waiver acknowledging that Mendocino County Family Children’s Services does not meet state requirements for employing social workers with bachelor’s and master’s degrees, upper management is forcibly reassigning the few qualified staff to Emergency Response (ER) Currently, the County has only four master’s-level social workers across the entire system. one in Fort Bragg, one in Willits, and three in Ukiah. All of these individuals are being moved to ER regardless of whether ER is their area of expertise, professional strength, or interest.

During a staff meeting attended by the Director, Deputy Director, and a Program Manager (soon to be ER Manager), a master’s-level social worker explicitly warned that if these forced reassignments continued, the Department would lose more staff. The Director’s response was dismissive: “All you need to do is give a two-week notice.” This statement reflects not only indifference toward staff retention but also a failure to recognize the impact of staff turnover on community safety, child well-being, and continuity of care.

In the same meeting, while discussing education, a manager told staff she had earned her master’s degree. so she no longer had to be “anyone else’s bitch.” Such a derogatory and unprofessional comment exemplifies the toxic leadership culture. Rather than valuing education as a tool to improve child welfare practice and outcomes, it was weaponized to demean staff and assert power, further eroding morale and undermining respect for professional growth.

Compounding these issues, the County’s new upper management including the Director, the Deputy Director of Children’s Services, and the soon-to-be ER Manager have no child welfare experience. Neither the Deputy Director of Children’s Services nor the soon-to-be ER Manager have ever worked in the child welfare field, conducted investigations, or carried child dependency cases. Yet, these individuals are now making unilateral decisions about practice and policy for Mendocino County Family & Children’s Services. Their choices are based solely on mandates, surface-level recommendations. or appearances of compliance, without regard for past lessons learned, community context, or the realities of frontline practice.

Supervisors are systematically excluded from decision-making processes, leaving those with the most direct knowledge of child safety concerns silenced and disregarded. Leadership’s lack of understanding of what line staff do, and how difficult and complex the job is, leaves the Department dangerously exposed to repeating the same systemic failures that have plagued child welfare systems elsewhere.

This culture and decision-making style place social workers in direct conflict with the National Association of Social Workers (NASW) Code of Ethics, which requires practitioners to prioritize client well-being, act with integrity, and practice within their area of competence. Forcing highly trained staff into positions that do not align with their expertise not only undermines their professional judgment but also violates the ethical mandate to ensure services are delivered competently and in the best interest of children and families. When leadership disregards these ethical standards, they endanger both the community and the integrity of the profession itself.

The dangers of this approach are not theoretical. The case of Gabriel Fernandez, an eight-year-old boy murdered in Los Angeles County, demonstrated the catastrophic consequences of having unqualified, unsupported, and poorly supervised staff in critical child protection roles. Investigations into his death revealed that systemic failures including inexperienced workers making life-and-death decisions without adequate oversight directly contributed to his murder. Mendocino County is now creating the same conditions: leadership without expertise, silenced supervisors, demoralized staff, and child welfare practices driven by optics rather than child safely.

This maneuver does nothing to improve child safety or strengthen the system. Instead, it destabilizes the workforce, strips other units of their most qualified staff, and puts children and families at risk. By prioritizing bureaucratic compliance over trauma-informed practice, professional ethics, and community safety, upper management is undermining staff retention, eroding trust, and creating the very conditions for avoidable tragedies.

Conclusion

The issues described throughout this complaint are not isolated lapses, but systemic failures that place children and families at heightened risk of harm while undermining the integrity of Mendocino County’s Family & Children’s Services. Chronic understaffing, favoritism, dishonesty, tolerance of abusive supervisors, and disregard for lawful procedures represent more than internal management problems they are ethical violations with life-altering consequences for children in our care.

Mendocino County Family & Children’s Services (FCS) is in crisis. Leadership decisions are placing management including the Director, Deputy Director of Children’s Services, and soon-to-be ER Manager have no child welfare experience, have never conducted investigations, and have never carried dependency cases. Yet they are making unilateral decisions that destabilize the workforce, disregard professional judgment, and prioritize bureaucratic optics over child safety. Supervisors, who hold critical front-line expertise are systematically excluded from decision-making.

As social workers. we are bound by the National Association of Social Workers (NASW) Code of Ethics, which obligates us to uphold values of service, integrity, competence, dignity, and social justice. We are entrusted to protect the most vulnerable members of our community, ensuring their safety while minimizing retraumatization. The practices currently tolerated within this department including repeated placement disruptions. illegal detentions without proper documentation, and directives not to report welfare fraud directly conflict with these ethical obligations. They cause harm not only to the children and families we serve, but also to staff who are ethically bound to act in their best interest.

Furthermore, the Mendocino County Health & Human Services Agency’s mission statement commits the Department to “protecting vulnerable populations, strengthening families, promoting safety, and improving the health and well-being of the community.” Yet, the actions of current leadership stand in stark contradiction to this mission. By destabilizing emergency response leadership, discouraging lawful reporting, and tolerating abusive management practices, the County is failing to live up to its own stated values. Instead of strengthening families and supporting children, these practices deepen trauma, foster mistrust, and jeopardize community safety.

The consequences of this systemic failure are not theoretical. The Gabriel Fernandez case illustrates the catastrophic outcome when unqualified leadership and poor supervision endanger children. Mendocino County is now recreating these conditions: inexperienced leadership, demoralized staff, silenced supervisors, and decisions driven by appearances rather than child safety.

The consequences are clear:

For children, the absence of trauma-informed practice and continuity of care results in retraumatization, instability, and increased long-term risk.
For families, failure to provide lawful, ethical, and transparent services erodes confidence in the child welfare system, making reunification efforts harder and often impossible.
For staff, being forced to operate in an unethical, unsafe, and hostile environment creates moral injury and drives out experienced workers who are essential to protecting children.

Mendocino County has both a moral and legal duty to act. The current practices not only violate professional ethics and the County’s mission but also expose the Department to potential liability under state and federal child welfare laws. It is imperative that the Board of Supervisors hold Management accountable, demand transparency, and require corrective action that restores integrity, safety, and trust to Family & Children’s Services.

Impact:

Children: Increased trauma, instability, and tong-term risk.
Families: Reduced confidence in the child welfare system and impaired reunification.
Staff: Moral injury, unsafe work conditions, and loss of experienced social workers.

Recommendations: 1. Leadership Accountability: Require qualified child welfare experience in Director, Deputy Director, and ER Manager roles; include supervisors in policy decision making.

Ethical Staffing: Prohibit forced reassignment outside areas of competence; align staffing with child safety and state requirements (experience should matter).
Culture & Retention: Address toxic leadership, implement trauma-informed supervision, and retain qualified staff.
Independent Oversight: Establish external ER review and require regular reporting on staffing, qualifications, and compliance.

At the heart of this complaint lies one undeniable truth: Children in Mendocino County are suffering avoidable harm because leadership has abandoned its ethical and legal responsibilities. Every day that these practices are permitted to continue, children experience additional trauma, and families fall further from stability. It is the duty of this body and of every leader entrusted with public service to intervene before further damage is done. Children in Mendocino County are suffering preventable harm due to systemic failures. Immediate intervention is required to restore ethical, competent, and child-centered practice.

Potential Witnesses: Upon request.

LOCAL EVENTS (this weekend)

THE COASTAL MONEY TRAIL

by David Gurney

If you “follow the money,” which is scripture for any investigative journalist, it becomes dismally apparent who’s calling the shots, or facilitating those calling the shots, in Fort Bragg’s increasingly ravenous and contentious Mill Site development plans: Marie Jones & associates, including Linda Ruffing.

Marie Jones was formerly Fort Bragg’s “Community Development Director” (CDD), and Linda Ruffing (pronounced “Roofing”) was the “City Manager” (CM). These two positions administer real estate development projects for the City. Upon retirement with pension from the Fort Bragg City government (Jones $32,818; Ruffing $60,227 in 2023) both individuals created their own “private consulting firms” which are largely influencing Fort Bragg’s development decisions from behind the scenes.

Right now, Fort Bragg’s critical CDD and CM jobs are held by one person, Isaac Whippy, who has a degree in Finance from a Fijian college. Mr. Whippy is also Fort Bragg’s Finance Director (FD). He holds all three important positions: City Manager, Community Development Director and Finance Director. But even the combined incomes of all three jobs (if he were collecting all three salaries) hardly rivals the $315,000 payment for services allocated to “Marie Jones Consulting” by the City of Fort Bragg, at the rate of $135 - $175 per hour. Linda Ruffing’s payment structure with the City is unknown, but it was confirmed by Mr. Whippy that she has been “consulting” on Mill Site development issues.

