Mendocino County Today: Thursday 11/6/2025

A SECONDARY FRONT will bring additional period of moderate to locally heavy rainfall and gusty south winds on this afternoon and evening. Lingering showers into Friday, followed by a drying and warming trend this weekend and through at least early next week. (NWS)

STEPHEN DUNLAP (Fort Bragg): 53F under partly cloudy skies with only .15" of new rainfall collected. Rain returns later today for another blast overnight then dry skies until next Wednesday. A mix of sun, fog & clouds until then. No, really.

NOYO HARBOR IMPROVEMENTS - ANTICIPATING NEW ICEHOUSE

by Carole Brodsky

“We’re excited to share this milestone with the community that has supported the harbor through every step,” said Anna Neumann, Harbormaster for the Noyo Harbor District. “This project is about more than ice. It’s about ensuring the future of our fishing fleet and the working waterfront that defines Fort Bragg.”

Members of the Noyo Harbor staff, the Harbor District and the Governor’s Office stand in front of the 70-ton concrete slab which will house the three-story container Icehouse that will have the capacity to make 20 tons of ice every 24 hours. (Carole Brodsky — Ukiah Daily Journal)

Though some supply-chain issues delayed the operation of the soon-to-be-completed Icehouse, located in Fort Bragg’s South Harbor, a gathering of community members and supporters occurred last week to celebrate the milestone.

Consider the life of a tuna fisherman, Neumann told the Advocate-News. “If you’re out on a tuna run, you need ice. Historically, the harbor has had a very unreliable supply of ice, so fishermen would have to make a trip to Bodega to purchase 500 pounds of ice.” If the fish weren’t running in either direction, the boat came home empty. “And sometimes, Bodega would run out of ice before the boat arrived there.”

The need for harbor ice has plagued the commercial fishing community for years, so in 2023, funding was requested from what is now called the California Jobs First project. “It’s a pilot project- one of 8 across the state,” Neumann continues.

A huge concrete slab is in place, and three containers that house the icemaking equipment are ready to be installed, one on top of the other. Potable water will be used to make the ice, and the machine will be capable of producing 20 tons in 24 hours. “The pipes will be chilled to minus-10 degrees. We’re aiming to sell ice by the ton, by the ‘shot,’ which would be useful for the tuna fisherman, and by the bag for smaller boats or recreational fishing,” she continues. A 4-inch, underground tube will carry the ice to the dock, where it will be loaded directly into boats. Another tube will enable staff to release ice directly from the building.

Guests take a peek at the three containers where ice will be made, stored, and released into one tube that will fill boats in the harbor, and another will release smaller amounts of ice from the icehouse itself. (Carole Brodsky — Ukiah Daily Journal)

Neumann notes that ice houses are not money-makers. “Pretty much all of them break even if they are fully public or semi-subsidized. Private ice houses struggle financially.” The brackets to hold the containers to the slab were developed by a local structural engineer and are the final piece in the completion of the construction. Neumann is hoping to entice local electrical refrigeration companies to take a 2-day training with the North Star- the Icehouse manufacturer, so there are local, certified businesses that can handle repairs.

“The fishing community and fishing economy are a very significant driver for Fort Bragg,” Neumann continues. “It has largely been forgotten and left behind. Through this program, we’ll stabilize critical infrastructure.” The Harbor District is working closely with the West Business Development Center to help with the identification and realization of a number of goals. After a series of in-depth interviews, document review,s and community engagement, an analysis of the fleet’s operational environment was created, with four primary recommendations. The harbor infrastructure needs modernization to better store and process the daily catch. There is a need to support and expand distribution channels through efforts such as dockside sales and building relationships with institutions and restaurants. The third recommendation focused on promoting sustainable fishing practices, which will help enhance market value and appeal to environmentally conscious consumers. And the final recommendation was to strengthen community partnerships between fishermen, business, government, and other supportive organizations.

Aspen Logan is the Senior Program Manager, Economic Programs and Marketing Operations for the West Business Development Center.

“The West Center is supporting the harbor with maritime education, branding, dockside sales, and

getting fish into the school system. Hopefully, these projects will help revitalize the harbor and keep fishermen working. We’re getting awareness and people down to the docks. The North Coast Catch Brand is reaching grocers and fishmongers throughout the county- getting people to pay attention to fishing seasons like they do with vegetables and fruits. We’re getting people to engage with our amazing harbor,” she explains.

“The Harbor has never undergone any branding experience. We had a logo, but no one took a holistic view of what we wanted the harbor to be- the actual feel of the harbor. The West Center took the lead on helping to identify we like about the Harbor,” Neumann continues. “We’re a working waterfront. We’re unpolished, gritty, ‘jeans and hoodies’ folks. What you see is what you get,” Neumann smiles.

Participants in the process were clear that they do not want the harbor identified as a Disney-esque, seven-star dining, faux fishing village.

“Noyo will never turn into Monterey. We want visitors to experience an atmosphere that shows off the harbor while keeping our old-school personality intact.” The recent Harbor Fest event was a great success, and Neuman and Logan feel it captured the essence of life in a fishery while educating and having fun.

Beautiful line drawings of fish are being used to promote the “North Coast Catch” marketing program. The project highlights species caught in and around Northern California- Petrale Sole, Dover Sole, Lingcod, Rockfish, Black Cod, Rex Sole, Albacore Tuna, California King Salmon, and Dungeness Crab. Labels and other display materials are used at local markets to highlight locally available fish. Participating markets include Harvest Markets, Princess Seafood, Surf Market, Ukiah Natural Foods Co-op, Left Coast Seafood, Mariposa Market and Little Dory Seafood, with the hope that the project will expand into neighboring counties.

“We’re not using a lot of over-the-top language to identify the fish. It’s very difficult to track fish by port. You can’t really say a specific fish is caught at a specific port. With Rockfish- people buy it from Noyo, Humboldt, and Bodega, so we’re hoping that by promoting the species themselves, we can educate shoppers that the fish are coming from Northern California. By promoting species, we’re promoting what’s local, and promoting fish sustainably managed by the California Department of Fish and Wildlife,” Neumann explains. “People see ‘California Swordfish’ in the grocery store. Chances are that fish was probably caught in Mexico, but landed in California.”

West Center is also coordinating workforce development and marine education projects.

“Fishermen have to be their own small business, which is a lot to ask. Besides knowing how to fish, boat operators have a lot on their plate- how to staff and manage their crew, how to properly file 1099s and other forms, how to accurately account for poundage, and what percentage do you take off for the crew? Plus, fisherman have to figure out how to make money from their business,” Says Neumann. She encouraged fleet members to seek out the financial services and other courses provided through the West Center. “We put a lot of effort into customizing the courses. It’s been slow to build, but options for classes will continue.”

One important course offered was safety training, where Coast Guard trainers came from Eureka to offer the multi-day class. “It takes three days of training for fisherman to get certificates for Captain’s licenses and meet Coast Guard requirements. There can be emergencies at sea where EMS is ten hours away. It’s essential to know CPR, to know how to use survival suits, life rafts, emergency beacons, and even how to go overboard. There are a lot of processes you have to go through in a very specific order to get into one of those huge, ‘Gumby’ suits. It’s not as straightforward as you’d think. Once in that suit, you have absolutely no dexterity. And if you’re in the water, you have to practice getting into a life raft,” Neumann continues.

The next part of the project involves getting the fleet engaged in digital and direct marketing. “There are a number of different kinds of promotional avenues to explore. What we discovered is that fleet members need specific kinds of education and support, especially with things like using QuickBooks,” says Neumann.

