Mendocino County Today: Monday 10/6/2025

Warmer | Coast Fog | AVUSD News | Work Party | Ukiah Settles | Longest Table | Roof Story | Concerns Ignored | Historic Restoration | Theater Fundraiser | Khadijah Missing | Diner Dining | Greenwood Bridge | Fabric Fair | Hazel Dennison | Yesterday's Catch | Tower Shadow | Good Policy | Salmon Bill | International Notoriety | Crunch Time | Pierson Hardware | Visit SFO | Snorting Likes | Morocco | Frida Update | Beer Drinking | Propaganda | Lost Souls | Finally Arrived | Doing Good | Uni-Party | World Watching | Cognitive Decline | Autumn | Richard Feynman | Brotherly Love | Kiss | Battle Hymn | Gus Cannon | Other Reasons | Lead Stories | Fascism Appeal | Don't Ask | Wagner Group | Leon Trotsky | Castle Boterel | Absinthe Drinkers

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MUCH WARMER than normal conditions will continue Monday especially along the coast where highs could reach the mid 70s. More marine influence will gradually return through the week with light rain potential by this weekend. (NWS)

STEPHEN DUNLAP (Fort Bragg): 47F under clear skies this Monday morning on the coast. A sunny week is on hand until rain returns on Friday. Looks like it will fizzle out on Saturday.

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AVUSD NEWS

Dear AVES Families,

Fall is in full swing! A wonderful time was had by all at the fair and our athletes are now knee-deep in fall sports.  Homecoming is on the horizon! We are also gearing up for an awesome concert for students and families, districtwide, this coming Friday and conference/PLP week, starting October 13! 

We are thankful for the involvement of our families. When parents are involved at school, students feel more connected and tend to learn better too! Thank you for attending events on campus.  Your attendance is especially important during conference week. Together, we are a powerful team!

With respect,

Kristin Larson Balliet, superintendent

Mark Your Calendars!

• Friday, Oct. 10 at 1:30 - Loc Cenzontles district-wide concert
• October 14, 4:45-5:45 - AVHS School Board Meeting
• October 17, 8:00-11:00 - AVHS Homecoming
• October 20, 4:00-5:30 AVES ELAC & School Site Council 
• October 22, 3:30-5:00 AVJrSrHS ELAC & School Site Council
• November 21 at 2:00 (date tentative) - Track Grand Opening

Track:  Ribbon Cutting

We are so excited!! The Anderson Valley Track to Health and Fitness (AVTHF) is nearing completion and it is absolutely gorgeous! This track was funded through the Caltrans Clean California grant and is intended to support healthy lifestyles and activities not just for our students, but also for our entire community.

We are grateful to former superintendent Louise Simson, for all of her hard work in spearheading this project, and also to grantwriter Chris Vetrano, Architect Don Alameida, and Rege Construction for the amazing teamwork in bringing the track to fruition. Finally, we are deeply grateful to Congressman Jared Huffman and his office for their ongoing support and to Caltrans for funding this (literally) game changing endeavor in our small, rural community. What a difference it will make!  Our Grand Opening is tentatively scheduled for November 21st, 2025, and we hope that the entire community comes out to celebrate with us!

Upcoming Concert!

Join us on October 10, 2025 at the AVHS Gym from 1:30-2:30 for a concert from the wonderful band Los Cenzontles. Click on the link below and it will take you to the Cenzontles website so you can learn more about them: https://www.loscenzontles.com/  

Many thanks to Mr. Robert Anderson and his friend Eugene Rodriguez, Executive Director for Los Cenzontles Academy, for bringing this awesome concert to our students and families! 

A Great Parenting Resource

Parenting can be difficult and it is nice to have some help! Brightlife is a program brought to us by CalHOPE.  It offers FREE coaching via live video chat and also offers an on-demand digital library for parents.  Please read this flier if you are interested.

Curriculum Being Piloted at AV Jr/Sr HS

AVHS is piloting History/Social Studies curricula. The series is Impact California Social Studies published by McGraw Hill. This series includes:

• Principles of Economics by Gary E. Clayton, Ph.D., C: 2019
• Principles of American Democracy by Richard C. Remy, Ph.D., Donald A. Ritchie, Ph.D., Lee Arbetman, M.Ed., J.D., Megan L. Hanson, M.S., and Lena Morreale Scott, Ed.M. C: 2019
• United States History & Geography: Continuity & Change by Joyce Appleby, Ph.D., Alan Brinkley, Ph.D., Alber S. Broussard, Ph.D., James McPherson, Ph.D., and Donald A. Ritchie, Ph.D. C: 2019, 
• World History, Culture, & Geography: The Modern World by Jackson J. Spielvogel, Ph.D. C: 2019

We also Have a Health book to pilot also published by McGraw Hill:

• Glencoe Health: Human Sexuality by Mary H. Bronson, Ph.D. C: 2022

Parents and guardians are welcome to review the pilot materials and should contact Principal Heath McNerney if they would like to do so; these materials will be made available in the school library.

More Information on Our Construction Projects:

CTEFP Grant Project (Possible New CTE Building)

Mr. McNerney and Mrs. Larson Balliet have been working with CTE faculty Beth Swehla, Charlene Rowland, and David Ballantine as we prepare to submit a grant for funding for new CTE construction. If funded, this grant would pay for 50% of a new CTE facility, complete with classrooms and state-of-the art shops for our Agriculture and Woodworking programs. Many thanks to the community members who came out for our Advisory Committee last week and to Architect Don Alameida for the concept drawings!  This is a competitive grant and we are very hopeful we will get it because it will allow our awesome CTE programs to expand.

AVES Kitchen

The AVES kitchen has been under construction since before the start of the school year and is nearly done! Along with the kitchen, Cupples Construction also installed an ADA compliant ramp at our drop-off area, making arrival and dismissal safer. We are excited about the kitchen being completed; there will be expanded ability for our awesome cafeteria crew to prepare fresh, healthy foods for our students! We expect the kitchen to be complete by the first week of November.

AVHS Gym

The gym has not been forgotten!  We are still working with the Office of Public School Construction for funding.  We anticipate refurbishing, rather than replacing, the gym. This WILL happen and we will keep you posted!

Principals’ Updates Weekly / Superintendent Update Monthly

As a reminder, AVES Principal Jenny Bailey and AV JrSr HS Principal Heath McNerney will be sending updates weekly to keep parents aware of site-specific items.  

• If you are not receiving Parent Square messages, please contact your school office or Nat Corey-Moran at [email protected];  Nat’s team will reach out to help set that up to keep you looped in! You can receive your messages as emails or texts, in your preferred language.

We Care About ALL Our Families

There is new legislation in California called AB 49 and SB 98, in response to strong concerns about the  impacts of immigration enforcement on students, families, and school communities.California law now specifically prohibits school officials and employees of a local educational agency (LEA) from providing an officer or employee of an agency conducting immigration enforcement with access to a nonpublic area of a school site for any purpose without being presented with a valid judicial warrant, judicial subpoena, or a court order or unless required by state or federal law.  We will be posting signs in both English and Spanish, explaining the new laws and offering support to our families.  If you would like more information, see the CDE Resources for Immigrant Families web page at https://www.cde.ca.gov/immigration-toolkit or talk to your school principal or Mrs. Larson Balliet, AVUSD superintendent.

Please find  links to additional information for families below:

• Mendocino County Office of Education: Immigration Resource Page
• Immigration and California Families: State Immigration Website
• National Immigration Law Center: “Know Your Rights” (English | Spanish | Additional Languages) 

If you would like to be more involved at school, please contact your school’s principal, Ms. Jenny Bailey at AVES or Mr. Heath McNerney at AV Jr/Sr High, or our district superintendent, Ms. Kristin Larson Balliet. We are deeply grateful for our AVUSD families. 

With respect,

Kristin Larson Balliet
Superintendent
Anderson Valley Unified School District 
[email protected] 

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PLAYGROUND WORK PARTY at AV Elementary

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UKIAH PAYS $450K SETTLING SUIT ALLEGING EX-CHIEF’S SEXUAL ASSAULT

by Matt LaFever

A dark chapter for the Ukiah Police Department quietly ended in June when the city agreed to pay nearly $450,000 to settle a federal lawsuit filed by a woman who alleged former police chief Noble Waidelich entered her home in uniform, with his service weapon visible, and sexually assaulted her after she rebuffed him.

Less than a year before the alleged June 13, 2022, assault, Waidelich had been promoted to police chief. He had served with the department for 15 years and was praised at the time by City Manager Sage Sangiacomo as embodying “the best characteristics and core values that are essential for a trusted, effective community police department.”