It is apparent - especially since Ms. Jones and Mr. Whippy were observed intently walking & talking together at the beginning of the Skunk Train’s ‘Mini-Railroad Mill Site Tour’ for the California Coastal Commission, that Mr. Whippy has essentially become a puppet for Marie Jones & associates.

Poor guy.

But that’s only half the story. “Consultants” who also happen to be former city officials, and happen to know all the ins and outs of local development applications, have intimate knowledge that is extremely useful for developers. This is especially true for a city in which these “consultants” once worked. They know the who’s who and what’s what for avoiding troublesome MND’s and E.I.R.’s, how to breach land use and development codes, and how to make “amendments” to allow for developments in places they were never intended, zoned for, or legally allowed in the first place.

That’s exactly what happened with the new 83-unit, seven building, 200 car Daly City monstrosity that was just approved and promoted by the City of Fort Bragg for the south entrance to the city. The place was never zoned for high intensity housing right next to Highway One at a bad intersection, for reasons we will now get to find out why, the hard way.

The applicants “amended” their plan to include 8-units of “low-income housing” right next door to their 75 high-rent units, and so the massive apartment complex, unabashedly promoted by the Mayor and City Manager, passed with flying colors the “amended” zoning regulations. Whoopie, Mr. Whippy!

Becoming a “consultant” while on pension for the City in which you once worked, while at the same time “consulting” for developers who want to ravage it, has got to be the cushiest gig ever imagined. It’s the only tri-level conflict of interest scenario I can think of, where someone’s making money from both sides of the fence and beyond, and laughing all the way to the bank.

THIS MENDOCINO COUNTY TOWN JUST GOT A NATIONAL SHOUT-OUT ON JEOPARDY!

by Matt LaFever

On Sept. 8, Jeopardy! contestants were served a Mendocino County trivia question. The clue asked: “This type of place that makes & serves beer foamed up in the ’80s, with California’s first being fittingly in Hopland.”

The answer: What is a brewpub?

That shout-out pointed to one of the most famous addresses on Highway 101: the 150-year-old brick building in downtown Hopland that became home to Mendocino Brewing Company in 1983. Pouring its flagship Red Tail Ale, the brewery was California’s very first brewpub and helped spark the state’s craft beer movement.

The building has lived many lives since — a saloon, butcher shop, post office, the Hopland Tap House — and is about to begin another. Just this month, San Francisco’s celebrated Osha Thai opened its newest restaurant in the historic space, bringing pad thai and sizzling barbecue to a room that once smelled of hops.

For Hopland, a town of fewer than 1,000 people, the national spotlight on Jeopardy! was more than a trivia moment. It was a reminder that this roadside stop on the North Coast has long punched above its weight in California history.

(mendofever.com)

A READER WRITES: I dreamed I moved to…i’m not really sure where—some little burg, maybe back east and I was retired. And you were there, producing a little 8-page newsprint paper. With the old fashioned compugraphic typesetter, waxer, rollers, and LOTS of straight edged razors. You asked me to work on the paper, and I said ok. The remainder of the dream was me trying to get the flats done and cut the rubylith. It was one of my typical frustrating dreams wherein I cannot get anything accomplished, while you were out in town getting stories and ads, wearing an assortment of hats. And I mean actual, not metaphorical, hats.

I think about and wonder how you’re faring with the chemo. As I am sure your large following of friends and admirers do, I miss your wonderful ed notes and await your return to health. The goddess has been cruel to you, that bitch!

ED REPLY: I don’t dare revile the goddess who, over the long years, has been more than indulgent with me, over-indulgent even, given the many times I’ve provoked her, so I now trust her to permit me to stumble on for another few years, although I’m way past my pull date.

Chemo. It may be a new thing but I get a shot every three months and I take a powerful pill twice a day, so powerful my laundry has to be done separately. At first, the pill wiped me out, but after a week my apparently endlessly resilient, ancient bod adjusted and I was able to resume my daily hour of strenuous exercise and my gluttonous appetite returned full on.

As it happens, today (Wednesday) I got my first of six weekly radiation zaps, and now I await nightfall to see if I glow in the dark. The lively young woman who wields the magic twanger noted a faint rash on my left shank, asking, “Do you know what that is?” I said I didn’t but was pretty sure it wasn’t an STD. Since I can’t talk, I have to write out my sallies with medical staff, which is tedious for the person I’m communicating with, but I was gratified when she gave it a big laugh.

Overall, my two years of reduced functioning, and my resulting dependence, has been hard on my family who have had to adjust their lives around my debilities, although my primary nurse has only missed a couple of mahjong tournaments. If I’d known what a burden I would become I might have taken the Weldon Kees option — I’ll pause here while you scurry off to google — but we’ve all adjusted and, life hog that I am, I’m trusting the goddess not to pull the plug on me any time soon.

REMEMBERING THE BOONVILLE LODGE

Five years, nine months, and twelve days ago we lost our local bar to a fire. The Boonville Lodge was more than just a building — it was where friends gathered, where stories were shared, and where our community came together.

Today, we’re proud to say the spirit of that gathering place lives on. The Buckhorn Saloon (downstairs) is open — a new home for locals and visitors alike to meet, laugh, and make memories together. Here’s to new traditions in an old valley.

ED NOTE: How about the fights? Bet you can’t match them.

MENDOCINO’S LOCALLY HARVESTED SEAFOOD

The Noyo Harbor District and West Business Development Center are proud to announce the launch of North Coast Catch, a new initiative spotlighting seafood harvested off Mendocino County’s rugged coastline. With the support of seven participating fish markets across the county, North Coast Catch gives residents and visitors a direct connection to local fishermen, regional species, and the sustainable practices that define our North Coast.

Shoppers throughout Mendocino County will now see the bright orange North Coast Catch label at fish counters and on packaging, making it easy to identify seafood caught by the North Coast fleet. Local species include Petrale sole, Dover sole, lingcod, rockfish, black cod, rex sole, albacore tuna, California king salmon, and Dungeness crab.

“When you see the North Coast Catch label, you know you’re not only getting the freshest seafood but also supporting the livelihoods of our local fishermen,” said Anna Neumann, Harbormaster of the Noyo Harbor District. “This initiative keeps dollars in our community and promotes the responsible harvesting that protects the health of our waters.”

As part of the campaign, a county-wide mailer will arrive in mailboxes in late September, outlining how the community can support local markets and enjoy locally caught species. Shoppers will also find North Coast Catch outreach materials in stores, making it simple to learn more about supporting local boats and choosing fish based on seasonal availability.

Find North Coast Catch at markets around the county: Harvest Market (Fort Bragg), Princess Seafood Market (Fort Bragg), Surf Market (Gualala), Ukiah Natural Foods Co-op (Ukiah), Left Coast Seafood (Ukiah), Mariposa Market (Willits), and Little Dory Seafood (Point Arena).

Next time you’re at the fish counter, look for the North Coast Catch label and bring home a taste of Mendocino County’s ocean heritage. For more information, visit https://noyoharbordistrict.org/the-seafood/.

LEAGUE OF WOMEN VOTERS MEET & GREET

The Mendocino County League of Women Voters will hold its “Meet & Greet Your Local Officials” reception from 5 to 7 pm on Friday, September 19 at a new location, the Stanford Inn. This new venue is located just outside the town of Mendocino, at 44850 Comptche-Ukiah Rd. (the west end of County Road #223).

Last year’s outdoor gathering was well attended, and we hope to repeat its success. As in the past, this will be a public event, providing an opportunity for elected and appointed officials to meet their constituents and fellow officials in a beautiful, relaxed setting. All members of the public are cordially invited to attend

— Val Muchowski

GRACE HUDSON MUSEUM - ANNUAL GALA RAISES FUNDS TO KEEP SUN HOUSE SOUND

by Roberta Werdinger

The Sun House in Ukiah, Calif. on Friday, May 30, 2008. The house, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and is a California Historic Landmark, was built in 1911 by artist Grace Hudson and her husband, John. The house is located on the grounds of Hudson's namesake art museum. (Grace Hudson Museum and Sun House via Bay City News)

On Sept. 20, from 5 to 8 p.m., the Grace Hudson Museum & Sun House hosts its annual Gala, an important community celebration and fundraising event. Proceeds will support both the operations of the Museum—exhibitions, public programs, education outreach, collections care—and the creation of a fund to begin addressing many structural issues the 115-year-old Sun House faces. Guests to the Gala will enjoy a live auction, delicious seasonal food by Garbocci Gourmet Catering, plentiful libations, live music from the Jazz Dudes (Barney McClure and Pierre Archain, joined by jazz singer David Post), and a chance to meet old friends and acquaintances and find new ones.