The harbor now supports a fully operational fish cleaning station, made possible by the State Lands Commission. It’s available to the public and is located near picnic tables and grassy areas.

Neumann is in the process of abating abandoned vessels. “We’ve done 11 boats this year. There were 15 abandoned boats in the harbor when I took over. Some had sunk completely.” Abandoned boats can cause pollution issues within the harbor. “We put them on a trailer, excavate them, and smash them up,” says Neumann. Currently, she is working on three larger, problematic vessels- steel boats containing asbestos and lead-based paint.

“We will be transitioning to concrete docks and pilings with funding by the State Coastal Conservancy. This will make us more competitive as we apply for federal funding.”

On the day of the Icehouse ribbon cutting, Neumann led guests on a Dock Walk. Guest speakers included Richard Shoemaker, vice-chair of the Noyo Harbor District, who acknowledged the Pomo and Yuki peoples who previously and currently reside in the harbor area.

A contingent from Governor Newsom’s administration made the trip from Sacramento to celebrate the completion of the Icehouse. Attendees included Dee Dee Myers, Senior Advisor and Director of the Governor’s Office of Business and Economic Development, or Go-Biz, one of the project’s primary funders. Also in attendance were Stewart Knox, California’s Secretary of Labor, Sam Assefa, Director of the Governor’s Office of Land Use and Climate Innovation, Derrick Kirk, GO-Biz Senior Advisor, and Nani Coloretti, Governor Newsom’s Cabinet Secretary

Jez Anderson, Field Representative from the office of Congressman Jared Huffman, presented a proclamation to Shoemaker acknowledging the work of the District, the funders, and staff who all contributed to the design and construction of the Icehouse.

Harbor District Vice-Chair Richard Shoemaker receives a proclamation from Jez Anderson, Field Representative from Congressman Jared Huffman’s Office. (Carole Brodsky — Ukiah Daily Journal)

“Investments like this ripple across communities,” Myers noted. “The Governor asked us to get communities to tell us what works for them. Some regions, like Los Angeles, thought they should get more funding than Fort Bragg. We said no. This region gets to chart its own future. This is a regionally led, community-first, jobs-first program to keep people in communities like this. This project really brings it home for all of us,” she said.

Logan introduced West Center staff and acknowledged the work of recently retired West Center CEO Mary Anne Petrillo, who assisted with the grant writing process.

Vice-Chair Shoemaker provided a detailed history of the harbor, from the early, chaotic days prior to the construction of the jetties nearly 100 years ago, to today- as the Army Corps of Engineers plots a rejuvenation of the jetties.

“In 2019, we created community sustainability priorities. The Icehouse we’re celebrating today was our #2 priority. The Fish Cleaning Station was our first test project,” said Shoemaker.

“Fishermen and vessels generate approximately $11.5 million annually, based on the fishing season. According to the Department of Fish and Wildlife, that $11 million generates another $26 million- a 3-for-1 payback to the local community. The Icehouse will increase those numbers in a positive manner.

“We are definitely replacing an unreliable resource that will allow people to spend more time fishing and enable us to deliver more fresh product to the community.” Shoemaker described the 256-slip harbor as “a working waterfront and a working economic engine with ocean access to research, aquaculture, alternative energy, and other port-based businesses.”

To the Governor’s team, Shoemaker concluded, “Your strategic investment amplifies the benefits of applying strategic thinking across the region and beyond. When we invest in the harbor, we invest in the greater community. That’s the ‘trickle sideways’ effect. We’re supporting families and crews, investing in the livelihood of many people, and supporting each fisherman with training and technology.”

(Ukiah Daily Journal)

ROBERT (BOB) MILANO

God Gives Grace to the Loving

Robert (Bob) Milano, father, grandfather, friend, and husband passed away peacefully on Saturday, November 1, 2025 on the feast of All Saints at the age of 71. He was born on February 26, 1954, in Martinez, CA to Albert and Rosalie Milano.

Bob dedicated his life to his faith and civil engineering. As an entrepreneur and a self-starter, he always wanted to pave his own way. He is remembered for starting a thriving family pizza business (Milano's Pizza) with his wife, Antoinette, before working at a civil engineering firm. He eventually started and ran his own civil engineering business, often working with his twin brother, Gary, who worked in surveying.

While Bob very much enjoyed golfing, reading, and talking on the phone with friends, he was most passionate about his Catholic faith. While he left his Catholic faith for a time, he eventually rediscovered his faith after doing much research into the Church fathers. During that time, he found the pearl of great price that was worth giving everything to possess it. Since then, he spoke often about his faith with courage and boldness. He was exceptionally proud to know that his children found and treasured the same pearl of great price. They are eternally grateful to have received it because of him.

Bob was particularly strengthened in his faith towards the end of his life. Bob was famous for often repeating the scripture verse “God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble.” Everyone has gifts and imperfections which are often the flip side to the same coin. Thus, while Robert was admirably bold and courageous with his faith, he was at times stubborn. However, in the last year of his life, God poured out His grace upon Robert in abundance as he grew in humility and in love. Where Robert was once stubborn and proud, he became soft and loving. Love became his highest priority.

His son Gabriel particularly notes one of the last conversations with his father. His father said to him again and again in tears “Love,” as if there was nothing more important in the world than that. This reminded Gabriel of a story of St. John the Evangelist. According to St. Jerome, towards the end of St. John’s life, he said again and again to his own disciples “Little children, love one another.” They eventually seemed to get bored of the same sermon and asked him why he kept telling them that. St. John told them “Because it is the Lord’s command, and if this only is done, it is enough.” Gabriel suspects that at the end, Robert understood this essential truth.

Bob was a proud father to three children and their spouses:

Michael and his wife Jessica, who gave him his grandson Matteo James.
Angela and her husband Jacob Krempel, who gave him his granddaughters Lauren Grace, Natalie Rose, and Amelia May.
Gabriel and his wife Jennifer, who gave him his granddaughter Maren Therese.
He is also survived by his older brother David Milano, his twin brother Gary Milano (who was one of the last people allowed to call him "Bobbie"), his former wife and the mother of his children Antoinette Milano, and his nieces and nephews Micaela, Anthony, Dominic, and Christina and their children.

Robert was preceded in death by his mother and father, Albert and Rosalie Milano, and his aunts and uncles Frank, Joanne, John, Ilene, Marie, and Armond.

A funeral mass, burial, and celebration of life will be held on Wednesday November 12th, 2025 at 11:45 AM at Holy Transfiguration Monastery in Redwood Valley, CA.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be made in Robert's name to the Monks of Mount Tabor at 17001 Tomki Rd. Redwood Valley, CA 95470 or to the Minor Basilica of Our Lady of the Rosary of Manaoag on Milo St. in Manaoag, Pangasinan in the Philippines.

MENDOCINO RAILWAY REJECTS FORT BRAGG’S BID FOR YEARLONG PAUSE IN LITIGATION

Railway president says continued delay is "a lot of time and money for nothing"

by Elise Cox

The railway, recently affirmed as a federal carrier, called continued legal delays “unreasonable,” saying the parties must now either finalize a development agreement or proceed to trial.

Mendocino Railway says it will not support a request for a 12-month stay in ongoing litigation over the future of Fort Bragg’s former Georgia-Pacific mill site, calling further delays in the years-long regulatory dispute “unreasonable.”

The City of Fort Bragg had asked the railway to co-sign a letter to the California Coastal Commission (CCC) supporting the proposed stay. The pause was intended to give all three parties—the city, the railway, and the CCC—more time to negotiate a settlement.

“Either we need to get on with the MDA/CatEx document that my colleague Chris Hart has been working on so diligently with the city, or we’re going to get on with the litigation,”
— Robert J. Pinoli, president, Mendocino Railway

Pinoli said that “kicking the can down the road continues to cost us all a lot of time and money for nothing.”