Four days after the alleged incident, the City of Ukiah terminated Waidelich. In a press release, Sangiacomo said the decision stemmed from “recent events [that] have transpired, illuminating the fact that this individual is not a good fit for the City.”

The Sonoma County Sheriff’s Office investigated the woman’s allegations for possible criminal charges and forwarded its findings to the Mendocino County District Attorney’s Office. District Attorney David Eyster did not file a criminal complaint. His office did not respond to a recent request for comment about that decision.

With no criminal prosecution pursued, the woman, identified in court filings as Jane Doe, filed a federal civil lawsuit in February 2023 against the City of Ukiah and Waidelich. The complaint accused Waidelich of appearing at her home in full uniform and sexually assaulting her after she rejected his initial advances. The filing also alleged that the City of Ukiah enabled the misconduct by ignoring warning signs and failing to supervise him.

An amended complaint expanded on those allegations, asserting that the city and department maintained a “de facto policy, long-standing practice and custom and widespread culture of failing to discipline or adequately supervise officers who engaged in on and off duty criminal conduct, including but not limited to crimes against women.”

The complaint referenced the case of Amanda Carley, Waidelich’s former girlfriend, who more than a decade earlier reported domestic violence allegations against him to the City of Ukiah. The filing claimed city officials failed to act on her reports and, despite their severity, later promoted him to police chief.

According to the complaint, the Ukiah Police Department hired a private investigator who told Carley he was not conducting an internal affairs investigation but had been hired to “cover their asses,” discouraging her from cooperating. The filing also stated that after Carley’s daughter later disclosed the alleged abuse, Carley — not Waidelich — was punished, placed on the Brady List, and stripped of her firearm, ending her career.

Many of the claims in the amended complaint mirrored findings in a 2022 Los Angeles Times investigation, which detailed years of domestic-violence reports, internal reviews, and inaction that allowed Waidelich to continue advancing through the department.

Despite that history, the complaint alleged, the city promoted Waidelich,eventually chief in 2021, never reprimanding him or removing his weapon. The filing concluded that the city’s inaction “emboldened Waidelich” and led him to believe “he was free to engage in criminal conduct, including sexual assault, with impunity.”

Just over three years after the alleged assault, the civil case concluded with a $450,000 settlement on June 16. As part of the agreement, Jane Doe dismissed the lawsuit with prejudice, releasing Waidelich, the City of Ukiah, and related entities from all liability.

Eric Rose, a spokesperson for attorney Thomas Johnston of the Los Angeles-based firm Johnston & Hutchinson, which represented Doe, said in an email, “We are pleased with the settlement, as former Police Chief Weidelich’s conduct was outrageous and evidence of a highly problematic command climate at the Ukiah Police Department at the time of the incident.”

Rose noted the court’s rejection of the city’s motion to dismiss the lawsuit. “The record in this matter demonstrated that senior police officials and city administrators were aware of past serious allegations against Weidelich, yet promoted him in late 2022 to lead the department,” he said. Jane Doe’s decision to come forward, Rose added, “resulted in Chief Weidelich being terminated from his position as chief and hopefully led to greater oversight of senior police leaders in the future.”

Patrick Moriarty, an attorney representing the City of Ukiah, said the city “provided a defense for former Chief Noble Waidelich, the City, and the Police Department.” He emphasized that the city denied culpability, writing, “From the outset, the City made clear that, if the allegations occurred as Jane Doe described, the City did not cause the assault and could not be held responsible for it.”

Moriarty said the settlement reflected the financial realities of litigation, noting that juries have recently issued large verdicts in law-enforcement cases and that, had Doe prevailed, the city could have been required to pay her attorney fees.

“For those who might suggest the agreement implies guilt,” Moriarty wrote, “the settlement includes no admission of liability. The City takes allegations of sexual misconduct seriously, but this resolution was a business decision made to protect municipal funds.”

Trevor McCann, an attorney who represented Waidelich, said only, “Mr. Waidelich has no comment.”

(mendofever.com)

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THE ‘LONGEST TABLE’ COMES TO MENDOCINO COUNTY

Hundreds attend Fort Bragg event, as the community responds to invitation to break bread together

by Elise Cox

More than 400 people turned out for Mendocino County’s inaugural “Longest Table” event on Sunday afternoon.

The table — or rather, tables — were arranged in two long rows along North Franklin Street between East Laurel Street and East Redwood Avenue. The event began at 1 p.m., and by 1:30 the tables had become groaning boards, laden with salads, sandwiches, casseroles, cookies, cakes and every kind of dish in overwhelming abundance.

The idea of hosting a massive community potluck began during the pandemic in Chelsea, New York, when Maryam Banikarim joined an outdoor dinner party and decided to organize her own. About 500 people showed up, later telling her the event made them feel less lonely.

Local organizer Pam Bell brought the concept to the Fort Bragg City Council in August. “I feel like our town would benefit so much from giving people a chance to eat, be seen, share a meal, break bread and just get to know their neighbors,” Bell said.

The event was free, but there was a seating limit. The city provided tables, street closures and portable restrooms, while participants brought their own meals and beverages — even something as simple as a tuna sandwich. Food trucks lined the street, and groups such as the Soroptimists and Mendocino Railway organized full potluck tables.

The Mendocino Coast Humane Society partnered as the nonprofit beneficiary, raising funds through beer and wine sales.

As attendees ate and socialized, they were entertained by musicians Lincoln Thomas and Carlos Hernandez, as well as the North Coast Tsunami Cheer team.

City Manager Isaac Whippy said the “Longest Table” was a great fit for Fort Bragg, giving residents a chance to “break bread” and build community. While the city was the host and undewriter, providing between $7,300-$8,000 from the 2025-26 events budget.

Although the event reached capacity quickly, space was made for drop-ins, and no one went away hungry. Food was shared among tables, and when the event was over, leftovers were packed up and distributed to friends, family and neighbors.

(Mendo Local Public Media)

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SUPES’ POT BIAS

Editor,

In honor of the late Jim Shields, a dedicated community advocate who championed government accountability to public will, we echo both that sentiment and his concerns regarding the ineffective legalization of cannabis cultivation in Mendocino County.

Our recent observations from the September 9, 2025 Board of Supervisors meeting reveal troubling developments.

Discussions on increased “Low Intensity Camping” (Hipcamps) in inland areas saw Supervisor Mulheren advocate for lot sizes as small as RR1 acres, potentially impacting more heavily populated residential zones like Redwood Valley and areas near Ukiah.

Simultaneously, cannabis industry-benefiting changes to the facilities ordinance were proposed, revealing clear biases among at least two present Supervisors.

We from Redwood Valley expressed opposition due to a lack of public understanding and input on these complex proposals, which include potential on-site cannabis sales, removal of dwelling unit requirements, and streamlined security.

Mendocino County has the right to be more restrictive than state standards and we have grave concerns over the possibility of combining Hipcamps with cannabis grow sites near residential areas.

Our prior efforts to establish a Cannabis Exclusion Zone in Redwood Valley, denied despite concerns over quality of life and property values, highlight our ongoing concerns.

The prospect of on-site sales, especially to minors, and commercial camping near homes raises new safety and enforcement issues, with the County’s lack of budget for enforcement a significant worry.

Implementation of these changes may also prompt new lawsuits against the County for abuse of private property easements.

Many of our stated concerns appeared to go unheeded.

Supervisor responses following public comment demonstrated perceived favoritism towards the cannabis industry, including a local marijuana alliance president being allowed extra speaking time while a statement from an absent citizen was denied.

The meeting concluded bizarrely with admissions of no county funds for implementation, a request for growers to list their priorities, and a suggestion by Supervisor Williams, and then reiterated by Supervisor Haschak, for grower contributions to fund such proposals — leaving us feeling unheard and suspecting undue influence on Supervisors’ votes.

Finally, we found Supervisor Haschak’s attempt at humor at Redwood Valley’s expense insensitive, reinforcing a perceived lack of respect for ALL property owners’ rights.

We urge concerned Inland Mendocino County residents to review the meeting video (mendocino.legistar.com, Sept. 9, 2025, items 4h and 4i).

Rest in Peace, Jim Shields; your voice is profoundly missed.

Respectfully, Frances Owen, Chris Boyd, Pien Ris-Yarbrough, on behalf of Concerned Redwood Valley Citizens (CRVCs)

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THE GREY WHALE INN in Fort Bragg is set for a revival. A local family plans to restore the historic building and reopen it as both an inn and a community gathering space.

