Mendocino County Today: January 22, 2014

THE ANDERSON VALLEY SENIOR CENTER Crab Feed last week was a huge success, leavened you could say, with the most generous donation by Cousteaux Bakery of 40 loaves of bread. A second crab feed, The Valley's senior crab event organized by the indefatigable Gloria Ross, is coming right up on February 1, but we hear that it’s so popular that it’s already sold out.

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WHO COULD HAVE IMAGINED that endlessly sunny days, day-time temperatures in the 70s, could become ominous, oppressive even to those of us who assume rainy winters? We're writing lots about the drought because it is The Story for California. Every day brings new revelations of the drought's wide-ranging effects, from mid-winter fire warnings to Sierra bears so disoriented by the warm weather they can't hibernate, and are foraging for food in the same range land that firefighters worry could begin to burn out of season.

BEING A MENDO-CENTRIC publication, we assume our readers are as interested as we are in the drought's multiple effects. So far, those effects are most worrisome inland along the 101 corridor from Willits and its Brooktrails suburb to Redwood Valley. These communities are down to their last drop. Ukiah has so far settled for voluntary water cutbacks, as have water districts from Hopland to Point Arena to Gualala. If it doesn't rain until November, we'll all be living in a disaster area of little to no water for household use, and no water to fight the inevitable fires with.

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CALIFORNIA'S DROUGHT will be one of the extreme weather events that the American Meteorological Society will examine later this year to determine whether the cause is natural variability or human-caused climate change, the head of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s National Climatic Data Center said Tuesday. Agency Director Thomas Karl said federal officials have not yet linked the drought directly to climate change. “I’m sure there’s a way, but we haven’t done it yet,” Karl said. Karl made his comments during a conference call with reporters on findings by NOAA and NASA that 2013 tied with 2003 as the fourth-warmest year globally since record-keeping began in 1880. The American Meteorological Society’s study will be similar to one the group undertook of extreme weather events of 2012. In September, the Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society released a report, “Explaining Extreme Events of 2012 from a Climate Perspective,” finding that a Midwest drought was mainly due to natural variation in weather, but that climate change was a factor in US heat waves that spring and summer.

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I HAVE VIVID MEMORIES of the assassination of Martin Luther King. My daughter had just been born at Kaiser Hospital in San Francisco. Her delivery doctor was barefoot and wore a flower behind his ear. I remember feeling that I should probably check his credentials. I was driving a cab, writing bad poetry and working to overthrow the government for all the reasons King himself perfectly articulated — the insane war on Vietnam at the expense of home front spending. My brother had just gotten out of the federal penitentiary at Lompoc for refusing to register for the draft. He was the first guy in the state to refuse to register. Just as he was leaving prison, my cousin, sentenced out of Arizona, was just entering Lompoc. He was the first guy in Arizona to get prison time for refusing to register. That's us! A family of firsts! I was watching the news when the announcements that King had been shot began. Later that night, Yellow Cab Dispatch warned us to stay out of Hunter's Point and the Fillmore District because men were shooting at cab toplights. I tried to find confirmation that this was true but never did. No driver I knew had had it happen to him. It was a bad time generally in San Francisco with lots of street crime and hard drugs mowing down acres of flower children, hastening the “back-to-the-land” movement that formed the Mendocino County we see around us today, especially silly people in elected office. I had a wife and two children and no money. But cab driving, in the San Francisco of 1968, could pay the bills out of the cash it generated and I managed the slum apartment building we lived in at 925 Sacramento at the mouth of the Stockton Tunnel, perhaps the noisiest residential neighborhood in the world with horns honking and idiot shrieks emanating from the tunnel's echo chamber round-the-clock. We got a free apartment in return for my management, which consisted of doing absolutely nothing because rents were mailed directly to Coldwell Banker. The Nude Girl On A Swing was our immediate neighbor. She sailed out of the ceiling naked every night at a North Beach nightclub over a sea of upturned faces. Her act was a big draw. She was a junkie whose junkie boyfriend threatened to kill me one night when I stopped him from beating her up. The day after the King murder we, the “activists” of that place and time, gathered in a large room south of Market to organize a protest march. I took a stack of march leaflets up to Market Street where I was soon accosted by a man who screamed N-Lover at me and was so generally incensed I thought I was going to have to fight him. I'd known lots of racists, of course, but never any as unhinged as this guy, and I didn't travel in those circles anyway. I was there for a couple of hours, but he was the only negative response I got, but it was so intensely negative I've never forgotten it. You see all these memoirs by varsity hippies about how groovy SF was in the 60s you could get the impression that it really was a super cool place to live. It was and it wasn't. What it was was the precursor of the collapse to come, a time when the restraints came all the way off.