Core of the Conflict

The dispute dates back to 2021, when the City of Fort Bragg sued Mendocino Railway, challenging its claim to be a public utility and arguing that the city—not federal regulators—holds permitting authority over the mill site. The city later invited the Coastal Commission to join the case.

At stake is a fundamental question: who controls development on the 400-plus-acre property—local and state agencies, or the federally regulated railroad?

Over the past year, the three parties have sought to resolve the case through negotiation. The court has already granted multiple stays to allow settlement talks aimed at facilitating cleanup, redevelopment, and renewed commercial use.

A key focus of those talks is the proposed Master Developer Agreement (MDA), which would delineate which activities on the site are railroad-related (and thus federally preempted) and which fall under local or state oversight.

As of late 2025, however, Pinoli said the city had not yet produced a draft of the agreement.

The city’s latest request for a 12-month stay was intended to allow continued coordination with the California Department of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC) and other agencies on environmental planning.

Meanwhile, Mendocino Railway is pursuing a Categorical Exclusion Zone (CatEx) application with the Coastal Commission for rail-related areas of the site—a process expected to take about a year and requiring a two-thirds CCC vote.

Federal Ruling Bolsters Railway’s Position

The railway’s firm stance follows a recent legal victory that significantly strengthens its hand.

In a Declaratory Order issued by the U.S. Surface Transportation Board (STB), Mendocino Railway was confirmed as a Class III common carrier railroad under exclusive federal jurisdiction.

The ruling means the company is exempt from state and local regulations that conflict with federal laws governing rail operations or track construction.

“This order reaffirms our long-held position,” Pinoli said.

The STB found that Mendocino Railway became a carrier when it acquired the California Western Railroad in 2004 and that a railroad does not lose its federal status simply because it is not currently hauling freight.

With that ruling in place, Pinoli said the company is ready to move forward. “We’re committed to working with the City and the CCC on the MDA and CatEx,” he said. “We’re also committed to having this litigation carry on—it’s really that simple.”

If no settlement is reached, the case is expected to go to trial in June 2026.

(www.mendolocal.news)

MYRA ANN FIGUEIREDO, (Mrs. Fig.) October 21, 1930 - November 1, 2025.

Myra was preceded in death by her husband of sixty-three years, Joseph A. Figueiredo.

She is survived by her daughter and primary caregiver, Sandra Figueiredo.

She is also survived by her daughter and son-in-law, Susan and Mark Reaves.

Myra passed peacefully at home.

There will be no services at her request.

Donations to the Friends of the Fort Bragg Library Expansion Project would be sincerely appreciated. P.O. Box 2718, Fort Bragg, CA 95437.

DA DROPS CHARGES AGAINST FORT BRAGG BUTCHER

Zander Kain Garay was arrested after refusing to hand over his cell phone

by Elise Cox

The Mendocino County District Attorney has declined to prosecute Zander Kain Garay, a 24-year-old Fort Bragg meat clerk who was arrested after refusing to hand over his cellphone to police without a warrant. Garay was taken into custody early on August 23, 2025, after stepping outside a downtown bar amid a late-night commotion.

The Call

At 1:24 a.m., a woman called 911 from the Welcome Inn.

“Hey, this is [blank] from Welcome Inn. I have a fight, uh, outside my bar, can you come pick it up?” she said.

Dispatcher Tiffany asked, “Is it physical or verbal?”

Caller: “Uh, physical.”

Tiffany: “How many people are involved?”

Caller: “Uh, just a few. Honestly, my security is outside and they told me to call the police.”

Tiffany: “I need to know how many people are involved. Is it two people? Ten people?”

Caller: “I don’t know. I’m in the back because I had to call you guys. I’m not outside.”

Tiffany: “I’ll have an officer respond. Thank you.”

At the Scene

Sergeant Jarod Frank and Officer Antoinette Moore arrived within three minutes. Surveillance video shows them talking with a small group of people. Garay is not visible in the footage. He later told Mendo Local he had briefly gone outside and then returned inside; video evidence confirms this. By his own account, he and his friends were intoxicated. Frank will later testify that he offered members of the group a ride home.

The next video from the Welcome Inn starts at 1:33 p.m. By this point there have been two scuffles. Sergeant Frank has fallen to the ground with Arion Donn Eagle Kelsey, 29. Frank has hit his head and has tased Kelsey. Separately, Officer Moore has fallen to the ground with Shanna Ray Bayless, 28. These interactions were not captured on camera, and the level of intoxication will make it hard for anyone to remember exactly what happened, leaving the police body-camera footage as the most reliable record.

Arrests and Charges

Kelsey and Bayless were arrested and booked on multiple felonies, including resisting or deterring an officer and conspiracy. Kelsey faced two additional misdemeanors; Bayless faced an added felony count of being an accessory after the fact and another misdemeanor.

The District Attorney’s Office later rejected most of the charges. Kelsey was arraigned on a single felony count of resisting an officer. Bayless faced one misdemeanor count of obstructing a peace officer. A third friend, Jason Lee Fullbright, was charged with two misdemeanors: disorderly conduct and obstructing an officer.

Garay’s Arrest

Hearing the commotion, Garay stepped outside and began recording the scene on his phone. Video reviewed by Mendo Local shows him weaving slightly but otherwise calm. When Officer Moore asked for his phone, he refused to hand it over. Moore instructed him to step aside and sit on the curb, which he did. Moments later, Frank and Moore arrested him for disorderly conduct.

Garay was booked into the Mendocino County Jail in Ukiah, and his phone was confiscated.

Aftermath

Garay later accused police of violating his First and Fourth Amendment rights and filed a complaint with the City of Fort Bragg.

At his first court appearance, he learned the charges had been dismissed.

“I was told I was getting credit for time served,” Garay said, referring to the night he spent being held in county jail.

A preliminary hearing, where a judge will decide if there is sufficient evidence to continue the case against Kelsey will be held on December 3.

(Mendo Local is free to read and staffed by volunteers. But we have startup costs and ongoing bills for software, mileage, and the insurance that allows us to do investigative reporting. If you would like to help us pay these costs, please consider making a pledge. There will be more information to come about our fundraising efforts.)

GUY PECURAR:

I just went to the post office in Mendocino. A woman pulled in next to me, got out of her car (leaving the engine running) and went into the post office. When I went in, she was waiting in line.

I exited after getting my mail and as I walked past her running car, I noticed there was a child strapped into the car seat in back! I didn't leave until she came out a few minutes later.

If you're reading this and you happen to be this woman, that isn't OK. I know living here in Mendocino we sometimes are a little more relaxed than we would be in an urban area. But this isn't OK no matter where you live. Please don’t leave your child strapped into a car seat in an unlocked car with the engine running in the future. Feeling worried in Mendocino.

THOMAS MAYNARD KENDALL

Thomas Maynard Kendall Tommy, TK, Tom, Dad, Friend.

Trucker supreme starting with the Shandels by way of Comptche. His Napa Account, 2. (Okay maybe higher but who’s counting)

Renown drummer could sit in with anybody and make them toe the line!!! Coming from a musical family Grandpa Maynard played the alto saxophone in the Comptche Church, playing and laying the Roots. Philo, Gene Clark, Kelly and Kai, Carley, Dara, clue. The Doobie Brothers Booker T Washington and the MGs. Casper Inn every Friday and Saturday night under Peter Litt back in the day!

The Texaco station now Red Rhino Kendall’s Auto recycling. Where do you think Scrooge learned how to wrench?!?!