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ARENA THEATER PIZZA PARTY FUNDRAISER TUES OCT 7, 4 - 7PM AT OZ FARM

This Tuesday, October 7, from 4-7 PM, at Oz Farm is the Arena Theater’s Autumnal Pizza Party, an afternoon of delicious food, live music, dancing, and community joy—all in support of our beloved local treasure, the Arena Theater.

Start the afternoon with a guided tour of the stunning Oz Farm grounds. Then dig into a spread of mouthwatering appetizers and wood-fired pizzas from the legendary Uneda Eat Pizza & Catering, including options for gluten-free and vegan eaters, plus a farm-fresh green salad tossed in vinaigrette. Rob & Jill Hunter and the Uneda crew will be serving up flavor all evening long!

Sip on craft beer from North Coast Brewing Co, a selection of fine red, white, and rose wines, Oz Farm cider, and tasty non-alcoholic options. As the sun sets, warm up with a slice of Oz Farm’s signature apple pie (with whipped cream, of course!) alongside hot coffee and tea.

Local groove-makers The Slackers—featuring Zorbic on guitar, James Hayes on bass, Jesse Hanna on drums, and Katrina Coffman on flute and baritone sax—will set the vibe with surf funk, groovy jazz, and “sloth rock.” Bring your dancing shoes!

Tickets are $100 and all proceeds benefit Arena Theater’s programming and preservation. That’s a night of great food, live music, local libations, and apple pie—all for a great cause.

On-site raffle for a luxurious 2-night getaway at the Elk Cove Inn & Spa, including champagne breakfasts and a gourmet dinner for two (alcohol not included).

Raffle tickets are $20 each or 6 for $100. Prize redeemable Nov 2025-April 2026 (excluding holidays).

Tickets and full event details at www.arenatheater or or call 707-882-3272 (Mon 10 AM-4 PM). To pay by check, drop it off at the theater kiosk on Sunday before the event when the theater is open (or at the office).

Eat, drink, dance, and support the arts—we can’t wait to celebrate with you under the redwoods!

Lisa, President of the Arena Theater Board of Directors

707-882-2452

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THE NEXT BOOTH OVER

by Tommy Wayne Kramer

“This is it?”

“Ain’t that whatcha asked for? A cheese sandwich?

“Yeah, but I mean this?”

“Y’expect some pimentos mixed in? It’s what it is. It’s like a bowl of Cheerios, y’know? You ask for Cheerios and then you wonder why it ain’t waffles.”

“Kinda dry.”

“So put some ketchup on it. Here.” (Slides upside-down bottle of ketchup over.)

“Ketchup on cheese? Nah I don’t think that goes. That don’t work.”

(Pal turns, stares but not long.)

“So what, you’re like Martha Stewart or somebody all of a sudden? What’s next, like ya can’t put salt on french fries? No wait, better yet: you okay puttin’ ketchup on french fries?”

“Alright already. I just said it was a little plain, just a plain cheese sandwich. A little dry. Now it’s about french fries and ketchup which I gotta say sounds a lot better than this.”

“This the first time you been in a restaurant? Ask for a sandwich and you don’t want a sandwich? So order the french fries. Order double fries, double ketchup. It ain’t like ya can’t afford it. Or I tell ya what: Send this back and ask for grilled cheese instead. You know, you’re gonna starve if you don’t quit grumblin’ and bein’ all picky-choosey. They prob’ly close at midnight, you’ll still be lookin’ at the menu wonderin’ what goes good with ketchup.”

“Jeez. Who said I said anything about ketchup in the first place? I don’t even like the stuff, ’cept maybe on fries. Well, definitely on fries.”

“Order the fries, OK? Tell ya what though you better tell her you want ’em to go, know that I’m sayin’?”

(Taps finger on face of his watch.)

“Why don’t we just go to McDonald’s or whatever?”

“That’s fast food, McDonalds, Burger King all them fast food places ain’t good for your health. Calories and all that.”

“Says the fat guy sittin’ here with a double cheeseburger. Calories? That there ain’t exactly a methamphetamine milkshake neither. What’s for dessert, slim? Cheesecake a la mode with a scoop of ice cream on top? Some Reddi Whip?”

“I’ll give ya Reddi Whip.”

“You don’t even know what Reddi Whip is. Before your time. Be surprised you know what a Pontiac is or a toaster oven.”

“Had a Pontiac when you had a stinkin’ Yugo. Had a six with a turbo. Yugo be lucky to have doors.”

“Drove that Yugo when I worked over at J&L. Good mileage and I sold it for more than I paid.”

“Y’musta only worked at J&L about two days, else you lived next door to it. Only way a Yugo lasts more than a month is up on blocks in somebody’s back yard. I wouldn’t trade you that Pontiac for a truckload of Yugos.”

“Be a good trade. Drive a different Yugo every day of the week.”

“Right. You’d have the truck too, to haul away all those broken down Yugos.”

“Let’s get goin’ already.”

“Yeah. Grab the check wouldja?”

“The check? Me? I didn’t even have nothin’ to eat.”

(Pushes aside plate with sandwich.)

“Who’s fault’s that? Put it in your pocket for later. Might get hungry. And I bet that’s a good sandwich. Looks good. Like good home cookin’ y’ask me.”

“Kinda does. My mom was a lousy cook. This’d be dinner. Couple slices of extra bread on the side.”

“Bread was like some kind of side dish with a sandwich? You gotta be kidding.”

“Maybe my mother was kidding. Never thought of that. Mom, the Great Comedian of Evelyn Avenue! Tune in tomorrow night for more laughs! Mac ‘n’ Cheese with mashed potatoes and macaroni salad on the side.”

“That’s what you guys had to eat for dinner?”

“Who said ‘eat’? She just put it on the table. We didn’t have to eat nothing.”

(They slide out of the booth, head for the door.)

“Ya know I will say the Yugos had lousy heaters. Winter in Cleveland? You start the engine, turn on the heater, head to work, and unless your job was in Toledo, Yugo’d still be cold when you got there.”

(Door closes.)

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ANOTHER SUCCESSFUL FABRIC FAIR

Terry Sites and I were vendors and it was a huge success.

Susan Bridge-Mount, Boonville

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THE HAZEL DENNISON STORY

Hazel Packard Dennison’s story is deeply intertwined with the history of Mendocino and one of its most prominent families. Born on April 5, 1897, Hazel was the youngest of the eight children of Charles Oscar and Hannah Cline Packard. She grew up in the family’s home on the northeast corner of Kasten and Little Lake Streets. Her father owned a thriving drugstore on Main Street, on the property where Heavenly Soles is located today. The drugstore building was demolished in 1957.

Charles Oscar Packard had arrived in Mendocino in 1869 from Maine. He first worked as a carpenter before apprenticing with Dr. William McCornack to learn the pharmacy trade. By 1877, he and his brother Justin had purchased R.H. Witherell’s drug and jewelry business, establishing their own store that became a fixture of Mendocino life for more than 35 years. Hazel grew up in this well-respected family.

After her father’s death in 1917, Hazel moved with her mother and sister Myrtle to Santa Rosa, and later to San Francisco. There, she worked as a bookkeeper and as a furniture manufacturers’ representative for about forty years at the Furniture Mart. In 1921, she married Earl M. Dennison; the couple had no children. Hazel lived many decades in San Francisco before relocating to Oregon, where she spent ten years, and eventually moved to Marin County. Though she lived much of her adult life away from Mendocino, she maintained strong ties to her hometown. She corresponded regularly with Dorothy Bear and Beth Stebbins, co-founders of the Kelley House Museum, sharing family stories and historical details that enriched the community archives.

One of the most beloved traditions associated with Hazel was her annual return to Mendocino at Christmastime. From her home in Portland, Oregon, she would drive down the coast to visit old friends in Mendocino, relatives in Santa Rosa, and dear companions in San Francisco, including former mayor Elmer Robinson, who had once delivered papers for her father. In 1978, Jean McNamara, then owner of the Packard house, invited Hazel to spend the holidays in the house where she was born. She was welcomed home on Christmas Eve with a festive eggnog party held in the room where the family’s Christmas tree had always stood.

Hazel also made lasting contributions to the preservation of Mendocino’s history. She donated beautifully framed photographs of her family and the Packard store interior to the Kelley House, along with her father’s Poison Register, a rare and fascinating artifact that remains a highlight of the museum’s collection. Her letters to Dorothy and Beth offered unique insights, from which houses used acetylene gas lighting to how ice for ice cream had to be shipped in by boat. These recollections have helped historians and residents alike better understand daily life in early Mendocino.

Hazel Packard Dennison passed away on December 4, 1990, at the age of 93. Though she spent most of her life away from the Mendocino Coast, her annual Christmas visits, thoughtful gifts, and vivid memories kept her family’s legacy alive. Through her generosity and connection to her hometown, she preserved a piece of Mendocino’s history for all who came after.