This year’s theme is “The Wonder of It All,” based on The Art of Wonder, the Museum’s current exhibition, featuring the work of 15 artists from throughout Mendocino County who use various mediums to express surprise, reverence, and a healthy dose of playfulness.

These qualities are, of course, plainly evident in the diverse populations of Mendocino County. Ukiah Valley, especially, is fortunate to have the Grace Hudson Museum & Sun House as a community anchor — socially, culturally, and perhaps to some, also spiritually. Born in Potter Valley in 1865, Grace Hudson became a painter of local landscapes, forging a connection with Ukiah Valley’s Pomo peoples and depicting them in portraiture and their daily lives. “Not only was she a great painter,” Director David Burton remarks, “she documented Pomo peoples at a specific period of time and provided a bridge for generations to better understand Pomo cultures.” Her husband, John, wrote extensive field notes on the lifeways of the Pomo as well as other Northern California tribes.

Grace and John collaborated with architect George Wilcox to create the Sun House, a redwood Craftsman bungalow full of graceful detail. Indeed, the collaboration and creativity that Grace and John exhibited as a couple are representative of the rest of Ukiah as a whole. The very existence of the Museum in a largely rural county is itself an act of collaboration. Without children of their own, Grace and John left the Sun House to their nephew, Mark Carpenter, and his wife, Melissa. After Mark died, Melissa remarried; also heirless, Melissa approached the City of Ukiah in the 1970s and proposed that it purchase the Sun House, its contents, and the property it sits on, under the provision that the City manage it as a living history museum to honor the legacies of Grace and John. It was agreed that the city would take possession after Melissa and her second husband passed on, which happened within a few years of the sale agreement.

After a comprehensive inventory of the house was made, city officials understood they were in possession of historical treasures: the Sun House attic was full of Grace’s paintings, John’s field notes, and the couple’s collection of Pomo baskets. “This became the foundational collection of what was first known as the Sun House Museum,” Burton says. The Sun House Guild was formed as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit and by agreement with the City. Its mandate was to coordinate restoration and preservation of the building, conduct guided tours of the house and promote it to the public, and, ultimately, to raise private funds to build the Grace Hudson Museum, which could more adequately interpret and display Grace’s paintings and other material relevant to Grace and John. The fundraising was successful and the museum building opened to the public in September of 1986. The Sun House Guild didn’t wish to be involved in the day-to-day operations of the Museum, so under a pre-arranged agreement the City took possession of the new building for the price of one dollar. It also assumed the responsibility of hiring and paying staff, and overseeing various operational and infrastructure needs. The Guild, however, was asked to continue raising private funds to support exhibitions, public programs, school tours, and collections care. The public/private partnership continues to this day.

That leads back to the Gala the Museum holds every year. Annually, the Sun House Guild raises roughly $100,000 to support all it is responsible for. Fifty percent of this comes from the Gala. This year signals the launching of a campaign by the Grace Hudson Museum to address structural aging issues with the Sun House, including the need to replace its over 40-year-old roof, change out existing knob and tube electrical wiring (which poses a possible fire hazard), install modern burglary and fire protection, and secure a back-up generator. Consequently, this year’s Gala paddle pledges will be directed to that campaign fund. “As we assess the full scope of what the Sun House needs and the order in which they must be addressed,” Burton says, “we could be looking at upwards of, perhaps $200,000 in costs. The campaign will very likely continue for the next few years.”

That the Sun House Guild has been going since the early 80s, and the Museum itself for almost 40 years, is itself a model of community collaboration. Director Burton hopes fervently that, as the generations turn over, the values embodied in these practices will continue. “When you think about it,” he reflects, “the existence of the Grace Hudson Museum & Sun House is in and of itself wondrous. When I think about all the people over almost 50 years who have worked and volunteered to support it, I am filled with great pride, respect, and admiration.”

As of this writing, tickets for the Gala are selling quickly. They may still be available through Friday, September 19, either in person at the Museum at 431 South Main St. in Ukiah, or by calling (707) 467-2836.

CATCH OF THE DAY, Wednesday, September 17, 2025

WILLIAM ALCORN, 28, Willits. Unspecified offense.

BRANDY BYRNE, 50, Covelo. Failure to appear.

JOHN CUNNAN, 55, Covelo. Domestic violence court order violation, probation revocation.

LAMONT JONES JR., 48, Ukiah. Failure to appear.

NATHANIEL KUGLER, 22, Fort Bragg. Under influence, probation revocation.

ETHAN MANN, 38, Covelo. Carjacking by force or fear, probation revocation.

DEVON PARKER, 19, Clearlake/Ukiah. Attempted car theft, petty theft, vandalism, paraphernalia, offenses while on bail, resisting.

JEREMY POWELL, 48, Redwood Valley. Domestic battery, county parole violation, resisting.

NICHOLAS TOW, 37, Willits. DUI-alcohol&drugs, marijuana for sale, domestic violence court order violation, pot transportation, reckless driving, contepmpt of court.

MATTHEW WELLS, 39, Covelo. Under influence, paraphernalia, parole violation.

ASYLUM SEEKERS SHOULD BE APPROACHED WITH COMPASSION

Editor,

What disturbs me most about how the Trump administration is handling immigrants is its expelling of those from Ukraine, Syria and Afghanistan who were denied asylum or found to be in violation of immigration laws.

Rules were put in place to grant visas to those war-torn countries to live in the U.S. Now it appears to me that President Donald Trump is ordering that some asylum seekers be thrown out immediately, in some cases within a matter of a week or two.

I consider this embarrassing as an American — to have this administration turn their backs on these people and their families by literally throwing them out of the U.S. is cruel and unusual. I suspect many agree that Trump is the cruelest president we’ve ever had.

Sandra Macleod White

San Rafael

FUN WITH PRONOUNS

by Paul Modic

I was waiting a long time in the doctor’s office and when he finally came in I was gonna say, “I confess!” It was a good appointment, we mostly discussed sleep issues, my main anxiety, and he recommended that I try cutting down to one cup of coffee a day, citing studies that said even drinking it just in the morning can effect sleep.

When I left the exam room I asked the receptionist if they had any pronoun buttons. She said no and I said, well, I got one at the Arcata clinic but maybe that wouldn’t fly in Fortuna? (She smiled.) I already had my he/him button, but in this era of gender fluidity it’s better to be prepared, right?

I went to another pod reception desk and asked if there were any pronoun buttons. She said, um, well, there were some at the back entrance (wise move, keep them hard to find in Trumpy Fortuna?) and I asked how to get there. Oh, it’s locked she said, but I can go back there, which one do you want?

I’d like a variety I said, and she looked at me oddly then left her post. In other circumstances she might have said, sorry, just one gender per customer, but she might have been trained to accept that if I were so confused to not even know which gender I identified with then that should be tolerated, even celebrated, in these times where you are whoever you say you are.

It took a while for her to come back but I hit the jackpot, not only did I get the he/him, she/her, and they/them but also one I’d never heard of, “ze hir,” which means genderless and over the hill. (In retrospect, I should have said to the old Fortuna couple sitting there in the waiting room: “Hey, hi, just waiting for my pronoun buttons!”)

I left the building with a handful of pronouns and a big smile on my face, thinking about how annoying it is that the North Coast Journal requires their contributors to state their pronouns, according to their best writer, science researcher Barry Evans who’s also the smartest man in Humboldt County.

Will I wear my buttons ironically? Maybe, in solidarity with young smartphone sheep who love to fuck with their parents, like we did fifty years ago. (“That’s not music!” my father said when my sister and I played some Dylan, just as I later said, “That’s not music,” about thrash metal.)

After the election, when the trans issue helped give it to Trump, even trans activists are now saying they went too far with their purity tests, after swing state voters trudged to the polls last November saying no, children shouldn’t be given puberty blockers and gender reassignment surgery.

Yes, Biden was asleep at the wheel and let the trans activists in his administration make the decisions. Just as Republican politicians are afraid of Trump, the Dems were afraid of being called bigots if they disagreed with the trans agenda, especially when it came to kids. (The myth of increased suicides among trans children has also been acknowledged to be untrue, by the leading trans activist, ACLU lawyer Chase Strangio.)

Public opinion matters with policy and elections and it currently supports gay rights, gay marriage, and trans rights but doesn’t support schools teaching children that they can choose their gender. (Public opinion is also overwhelming against trans women competing against biological women at high levels of sports, which seems like common sense.)

Well, I guess I’ll be wearing my ze hir button.