We all did have a perfect time to shine in the universe didn’t we? Parade, Derby, Kendall Auto Wrecking. A grand time was had by all!

Dad passed after a quick illness in Casper in September of 2025. We are all better to have been touched by the both of them.

MEMORIALS & BURIALS IN ANDERSON VALLEY

by Terry Sites

Since Anderson Valley is a small place (population around 3,000), the odds of knowing, or at least knowing of someone who dies in the Valley is fairly high. Valley residents tend to be in groups with their own way of remembering their dead. These four are: the old timers and their descendants — many who were born and lived their entire lives here; the back-to-the-landers who have lived their entire adult lives here; retirees who came after their working lives were over; and the Mexican community, who mostly came to tend the valley’s many grape vineyards.

When the old-timers lose someone they follow time-honored patterns often posting a notice at the post office, sometimes inviting those interested to attend a funeral, memorial or celebration of life. These open ended invitations often require a large space. The Anderson Valley Grange Hall, the Mendocino County Apple Hall at the Fairgrounds, the History Museum's Rose Room, the Fairground Dining Hall and, in good weather, the Redwood Grove at the Fairgrounds.

Food is provided by a potluck, the family, or catered by locals. At these gatherings, everyone is asked to share stories about the deceased. There are laughs, and there are tears. Lots of local history bubbles up. Even when the deceased is not well known to some attendees, these occasions are interesting and quite lively. Often some time has passed since the death, making it more of a party to celebrate the person‘s life than a funeral to mourn their passing.

Back-to-the-landers share stories that are sometimes uproarious in tone sometimes coming from their original free-love and pot smoking histories and less from an extended family — more friendship celebrating. Many back-to-the-landers left their families of origin behind to build lives here. The Valley they came to offered cheap logged-over timber land to young families. This is very far from the case today.

Retirees are mostly solid citizens with responsible jobs elsewhere who dreamed of the freedom that country living would provide. Many are very social with a large networks of friends from the past besides their retirement connections here.

The Mexican community has its own traditions and customs. Big turnouts often meet at the Grange or the Apple Hall. Cars are double parked in two solid rows along Highway 128. Lots of lively kids and music mark these occasions.

Most people end up buried in the ground no matter which group they come from. The Anderson Valley Cemetery District offers five graveyards. The history of settlers in the valley (beyond the original Indian tribes of course) goes back to Walter Anderson’s arrival in 1852.

Visiting the Evergreen Cemetery in Boonville you will find many very old gravestones for example; Cynthia Rawles 1877, Joseph Rawles 1881, Aunt Susan Stubblefield 1893 “awaiting the resurrection,“ James Farrell 1892 “resting in peace." Marguerite Kendall 1906 — “she has done what she could.“ Many of the old stone markers include carved clasped hands indicating farewell, and an eternal connection.

The five graveyards are: Evergreen at 12631 Anderson Valley Way in Boonville, Shields/Studebaker in Philo at mile marker 20.5 off Highway 128, Rawles/Babcock off Mountain View Road across from Orbaun Road in Boonville, Yorkville Cemetery at mile marker 37.82 on Highway 128, and Ingram at 2311 Highway 128 on the Hill Ranch also in Yorkville. Both Babcock and Shields are full with the exception of family members related to those already buried there. Evergreen and Ingram are the most accessible.

To arrange for a burial in Anderson Valley you can call Alicia Perez at 707-621-1091. She has all the information you will need. She and her husband maintain all the graveyards, dig and fill the graves, and have maps of all of them. Rates are very reasonable compared to urban cemeteries and within reach of anyone. The deceased must be a resident, past resident, family member or veteran.

There is a website called Findagrave.com that is very useful in locating gravesites. If you have gravesite information you can add it to this site. Here in Anderson Valley the Anderson Valley Historical Society is a great resource as is Yorkville resident Valerie Hanelt who has been working on the cemeteries in Anderson Valley and uploading genealogical information on pioneers and early settlers and their descendants for many years.

PHIL ZWERLING SPEAKS ON: ‘WAS FORT BRAGG A SUNDOWN TOWN?’

He says of his presentation: “I started with the question of why our town would be named Fort Bragg when it was incorporated in 1889 even though the military Fort had been abandoned in 1864; the original native inhabitants had already been marched over the hill to Round Valley and 15 of the original Fort buildings had been demolished and stripped of their lumber by white settlers; and Braxton Bragg was already known as an enslaver and a Confederate traitor?

My second question was 'Why was the City of Fort Bragg 99% white for its first 60 years, from the censuses of 1890 to 1950?' Then I examined the newspapers for repetitive stories of the white violence directed here against Chinese, Japanese, and African Americans much as it had once been directed against Indigenous people. “Was Fort Bragg a Sundown Town?”

Learn about Sundown Towns here: https://justice.tougaloo.edu/sundown-towns/using-the-sundown-towns-database/

LIT BOAT PARADE

Bundle up and come down to Noyo Harbor for our annual Lit Boat Parade, Saturday November 29th! Co-hosted by Misfit Mariners and Mendocino Mermaids, both non profit 501(c)3

This is a sweet yearly community event for everyone to enjoy, with beautifully decorated Lit Boats cruising through Noyo Harbor, past all the restaurants and under the bridge and stars for all to admire. Grab a cozy seat in your favorite restaurant or bring your family, hot chocolate and blankets down to the river for the gorgeous show.

Boats Are Needed!

Win A Prize For Most Lit Boat!

To Register Lit Boats $20 contact Heather Baird at 607-437-8465

Gather with other boats at south harbor boat ramp and shove off around 7pm for a leisurely cruise through the harbor, and under the bridge for a few circles before cruising back through the harbor. All boats are welcome! Light Em Up!

Volunteers Needed

Seeking Donations for prizes

Invite your friends!

Please contact Heather Baird 607-437-8465, [email protected]

RON PARKER: Mendocino County Way Back When

CATCH OF THE DAY, Wednesday, November 5, 2025

ANDREW KARST, 56, Fort Bragg. Domestic abuse.

R.D. BEACON:

As the Democrats, continued to keep the country shut down, here in California, they are pushing proposition 50, today before you vote, think about what they're doing, to the whole country, they have shut down the government, so they can, shout their own agenda, to continue to give money away, to foreign countries, and funded, illegal citizenry, and healthcare for all of the, I've said it, many times, when holding the country, for ransom, there needs to be, consequences, these politicians, continually, vote no, and trying to open the government, need to pay, like being sequestered, in a jury, not able to go, back home for holidays, and them and their families, need to be shut down at the pocketbook no money for groceries, or to pay, builds, I'm sure they would come to more, reasonable agreement, if they were shut off the pocketbook and eat hamburgers, and stay in the capital building until, the problem was cured, to let them leave it to let have a budget, to give away, taxpayers money, it should be a nationwide vote, representatives, are not doing a good job, takes the value, away from cakes are right, to voter matters, that run the government, that fund the government, give it back to the voters, and any Sen., and/or Congress person, it doesn't get with the program, but take a 75%, take pay cut we need term limits, in the Senate, and the Congress, though more lawyers, holding public office, other than for Judge, Atty. Gen., some form of judicial Larry position, we the American people need to do a little housekeeping, creating more district areas, is not the way, don't give them more power, if anything, we need to split the districts up to smaller areas where we can allow, more Republicans to set in office, the amount of politicians, the Democrat or Republican, should be the same number, no advantage to each party, each state should be run this way, if there be a third-party must be an even number of representatives, no more, one-sided government, no more filibusters, no more lopsided, representatives of the buildings on the floor, neither the president or vice president, and voted through, has to be done, with the Senate and the Congress, remember, even amount of individuals, which means one side will have to convince the other, but the voters, need to be in charge all the people of the United States, and at the time, we swear in new citizens, to the United States of America, they have to pick up party, and register to vote, not registering to vote, you cannot be a citizen, without registering to vote you cannot become a citizen, backed proposition 50, it will hurt the ranchers, it will hurt the people, that put food on your table, the reality of it all, Democrats don't care, they are like Communists, they wanted control, everything, and they do not, what a let the voters have, any control.