(KelleyHouseMuseum.org)

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CATCH OF THE DAY, Sunday, October 5, 2025

ROBERT BEACH JR., 52, Willits. DUI-any drug, controlled substance, paraphernalia.

KEVIN BECKMAN, 54, Lucerne/Ukiah. Parole violation.

ANDRU CAMPBELL, 26, Ukiah. DUI.

GREG HOLMES, 67, Ukiah. Trespassing.

CHRISTOPHER KOHRHUMMEL, 41, Westport. Assault with deadly weapon not a gun, domestic battery, vandalism.

EDUARDO LOPEZ-CABRERA, 27, Ukiah. DUI.

JACOB MARIZETTE-PETERSEN, 26, Ukiah. DUI.

HEATHER MARSH-HAAS, 35, Ukiah. Controlled substance, parole violation.

ELLE MARTEENY, 46, Ukiah. Petty theft with two or more priors, failure to appear, probation revocation.

MARSHALL MAX, 19, Redwood Valley. More than an ounce of pot.

JOSHUA RICKERT, 39, Lower Lake/Ukiah. Domestic abuse.

ROLANDO RUIZ, 37, Ukiah. Controlled substance with two or more priors.

JUSTIN WILLIAMSON, 43, Ukiah. Under influence, failure to appear, probation revocation.

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TO HELP FAMILIES…

Editor:

The U.S. Department of Agriculture decided to end its annual food insecurity survey. This survey documents real families’ struggles to put food on the table. Just as deep cuts to anti-poverty programs take effect, the administration is sending a clear signal that they want to hide poverty rather than solve it. And leaders in Congress are not helping.

In addition to pushing us to another costly government shutdown that is disrupting services for millions, they continue to attack programs that make a difference. Recent census data shows that the child tax credit, coupled with the earned income tax credit, kept 6.8 million people out of poverty last year. SNAP kept 3.6 million people out. Yet, the Big Beautiful Bill takes the child tax credit and SNAP away from millions of hardworking families, trapping them in poverty.

Good policy needs good data to back it up, and good leaders to make it happen. I urge the president to work with both parties in Congress to pass a proper budget that repeals the harmful Big Beautiful Bill cuts and prioritizes investments in anti-poverty programs.

Marjorie Xavier

Santa Rosa

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BILL PROTECTING SHASTA AND SCOTT RIVER SALMON IS SIGNED, FIRST VIDEO TAKEN OF SALMON ABOVE KENO DAM

by Dan Bacher

Commercial salmon fishing on California’s ocean waters has been closed for the past three years, while only a very limited recreational salmon season has been allowed on the ocean and three Central Valley rivers this year, due to the collapse of the Sacramento River and Klamath River fall-run Chinook salmon populations.

However, there is some very welcome news regarding the Klamath River, where the removal of four dams was completed one year ago. I spent many hours fishing the Klamath River and its largest tributary, the Trinity River, for salmon and steelhead before the four Klamath dams were removed. In fact, I experienced my best two days ever of salmon fishing anywhere on the Klamath River in September of 2012 and on the Trinity in September of 1986.

First, on last Friday, Native American Day in California, Governor Gavin Newsom signed California AB 263.

This bill, introduced by Assemblymember Chris Rogers on behalf of the Karuk Tribe, Yurok Tribe and California Coastkeeper Alliance, extends emergency water regulations for two key Klamath River tributaries, the Scott and Shasta Rivers, until January 1, 2031, or until permanent rules are adopted by the State, to protect struggling salmon populations.…

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2025/10/2/2346583/-Bill-protecting-Shasta-Scott-River-salmon-is-signed-first-video-taken-of-salmon-above-Keno-Dam

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LAKE COUNTY'S ANTIFOCACCIA FRACAS MAKES SOUTH PARK

Editor,

A few days ago I dropped a Lake County weirdness report about one of our few real restauranteurs taking heat for some “anti-Charlie-Kirk” social media post. I’ve since learned that, allegedly, the community condemnation was earned by posting a musical rendition of “Hey, Nice Shot.” (A common compliment in redneck country.)

On Saturday, our county made international notoriety thanks to Trey Parker and Matt Stone. I feel better already.

Betsy Cawn

Upper Lake

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CRUNCH TIME IN AMERICA

Gonna take us all
Together to get through this
Or none of us will

Different religion?  Different vision?  Different language?  Skin color?  Accent?  Attitude?  Politics?  Are you a citizen?  Or just off the boat?  Native American?  Or Mayflower pedigreed?  Just about to be a citizen, not quite legal?  Got a different way of talking?  Way of walking?  MAGA?  Radical?  Far-out liberal?  What sex are you?  What do you want to be?  Political party?  Are you rich?  Middle-class?  Poor?  City dweller?  Rural folk?  Capitalist corporate investor?  Working stiff?  Welfare recipient?  American League or National?  Still just minor league?  Or at the top of your game?  Wrong tattoo?  Earring in your nose?  (Ouch!)  Wrong colors?  Different look?  Different sounding name?  Or laugh?  Could you be an alien?  Or are you obviously a Golden Son of the Golden West?  Don’t matter.  We’ve all got to get through this.  Together.  Or none of us will.

So we gotta help each other out, help even those we think we don’t like.  We could, might, even get to like ‘em, I kinda bet we will, but anyway we got to help ‘em.  And, like us or not, they got to help us too.  “Cause that’s the deal, see?  That’s the deal we made.  We all count.  We all matter.  We all have agency.  We all get a real chance to live, to be happy, to be thoughtful, to be free, to succeed.

We all have all this or none of us has any of it.

In America.

If this be woke, make the most of it.

— Jim Luther

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THE CALIFORNIA HARDWARE STORE THAT MAKES CHAINS FEEL SOULLESS

Pierson Building Center in Eureka reflects the builder's spirit of Northern California

by Matt LaFever

Modern-day Eureka is forged from a rugged logging and mining past, perched on the edge of the largest protected bay on the West Coast between San Francisco and Puget Sound. Its geography made it a vital port in the city’s rise, a gateway for redwood, gold and goods flowing through Northern California. Today, the seat of Humboldt County is home to just over 25,000 residents, but for many travelers, it’s often a drive-thru — its western edge carved by Highway 101, lined with chain hotels, familiar food franchises, a concrete-block courthouse, the backside of a historic downtown and a fading shopping mall.

Appearing amid the ordinary blocks, the essence of Eureka lives on through an unmistakable roadside landmark that has become a source of community pride. A three-story replica of a Vaughan claw hammer materializes along 101’s western edge. The metal head gleams against the matte finish of its hickory handle, eucalyptus shadows shifting across the installation. This giant hammer marks the entrance to Pierson Building Center, a hardware store that embodies the do-it-yourself camaraderie that binds the region and whose namesake built thousands of nearby homes.

Bill Pierson — son of Ernest, known to most as Ernie — now helms the store. He described his dad as “truly an entrepreneur,” who laid the foundation, positioning his company as one of the region’s most prolific homebuilders. Bill studied art, but it was his vision that gave Eureka its most unusual landmark. What began as “a really cool sign” became “as close … to an icon as the store would ever have.”

‘We’ve built the equivalent of a town’

Ernie Pierson was shaped by America’s Great Depression. From a young age, he hustled his way forward selling coffee door-to-door. A teenaged Ernie even struck a deal with Humboldt County’s most powerful lumber baron, William Carson, for access to a freshwater spring — the start of a bottling company that delivered water across Eureka.

A brief stint in Humboldt State University’s pre-law program ended, as Bill told it, when Ernie realized, “If I continue this idea of being an attorney, I’ll spend all the rest of my life indoors.” Instead, he apprenticed with a crew of Scandinavian carpenters to learn the trade. By 1933, he built his first house in Eureka, marking the first of what would be known as the area’s Pierson Homes.

Pierson’s company brought affordable, high-quality housing to the wave of GIs returning from World War II. Standardized, partially prefabricated components allowed crews to “build a complete two-bedroom home in six days,” Bill said. More than 2,000 of these homes still stand across Humboldt County. One ad campaign captured the scale: “We’ve built the equivalent of a town.”

Ernie soon expanded into commercial development, building the Eureka Mall — now home to stores like WinCo Foods and Michaels — and reshaping McKinleyville’s commercial center 13 miles north. There, he and a colleague left another California curiosity still standing today: a 160-foot totem pole carved from a single redwood tree, long promoted as the “World’s Tallest Totem Pole.”

By the 1960s, Ernie realized he could cut costs by running his own supply chain. “He decided that if he started a store himself, he could start buying things wholesale,” Bill said. Pierson Building Center opened in 1962.