BERKELEY’S STUDENT AND WORKING CLASS HISTORY

by David Bacon

Berkeley's famous leftwing politics was a product of the civil rights and student movements of the 1960s, and students left the local high school campus to join the thousands in San Francisco protesting racism in hiring at the Sheraton Palace Hotel, and later the auto dealerships on Cadillac Row. When student leader Tracy Sims was suspended on their return, the students struck the school to win her reinstatement. Radical photographer Paul Richards took a famous photograph of Sims in a voter registration demonstration, one of the many causes she championed.

That protest tradition continued into the 1990s, when students blew out of class at Berkeley High to fight Proposition 187, which would have made education and health care illegal for undocumented immigrants. That walkout was one of many immigrant rights demonstrations that followed in the years since.

Fast food workers march down Bancroft Way to protest discrimination against Latinos and demanding better wages.

But Berkeley also has a working class history that is much less discussed. In the years after World War 2 it was an industrial city, with factories along the edge of the bay. After the wreckage of deindustrialization of the 1980s and 90s, the biggest one left was the huge Pacific Steel foundry on Second Street. As long as it was up and running, the workers there were militant strikers for better contracts, and supporters of the anti-apartheid movement in South Africa. In the foundry's final years they fought the plant's impending closure, and marched against a "silent" immigration raid in which over 200 workers lost their jobs. Today Pacific Steel is an empty shell covered in graffiti, waiting for a developer with deep enough pockets to clean up the contaminated soil beneath it and build condos or biotech labs.

Meanwhile, the city's working class protests surrounded what became its largest employer, the University of California. Many bitter strikes swept through the campus, finally winning union rights and contracts over the years. The same working class upsurge brought fast food workers into marches down Bancroft Way, part of the national movement for $15 an hour and a union. When the pandemic hit, the workers of the city, especially immigrants and workers of color, made the coffee, dumped the garbage bins, and did the essential tasks that made life possible for everyone else.

Berkeley's activist students and workers are the real reason why the city's progressive politics became well known. Their history today is celebrated in the poetry of Rafael Jesus Gonzalez, founder of the Mexican and Chicano Studies program at Laney College and the city's first poet laureate. In Lompoc Federal Prison for trying to block a test of the MX Missile at Vandenberg Airforce Base, he wrote (https://marshhawkpress.org/rafael-jesus-gonzalez-the-gasp/):

I am here for the unfinished song,
the uncompleted dance,
the healing,
the dreadful fakes of love.
I am here for life
& I will not go away.

This history will be celebrated in an exhibit, "Berkeley's Latino Community" organized by the Berkeley Historical Society and Museum, starting September 21 at 2pm, at 1931 Center Street. Some of the following photographs are part of the exhibit.…

https://davidbaconrealitycheck.blogspot.com/2025/09/photos-from-edge-19-berkeleys-student.html

CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE VOTES TO EXPAND OIL DRILLING IN KERN CO. AS BIG OIL SPENDING SPREE CONTINUES

by Dan Bacher

Shallow, poorly informed pundits and influencers constantly push the myth that California is the nation’s “green” and “progressive” leader. But the actual reality on the ground is much, much different.

Case in point: Big Oil won a major victory on September 13 when the California Legislature passed Governor Gavin Newsom’s bill, SB 237, as part of a controversial “climate” package that greenlights tens of thousands of new oil and gas drilling permits in Kern County over the next decade with no further environmental review.

S.B. 237, a gut-and-amend trailer bill introduced at the end of the legislative session, exempts oil drilling in Kern County from the landmark California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) for the next 10 years, including allowing the rubber stamping of up to 20,000 new wells.…

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2025/9/17/2344001/-CA-Legislature-votes-to-expand-oil-drilling-in-Kern-Co-as-Big-Oil-lobbying-spending-spree-continues

JUSTIN VERLANDER'S STELLAR START fuels Giants in 11-inning win

by Shayna Rubin

Giants outfielder Jerar Encarnacion connects for a run-scoring single against the Arizona Diamondbacks in the 11th inning Wednesday in Phoenix. (Ross D. Franklin/Associated Press)

PHOENIX — The San Francisco Giants didn’t get their second hit of Wednesday’s game until the 11th inning. It was enough to prevent getting swept in Arizona.

Jerar Encarnación’s RBI single off John Curtiss broke the ice formed around a pitchers’ duel between Justin Verlander and Brandon Pfaadt, who pitched nine shutout innings. Then Christian Koss got the big hit, a two-run double, that fed just enough runs to fuel the Giants’ 5-1 extra-inning win against the Diamondbacks, snapping a four-game losing streak.

The five-run 11th included Bryce Eldridge’s first big league walk to keep the line moving — Jung Hoo Lee pinch ran and scored on Koss’ double — before Grant McCray hit a sacrifice fly in his first plate appearance in a month and Rafael Devers chipped in an RBI single.

A sigh of relief swept through the visiting dugout; the Giants had done enough to keep their dwindling postseason hopes alive. With the New York Mets just starting their game against the San Diego Padres and the Cincinnati Reds winning earlier, the Giants took off for Los Angeles 2½ games back for the third wild-card spot with 10 games to go.

“Destiny is not in our hands. That’s not something we can control,” Verlander said. “The only thing we can control is win as many games as possible. We’ve been a streaky team all year, so if we can find a way to get on a hot streak we can roll through anybody and win a lot of games quickly. We sure would like for that to happen now and see what shakes out.”

Less present now for Verlander is any frustration that one of his best pitching performances of the season didn’t get him any closer to 300 career wins. But up against a stellar Pfaadt, his team needed every out that Verlander — who has 265 wins on his résumé — could muster.

Pounding the zone, especially with his slider, to keep a taxed bullpen out of the game as long as possible, the 42-year-old spun seven shutout innings while throwing 107 pitches, allowing two hits and two walks. He took a seat with the game scoreless and little hope that the Giants could gain traction against Pfaadt, who had held them hitless until Drew Gilbert’s one-out single in the sixth inning. His efforts were quickly erased by Heliot Ramos’ inning-ending double play.

Eight times Verlander has departed a start in line for a win without one to show for it this year. But in a speech after the walk-off win against the Dodgers on Friday, Verlander wanted to lighten the burden as much as he could and told the team to forget about his historic pursuits.

“Told these guys after the last win against L.A., it’s that point in the year where you’re not playing for individual stats — not that you do — we’re at that point in the season where I don’t care if I win or lose, I want to get us the best chance to win and sneak into the playoffs,” Verlander said. “This is the time of year where personal numbers don’t matter. You just want to win.”

Gilbert was a huge help in center field. He was responsible for eight putouts, including two momentum killers. He nullified Gabriel Moreno’s long at-bat with a sprinting catch at the wall in center in the fourth inning and, in the fifth, covered 119 feet to rob Jake McCarthy of extra bases at the right-center fence.

“If he’s going to pound the zone like he is, it’s our duty to make plays for him,” Gilbert said. “He’s 42 years old and giving everything he’s got. All you can ask from a guy is to care like he does.”

Verlander is up to pitch again in year 21 in 2026, he reiterated after Wednesday’s start. Lessons he has learned about himself this year have only solidified that. For the first four months of this season, Verlander wasn’t pitching to his Cy Young caliber — his mechanics were off and he tallied a 4.70 ERA through the first half.

A mechanical tweak he made after a particularly dreadful start against the Athletics on July 4 turned his season around. Since July 23, he has a 2.17 ERA and, for the first time in his decorated career, hasn’t given up more than one run over four consecutive starts.

“It feels nice. Now in my 20th year I can only recall a few (years) that went the way you want from start to finish,” Verlander said. “I can also recall a few that were very difficult for most of the year, this being one of those. I think kind of a relentlessness to find your way out of it and never give in and always adapt has helped me tremendously. Obviously would like to finish strong, have a couple more left. In a weird way, it’s a bit more vindicating because you put in that much work every day.”

Arizona nearly walked it off in the ninth inning against Ryan Walker, who loaded the bases on a Corbin Carroll triple, intentional walk and a hit by pitch. After striking out Adrian Del Castillo, Walker induced a soft groundball nearly identical to the one Arizona won on Tuesday night — but Walker fielded it for the inning-ending out.

(sfchronicle.com)

*American West - Clouds* (c1940s) by Maynard Dixon

‘THIS IS IT FOR ME’: 49ers’ Ricky Pearsall describes Union Square shooting

by Anna Bauman

Ricky Pearsall was loading Louis Vuitton and Rimowa shopping bags into his Tesla in Union Square on an afternoon in August 2024 when he saw a scrawny, nervous 17-year-old boy approaching him.