WHAT HAPPENED TO AMERICA? on KMUD, Thursday, Nov. 6

When did our government stop working the way we learned in high school? When did absolute power start shifting to the Presidency? When did Congress become so dysfunctional, so crippled by chaos politics and hyper-partisan warfare leading to the current, historic government shutdown?

When did gaping new economic inequalities destroy the widely shared prosperity of post-WWII and drive a divisive wedge into our society? When did we become Two Americas -- the power elites and the rest of us? When did the working middle class start to shrink and die?

When did war become the engine of the U.S. economy and its number one export to the world?

Join us on Thursday, November 9, at 9 am, Pacific, with Hedrick Smith and Richard Eskow.

HEDRICK SMITH
Smith is a Pulitzer Prize-winning former New York Times reporter, editor and bureau chief in both Moscow and Washington. Smith moved into television in 1989 and became an Emmy award-winning producer and correspondent of long-form documentaries for PBS over the next 25 years.

RICHARD (RJ) ESKOW
Eskow is host and managing editor of The Zero Hour, a program on cable TV, broadcast radio, and podcast. He is a longtime progressive, journalist and consultant. He was also the chief writer and editor for the 2016 Bernie Sanders campaign.

KMUD

Our show, "Heroes and Patriots Radio", airs live on KMUD, on the first and fifth Thursdays of every month, at 9 AM, Pacific Time.

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— John Sakowicz

DON'T WORRY, HE'S FRIENDLY

Editor:

A dog isn’t everyone’s best friend. Last year, while walking on the paved trail in Sonoma Valley Regional Park an off-leash dog tripped my wife. She did a faceplant on the asphalt and ended up spending many hours in the dentist chair, ultimately needing two root canals and two crowns to protect the damaged teeth.

There are people who don’t love dogs, people who experience dogs as irritating, threatening, even terrorizing. There’s the barking dog that routinely destroys the serenity of a neighborhood, the dog that snarls and lunges, that sticks its nose in your crotch or jumps up on you. There’s the dog that knocks you down, leaving you with broken teeth or a broken hip.

Dog owners say, “Don’t worry, he’s friendly.” That’s no help for people who want nothing to do with dogs; they have good reasons for feeling that way. Never assume that people will welcome the presence of your dog. Keep dogs quiet and under control when in public places. Respect leash laws and “No dogs allowed” signs. Pick up after your dog, and don’t leave the poop bag laying on the side of the trail.

Christian Pedersen

Sonoma

‘EXTRAJUDICIAL’ KILLINGS IN THE CARIBBEAN & PACIFIC

Editor:

Our government has begun to routinely use the term “narco-terrorists” as a justification for extrajudicial killing of people on boats in the Caribbean and the eastern Pacific. This new designation (vs. “drug runners” or “narco-traffickers”) is an overt attempt to morally and legally equate these killings to our government’s actions against al-Qaida and Osama bin Laden.

We, as American citizens, must vigorously reject this designation. Granted, drug cartels may be terrorizing their own societies in Central and South America, but they are not terrorizing us. Rather, they are drug smugglers (though our government refuses to provide evidence of even that), and thus, they are illegal suppliers of controlled substances to a U.S. market that wants these drugs. We are customers, they are dealers.

This is a law enforcement matter that can be competently address by my good friends in our Coast Guard and Navy through boarding, arrest and prosecution. Extrajudicial murders are the purview of autocratic governments like Nicolás Maduro’s and Vladimir Putin’s. Don’t allow the government that represents us to follow their path in our name.

Tom Benson

Petaluma

CALIFORNIA WINEGROWERS RIPPED UP NEARLY 40,000 ACRES OF VINES THIS PAST YEAR

by Jess Lander

Seven percent of California’s vineyards have been ripped out in the past year, according to a new report that illuminates the severity of the wine industry crisis — but also suggests that a turnaround may be near.

Dead vine piles are seen off of Hwy 29 in Napa. California has lost 7% of grape vines in a year, and more removals are underway. (Gabrielle Lurie/S.F. Chronicle)

Wine sales are in a historic downturn as U.S. alcohol consumption has hit a 90-year low. For two consecutive years, California wine growers have struggled to sell their crop, resulting in thousands of tons of grapes left rotting on the vine. In 2024, the state experienced its lightest harvest in 20 years, down 23% from 2023, largely due to grapes left unpicked.

This has forced many farmers to abandon or rip out their vines. While in the short term, these losses are devastating to growers, the removal of vines en masse could help correct the years-long oversupply of grapes and bring the market back into equilibrium with demand.

The 2025 Standing Winegrape Acreage report, commissioned by the California Association of Winegrape Growers (CAWG), assessed changes in California vineyard acreage between October 1, 2024 and August 1, 2025. More than 38,000 acres of vineyards were removed during that time period, and as of this past August, there were roughly 477,000 acres of vines in California.

During a CAWG press conference on Wednesday morning, Jeff Bitter, the president of Allied Grape Growers, a cooperative that represents about 400 growers in California, estimated that thousands of remaining acres have already been abandoned and will be removed soon.

The grape surplus has hit Lodi (San Joaquin County) the hardest. The region has removed 10% of its vineyards, totaling roughly 8,000 acres. “I didn’t need a report to tell me what I see with my eyes every day,” Stuart Spencer, executive director of the Lodi Winegrape Commission, told the Chronicle. “It’s clear there’s a lot of economic pressure on our region.”

Spencer said Lodi has struggled more than other regions because the majority of its grape buyers are large wine companies, who are “choosing to import millions of gallons of cheap wine versus purchasing local grapes.”

During Wednesday’s press conference, second-generation Lodi farmer Aaron Lange said 2025 “was easily the worst conditions for wine grape growers (in Lodi) in my lifetime, and probably my father’s as well.”

Lange, the VP of vineyard operations at LangeTwins Winery & Vineyards, estimated another “few thousand acres” of remaining vineyards in Lodi have been abandoned and will be pulled in the next couple of years, “once money allows.” He also predicted that in the next year, Lodi will remove another 8,000 acres or more.

Piles of burnt and mangled iron rods and grapevines sit in piles after being removed from a property along Alta Mesa Road in Lodi (San Joaquin County) in 2024. (Jessica Christian/The Chronicle)

Fresno County lost the largest proportion of acreage in the state: More than 6,000 acres, or an 18% reduction. Even California’s most premium regions, like Santa Barbara County, which lost 9% of its acreage, have been impacted by the downturn. In Napa Valley, just over 3,000 acres of vines — nearly 7% — were removed, according to the survey, while 2,700 acres (5%) were pulled in Sonoma County. San Luis Obispo County, which includes Paso Robles, is down 2,300 acres (5%).

“Certain regions in the past might have had more difficulty than the upper-end or premium end of the market. That was not the case this year at all,” said Bitter during the press conference. “It was a difficult harvest for everyone involved.”

Bitter said the 2025 California grape crush could be even lighter than last year — likely between 2 million and 2.5 million tons compared to 2.8 million tons in 2024 — and potentially set a 30-year record low. But that’s exactly the range he believes the industry needs to hit. “We made excellent strides, unfortunately, on the backs of growers who have left the grapes on the vines, toward a balanced market in the future,” he said.