Ernie stocked it with only “the best materials” and designed it so “the customer doesn’t have to go to three or four different stores.” At a time when home centers like Lowe’s and Home Depot didn’t exist, Pierson’s became a one-stop shop for lumber, hardware, paint and more.

The artist takes the helm

Bill, however, followed his own path. An artist and teacher, he hadn’t intended to lead the family business. He swept floors and worked summers as a carpenter’s helper, but when the time came in 1980 to join the family business, they discussed it over a Coors beer on a Friday afternoon. Knowing his father was “totally hands-on” and “a micromanager,” Bill set boundaries: “If I’m going to do this, you’re going to have to let me do what I want” for the first six months.” Ernie agreed, and Bill set to work reshaping the store.

His first project was a nursery that transformed Pierson’s into more than a hardware store. Bill installed a koi pond and created what he calls “a very park-like atmosphere.” Customers still wander beneath skylit hanging baskets and climbing plants, explore a humid tropical house for exotics, browse an extensive cactus garden and pass statues and fountains where gargoyles, Buddhas, cherubs and gnomes keep watch.

The building itself is the most prominent property along this stretch of Highway 101. Its assemblage of peaked roofs is painted with murals across the front, rear and side facades, all depicting workers actively building the store itself. Faux roofs perch atop the real ones, giving the impression the building is perpetually under construction.

Inside, bold neon signs mark every department, impossible to miss. In one section, a flashing hammer glows in perpetual swing beside the word “Hardware.” The signs pile up, competing for attention in a jumble that somehow works — chaotic from one angle, perfectly clear from another.

Even though Bill never intended to inherit the business, his artistic touch elevated Pierson’s into a destination. The store’s hammer sign, once a flat two-dimensional shape, became his pièce de résistance. Bill replaced it with a precise three-dimensional replica of a Vaughan 16-ounce curved claw hammer, built from solid wood and brushed aluminum. At 26 feet tall, the hammer is exactly in proportion to the original and striking in presence.

Beyond the roadside spectacle, Pierson’s exudes a hard-to-define but palpable atmosphere, one of genuine welcome, knowledge shared and effortless small talk. In contrast to the cavernous anonymity of big-box stores, Pierson’s feels almost calm. Employees know their products. Customers linger. The experience is as valued as the purchase.

Since the beginning, Bill said his father believed, “We don’t just sell products, we help people.” To reinforce that ethos, Ernie banned commissions. “He didn’t want the people that worked at the store to … actively sell,” Bill explained. “What he just wanted them to do was help people.” That philosophy has endured for decades, with generations of families working at the store, the sons and grandsons of carpenters passing on their knowledge.

‘The spirit’ of the county

Pierson’s story is inseparable from Humboldt County itself. Geography — the “Redwood Curtain” — has kept many corporate giants out, while local shoppers have kept businesses like Pierson’s alive. Across the county, towns have gone a step further, passing ordinances that cap, and in some cases flat-out ban, the arrival of big-box chains. The region’s economy, however, has shifted dramatically. Logging jobs vanished after environmental regulations, and the once-lucrative cannabis industry has plummeted since legalization. Bill describes today’s economy as “very, very slow-moving,” with many residents holding off on spending amid uncertainty.

Still, Pierson’s remains a hub, mirroring the region’s booms and busts. During the early COVID-19 period, the nursery flourished as people planted gardens and grew vegetables for the first time.

Every winter, the hammer out front becomes the centerpiece of a holiday tradition. Staff wrap the 26-foot statue in tens of thousands of Christmas lights, drawing some families who make annual trips to see it sparkle. Inside, the garden shop transforms into the region’s largest holiday store and its own Etsy shop, showcasing crafts and gifts from regional craftsmen. For the community, the hammer is more than a roadside oddity — it’s a beacon of resilience and tradition, glowing with what Bill calls “the spirit of Humboldt County.”

(SFGate.com)

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A DAY AT SFO WITHOUT FLYING

by Randy Diamond

On a listless Saturday in August, I did something at San Francisco International Airport that’s an option at plenty of its contemporaries across the country but not yet available for the Bay Area’s central airport: I spent the better part of an afternoon strolling the terminals and enjoying the concessions without boarding a flight.

About a dozen airports in the U.S. have a visitor pass program — including Nashville, Seattle and Detroit — but SFO is still working on rolling out its version. Airport Director Mike Nakornkhet told SFGATE that SFO has so many unique features that he wants non-travelers to enjoy them too, but the airport is still working out logistics.

“We have to be cautious of passenger flow during peak times, as well as comply with TSA regulations,” he said.

Although there is no start date for the visitor program, it doesn’t mean you can’t already spend a day at SFO without flying.

To pass through TSA, I bought a cheap airline ticket with the intention of canceling it. A one-way flight to Los Angeles was under $100, and depending on airline guidelines, if you notify the carrier at least 30 minutes before boarding that you can’t take the flight, you’ll receive a credit valid for up to a year.

Spending an afternoon — or any extra time, for that matter — at the airport might appear ludicrous to some travelers but this isn’t LAX or a dinky regional airfield. SFO often ranks among the best in the country, not only for the routes it serves, but for its amenities and ambiance.

The airport’s terminals win awards for their passenger experience, multiple museums enliven the dead time, and a few of the culinary concessions even offer forgotten tastes of old San Francisco. One of my favorite neighborhood burger spots closed in 2020, but its last remaining outlet thrives in Terminal 2.

If there was ever an airport in California worth spending a day without flying, where else would a travel reporter choose than SFO?

Pre-security

All of SFO is connected by walkways post-security, so once you’re inside, you can access the entire airport. However, even before passing through TSA, the airport offers a couple of worthwhile amenities available to anyone with a Clipper card for BART.

If you can find it, the video arts screening room is a surprisingly enjoyable experience. The screening room is located along the back wall between Gates G and A — the two departure wings of the International Terminal.

While you won’t find plush theater seating, the wooden benches are fine for the short program, which consists of four films shown on a 160-inch digital screen. The total runtime is under 30 minutes.

The monthly rotating program includes documentaries, narratives, experimental films and various styles of animation. The screening room is open daily from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m.

Nearby, the SFO Museum displayed a collection of vintage airline travel posters from the 1930s through the 1980s. These romanticized depictions of travel destinations showcase the glamour and fantasy of air travel, often featuring airline logos and historic typography.

The current exhibit, focusing on seven prominent artists, was sourced from the museum’s collection of 1,300 posters. It runs through February 2027.

An exhibit closing in October looks at Virgin America, the defunct Bay Area-based airline, known for its hip purple lighting and upbeat vibe. It operated from 2007 until its acquisition by Alaska Airlines in 2016.

For serious aviation buffs, the museum’s research library (by appointment only) contains over 8,000 books, 600 periodicals and 109,000 archival objects related to aeronautics from the 18th century to the present.

Pre-security in Harvey Milk Terminal 1, a photo exhibit chronicles the life of the groundbreaking civil rights leader and San Francisco supervisor. Terminal 1, which opened its final phase in 2024, is named in his honor.

The exhibit details how Milk — nicknamed the “Mayor of Castro Street” — became California’s first openly gay elected official. His time in office was cut tragically short. A year after his 1977 election, former Supervisor Dan White assassinated Milk and Mayor George Moscone in City Hall. The exhibit includes 100 large-format photographs, many with his partner Scott Smith, capturing both Milk’s public advocacy and personal life.

Another pre-security feature of the airport is the Sky Terrace at Terminal 2. The landscaped seating area on the roof is open to the general public on Friday through Monday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.

SkyTerrace is located where four runways converge, so expect a lot of action. There is seating for almost 300 people, and visitors have to go through a security check, but liquids are permitted — so you can bring in coffee.

Terminal 2

I ventured past security at Terminal 2 and then swiftly canceled my flight, saving the credits for another day. Strolling wistfully, it dawned on me how SFO is perhaps the best mall day in San Francisco, but I had a long-lost lunch I was hungry to revisit.

Burger Joint shuttered after 25 years in the Mission District, but that doesn’t mean it’s gone forever. You just have to know where to look in SFO.

Like the original, Burger Joint is a true diner experience. Counter stools face directly into the kitchen, allowing patrons to watch their burgers be flipped right in front of them. I call it an honest burger: perfectly cooked juicy patty topped with crisp lettuce, butter pickle slices and tomato. But what really sets it apart is the flame-broiled taste.

Next was a visit to Brookstone, which used to be the highlight of any mall visit for its massage chairs, remote-controlled toys and specialty novelty items. Unfortunately, the chain went bankrupt in 2018 and closed all of its mall stores. But Brookstone still exists at the airport. In October 2019, Hudson purchased the right to operate Brookstone stores at airports.