“A TRUE REVOLUTION of values will soon look uneasily on the glaring contrast of poverty and wealth. With righteous indignation, it will look across the seas and see individual capitalists of the West investing huge sums of money in Asia, Africa, and South America, only to take the profits out with no concern for the social betterment of the countries, and say, ‘This is not just.’… The Western arrogance of feeling that it has everything to teach others and nothing to learn from them is not just. A true revolution of values will lay hand on the world order and say of war, ‘This way of settling differences is not just.’ This business of burning human beings with napalm, of filling our nation’s homes with orphans and widows, of injecting poisonous drugs of hate into the veins of peoples normally humane, of sending men home from dark and bloody battlefields physically handicapped and psychologically deranged, cannot be reconciled with wisdom, justice, and love. A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual death.” (MLK, 1967)

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LETTER TO THE EDITOR:

Mendocino County Public Bank Coalition members, Robin,and Mary were derailed by Supervisor Pinches' responses to their education campaign in his office regarding the Charter and a public Bank. My answer to supervisor Pinches is:

Until Supervisor Pinches realizes how banks make new money when they make a deposit of a loan in a depositors account he will not realize the value of a Charter with the power to authorize a public bank.

If he had read chapter 2 in the "Public Banking Solution" book by Ellen Brown he would realize the truth about the fractional-reserve system of banking and how banks can loan out 90% of their deposits in their accounts using new money to loan out, thereby increasing the amount of money in circulation. He will be ready to see how Banks control the economy by making loans to depositors or with-holding loan making which squeezes the economy by not putting new money into circulation. And then he would realize what a Mendocino County Public Bank can do by using fractional reserve as other private banks do, but, only for the benefit of Mendocino County. The Bank of North Dakota, a publicly owned bank also uses fractional reserve system of banking. their economy did not suffer in the 2008 economic crisis. you may say it's because they have oil revenues, but Minnesota also has oil reserves and they suffered with higher unemployment becuse they don't have a Publicly owned Bank.

In addition as elected officials, Supervisors have the power to use eminent domain on securitized mortgages with lost chain-of-title, re valuate underwater loans, sell them back to capable owners at current market value, thus creating an income stream to the County Public Bank once it's established. With Eminent domain mortgage holders must prove they own the note, otherwise there's no one to whom market value must be paid for Eminent Domain.

A Public Bank can be capitalized with $20 million in County Rainy Day Funds which sit idle,and County Retirement Funds and/or School bonds.Each of these organizations may have a seat on the Public Bank Bank Board if they agree to capitalize the County Public Bank.

If the supervisors would go to www.tucradio.com and look for the Ellen Brown Presentation of her book "The Public bank Solution", they could be enlightened. Also visit www.mendocinotv.com, see the taped book event on Doug McKinty's show. Please urge your supervisors to put the Mendocino County Charter on the ballot.