As for vineyard acreage, Bitter said California needs to get down to roughly 425,000 acres of “producing” vines — about 50,000 less than the report’s 2025 count — to reach “a point where we could potentially match supply in demand.”

Matching the supply to current demand could have its own cost if demand rises again, Spencer said, fearing a shortage around the corner. “These vineyards are not going to go back into the ground easily,” he said. “The cost of establishment and the cost of labor are going to prevent them from coming back into supply quickly.”

(sfchronicle.com)

RAIN

Come on Lord, give us rain
Come on Lord, make it rain
Come on Lord, send down some rain
Rain, rain, rain for our souls

Well, my path, it's been so dusty
I can't find my way back home
And in my heart, it's been so heavy
Sometimes it's hard to just hold on

So come on Lord, and give us rain
Come on Lord, make it rain
Come on Lord, send down some rain
Rain, rain, rain for our souls

Waters wave down in the river
We've been dry for so long
And I'm mouse on getting fit now
And we're prayin' with that song

— lyrics by Randy Owen (2006)

*Aerodynamics* (1947) by Charles Pollock

JED STEELE: The California winemaker behind America’s most popular Chardonnay and the rise of unheralded region dies

by Esther Mobley

California winemaker Jed Steele, who pioneered Lake County’s wine industry, died on Oct. 31 of bladder cancer. He was 80 years old.

His partner Paula Doran confirmed the death.

Steele Wines, along with its offshoot brands Shooting Star, Stymie and Writer’s Block, became the most famous winery in the rural county situated just north of Napa and Sonoma counties. When Steele founded his namesake winery in 1991, he was already a superstar, having spent nine years as the head winemaker for Kendall-Jackson.

“He was Mr. Lake County,” said Napa Valley grapegrower Andy Beckstoffer, who consulted Steele when he bought land in the region in 1997. “He gave Lake County credibility.”

Lake County was better known for pears than grapes in the early ‘90s. Convincing the public that it could produce high-end wines was an uphill battle, but Steele tirelessly promoted the region. He fought against the perception that the county’s climate was too hot and dry for winegrowing, and understood that one of the region’s advantages could be its relative value — he kept his wines largely under $20.

Standing 6’4” and wearing a size 15 shoe, Steele’s presence was substantial. “People always called him the gentle giant,” Doran said. He had a penchant for generous gestures, especially with employees, doling out turkeys in November and Christmas trees in December. Employees’ “newborn babies got scholarships put in their name,” Doran said. He was known for hosting baseball and bowling tournaments for his distributors throughout the country.

After a stroke in 2020, Steele retired, selling his businesses to fellow Lake County vintner Clay Shannon.

Jedediah Tecumseh Steele was born on Jan. 26, 1945 and grew up in San Francisco. His parents became friends with Fred and Eleanor McCrea, who had started a winery on Napa Valley’s Spring Mountain, Stony Hill Vineyard, that was gaining renown for its Chardonnay. Steele attended Gonzaga University on a basketball scholarship.

After graduating, he worked two seasons for his family friends at Stony Hill in 1968 (and lived at the home of another family friend, M.F.K. Fisher), then earned his master’s degree in enology from UC Davis in 1974. Steele spent a decade at Edmeades Winery, itself a pioneer in Mendocino County’s Anderson Valley. His resume also included stints with Ste. Michelle Wine Estates in Washington, Fess Parker Winery in Santa Barbara County and Cardinale in Napa Valley.

In the early ’80s, Steele took a meeting with Jess Jackson, who was starting a new outfit called Kendall-Jackson, at the Gaslight Grill in Lakeport. Jackson bought an old orchard in Lake County and replanted it with Chardonnay grapes and hired Steele as his winemaker.

The 1982 Chardonnay got stuck near the end of its fermentation; Steele bottled it anyway, leaving in a bit of residual sugar. Before long, the Kendall-Jackson Vintner’s Reserve became the country’s best-selling Chardonnay. Nancy Reagan was a famous fan.

Vintner’s Reserve “changed the world,” Beckstoffer said. “That’s a milestone in this business.”

As Kendall-Jackson blew up to around a million cases, Steele began to long for something simpler. His corporate responsibilities left him feeling “more like an air traffic controller than a winemaker,” he told wine writer Dorothy Gaiter in 2018.

“He got to the point in that winery where he wasn’t making wine anymore,” said Doran. He decided to go out on his own, creating Steele Wines in 1991.

The split from Jackson was acrimonious. After initially agreeing to a $400,000 severance plus $10,000 a month while Steele trained a new winemaker, in 1991 Jackson fired Steele as a consultant and stopped the payments, according to the New York Times. Steele sued for the $275,000 he believed he was owed, and Jackson countersued, claiming that Steele had shared trade secrets about how the Vintner’s Reserve Chardonnay was made. A Lake County judge ruled in Jackson’s favor.

But that legal battle did not tarnish Steele’s success. He eventually amassed 81 acres of vineyard in Lake County (he also bought fruit from other parts of California). Like the Vintner’s Reserve style that he had established, the Steele wines were known to be fruity and rich, with alcohol levels sometimes crossing the 15% threshold.

“I drank a lot of Steele wines, and they were big,” Beckstoffer said. “He understood what people wanted to drink.”

Steele was the “patriarch” of Lake County’s wine industry, Shannon said, and wanted to see others thrive. When Shannon bought land in Lake County in 1996, “Jed was the big wig up here,” he said. Initially, Shannon was custom-crushing his wines at facilities outside of the county, but Steele offered to do it at his winery instead.

In the late ’90s, Beckstoffer became intrigued by Lake County. Napa fruit was getting expensive, and he wanted to diversify his land holdings with grapes that he could sell to wineries for less. “Everything in Napa was going for $150,” Beckstoffer said. “We needed a $60-$80 Cabernet.” He called Steele, whom he’d met through Jackson, and they took a drive through the area now known as the Red Hills. Steele showed Beckstoffer the potential of the land: soil blown over in long-ago eruptions from nearby Mt. Konocti, studded with little obsidian chips. “Perfect Cabernet ground,” Beckstoffer said. Thanks in large part to Steele’s guidance, he bought more than 4,000 acres.

Steele could never resist tinkering with new labels or grape varieties, planting obscure cultivars like the Austrian Blaufrankisch and eventually expanding to as many as 40 bottlings in a single year. He took pride in his wines’ affordability. “He was never about pomp and circumstance,” said Steele Wines’ longtime bookkeeper Naomi Key. “His wine was great wine, but he’d say, ‘I just make the juice.’”

Even after he sold his winery to Shannon, “he’d still show up every other week,” often with a bottle of Champagne in hand, said Shannon. He enjoyed his retirement, Doran said, spending more time at his homes in Florida and Montana, even as he battled cancer for the last 4 ½ years.

At first, it looked as though Steele Wines would not survive the acquisition. Shannon discontinued the brand, along with Stymie. (He kept Shooting Star and returned the Writer’s Block brand to Steele’s son Quincy.). Recently, however, Shannon has relaunched Steele Wines with a label design from its early days. “I personally like the old retro package,” Shannon said. The wines are $19.99, something Steele would have liked.

Steele is preceded in death by his parents Robert and Frances and his siblings Clelia, Theodora, Johnny and Judy. He is succeeded by his partner Paula Doran, his children Mendocino and Quincy, and his granddaughter Astrid.