The stores are still primarily stocked with items aimed to make travel more comfortable. I saw a wearable cooling fan that blows air directly onto your neck, a variety of portable massagers and a specialty wine suitcase designed to hold multiple bottles of wine.

The nearby Vino Volo’s common room is a fair substitute if you don’t have access to an airline club lounge. However, I typically go for the pizza, not the wine, since it’s a chain usually found in airports.

Terminal 3

Exiting Terminal 2, I entered an active construction zone. Much of Terminal 3 won’t reopen until 2029, if SFO meets the construction schedule, but there are colorful walkways installed to keep the stroll engaging, with recordings of the city playing through a speaker.

Terminal 3 houses some interesting restaurants that are holding on through the renovation. The San Francisco Giants Clubhouse restaurant is still open and those Gilroy fries are the same you taste in Oracle Park. I always opt for extra crispy fries.

Since I purchased a ticket for a domestic flight, I couldn’t access either of the international terminals but rounded back into the first terminal from a connector.

Terminal 1

San Francisco, home of many sporting greats, has no formal museum dedicated to the top sporting heroes, but between Terminal 1 and 2, is the Bay Area Sports Hall of Fame.

Sure, you can see the spikes and gloves of Joe DiMaggio and Willie Mays at the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, but the only tribute to local sports heroes is at the airport.

One oddity here is that some sports greats are missing. So while you’ll find bronze plaques for Joltin’ Joe and Buster Posey, the wall is incomplete.

For instance, Willie Mays and Bill Russell, the superstar basketball star from the University of San Francisco who went on to play for the Boston Celtics, are missing. It turns out the sports stars have the option of moving their plaques to a location of their choosing after several years at the airport. Mays is currently at Oracle Park, while Russell’s is at USF.

The 2025 new inductees — Joe Rudi, Alex Morgan and Eric Wright — are currently missing, and a spokesperson for the hall of fame did not return emails seeking comment.

Close by is another bygone taste of San Francisco. A remaining wing of the old Terminal 1 still stands and hearkens back to the 1960s. It’s where Delta customers board their flight, and there’s a special eatery in this corridor. Like Burger Joint, it’s a San Francisco restaurant that you can now only experience at SFO.

After 13 years in business, Farmerbrown closed its soul food joint in the Tenderloin in November 2018. But at SFO, owner Jay Foster had entered an agreement with a company specializing in airport restaurants.

Farmerbrown debuted just before the Tenderloin restaurant closed, and you can still get fried chicken and pulled pork sandwiches, at least until this old airport corridor is eventually renovated.

Traveling deeper into Terminal 1, perhaps the nicest airline terminal in the country, high ceilings with abundant natural light helped the airport wing win design and energy efficiency awards for its lighting, air conditioning and heating.

If you’re trying to get some work done, you might want to consider getting a day pass to one of the terminal’s airline clubs. American Airlines charges $79 and Alaska Airlines $65 for a day pass. It includes breakfast, lunch and dinner buffets, unlimited drinks and plenty of comfortable seating.

You must have a valid ticket on American or Alaska or a Oneworld airline partner.

The final highlight of the Harvey Milk Terminal is another bite of a former San Francisco, but the airport won’t hold this claim much longer.

Bourbon Steak from the celebrity chef Mike Mina closed at the Westin St. Francis in 2016, though a new version is slated to open in October. He’s teamed up with Steph Curry to reopen the steakhouse. In the meantime, there’s Bourbon Pub. While you can’t get steak at SFO, Mina’s signature hamburger is topped with caramelized onions, mushrooms, bacon smoked gouda and truffle aioli. Lined with televisions, the airport bar in Terminal 1 offers a haven for sports fans looking to catch the game before their flight.

Before taking BART into San Francisco, I wandered back to Terminal 2 for an all-beef hot dog at Burger Joint. I miss that place so much, and of all the places, my only chance to revisit the menu is at SFO.

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MOROCCO

by Michael Nolan

I flew to Madrid on Iberia and then Royal Air Maroc down to Rabat, the capital of Morocco.

Rabat is a regular looking city - easy and inexpensive - which I was eager to leave but able to enjoy more on my return. Let’s get Casablanca out of the way first. Casablanca is the name of a movie filmed in Los Angeles, California. Casablanca, Kingdom of Morocco, is a large commercial city which I passed through expeditiously.

I wanted to first experience Fez, the cultural capital. Flew up there on a balmy night and awoke to a brilliant morning. Experienced one of the best features of Morocco in an hour. A perfect fresh croissant and a bowl of cafe au lait on the hotel terrace and then around the corner a few steps into a thousand-year-old souk seething with vibrant selling and shopping in noisy Arabic. France colonized Morocco from 1912 until 1956. French is the second language. So from a Parisian breakfast to Medieval Arabia = Morocco. A splendid juxtaposition. Fez has an Islamic cultural vibe which developed far from the fundamentalism of the Arabian desert. More intellectual, more artistic and hedonistic. This feels like the Islam of Moorish Spain after 400 years in Europe. Gloriously tiled courtyards and fountains, graceful arched gates, tiny donkeys with burdens negotiating hilly crookedy streets, the stench in the leatherworker’s souk. The clanging and banging in the metalworker’s souk. And deep silence in the carpet showrooms. I felt safe and happy everywhere I wandered. I was hoping it would be like this.

Marrakesh: The song, the movies, the sound of it. You must. I found a long-distance shared taxi going south. A mid-size diesel Mercedes (the Moroccans buy them used from Europe at about 250,000km because they are the cheapest cars to operate). Driver and five passengers. This is a very inexpensive way to travel the 350 miles across mountains and desert in comfort and safety. And what a trip. Over the Tizi n’ tishka pass, stopping for p&t in primitive rocky villages and then down into the Sahara and Marrakesh rising out of the sand like a mirage.

I find inexpensive Hotel Gallia at the end of a narrow passageway. I am welcomed by Madame Galland, la proprietaire, into a Moroccan dream of a tiny French hotel. She gives me a room over the front entrance with an east-facing window. The walls are completely covered in ornamental tilework of geometric mosaics. Pierced metal hanging lamps. Small spotless white marble bathroom. A bed of artful drapery and luxurious pillows. I awake next morning to an etched-in-memory experience:

A loud low sonorous moaning from the mosque next door as dawn alerts the muezzin to sing the morning call to prayer. Then my eyes open - a few feet outside the window a cat is gracefully threading its’ way along the bisque crenelations of the mosque in soft rosy light. Funny what sticks isn’t it?

I go down into the lush tiled and fountained courtyard for a croissant and jam and tea. I’m so blown away by this place that I call Anne and beg her to come over here pronto. I really mean it. She thinks I’ve smoked too much hashish So out the door and into Marrakesh. In the long narrow passageway is a bakery/hamman to which women are carrying their bread dough to be baked in the dual-purpose communal fire. The fire heats the public baths which are at ground level and bakes the breads in the oven down below. The bread in Morocco is excellent- some white flour slightly anise flavored and some rustic brown breads. Keep walking and the passageway opens into the most spectacular place imaginable.

You are in a vast square in front of the Koutoubia, a huge, gorgeous brick- faced minaret. The square is called the Jama El f’na. It is teeming with thousands of traders, musicians, shoppers, magicians, food stalls, thieves, tourists, dancers, a camel market, story tellers. The Jama El f’na is the convergence of cultures - the Arabs come down from the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlas Mountains, the Berbers come out of the Sahara, the Negroes come up from Africa below the desert and travelers from everywhere come here to see the wonder of it. Marrakesh is as sensual as you can imagine. And it gets even better at night. Now add torches and smoky incense from a hundred sources, hawkers calling, roasting meats, African fragrances, a maze of cultural drums and hissing gas lights and you, delightfully overwhelmed, retreat for a moment for a glass of mint tea on a raised terrace from which you survey the whole astounding scene from another time and place.

Truly a world-class spectacle in a world-class city in a world-class country.

And that’s just the Square. The endless souks are also enchanting - the perfect place to get lost, which is a good thing, because before long you are lost.

But the Sahara beckoned. I find a shared taxi going 125 miles further south down to Ouarzazate. Now getting deeper into the desert seeing wild camels and longer emptiness. Nearing Ouarzazate there is a huge abandoned kasbah. I ask to get out and I go exploring. I can’t believe that this ancient complex earthen structure is so much preserved and so deserted. I wander through dim hallways, climb crumbling stairwells and look out over empty courtyards from harem windows, utterly alone in this spooky magic place. As it gets more gloomy after sunset, I walk to Ouarzazate a dusty desert town and a spartan room in a tiny inn - just right for the place and my mood. So glad I’ve done this. Outrageously exotic and safe.