Sincerely, Agnes Woolsey, Mendocino

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RANDOM THOUGHTS ON FOOTBALL & OTHER LUXURIES

by Zack Anderson

• The 49ers were outcoached against Seattle. Just like we were outcoached in the Super Bowl against the Ravens (e.g., first and goal on the five with time running out and what happened?). And just like we were out­coached against the New York Giants two years ago in the conference championship at home (e.g., letting the shaky Kyle Williams return punts even after the dinged-up Williams was diving all over the place. What hap­pened? Williams promptly fumbled the next punt, thereby kicking off another offseason of coulda, shoulda, wouldas.

• I love Jim Harbaugh as a coach. He’s an obsessive/compulsive nutjob who proudly wears $8 Walmart khakis. He says weird things. He froths at the mouth during the national anthem. He took a Niner team floun­dering under Mike Singletary to the NFC championship (see: Kyle Williams) in his first year. And his second and third years too. That’s not merely difficult, it’s historically difficult, as no other coach has ever done it.

• Frank Gore is done. It’s obvious to everyone. Kendall Hunter should have been given the ball after the first quarter. On one of Hunter’s two chances, he darted around the right side on a sweep, splitting two Seahawk defenders for a gain of eight yards. (A quick Niner back that’s not the QB? Is that even legal?) By the time lov­able, loyal Frank would have turned toward the edge, at least four Seahawks would have buried him.

• If Richard Sherman and Gray Davis aren’t the same person, then why has nobody ever seen them together?

• If Kaepernick doesn’t become a better pocket passer, we are doomed to thrilling, frustrating football for the foreseeable future. In other words, the dreaded four F’s.
• For all the hype and hoopla about the Walsh-like brilliance of the Niner offense, it actually feels pretty pedes­trian. We need to score more than two touchdowns a game.

• Yes, Kaep is an all-world runner, but it’s a passing league. The rules favor the offense.

• Headcheese is not a cheese.

•Would it hurt to try a screen pass to slow down the opposition’s rush? Have the people in Geneva in charge of conventions declared screen passes illegal?
• If Greg Roman is such a genius, why do we have so many delay of game penalties?

• On a crucial fourth and one in the second half, Kaep takes a delay of game penalty instead of calling one of our four timeouts left. This is the 77^th time we’ve mis­managed the clock over the past two years. If you caught your neighbor masturbating 77 times in your chicken coop, would you give him the benefit of the doubt? During the playoffs?

• Never drink out of a garden house.
• While pretty much useless on all accounts, the Chronicle’s website does have photos of 49er fans watching the big game. The first picture is of some SF bozo holding a tiny dog in a tiny Niner jersey in a huge bar packed with my so-called fellow 49er fans. The picture makes me hate everything remotely associated with the team I’ve been following since the Dark Ages. Which is a welcome catharsis. It’s like finding out after a really existential make-out session that your Mormon fiancée is really a blacksmith named Chester who escaped from a Montana prison.

• As annoying as Seattle fans are, the photo is evidence that the Faithful deserved to lose. And proof that we will never win again.

• Attractive female cab drivers are a rare breed and should be cherished.
• If the officials don’t call a phony “blow to the head” foul on Ahmad Brooks for his clean hit on Saints QB Drew Brees’ fumble back in the regular season, we likely win in New Orleans. Which means we likely win the NFC West. And then host the championship game.

• NFL officials have been atrocious all season. On the bright side, it looks like most of the refs are as pumped up as NFL players.

• If you are a little shit Niner fan with a little shit dog in a little shit Niner sweater, you better get your ass out of town. Sure, on our last three possessions Kaep fumbled and threw two interceptions. But it’s your fault we lost, you little shit. And my pet coyotes love chicken-fried Chihuahua.

• Let’s test NFL officials for steroids, HGH and LSD. The more drugs found in their system, the more gold stars officials can wear on their hats.
• Obama's presidency has seen more people prosecuted for whistle blowing than all other U.S. presidents combined. Maybe a gig as NFL commissioner is next. Or as Putin’s special envoy to Chechnya.
• There are too many rules. Who cares about how many men are on the line of scrimmage? There are more rules for this barbaric game than there are for fracking, drilling for oil, and making eye contact with midgets.