(SF Chronicle)

TERRIBLE NEWS FOR RED AMERICA

by Drew Magary

Here’s a news flash for red America. As a professional election analyst (I’m a middle-aged white man who owns khaki pants), I dug deep into Tuesday night’s election results and came to an astounding conclusion: Woke won. Democratic socialist(!!!) Zohran Mamdani won the mayoral race in New York City. Abigail Spanberger, who supports building more affordable housing (not in my backyard, lady!), romped to the governor’s mansion in Virginia. Mikie Sherrill, who wants to codify the abortion documents in the New Jersey Constitution (but the unborn children!), won that state’s governorship.

Everywhere you looked, woke or woke-adjacent candidates won big. Woke even kinda won in Kentucky somehow. Even more distressing, the state of Woke-ifornia just voted YES to a gerrymandering plan.

Nanny nanny boo boo, you eat dog doo.

Because Tuesday, amid the fiery embers of a self-immolating democracy, woke staged an electoral renaissance, and now it’s coming for you. Already, I bet you have a hellish, utopian vision of what America’s near future will look like. Money once used to fund Immigration and Customs Enforcement will now be used to give millennials free avocado toast. More public office positions will be held by people with names that are only hard to pronounce if you don’t spend 20 seconds learning how to pronounce them. Democratic representation will be granted to people this country usually treats like dirt. Poor people will be granted access to more affordable housing, and expanded mass transit will allow them to freely go anywhere they please, even your cul de sac in Almaden Valley! OMG PRONOUNS! You and your favorite racist podcaster thought that you’d saved this country from the tyranny of an expanded, gender-blind pronoun set. Well, guess what? Zey’re back! Zey’re all back! Now, no (suddenly and gorgeously remodeled) public bathroom will be safe from unassuming transgender people who just need to take a dump! Is nothing sacred in Donald Trump’s America anymore?!

I sure as hell hope not.

I know there will be a 5,000th, tiresome backlash to Tuesday night’s woke parade. In fact, our captured media is already attempting to couch Tuesday night’s unequivocal results in squishier, “Democrats should still be worried” terms. You unwokes still have President Asshole in charge, you still have the Supreme Court on lockdown, you still have establishment Democrats like Chuck Schumer desperate to please you, and you still have Silicon Valley’s dullest minds on your side. None of those people are woke, and they never will be. In fact, they’re all hiding in a bunker as we speak, planning their counterattack. This bunker, incidentally, has been fortified with a decade’s worth of rations and potable water in the event of a Tolerance Holocaust.

But I’m gonna use this day, this moment, to state the obvious: F—k these people.

Because this time a year ago, I watched as American voters handed the country over to a criminal enterprise headed by a broken television set. I have spent the near entirety of 2025 watching that enterprise eat its way through this country’s federal workforce, its military, its legacy media, and even the White House itself. It was like watching the shadow of Nosferatu’s hand sweep over the countryside, only nowhere near as cool.

Woke was felled by this onslaught, and outright bigotry had become the new order. I watched a pathetic Andrew Cuomo mount a late run at NYC Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani by spamming the racism button as many times as he possibly could. I watched lawmakers in Oklahoma propose building a statue to honor a dead internet troll. I watched Florida tactily ban extremist literature like Anne Frank’s “The Diary of a Young Girl.” And I watched President Trump randomly kill maritime travelers with virtually zero pushback. I’ve watched lies become truth, and truth become a stain. All of it has sucked.

Tuesday night, in an off-year election, a majority — yes, a goddamn majority — of eligible American voters agreed with me. These people spent eight months living in a woke-free America and collectively decided, “We don’t want this.” What we DO want is to be left the f—k alone. Contrary to what Ted Cruz might tell you, that’s what woke does. Woke lets you drive around town without the threat of a cop pulling you over to gun you down. Woke lets you be gender fluid without an emergency PTA meeting springing up outside your door. Woke lets you go to college without entering into a modern sharecropping agreement. It lets children read, lets every citizen be able to vote without a fuss, leaves the original recipe for Tylenol intact, and endeavors to keep our air and water clean. Woke, in other words, is good.

My fellow Americans, much to my surprise, are starting to realize that. That’s why they voted the way they did Tuesday night, and why they might be inclined to continue doing so. It was a wonderful, unifying moment in a decade nearly barren of them. You conservatives tried to kill woke, only for it to mount an impressive comeback. I hope that leaves you triggered, and I hope no one offers you sympathy for it.

(SFGate.com)

THE MEN THAT DON’T FIT IN

There's a race of men that don't fit in,
A race that can't stay still;
So they break the hearts of kith and kin,
And they roam the world at will.
They range the field and they rove the flood,
And they climb the mountain's crest;
Theirs is the curse of the gypsy blood,
And they don't know how to rest.

If they just went straight they might go far;
They are strong and brave and true;
But they're always tired of the things that are,
And they want the strange and new.
They say: "Could I find my proper groove,
What a deep mark I would make!"
So they chop and change, and each fresh move
Is only a fresh mistake.

And each forgets, as he strips and runs
With a brilliant, fitful pace,
It's the steady, quiet, plodding ones
Who win in the lifelong race.
And each forgets that his youth has fled,
Forgets that his prime is past,
Till he stands one day, with a hope that's dead,
In the glare of the truth at last.

He has failed, he has failed; he has missed his chance;
He has just done things by half.
Life's been a jolly good joke on him,
And now is the time to laugh.
Ha, ha! He is one of the Legion Lost;
He was never meant to win;
He's a rolling stone, and it's bred in the bone;
He's a man who won't fit in.

— Robert Service (1911)

“FREE LOVE? As if love is anything but free! Man has bought brains, but all the millions in the world have failed to buy love. Man has subdued bodies, but all the power on earth has been unable to subdue love. Man has conquered whole nations, but all his armies could not conquer love. Man has chained and fettered the spirit, but he has been utterly helpless before love. High on a throne, with all the splendor and pomp his gold can command, man is yet poor and desolate, if love passes him by. And if it stays, the poorest hovel is radiant with warmth, with life and color. Thus love has the magic power to make of a beggar a king. Yes, love is free; it can dwell in no other atmosphere. In freedom it gives itself unreservedly, abundantly, completely. All the laws on the statutes, all the courts in the universe, cannot tear it from the soil, once love has taken root.”

― Emma Goldman, Marriage and Love

LOOK OUT MAMA

Look out mama, I'm coming home
Look out daddy, I'm gonna roll
Right up to, your ever loving door
Hey you can tell, by the way I look
I won't be wandering no more
I'm a heavy headed girl
Full of sorrow, don't ask me how
I got this way
Cause its been too long to tell
But I'm getting tired
Going down this road
All by myself,

Hard luck woman, bad luck man
Heading east bound, soon as I care
To you, wont you take me by the hand
And you can lead us
All the way to the promise land
So look out mama, I'm coming home
Look out daddy, I'm gonna roll
Right up to, your ever loving door
Hey you can tell, by the way I look

I wont be wandering no more
Adioleyihuuu, Adioleyihuuu.

— Alynda Segarra (2012)

THE LANGUAGE OF SOCIETY is conformity: the language of the creative individual is freedom. Life will continue to be a hell as long as the people who make up the world shut their eyes to reality.

— Henry Miller

*Self Portrait with Rita* (1924) by Thomas Hart Benton

ON-LINE COMMENT OF THE DAY

Martin Luther King. Jr.'s quote - "The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice" - has been proven (at least for now) to be wishful thinking. With the ascendancy of white christian nationalism, fascism, nativism, racism, Constitutional anarchy, wealth inequality, and anti-human indecency in politics and discourse among right-wing reactionary trumpers and groypers, the arc has taken a decidedly swift and different shape: one bending (the knee to an autocrat) toward injustice and inequality for all - except for those defined as and proud of being all those execrable isms.