And there is much more Morocco to experience. I take the train north to Casablanca, then on to Rabat and finally all the way up to the Mediterranean Sea and the Port of Tangier. Change to a southbound bus going down the Atlantic Coast to Asilah. This is a well-preserved, pretty, whitewashed and pastel blue beach town. A long way from Marrakesh. Delightful in a completely different way. Still Morocco, but another variety. I find a 5 Star hotel room with a balcony overlooking the ocean, employees in tuxes, fresh flowers en suite and a huge marble shower for $25, the most I paid anywhere. Empty in this off-season as was most of Asilah. One of the few places still serving food was a gas station with a couple of tables outside. I ordered the ubiquitous kefta tagine - spiced lamb meatballs in a rich red gravy with a poached egg on top. Best ever.

Next day I wanted to go further down the coast to the fishing port at Larache. Wanted to see working Morocco and get a fresh fish lunch. Got both. Larache has a central square that day occupied by a giant Santa Claus. Morocco is a long way from Arabia. Just before Larache was a place called Lixus. Now a ruin, it was first a Carthaginian and then a Roman town- a fishing port just as Larache is now. I wandered through the factory of stone tubs that were used for the processing of garum, a fermented fish sauce used as a condiment. It was the remains of a two-thousand-year-old town out in a field overlooking the sea. No gate, no sign. Just me.

Time to head home. The return flight was from Rabat. I had been admiring the djellabas - the outer garment worn by most men and women. The men ones were predictably somber browns and grays but the women’s - wow. All kinds of fabrics and colors. I was now on a mission to find six djellabas - each one chosen for each sister and each daughter and the finest for the Wife. There are dozens of djellaba stores in the women’s souk. I got busy - some were easy, some elusive. I searched late into the evening and reeled out of the souk happily exhausted holding a bundle of splendid garments.

And a food note: Rabat has a fishing port and I was wandering around at lunch time when I saw men in work clothes lining up at a smoky stand. So I got in line which turned out to be for freshly caught sardines gutted and thrown on a grill over an open fire to blacken briefly and then folded into a harissa-smeared flatbread. One of the best sandwiches I have ever eaten.

So Rabat was more fun than it looked that first night. Great shopping, memorable food. One night I’m looking for a restaurant I’ve read about and can’t find. I go into a shop and, as French is the second language of Morocco, I ask the shopkeeper, “Pardonnez moi Monsieur, Ou est Le Restaurant X?” He replies, in English, “Were you speaking French?” We both crack up.

I’m back in the feeling of it - Morocco is the perfect destination! Really exotic, mind blowing - but safe and approachable. And very inexpensive. I am in a radically different environment than Asia or Europe, let alone home, and I get to be in it without sacrifice. The food is terrific, the people are neutral-to-nice, the places are splendid!

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“I WOULD SAY that the angriest critiques I get from people about shows are when I'm drinking whatever convenient cold beer is available in a particular place, and not drinking the best beer out there. You know, I haven't made the effort to walk down the street 10 blocks to the microbrewery where they're making some f***ing Mumford and Sons IPA. People get all bent about it. But look, I like cold beer. And I like to have a good time. I don't like to talk about beer, honestly. I don't like to talk about wine. I like to drink beer. If you bring me a really good one, a good craft beer, I will enjoy it, and say so. But I'm not gonna analyze it.”

– Anthony Bourdain

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CAROL WEASE:

Propaganda is not free speech. It is not organic debate. It is intended to sell something. "Iraq has weapons of mass destruction." was not free speech. Donald Trump is a Russian asset is not free speech. Election interference in general is not free speech. Selling a harmful product to the public or making false claims about a product (like a vaccine or anything, really.) is not free speech. Lying under oath or on official documents, or while working for a federal agency, to a federal agency, to the population for the purpose of election interference or to criminally harm others is not free speech. Making up words to fit a narrative and censoring the general population who don't agree with that narrative and claiming that the lies you used to sell the narrative is free speech is exactly why we have laws about commercials or propaganda intended to sell things. We have laws that cover much of this. Changing the name of propaganda to free speech doesn't make it so. Propaganda is not news and it's not free speech.

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ON-LINE COMMENT OF THE DAY

State-run mental hospitals were mostly degrading storage bins for people whose minds were seriously malfunctioning. Or in some cases, places to stash inconvenient family members who stood in the way of inheritances. It only took two doctors to certify a person fit to be institutionalized; for well-connected relatives, the two could be rounded up in an afternoon.

A humane revulsion against the reality of abusive psychiatric hospitals was part of the motivation for shutting them down in the '70s and '80s. (There were other, less charitable reasons.) The trouble was, in our short-attention-span culture, few reformers thought about what would become of the poor ex-patients released into a world they couldn't cope with. At most it was thought they could be taken care of in "halfway houses," a high-maintenance and expensive solution that often fell short of being practical.

Yes, the lost souls presently inhabiting our streets, parks, and tent cities need to be re-institutionalized. But in settings far more enlightened than the Bedlams of our shameful past.

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DOING GOOD, NOT BEING NICE

To the Editor:

If I were to make a list of the main problems in today’s political discourse, calls for more civility would not be among them. Of course it’s possible to misunderstand or misuse the concept. But as Gandhi said, the true meaning of civility is the inner desire to do good to your opponent. Given the dominance of brutality and indecency in today’s politics, isn’t that an idea worth considering, especially because it’s so rare?

David Blankenhorn

New York

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LEFT/RIGHT PARADIGM, a reader writes:

I have to say that I think you’ve been fooled by the left-right paradigm. Have you heard about the Princeton Study that found that even if 80% of Americans want something, like national healthcare, better schools, better working and environmental conditions, congress will not act unless it aligns with their corporate donors wishes?

I am pretty far left regarding unions, healthcare, education, social services, etc, but all I see is the uni-party completely agreeing to give ever-increasing amounts of money to the military-industrial complex via the defense budget, while infrastructure falls apart, life expectancy falls, education fails, and homelessness increases.

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A CANADIAN’S LAMENT

To the Editor:

Dear Americans: I’m an old Canadian, born two days after Pearl Harbor in 1941. I have traveled extensively in your country; I’ve contemplated buying property there. In the last years of my career I was a partner in one of your most successful global consulting firms. I’ve always admired your spirit, your unfailing confidence, your sense of justice and fairness. I’ve long been a fan.

However, today I cannot believe what I’m hearing and seeing of the state of decline of your country. Your president seems to be determined to destroy everything that has made your country great. He has manipulated the Supreme Court, attacked the justice system, blackmailed the media, attacked health care and now coerced the military. He threatens your beautiful Constitution.

What I would like to know is: Where is your leadership? Is there no one left to lead the fight against the tyrant destroying America? The world is watching, and we are afraid.

Tony Grant

Toronto

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AUTUMN

1

What is sometimes called a
tongue of flame
or an arm extended burning
is only the long
red and orange branch of
a green maple
in early September reaching
into the greenest field
out of the green woods at the
edge of which the birch trees
appear a little tattered tired
of sustaining delicacy
all through the hot summer re-
minding everyone (in
our family) of a Russian
song a story
by Chekhov or my father

2

What is sometimes called a
tongue of flame
or an arm extended burning
is only the long
red and orange branch of
a green maple
in early September reaching
into the greenest field
out of the green woods at the
edge of which the birch trees
appear a little tattered tired
of sustaining delicacy
all through the hot summer re-
minding everyone (in
our family) of a Russian
song a story by
Chekhov or my father on
his own lawn standing
beside his own wood in
the United States of
America saying (in Russian)
this birch is a lovely
tree but among the others
somehow superficial

— Grace Paley (1991)

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RICHARD FEYNMAN once cracked the safes at Los Alamos that held the blueprints for the atomic bomb — not because he wanted the secrets, but because he couldn’t resist the puzzle.

In the middle of World War II, while other scientists worked under crushing secrecy to split the atom, Feynman amused himself by figuring out how to break into filing cabinets. He guessed that physicists — creatures of habit — used “obvious” combinations like mathematical constants or simple sequences. He was right. One after another, the safes clicked open. Inside: the very designs for weapons that would reshape history. Feynman laughed it off as mischief, but the military brass was not amused.

That prank summed up his life: an irreverent genius who treated the rules of the universe like toys waiting to be taken apart. Long before Los Alamos, Feynman was already on that path. At just 15, with no tutor, no internet, and only a stack of books, he devoured trigonometry, algebra, analytic geometry, calculus, even infinite series. He’d work late into the night in his bedroom in Far Rockaway, New York, scribbling equations while his parents slept. “I didn’t know it was supposed to be hard,” he later said. By the time he arrived at MIT, he was already solving problems ahead of the curriculum.