Pearsall at first thought the boy had recognized him as a first-round draft pick of the San Francisco 49ers and wanted to take a picture. Instead, the teen said, “Give me everything you got,” Pearsall told San Francisco police officers at the hospital on the day of the incident, according to an interview played Tuesday at a juvenile court hearing.

Pearsall told investigators he backed away and claimed he had nothing. But when the teen tried to snatch the $10,000 watch on his wrist and the $30,000 gold chain around his neck, ripping his shirt, Pearsall said he went into “defense mode,” pushing and wrestling with the teen on the sidewalk on Geary Street in the high-end San Francisco shopping district.

“I didn’t want him taking my shit,” Pearsall told Lt. Adrian Payne during the interview. “He just didn’t look like a dude who would shoot me.”

As they struggled, the teen fired one shot from a semiautomatic Glock pistol that did not hit Pearsall. Pearsall told police he then slammed his attacker to the ground in an attempt to “knock him out.” Then he felt the barrel of the gun on his chest and realized he had been shot, according to the interview.

“This is it for me,” Pearsall recalled thinking as he saw gushing blood.

He let go of the assailant and stood up to flag down help, video shows. Police Sgt. Joelle Harrell arrived within a minute, pressing her hand against the wound and helping Pearsall calm down, she testified in court.

Assistant District Attorney David Mitchell played the Pearsall police interview and multiple surveillance videos from the Aug. 31, 2024, shooting on the second day of a weeklong hearing to determine whether the teen should be prosecuted as an adult in criminal court or remain in the juvenile justice system.

The district attorney’s office moved to transfer the case to criminal court, emphasizing the gravity of the attack in court and noting the gunshot that struck Pearsall could have ended his life. Deputy Public Defender Bob Dunlap, meanwhile, said the teen should remain in juvenile court because he has already demonstrated growth over the past year at Juvenile Hall.

The teen from Tracy, who has since turned 18, was identified only by his first name and last initial in the courtroom. The Chronicle is not naming him because he was a minor at the time of the incident. He faces attempted murder, assault and attempted second-degree robbery charges, which would carry much steeper penalties in adult court.

Sporting a blue suit, the teen sat beside Dunlap while several of his family members sat in the front row of the courtroom, feet from the mother of the shooting victim. Witnesses gave testimony before Judge Denise de Bellefeuille, a retired judge from Santa Barbara who will decide whether to transfer the case to adult court at the end of the hearing.

In custody over the last year, the teen has largely maintained the highest level in a points-based merit system at Juvenile Hall, said Doug Ugarkovich, a juvenile justice consultant who testified Tuesday afternoon for the defense. He said the teen has voluntarily participated in a number of mental health and other programs, graduated from high school and enrolled in community college.

Ugarkovich said that he believes the teen is amenable to change and rehabilitation, and that there is enough time for him to successfully do so within the juvenile justice system, which would maintain jurisdiction over him until 25 if the case is not transferred.

The teen “came in from the get-go to make change, and that’s unusual to some degree,” Ugarkovich said. “This was a huge wake-up call for (him) to get his life back on track.”

(SF Chronicle)

*Composition 8* (1923) by Wassily Kandinsky

CHARLIE KIRK’S DEATH HAS USHERED IN A BRUTAL CRACKDOWN ON SPEECH

If Charlie Kirk was a champion of free speech, as his supporters claim, why is there an aggressive effort underway to stifle criticism of his legacy?

by Joe Garofoli

Hours after Charlie Kirk was assassinated last week while speaking at a college campus in Utah, President Donald Trump urged “all Americans to commit themselves to the American values for which Charlie Kirk lived and died.” Free speech was chief among those values, Trump said.

But in the days that have followed, Trump, members of his administration and many of his followers have done just the opposite. We’re now in the midst of a brutal crackdown on speech that involves Kirk and his legacy.

In that same speech, Trump said “the radical left” was “directly responsible for the terrorism that we’re seeing in our country today” — which is not only inaccurate but has the effect of stifling any speech that is not in lockstep with the dominant conservative ideology that pervades the federal government and the Supreme Court. Trump isn’t alone in wanting to police dissident voices. Nearly three dozen people have been fired or disciplined for making comments about Kirk’s death that were deemed inappropriate by their employers, according to NPR.

Private employers have great leeway to fire or discipline employees, but if Kirk was a champion of free speech, why the aggressive scramble to stifle criticism?

Conservative influencer Laura Loomer is pointing her followers to a website called Expose Charlie’s Murderers, which highlights the personal information of people she says have “celebrated” Kirk’s murder.

Wrote Loomer on X: “I will be spending my night making everyone I find online who celebrates his death Famous, so prepare to have your whole future professional aspirations ruined if you are sick enough to celebrate his death. I’m going to make you wish you never opened your mouth.”

Anastasios Kamoutsas, the education commissioner in Florida, warned teachers that making “disgusting” statements about Kirk’s assassination could lead to their suspensions or the revocation of their teaching licenses. “I will be conducting an investigation of every educator who engages in this vile, sanctionable behavior,” Kamoutsas said in the memo, which he also posted on X on Thursday, a day after Kirk’s death. “Govern yourselves accordingly.”

A Pentagon spokesman wrote on social media that “it is unacceptable for any military personnel and Department of War civilians to celebrate or mock the assassination of a fellow American. The Department of War has zero tolerance for it.”

As Kirk himself noted, the First Amendment gives Americans the right to say stupid, insensitive, abhorrent, callous and immature things — as long as it doesn’t endanger others, like yelling “fire” in a crowded theater. The court’s 1969 Brandenburg v. Ohio ruling said that even the advocacy of illegal conduct is protected by the First Amendment unless it is both “directed” at inciting “imminent lawless action” and “likely” to have that effect. Trump used the case to defend himself from being held civilly liable for his actions during the Jan. 6 insurrection.

Laura Soshy-Lightsy, an administrator at Middle Tennessee State University, posted on social media shortly after Kirk was shot: “Looks like ol’ Charlie spoke his fate into existence. Hate begets hate. ZERO sympathy.” She was fired within hours.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott celebrated what appeared to be the arrest of a Texas Tech University student who was filmed celebrating Kirk’s death. “Definitely picked the wrong school to taunt the death of Charlie Kirk. Thanks, Texas Tech,” Abbott wrote.

Far more common than celebrations of his death, though, has been legitimate criticism of Kirk’s positions, speeches and writings.

MSNBC fired commentator Matthew Dowd, a former Republican consultant for President George W. Bush, for saying that Kirk was “constantly sort of pushing this sort of hate speech aimed at certain groups. And I always go back to, hateful thoughts lead to hateful words, which then lead to hateful actions.”

Washington Post columnist Karen Attiah said she was fired by the publication last week for a series of social media posts related to Kirk’s death.

“As a columnist, I used my voice to defend freedom and democracy, challenge power and reflect on culture and politics with honesty and conviction,” Attiah wrote in a Substack post Monday. “Now, I am the one being silenced — for doing my job.”

If the Trump administration gets its way, punishing speech involving Kirk will only ramp up in the days to come.

On Monday, Vice President JD Vance, who earlier this year advocated that the government rehire a DOGE employee who resigned after his racist comments were made public, is now urging employers to retaliate against people who use their First Amendment rights to opine on Kirk.

“When you see someone celebrating Charlie’s murder, call them out. And hell, call their employer,” Vance said.

(sfchronicle.com)

AFTER CHARLIE KIRK’S MURDER, ELITE ARROGANCE STILL ON FULL DISPLAY

College students saw Charlie Kirk as the ultimate enemy, so awful he needed deplatforming or worse, but educational swindlers are the real enemies of youth

by Matt Taibbi

Bret Stephens in the New York Times:

“It’s too bad that Kirk, raised in a Chicago suburb, didn’t attend the University of Chicago. It wouldn’t have hurt getting thrashed in a political debate by smarter peers. Or learning to appreciate the power and moral weight of views he didn’t share. Or recognizing that the true Western tradition lies more in its skepticism than in its certitude.”

It’s too bad Bret Stephens never debated Charlie Kirk. He’d have had to defend the idea that students at places like the University of Chicago are not only “smarter” than ignorant red-staters (and students at schools like Cambridge), but more schooled in the “Western tradition” of “skepticism,” as opposed to “certitude.”

Does Stephens mean currently? If so, that’s rich. The cultural schism now widening under all of us in America has surely been caused at least in part by a shift in the attitudes of the very people Stephens calls “the greatest scholars.” Professors abandon skepticism for certitude in a range of hot-button issues, including a conspicuous one that may have had an impact on Kirk’s murder, transgender ideology.