• The guy in street clothes on the Niner sideline who hit the Seattle kill man pushed four yards out of bounds cheered me up. I bet he doesn’t have a tiny shit dog he dresses up in tiny shit sweaters to take to bars full of tiny shit people whose own loves are so empty and superfi­cial that it’s a revelation.

• If the goddamn Pope knows the Lord’s Prayer, then why can’t NFL refs know that running into a punter’s plant foot is an automatic 15-yard-penalty? Instead it’s a measly five yards, which forces us to punt. Which puts our defense back on the field. Which leads to Navarro Bowman’s heroic fumble-mugging. Which leads to him screaming so loudly when his ACL and MCL were torn that I had to leave the room.

• The techies are ruining San Francisco. Just like the Gold Rush ruined it in 1849. And Indian casinos before that. ¥¥

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WARRIOR LAND

By James Kunstler

Looking around America these days, if you can stand it, the sense of what it means to be a man has become a very shaky business. I was studying one particular tattooed moron, twenty-something, in the gym Saturday. He had on display a full sleeve-job of “tribal” skin décor in that curvy blade-like motif that invokes a general idea of ninja swordplay. Perhaps he really was a dangerous dude, a Navy Seal just back from slitting Taliban throats in Nangarhar. More likely, he was a fork-lift operator in the local Ace Hardware distribution center. He seemed to resent my attention — but then why had he taken so many pains to adorn himself?

Is it not interesting that so many males in America affect to be warriors? What does this tell us about the psychological dimensions of manhood in this country? If I have to guess, I’d venture that many people of the male persuasion hereabouts can’t imagine any other way of being a man — other than as a fine-tuned bringer-of-death, preferably some species of cyborg, with “techno” bells and whistles. This is obvious fodder from the many Transformer and Robocop movies, the dream of becoming a most excellent killing machine.

This ethos was on hyperwarp display in Sunday’s NFL football playoffs, football being, after all, mock warfare with mock warriors. San Francisco quarterback Colin Kapernick’s arm tattoos were hard to decipher even on a large high-def flatscreen. At first I thought they were maps of suburban Milwaukee, or perhaps the full text of Jude the Obscure but it turns out (I looked it up) they record his ongoing life “narrative,” his triumphs and distinctions, his mom’s heart transplant, and his dealings with the fugitive deity known as Jesus Christ. Between scoring drives, Colin vamped on the sidelines in a red Cholo hat, one of those ball caps featuring an exquisitely flattened brim designed to make the wearer look like a homicidal clown — which is the favored motif of aspiring criminals abroad in the land nowadays. As Lon Chaney, the master of horror, once remarked apropos of his character creation technique, “There’s nothing funny about a clown in the moonlight.” The objective: to look as ridiculous as possible and yet give off a vibe of unpredictable danger and violence.

Colin was hardly the sole creature on the field adorned with ink. At times, the scrimmage looked like the recreation yard at the Washington State Penitentiary. But that brings us to another theme of contemporary American manhood having to do with the grand initiation rite of serving time in prison. There is a meme on the loose, especially among the hopeless idealists, that American jails are filled with “political prisoners.” This is just not so. Though our drug laws are certainly idiotic, cruel, and pointless, I believe sincerely that the prison system is filled with psychopathic monsters. They may be creations of our monster-making culture, in all its depravity and pernicious falsity, but they are monsters nonetheless.

But the romance of monsterdom is yet another theme in the current caboodle of American manhood. Boys are in love with monsters, and want to be them, or like them, or with them, and nowadays many succeed at that. The indulgence in all these juvenile enthusiasms presents in the absence of any better models of a way to be. The time is not distant when a lot of things are going to shake loose in this land, and when that happens, there will be monsters amongst us everywhere: tattooed clowns in baby clothes with large muscles and weapons. Really, what are the chances that such people reared on dreams of triumphal violence will operate on the basis of kindness, generosity, and consideration of any future beyond the next fifteen minutes.