What made Feynman extraordinary wasn’t just brilliance — it was his refusal to take it too seriously. He played bongos in Brazilian nightclubs, sketched nude models, told dirty jokes in classrooms, and explained quantum mechanics with doodles and stories instead of dense jargon. Students adored him because he made physics feel alive, messy, human.

The safecracking at Los Alamos wasn’t just a prank — it was a metaphor. Feynman believed that most “locked doors” in life were illusions, barriers people obeyed because they assumed they were unbreakable. Whether it was mathematics, physics, or a combination lock, he pushed until it opened. Sometimes the result was world-changing science; sometimes it was just a belly laugh at a general’s expense.

Richard Feynman’s story is the story of a man who made genius look like play — and showed the world that curiosity, mischief, and irreverence could be as powerful as intelligence itself.

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“YOU KNOW WHAT the fellow said – in Italy, for 30 years under the Borgias, they had warfare, terror, murder and bloodshed, but they produced Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci and the Renaissance. In Switzerland, they had brotherly love, they had 500 years of democracy and peace – and what did that produce? The cuckoo clock.”

― Graham Greene, The Third Man

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THE BATTLE HYMN OF THE REPUBLIC

Mine eyes hath seen the glory of the coming of the Lord;
He is trampling out the vintage where the grapes of wrath are stored;
He hath loosed the fateful lightning of His terrible swift sword;
His truth is marching on.

[Chorus]
Glory! Glory! Hallelujah! Glory! Glory! Hallelujah!
Glory! Glory! Hallelujah! His truth is marching on.

I have seen Him in the watch fires of a hundred circling camps
They have builded Him an altar in the evening dews and damps;
I can read His righteous sentence by the dim and flaring lamps;
His day is marching on.

[Chorus]

I have read a fiery Gospel writ in burnished rows of steel;
“As ye deal with My contemners, so with you My grace shall deal”;
Let the Hero, born of woman, crush the serpent with His heel,
Since God is marching on.

[Chorus]

He has sounded forth the trumpet that shall never call retreat;
He is sifting out the hearts of men before His judgment seat;
Oh, be swift, my soul, to answer Him! be jubilant, my feet;
Our God is marching on.

[Chorus]

In the beauty of the lilies Christ was born across the sea,
With a glory in His bosom that transfigures you and me:
As He died to make men holy, let us die to make men free;
While God is marching on.

[Chorus]

He is coming like the glory of the morning on the wave,
He is wisdom to the mighty, He is honor to the brave;
So the world shall be His footstool, and the soul of wrong His slave,
Our God is marching on.

[Chorus]

— Julia Ward Howe (1861)

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"NO SOLDIER on either side gave a damn about the slaves—they were fighting for other reasons entirely in their minds"

— Shelby Foote

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LEAD STORIES, MONDAY'S NYT

Supreme Court Returns to Face Trump Tests of Presidential Power

Judge Again Blocks Guard Deployment as Trump Expands His Targets

Pritzker Says Federal Agents Are Trying to Make Chicago a ‘War Zone’

Both Parties Are Resigned to Deadlock as Shutdown Takes Hold

Rubio Says U.S. Wants Quick Deal to Bring Gaza Hostages Home

Forget Cowbells. Cows Wear High-Tech Collars Now.

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“I REALLY AM A PESSIMIST. I've always felt that fascism is a more natural governmental condition than democracy. Democracy is a grace. It's something essentially splendid because it's not at all routine or automatic. Fascism goes back to our infancy and childhood, where we were always told how to live. We were told, Yes, you may do this; no, you may not do that. So the secret of fascism is that it has this appeal to people whose later lives are not satisfactory.”

― Norman Mailer

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DEATH IS OUR BUSINESS

by Joshua Hammer

In December 2023 I received a series of alarming WhatsApp messages from a longtime colleague in Timbuktu, just north of the Niger River in central Mali. He told me that a company of Russian mercenaries had recently occupied the city. Armed men were swaggering through the streets and conducting a campaign of intimidation and violence against the Tuareg, the mostly nomadic ethnic group of which he is a member and that has waged rebellions against the government for decades. “They’re extorting money, setting fire to villages, making arbitrary arrests, and killing people,” he wrote. Thousands had fled Timbuktu and settlements in the bush for refugee camps in Mauritania to escape what he called “this pitiless militia.”

My colleague had prospered during the 2000s as a tour guide and translator. (I met him in 2006, while researching an article about the city’s medieval manuscript collections.) But over the past decade a jihadist occupation and the Tuareg uprisings had destroyed tourism and left him jobless and destitute. The French army and several thousand United Nations peacekeepers failed to bring stability to the region; Mali’s military regime parted ways with the French in 2022, expelled the blue helmets in 2023, and invited the Russians to take their place. “I will send you more information about what’s going on here, but I’ll have to delete the messages immediately,” he told me. The Russians were seizing phones and if they suspected you of sharing information with rebels, “you will be taken to their base at the airport, and your fate will be uncertain.”

The Russian mercenaries in Timbuktu are now known as the Africa Corps and are under the control of Russia’s Defense Ministry. Until recently, however, they went by a different name: the Wagner Group.

Co-created by Yevgeny Prigozhin, a charismatic ex-convict and former restaurateur, this group of privateers began establishing military bases across Africa in 2017, from Libya to Sudan to Mozambique to the Central African Republic. Operating largely off the world’s radar, they propped up dictators in some countries, backed a rebel army in another, massacred civilians, mythologized their exploits in Hollywood-style action movies, and in return for their services were rewarded with gold mines, oil fields, and other resources.

The Wagner Group’s expansion across Africa went together with its deployment in a higher-profile project: Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Prigozhin’s mercenaries aided Ukrainian separatists in the Donbas region beginning in 2014 and eight years later fought alongside Russian regular forces in Mariupol, Bakhmut, and other places that became synonymous with slaughter. Wagner’s reputation for savage frontline fighting, its video showing an execution by sledgehammer of a deserter, and its recruitment of prisoners from the Russian gulag to serve as cannon fodder made the group infamous and feared around the world. It all ended in suitably cinematic fashion: a rebellion, a military advance toward Moscow, an abject surrender, and Prigozhin’s death in an explosion on board his private jet in August 2023, which was almost universally regarded as an act of revenge by Vladimir Putin, his one-time sponsor.

Prigozhin’s rise from street criminal to billionaire was rooted in both character and circumstance. It owed much to his entrepreneurial energy, geopolitical savvy, personal charm, and flair for theatrical violence. And it dovetailed with Russia’s transformation into a rogue state with revanchist dreams and a determination to extend its reach — often by force —around the globe. The waning influence of Western democracies and the spread of autocratic rule in Africa also facilitated Wagner’s growth. Now, nearly two years after his failed uprising, three new books examine Prigozhin’s life and the legacy of his private army.

All of them follow his arc from juvenile delinquent to international operator to mutineer who organized an unprecedented challenge to Putin’s rule. Two of the authors regard Wagner as a criminal organization that has caused great suffering and operated with impunity. The third takes a more nuanced view, arguing that Wagner has sometimes been a stabilizing force in collapsed states and enjoyed some popularity in at least two countries where it did its bloody business.

(New York Review of Books)

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AT CASTLE BOTEREL

As I drive to the junction of lane and highway,
And the drizzle bedrenches the waggonette,
I look behind at the fading byway,
And see on its slope, now glistening wet,
Distinctly yet

Myself and a girlish form benighted
In dry March weather. We climb the road
Beside a chaise. We had just alighted
To ease the sturdy pony's load
When he sighed and slowed.

What we did as we climbed, and what we talked of
Matters not much, nor to what it led, -
Something that life will not be balked of
Without rude reason till hope is dead,
And feeling fled.

It filled but a minute. But was there ever
A time of such quality, since or before,
In that hill's story? To one mind never,
Though it has been climbed, foot-swift, foot-sore,
By thousands more.

Primaeval rocks form the road's steep border,
And much have they faced there, first and last,
Of the transitory in Earth's long order;
But what they record in colour and cast
Is - that we two passed.

And to me, though Time's unflinching rigour,
In mindless rote, has ruled from sight
The substance now, one phantom figure
Remains on the slope, as when that night
Saw us alight.

I look and see it there, shrinking, shrinking,
I look back at it amid the rain
For the very last time; for my sand is sinking,
And I shall traverse old love's domain
Never again.

— Thomas Hardy (1913)

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