And “smarter”? Stephens needs a fresh look at what passes for instruction and re-examine whether students are really being taught to think better. He should ask if it’s not instead true that institutional America is and has been systematically ripping off its young, a question Kirk threw at students everywhere, often with devastating results. It’s not surprising that scenes of kids who casually admit they “hate books” but were welcomed to pay tuition anyway haven’t made too many of the “Kirk’s greatest misdeeds” reels currently circulating.

This major plank of Kirk’s traveling-debate act is almost never mentioned in mainstream press rundowns of his views. Press accounts focus on alleged bigotry, xenophobia, and misogyny. However, Kirk’s schtick as a non-college graduate moving from town to town doing verbal battle with ostensibly enlightened clientele of higher education had a key subtext: college embarrasses its customers.

His eponymous book gives predictable focus to the ideological-indoctriniation portion of liberal arts education in particular, but most of his argument centers on things I heard for years from student loan forgiveness advocates: college doesn’t prepare students to enter the workforce, does little to secure income, and is particularly devastating to seas of humanities students duped into thinking they need to mortgage their futures for careers that, like my own, often don’t require degrees.

This part of Kirk’s act has been edited out of the public debate. Most infuriating of all has been listening to media figures at outlets like Salon denounce “Debate Me, Bro” culture as commercial hucksterism that’s “ruined civil discourse.” Not only is Kirk guilty of this, apparently, but also the likes of Joe Rogan, whose podcast is part of the regrettably rising tide of “people who don’t know what they’re talking about arguing with each other under the guise of debate.” These people have the gall to denounce The Joe Rogan Experience as an ignorance-spreading machine when the higher educational system has been gorging itself on trillions in federally-backed loans, just to crank out people with professional skills and so shredded intellectually, they think they have to use terms like “birthing persons.”

Set aside the motive of Kirk’s shooter, which will likely come out in time. The scene of the crime was a college, and the damage such institutions did to young brains in this country is the story that’s most visible on Kirk’s videos, but which America’s opinion-making classes are most interested in keeping hidden.…

https://www.racket.news/p/after-charlie-kirks-murder-elite

David Foster Wallace once showed up to teach a college class wearing a bandana — because he said without it, his head might explode.

It was the ‘90s, and Wallace was already a cult figure after Infinite Jest. He’d taken a teaching job at Illinois State, trying to live something resembling a normal life. Students expected a genius novelist; instead, they got a tall, awkward man in torn jeans, chain-smoking, hiding under a do-rag. When one finally asked about it, he deadpanned: “It keeps my brain from leaking out.” They laughed. He didn’t.

That bandana became a symbol, not of style, but of pressure — the migraines, the obsessive thoughts, the depression that shadowed him constantly. In class, he was electric, drilling students on grammar with near-religious intensity, marking up their stories until the pages bled red ink. But between lessons, he’d confess his fear that all this — the books, the attention, the “genius” label — was hollow. He wanted literature to make people less lonely, but wasn’t sure it made him any less so.

Wallace’s contradictions made him unforgettable. He was a critic of irony who couldn’t stop being ironic. A man who wrote a 1,000-page novel about addiction while chewing tobacco and chain-smoking through every draft. Someone who demanded sincerity but worried he couldn’t live it himself.

And maybe that’s why his work still hits: because it wasn’t about perfect answers, it was about wrestling with the mess. The bandana wasn’t a quirk — it was armor. The classes weren’t lectures — they were survival. And the books weren’t puzzles — they were lifelines, tossed into the dark for anyone else trying not to come apart.

REMEMBERING KEN KESEY, the Godfather of the Merry Pranksters, on his Birthday

Ken Kesey was born 90 years ago on September 17, 1935.

Ken Elton Kesey (/ˈkiːziː/; September 17, 1935 – November 10, 2001) was an American novelist, essayist and countercultural figure. He considered himself a link between the Beat Generation of the 1950s and the hippies of the 1960s.

Kesey was born in La Junta, Colorado, and grew up in Springfield, Oregon, graduating from the University of Oregon in 1957. He began writing One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest in 1960 after completing a graduate fellowship in creative writing at Stanford University; the novel was an immediate commercial and critical success when published two years later. During this period, Kesey participated in CIA-financed studies involving hallucinogenic drugs (including mescaline and LSD) to supplement his income.

After One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest was published, Kesey moved to nearby La Honda, California, and began hosting “happenings” with former colleagues from Stanford, bohemian and literary figures including Neal Cassady and other friends, who became collectively known as the Merry Pranksters. As documented in Tom Wolfe’s 1968 New Journalism book The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test, some of the parties were promoted to the public as Acid Tests, and integrated the consumption of LSD with multimedia performances. He mentored the Grateful Dead, who were the Acid Tests’ house band, and continued to exert a profound influence upon the group throughout their career.

Kesey’s second novel, Sometimes a Great Notion, was a commercial success that polarized some critics and readers upon its release in 1964. An epic account of the vicissitudes of an Oregon logging family that aspired to the modernist grandeur of William Faulkner’s Yoknapatawpha saga, Kesey regarded it as his magnum opus.

In 1965, after being arrested for marijuana possession and faking suicide, Kesey was imprisoned for five months. Shortly thereafter, he returned home to the Willamette Valley and settled in Pleasant Hill, Oregon, where he maintained a secluded, family-oriented lifestyle for the rest of his life. In addition to teaching at the University of Oregon—an experience that culminated in Caverns (1989), a collaborative novel by Kesey and his graduate workshop students under the pseudonym “O.U. Levon”—he continued to regularly contribute fiction and reportage to such publications as Esquire, Rolling Stone, Oui, Running, and The Whole Earth Catalog; various iterations of these pieces were collected in Kesey’s Garage Sale (1973) and Demon Box (1986).

Between 1974 and 1980, Kesey published six issues of Spit in the Ocean, a literary magazine that featured excerpts from an unfinished novel (Seven Prayers by Grandma Whittier, an account of Kesey’s grandmother’s struggle with Alzheimer’s disease) and contributions from writers including Margo St. James, Kate Millett, Stewart Brand, Saul-Paul Sirag, Jack Sarfatti, Paul Krassner and William S. Burroughs.

After a third novel (Sailor Song) was released to lukewarm reviews in 1992, he reunited with the Merry Pranksters and began publishing works on the Internet until ill health (including a stroke) curtailed his activities.

“The answer is never the answer. What’s really interesting is the mystery. If you seek the mystery instead of the answer, you’ll always be seeking. I’ve never seen anybody really find the answer. They think they have, so they stop thinking. But the job is to seek mystery, evoke mystery, plant a garden in which strange plants grow and mysteries bloom. The need for mystery is greater than the need for an answer.” - Ken Kesey.

ON-LINE COMMENT OF THE DAY

All those de-institutionalized patients who lived disordered lives on a daily basis were loose on the streets. It was as a wave of humans suddenly released into society from the relative safety of the hospital settings. There was no preparation, and to a great extent they were ignored. When they encountered situations they could not manage, some of them tried the behaviors which would gain re-admittance to the institutions which provided a semblance of order to their lives. Except the institutions were shuttered tight, left as abandoned facades on lots becoming overgrown with weeds. The patients were left abandoned on city streets. Ill-prepared, possibly not capable of functioning in ‘the outside world’, the classes of ‘street-people’ and ‘homeless’ were thus effectuated.

LEAD STORIES, THURSDAY'S NYT

ABC Pulls Jimmy Kimmel Off Air for Charlie Kirk Comments After F.C.C. Pressure

Kennedy’s Vaccine Committee to Vote on Hepatitis B and Covid Shots

5 Takeaways From Ousted C.D.C. Director’s Hearing

Fed Cuts Rates for First Time This Year

3 Police Officers Are Killed in Shooting in Southern Pennsylvania

The New AirPods Can Translate Languages in Your Ears. This Is Profound

Meta Unveils Smart Glasses With Apps and an Artificial Intelligence Assistant

EXPLAINER: WHAT DID JIMMY KIMMEL SAY ABOUT CHARLIE KIRK’S KILLING?

In his Monday evening monologue, Kimmel suggested Trump’s Maga allies wanted to exploit the killing

When announcing that it would pull Jimmy Kimmel’s programme, the TV station operator Nexstar Media Group called comments the comedian had made about the far-right activist Charlie Kirk’s death “offensive and insensitive at a critical time in our national political discourse”.

Supporters of Donald Trump have praised the decision, and the White House deputy chief of staff called it an example of “consequence culture”. However, anti-Trump politicians as well as media figures and free speech organisations have warned it is part of an effort to systematically silence Trump’s critics.

But what did Kimmel actually say to raise the ire of the Maga (“Make America great again”) movement?