Let’s face it, the reason we do the things we do, and act the way we act, is because American manhood is in full failure mode, in full retreat from what used to be known as virtue. We wouldn’t know what this is anymore if it jumped up and bit us on the lips. I’m afraid it will take very stern leadership to reform all these current trends. When it comes around, it will look like Dolly Parton meets Hitler.

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BACTERIAL MENINGITIS CASE IN WILLITS

On Monday, January 20, 2014, Public Health Officials were notified that a 5-year old child from the Willits area was hospitalized with a diagnosis of meningococcal disease. Public Health nurses are currently contacting those thought to be in close contact with the child and providing them with information on symptoms and a preventative treatment.

Meningococcemia is caused by a bacteria called Neisseria meningitidis. The bacteria frequently lives in a person's upper respiratory tract without causing visible signs of illness. Meningococcemia is usually spread through close contact. The bacteria are present in the saliva and mucous of the one who has the disease and can be passed on to one who has direct contact with the oral or nasal excretions (coughing, sneezing or kissing) of the infected person.

However, the bacteria can only survive very briefly outside of the body so it is unlikely to be passed through the handling of objects. The incubation period of meningococcemia lasts from 2-10 days. The disease occurs mainly in children, but may also occur among adults, especially those in overcrowded spaces. Cases are usually contained among members of a household who have close contact with each other. Symptoms include irritability, fever, headache, sensitivity to light, altered consciousness and rash with red or purple spots on the abdomen and extremities.

A pre-exposure bacterial meningitis vaccine is available for persons from 11 years to 55 years of age from the Health and Human Services Agency Public Health by appointment only or you may contact your local physician or clinic. If you have questions regarding your exposure of meningitis contact Public Health Services at (707) 472-2600.

For more information see section on Meningococcemia on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention website.

http://www.cdc.gov/meningococcal/about/index.html

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MONDAY JANUARY 27, 2014 WALK IN FLU CLINIC IN WILLITS

Mendocino County HHSA Public Health will be holding an adult (19 years of age and older) walk-in flu vaccination clinic at 221 South Lenore Avenue, Willits (Willits Integrated Services Center of the Health and Human Services Agency) on Monday, January 27, 2014 from 10:00 am to 2:00pm. This walk-in clinic is open to the public, no appointment is necessary. A donation of $10.00 is suggested, however, you can still receive the flu shot with a donation of ANY amount (or none). This year’s influenza vaccine protects against the strains circulating in the state, including H1N1. An influenza vaccination is especially important for pregnant women and other people at higher risk for the flu. Once vaccinated, it takes approximately two weeks before you are fully protected against the flu.

For children and youth under 19 years of age, flu vaccination is available through the Public Health Branch Immunization Program by appointment only or through their primary care provider.

“Dr. Ron Chapman, director of the California Department of Public Health (CDPH) and state health officer, says while we are seeing an increase in flu activity in California, it is not an unexpected increase, nor is it too late to get vaccinated against the flu.” The California Department of Public Health has stated “influenza activity in California is beginning to show a steady increase and is now considered to be widespread”.

Symptoms of the flu include fever, cough, sore throat, runny or stuffy nose, body aches, headache and fatigue. Some people may have vomiting and diarrhea, though this is more common in children than adults. If you think you have the flu, please contact your physician or clinic.

The Health and Human Services Agency encourages everyone to be vaccinated and urges good health habits, including staying home when sick, covering coughs and sneezes, washing hands thoroughly with soap and water or using alcohol-based hand sanitizer and avoiding touching the eyes, nose and mouth. Do not go to work or send children to school while ill. If sick, stay home at least 24 hours after being free of fever (100° F [37.8°C]), or signs of a fever, without the use of fever-reducing medications like aspirin, Tylenol or Advil.

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COUNTY CRIME REPORT FOR THE WEEK JUST ENDED.