Maga was attempting to score political points from the killing

During one of his evening monologues – which was released before Utah prosecutors released more information about the alleged killer, Tyler Robinson – Kimmel suggested Trump’s political movement, Maga, wanted to exploit the situation.

“The Maga gang [is] desperately trying to characterize this kid who murdered Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them, and doing everything they can to score political points from it,” he said.

It was not clear if Kimmel was suggesting Robinson was a literal supporter of Maga, or that his alleged political violence was part of a broader shift towards bloodshed and force in US politics, particularly among the far right.

Still, this comment appears to have deeply angered Trump supporters and officials.

Robinson’s motive has not been confirmed, although the top prosecutor in Utah county, where Kirk was fatally shot on 10 September, said the suspect – whose family was known to be conservative – “had become more political and had started to lean more to the left, becoming more pro-gay and trans rights oriented”.

In an interview on Wednesday, the Trump-appointed head of the US media regulator, the Federal Communications Commission of the United States (FCC), said Kimmel had made a “concerted effort to try to lie to the American people”.

Brendan Carr went on to call Kimmel’s comments an attempt to “play into a narrative that this was somehow a Maga or Republican-motivated person”.

Trump was acting like a four-year-old

Kimmel has also mocked Trump for a specific comment he made in response to being asked by a reporter how he was personally “holding up” after the assassination of Kirk, who he has said was a friend.

Trump had replied saying he was “very good” and then immediately started boasting about the new ballroom he is building at the White House.

Kimmel said after the clip: “This is not how an adult grieves the murder of somebody called a friend. This is how a four-year-old mourns a goldfish.”

Trump is either a dictator or ‘just a dick’

Kimmel referenced an incident in which an Australian journalist was berated by Trump after he asked the US president this week how much wealthier he had become since returning to the Oval Office.

Trump accused the reporter, John Lyons, who is reporting for Four Corners, of “hurting Australia” with the line of questioning, and said that he would raise the issue with the Australian prime minister, Anthony Albanese.

Kimmel showed the clip of the exchange and mocked Trump for being a “little tattletale”.

He added: “[Trump] needs to make a decision, do you want to be a dictator or just a dick?”

(theguardian.com)

VENEZUELA GAME OVER! Entire U.S. Amphibious Force Have Have Arrived in Coveñas, Colombia

Tensions in the Caribbean are escalating! U.S. Marines, supported by the amphibious transport dock USS New York (LPD 21), conducted a large-scale landing drill in Coveñas, Colombia—just across the sea from Venezuela’s northern coast. Backed by F/A-18 fighter jets, this operation sends a powerful signal of Washington’s readiness to confront any potential escalation with Caracas.…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q_ywA3UrUDo

(via Bruce McEwen)

ISRAEL SAYS IT WILL DEFUND FILM AWARDS AFTER PALESTINIAN WIN

A drama about a Palestinian boy who sneaks into Israel won the top prize at Israel’s version of the Oscars. The country’s culture minister called the ceremony “shameful.”

by Derrick Bryson Taylor

Israel’s minister of culture announced plans to cancel the funding for the country’s top film award ceremony after a 90-minute drama about a Palestinian boy won best feature on Tuesday night.

Miki Zohar, Israel’s minister of culture and sports, writing in Hebrew on social media on Wednesday, said Israeli taxpayers would no longer pay for a “shameful ceremony that spits on heroic I.D.F. soldiers,” referring to Israel’s army. The ceremony, known as the Ophir Awards, is Israel’s version of the Oscars.

The winning film, “The Sea,” written and directed by Shai Carmeli-Pollak, tells the story of a 12-year-old Palestinian boy in the West Bank who longs to visit the sea for the first time. After he sneaks into Israel and disappears, his father begins a desperate search for him. The film presents a harsh portrayal of Israeli soldiers.

“This great absurdity that the citizens of Israel are still paying out of their own pockets for the shameful ceremony of the Ophir Awards, which represents less than one percent of the Israeli people — is over,” Zohar said.

As the winner of the best feature award, “The Sea” automatically becomes Israel’s submission for the Oscar for best international feature. Nominations for that award will be announced in January.…

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/09/17/movies/israel-palestine-film-oscars.html

Mexican rebel Fortino Samano moments before his execution (March 2, 1917) by a firing squad during the Mexican Revolution (photograph by Agustín Víctor Casasola)

THE YELLOW CORN

by Charles G. Eastman (1848)

                           Come, boys, sing!—
                               Sing of the yellow corn,
                           Sing, boys, sing,
                               Sing of the yellow corn!
He springeth up from the fallow soil,
With the blade so green and tall,
And he payeth well the reaper’s toil,
When the husks in the autumn fall.
              The pointed leaves,
                  And the golden ear,
              The rustling sheaves,
                  In the ripened year—
                            Sing, boys, sing!
                               Sing of the yellow corn,
                            Sing, boys, sing,
                               Sing of the yellow corn.

He drinks the rain in the summer long,
And he loves the streams that run,
And he sends the stalk so stout and strong,
To bask in the summer sun.
              The pointed leaves,
                   And the golden ear,
              The rustling sheaves,
                   In the ripened year—
                              Sing, boys, sing!
                                  Sing of the yellow corn,
                              Sing, boys, sing,
                                  Sing of the yellow corn.

He loves the dews of the starry night,
And the breathing wind that plays
With his tassels green, when the mellow light
Of the moon on the meadow stays.
              The pointed leaves,
                   And the golden ear,
              The rustling sheaves,
                   In the ripened year—
                              Sing, boys, sing!
                                  Sing of the yellow corn,
                              Sing, boys, sing,
                                  Sing of the yellow corn.

A glorious thing is the yellow corn,
With the blade so green and tall,
A blessed thing is the yellow corn,
When the husks in the autumn fall.
              Then, sing, boys, sing!
                  Sing of the yellow corn,
              Sing, boys, sing,
                  Sing of the yellow corn!
                     The pointed leaves,
                          And the golden ear,
                     The rustling sheaves,
                          In the ripened year—
                              Come, sing, boys, sing!
                                   Sing of the yellow corn,
                               Sing, boys, sing,
                                   Sing of the yellow corn.

*The Perpetual Renewal of the Revolutionary Struggle* (1927) by Diego Rivera

DON'T HESITATE

by Mary Oliver

If you suddenly and unexpectedly feel joy,
don’t hesitate. Give in to it. There are plenty
of lives and whole towns destroyed or about
to be. We are not wise, and not very often
kind. And much can never be redeemed.
Still, life has some possibility left. Perhaps this
is its way of fighting back, that sometimes
something happens better than all the riches
or power in the world. It could be anything,
but very likely you notice it in the instant
when love begins. Anyway, that’s often the
case. Anyway, whatever it is, don’t be afraid
of its plenty. Joy is not made to be a crumb.

JUDY CROWHURST:

Holmes and Watson are on a camping trip. In the middle of the night Holmes wakes up and gives Dr. Watson a nudge. “Watson” he says, “look up in the sky and tell me what you see.”

“I see millions of stars, Holmes,” says Watson.

“And what do you conclude from that, Watson?”

Watson thinks for a moment. “Well,” he says, “astronomically, it tells me that there are millions of galaxies and potentially billions of planets. Astrologically, I observe that Saturn is in Leo. Horologically, I deduce that the time is approximately a quarter past three. Meterologically, I suspect that we will have a beautiful day tomorrow. Theologically, I see that God is all-powerful, and we are small and insignficant. Uh, what does it tell you, Holmes?”

“Watson, you idiot! Someone has stolen our tent!”

*Still Life* (c 1941) by Thomas Hart Benton

15 Comments

Mazie Malone September 18, 2025

Good Morning, 🕊️🍁

Re; Online comment of the day

The idea that deinstitutionalization created homelessness is not the real story. When the hospitals closed the plan was for people to be supported in their communities. The state has provided funding and that is why we have so many nonprofits and programs today. The problem is not money. The problem is whether those agencies are actually doing the work. If the support is not reaching people in real and consistent ways then the system is failing and that failure is not on the people who were released. It is on the agencies that chose appearances and bureaucracy over appropriate & necessary care.

mm💕

Reply
- Norm Thurston September 18, 2025
  
  Here’s an AI (Google) generated comment on the closing of the state hospitals: “California hospital closures. In California, the Lanterman-Petris-Short Act of 1967 had already ended indefinite, involuntary institutionalization. As a result, three state hospitals were closed between 1969 and 1971, and by 1973, the patient population in California’s state hospitals had fallen dramatically. The original legislative intent was for budget savings to go toward local programs, but this was blocked by the governor’s veto in 1972 and 1973.” There is an unusual scarcity of on-line information on the closing of the state hospitals. Ronald Reagan was governor from 1967 to 1975.
  