Vehicle Vandalism -- Police at 7:38 a.m. Saturday responded to the 900 block of North Oak Street for a report of burglary to a vehicle and broken windows.

Not Fireworks -- A caller in the 700 block of South Dora Street reported at 10:42 a.m. Sunday that two small children in a field were shooting off fireworks. Police determined it was not as reported, and that the children had model rockets.

Man Yelling -- A caller in the 1000 block of Low Gap Road reported at 2:11 p.m. Sunday that a man was yelling at people and acting suspicious. He left on request.

Man Peeing -- A caller in the 200 block of Observatory Avenue reported at 4:39 p.m. Sunday that a man was peeing by apartments in the area. Police cited him for city code violations and released him.

Patient Refusing To Leave -- A caller at Ukiah Valley Medical Center on Hospital Drive reported at 9:09 p.m. Sunday that a discharged patient was refusing to leave. Police cited a woman for interfering with a business.

Shots Fired -- A caller on Cindee Drive reported at 11:35 p.m. Sunday hearing three rapid-fire shots, possibly inside a home. Police did not find the source.

The following were compiled from reports prepared by the Ukiah Police Department regarding calls handled by the Fort Bragg Police Department.

Theft From Vehicle -- Police at 12:01 p.m. Sunday responded to the 1500 block of East Oak Street for a report of theft from a vehicle.

SHERIFF'S REPORTS

The following were compiled from reports prepared by the Mendocino County Sheriff's Office:

Vehicle Theft -- Jeffrey W. Carver, 30, of Willits, was arrested at 3:11 p.m. Friday on suspicion of vehicle theft and violating his probation terms, and booked at the county jail under $25,000 bail. The MCSO arrested him.

DUI -- Juan Acosta-Muro, 34, of Covelo, was arrested at 10:04 p.m. Saturday on suspicion of driving under the influence, driving with a blood-alcohol level greater than the legal limit, driving without a license, giving false identification to a police officer and illegal entry, and booked at the county jail. The California Highway Patrol arrested him.

DUI -- Christopher A. Reitnauer, 24, of Willits, was arrested at 1:49 a.m. Sunday on suspicion of driving under the influence and driving with a blood-alcohol level greater than the legal limit, and booked at the county jail under $15,000 bail. The MCSO arrested him.

Child Endangerment -- Michael J. Holmen, 31, of Willits, was arrested at 3:15 a.m. Sunday on suspicion of child abuse or endangerment and booked at the county jail under $25,000 bail. The MCSO arrested him.

DUI -- Mark A. Sala, 51, of Pittsburgh, was arrested at 7:54 a.m. Sunday on suspicion of driving under the influence, driving with a blood-alcohol level greater than the legal limit and resisting arrest, and booked at the county jail under $10,000 bail. The CHP arrested him.

DUI -- Guenther Biedermann, 54, of Aeryo Grande, was arrested at 4:26 p.m. Sunday on suspicion of driving under the influence, driving with a blood-alcohol level greater than the legal limit, driving with a license suspended for DUI and violating his probation terms, and booked at the county jail under $40,000 bail. The CHP arrested him.

DUI, Child Endangerment -- Jeremy W. Spence, 36, of Caspar, was arrested at 6:10 p.m. Sunday on suspicion of driving under the influence, driving with a blood-alcohol level greater than the legal limit and child abuse or endangerment, and booked at the county jail under $40,000 bail. The state Department of Parks and Recreation arrested him.

DUI, Vehicle Theft -- Shadrach Lamoureux, 32, of Laytonville, was arrested at 12:34 a.m. Monday on suspicion of driving under the influence, driving with blood-alcohol level greater than the legal limit and vehicle theft, and booked at the county jail under $15,000 bail. The CHP arrested him.

Domestic Violence -- Iran L. Hoaglen, 32, of Ukiah, was arrested at 8:28 a.m. Monday on suspicion of domestic assault and violating his parole terms, and booked at the county jail. The MCSO arrested him.