  Reply
  - Mazie Malone September 18, 2025
    
    Hiya Norm, 🤪🍁
    
    The dates and legislation are one thing, but the heart of the matter is that the hospitals weren’t closed with the intent to abandon people. They were closed with the promise that community programs would step in. And they were funded to do so.
    
    The problem isn’t history. The problem is follow-through. If agencies take the money but don’t provide consistent, real care, then the system is what failed, not the people who were released.
    
    mm💕
    
    Reply
    - Norm Thurston September 18, 2025
      
      The stated intent was to fund continuing care, but the fact that Reagen vetoed the funding in 1972 and 1973 makes me wonder how sincere the stated intent really was. On 6/30/72, Agnews State Hospital turned out over 3,800 patients on the street. I’m certain that it was no coincidence that it was the final day of the state’s 1971-72 fiscal year. I think this is important, because that history seems to have disappeared to some degree. Regardless, your point is well taken. Local agencies need to do a better job with the money they receive. 💛
      https://www.google.com/search?q=California+asylum+released+patients+on+July+1%2C+1972&client=safari&sca_esv=0552b0ba02155725&source=hp&ei=8zTMaPTWA86q0PEPg56niQc&iflsig=AOw8s4IAAAAAaMxDAxbR9e5S0KwStqP2JAtI2oUBX5BF&ved=0ahUKEwi0nMeX3-KPAxVOFTQIHQPPKXEQ4dUDCBo&uact=5&oq=California+asylum+released+patients+on+July+1%2C+1972&gs_lp=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&sclient=gws-wiz
      
      https://www.google.com/search?q=asylum+releases+patients+on+July+1%2C+%221972%22&client=safari&sca_esv=0552b0ba02155725&source=hp&ei=ezDMaP-5FKip0PEPxI336Ac&iflsig=AOw8s4IAAAAAaMw-ixK8L_1qAghxwNosXrac7XVpoFdC&ved=0ahUKEwi_45f22uKPAxWoFDQIHcTGHX0Q4dUDCBo&uact=5&oq=asylum+releases+patients+on+July+1%2C+%221972%22&gs_lp=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-8CsgcFMTQuMjm4B_kjwgcJMS4yNC4xOC4xyAd6&sclient=gws-wiz&zx=1758212259122&no_sw_cr=1
      
      Reply
      - Mazie Malone September 18, 2025
        
        Thanks Norm, ⭐️
        
        The history is important to know, but not to live in. Reagan’s vetoes were fifty years ago!!! We have been living this reality ever since. Funding has continued, yet people are still left without the care they need. That falls strictly on the system we have in place today.
        
        mm💕
        
        Reply
Chuck Dunbar September 18, 2025

Had an odd road experience coming back from Point Arena last night. Going north, just south of Elk, came to a one-way section of in-progress road work– but no workers there at night, just a traffic light. Light was red and we were second in line, as the red stayed on and the line built behind us. Two emergency vehicles coming south were the only traffic that passed by us, as we all waited about 20 minutes due to an obviously malfunctioning red light. Finally a guy behind us and I spoke, he said it was time to go ahead, and he led the way around the blind curve up the hill, all of us following. All was fine, met no traffic, and on we went.

Reply
Jacob September 18, 2025

Re David Gurney’s Latest
I have objected to Gurney’s recent attacks on the City of FB but I happen to agree that there may be something to be concerned about with Linda Ruffing and Marie Jones and their current consulting roles regarding Mill Site redevelopment planning. For example, Linda is working for the supposedly neutral consultant hired by both the City of FB and MR while she is also President of the Board for the Noyo Center. In the earlier Land Use Plan drafts–thankfully removed form the most current version after community backlash and complaints–the Noyo Center’s plans for their facility were incorporated into the plan even though they involved controversial elements that had already been tentatively rejected by the entire FB City Council. That kind of conflict of interest and undue influence should concern anyone looking for an objective process driven by community consensus rather than influential insiders apparently pushing their own agenda.

Reply
- David Gurney September 18, 2025
  
  And Jacob was right. I did mess up on the civilial count at FB’s “sticker preferences” workshop.
  The Master Plan chart read: “Allow Soccer on Tennis Courts” in Bainbridge Park.
  
  My lyin’ eyes thought it read: “Allow Soccer or Tennis Courts” – as in, allow the building of soccer or (more) tennis courts in Bainbridge Park. Like the big Astroturf kick-dens now being installed. (34-0 no)
  
  But ultimately, you have to ask yourself.
  
  Who the F*^k plays soccer on a tennis court anyhow?
  . . .
  
  Reply
  - Jacob September 19, 2025
    
    I wasn’t back here at the time but I think kids used to take over the tennis courts to practice soccer in the rain because they couldn’t safely play on the grass. I believe the police used to have to kick them out sometimes. In fact, the whole idea for an all weather soccer practice court came from some of those soccer players and their parents so there would be a place to do so. It is sad that the City went that direction without running a CEQA analysis, which is something I also agree with Gurney about. not so much the extraneous allegations about intent and fraud but at the end of the day, I strongly believe the community deserved a better environmental review process so the city council could have considered all the ramifications of their choice before they made it.
    
    Reply
    - David Gurney September 20, 2025
      
      If you really need to “practice soccer in the rain” on tennis courts (heresay) it might be time to take up a new sport. What’s the sayin? “Doesn’t have sense enough to come in out of the rain.”
      
      Reply
Chuck Dunbar September 18, 2025

COUNTY FCS/CPS PROBLEMS

As a former Mendocino County FCS/CPS social worker supervisor, it is troubling to see Mark Scarmella’s piece today on the current status of that department. So much of what is covered reminds me of what occurred off and on during my 18 years at FCS.

I could go on and on here, but I’ve already done that in the past. I will say this: I came to believe that management staff often (not always, there were some knowledgeable, good souls who led us from time to time) undermined, even destroyed, the level of trust and integrity necessary to a healthy-functioning social service department. Absent trust and integrity, organizations fail in so many ways. They did so in the past with some of the same uninformed, unwise, crude and cruel actions noted in Mark’s piece. I’ll note that these kind of actions directly contradict and violate the following Mendocino County policy:

From the County’s Human Resources Department Statement on “Leadership Philosophy:”

“About the Mendocino County Leadership Initiative
At its core, the purpose of the Leadership Development Initiative is to transform our organizational culture by cultivating ‘leaders at all levels’ within the organization by engaging, developing, supporting, and utilizing our employees to their fullest potential.
In order to achieve effective leadership at all levels, and excellence in public service, we believe…

Trust and integrity are essential.
In departments working together as one organization.
In employees being involved in key program and policy decisions that impact the organization.
That investing in and supporting employee development results in the retention and promotion of quality employees.
Darcie Antle, CEO”

I respect that FCS staff are now pushing back on management staff’s failure to follow the above policy. Direct service staff are the ones who see the severe costs of dysfunctional management. They are taking a risk in voicing their concerns, but they are acting righteously and with honor. You do a needed, tough job. You need your voices heard. And you deserve respect and support in doing so. Good fortune to you folks.

Reply
- Jim Armstrong September 18, 2025
  
  It is hard to believe that this most important county responsibility has been allowed to misfunction so badly for the at-least 55 years that I know about.
  Folks like Chuck held sway for varying periods, but it was a battle.
  The Peter Principle has been a big part of it, but mostly the people who have been in charge didn’t know how to do the job and didn’t really much care.
  In the 70’s, there were knowledgeable and dedicated workers who tried hard to put neglected and abused children first but faced often having it come to naught by ultimate decisions being made by business administrators.
  Now (as in human affairs in general) may the worst it has ever been.
  
  Reply
C September 18, 2025

Cats out of the bag-Isaac Whippy needs to go he has no business being the City Manager of Fort Bragg, the entire city is in shambles including the police dept. Is it true the Police Chief will soon retire with a pension six month severance pay and be a consultant at $200 an hour Fort Bragg will soon be in the same position as Willits bankrupt If Whippy is utilizing these reprimanded terminated city employee as consultants he needs to go, look at the bright side Whippy you might become a consultant as well, you won’t have to collect unemployment!

Reply
- Jacob September 20, 2025
  
  The police chief is getting a severance payment per his employment contract but he isn’t going to receiving any consulting work for FB, let alone at $200 per hour.
  
  Reply
Mark Donegan September 19, 2025

Julia Wood. I only know her as “Grannie”. Most beautiful person I have ever met.
Truly a treasure.

Reply

Mendocino County Today: Thursday 9/18/2025

LEAD STORIES, THURSDAY'S NYT

15 Comments

Leave a Reply Cancel reply