LEAD STORIES, THURSDAY'S NYT

Key Justices Cast a Skeptical Eye on Trump’s Tariffs

Trump Officials to Cut Air Traffic at 40 Major Airports if Shutdown Continues

Federal Judge Imposes Restrictions on ICE Facility at Center of Illinois Protests

Mexico’s President Presses Charges Against Man Who Groped Her on the Street

You Don’t Need to Swipe Right. A.I. Is Transforming Dating Apps

THIS YEAR’S U.N. CLIMATE CONFERENCE begins today in Brazil. The U.S. is skipping it. For some attendees, that’s just fine. (NYT)

ISRAEL IS STILL STARVING GAZA, And Other Notes

They’re using bureaucratic red tape and arbitrary restrictions to put as much inertia on the effort to rush aid into Gaza as possible.

by Caitlin Johnstone

Israel is still blocking humanitarian groups from delivering the aid necessary to alleviate the suffering of Palestinians in Gaza.

In an article titled “Not enough tents, food reaching Gaza as winter comes, aid agencies say,” Reuters reports that “Far too little aid is reaching Gaza nearly four weeks after a ceasefire” due to Israeli restrictions preventing aid trucks from getting to their destinations, and that according to an OSHA report last week “a tenth of children screened in Gaza were still acutely malnourished.”

A report from the UK’s Channel 4 News shows warehouses full of food that aid groups say isn’t being allowed into Gaza nearly as rapidly as needed.

In an article titled “‘Under the Guise of Bureaucracy’ — Israel Blocks Humanitarian Groups From Delivering Essential Aid Despite Calm in Gaza,” Israeli outlet Haaretz reports that “Israel has implemented a new procedure requiring all humanitarian organizations operating in Gaza and the West Bank to reapply for official approval, with many denied, despite the relative calm in Gaza following the cease-fire.”

They’re using bureaucratic red tape and arbitrary restrictions to put as much inertia on the effort to rush aid into Gaza as possible. As Electronic Intifada’s Ali Abunimah put it, Israel has “successfully rebranded its genocide as a ‘ceasefire.’”

❖

Still can’t wrap my head around the fact that internationally renowned activist Greta Thunberg said she was tortured and sexually humiliated by Israeli soldiers when she was abducted for trying to bring aid to starving civilians, and the world just shrugged and moved on.

❖

It’s so silly when US empire apologists cite “the Monroe Doctrine” to defend US warmongering in Latin America, as though “the entire western hemisphere is our property” is a perfectly legitimate policy to have.

The Monroe Doctrine was just American imperialists telling Europe, “You see all these brown people over here south of our border? These are our brown people. You can do whatever you want to those brown people over there in Africa and Asia, but these brown people over here belong to us. Only we get to dominate and exploit them.”

That’s all it has ever been, and people cite it to justify warmongering toward Venezuela or wherever as though saying “yeah well that’s the Monroe Doctrine” is a complete argument in and of itself. It’s bat shit insane nonsense and it should be rejected in its entirety.

US regime change interventionism is reliably disastrous wherever it happens. It always causes immense suffering and instability, it’s always justified by lies, and it never accomplishes what its proponents claim it will accomplish. No amount of bleating the words “Monroe Doctrine” will ever change that.

❖

The US empire backs genocidal Gulf state monarchies like the UAE and Saudi Arabia because if those states were democratically governed their people would prioritize their own interests over the agendas of the west. They wouldn’t permit US military bases on their territory, and they never would have tolerated Israel and its abuses in the region. Fossil fuel policy would be set without regard for western interests. The entire region could long ago have united into a superpower bloc which rivaled or outmuscled the western power structure using its critical resources and trade routes.

That’s why you see the US and its allies preaching about the values of Freedom and Democracy to the public while privately telling these tyrannical monarchies they can do whatever they want and receive the backing of the imperial machine. Not until their pet tyrant fails to sufficiently kowtow to the interests of the empire does the west suddenly get interested in advancing Freedom and Democracy in their nation.

This is one of the major dynamics at play in Sudan. The United Arab Emirates has been backing the genocidal atrocities of the RSF and the US empire is placing no pressure on them to stop, because that’s part of the deal. As long as the UAE plays along with the agendas of the empire, the empire will tolerate or actively facilitate its abuses.

❖

I saw a clip of Joe Rogan telling Elon Musk that AI music is his “favorite music now,” gushing about how soulful and moving it is.

Imagine admitting this about yourself in public. AI art is shallow, vapid sensory stimulation made for shallow, vapid people who don’t have enough depth and dimensionality in their consciousness to be moved by profound arisings from the human spirit. They’re just stimulus-response amoebas.

If you tell me you love AI art I won’t try to convince you, I’ll just side-eye you, because while you may not realize it, you are telling me something very revealing about yourself.

People who think AI art is awesome are the AI art of people.

❖

We’ve all known someone like Israel. Someone who lies and manipulates all the time. Someone who’s always stirring up conflict and acting like the victim. Someone who’s obtained everything they have by stepping on top of others.

Healthy people avoid such individuals like the plague. We have labels that we use to warn others to stay clear of them. Drama queen. Narcissist. Compulsive liar. Sociopath. Manipulator.

Under ordinary circumstances such people gradually find themselves socially alienated by all but the most gullible and malleable codependents, because normal people can’t stand being around them.

Israel is like if everyone was being forced to be that person’s friend at gunpoint. Say nice things to the sociopath and pretend to believe their lies or you’re getting your head blown off.

Nations who oppose Israel’s crimes find themselves in the crosshairs of the imperial war machine. Organizations who oppose Israel’s abuses find themselves smeared, targeted, and proscribed as terrorist groups. Individuals who oppose Israel’s atrocities get fired, slandered, marginalized, censored, and silenced.

The healthy impulse we all have in ourselves to pull away from such loathsome entities is being overridden by brute force. All normal people want to turn against Israel and do whatever is necessary to end its tyranny and abuse, but the imperial institutions are doing everything in their power to coerce them to comply.

That’s the only reason Israel has any remaining support at all. Hopefully someday they won’t even have that.

(caitlinjohnstone.com.au)

*Look Down That Road* (1942) by Charles Pollock

DICK CHENEY, an exchange:

JOHN NICHOLS: Well, there is no question. Cheney was the most powerful vice president in American history. That is not a debatable point. He positioned himself to be George W. Bush’s vice president. Bush was struggling as a relative newcomer to the national stage and not doing all that well, and he was looking for someone with a lot of experience in government to take that number two job. Cheney did this, as a former White House staffer in the Nixon and Ford eras, as a longtime congressman, as a former secretary of defense, as someone who, himself, he had tried to be a presidential candidate but never gotten much traction. So, Cheney wanted to be at the center of power. Bush accepted him and brought him in.

Because of his immense experience, Cheney asserted himself in all sorts of ways, but especially on foreign policy. And in the aftermath of 9/11, there is simply no question that Dick Cheney sought to put the United States in position to make huge moves in the Middle East, military moves, and ultimately to do an invasion and what became, essentially, an occupation of Iraq. That was done on the basis of claims that were unfounded and proved to be incredibly controversial. Even at the time, it faced a great deal of protest.

And I think this is the thing to understand. Dick Cheney, if you see him in the long arc of his career, is someone who really made the modern Republican Party what it is, a party that sought power at this intersection of economic power and political power, and sought to make moves that were often, you know, very beneficial to the people who had that power, but very destructive, very challenging to the trajectory of the world. I understand how at the end of his career, Dick Cheney was hypercritical of Donald Trump, that he saw in Donald Trump a leader who was acting in ways that were and moving in ways that were incredibly destructive and incredibly dangerous. But it is important to understand that before he came to that point, Dick Cheney was seen in much the same way. And it was because, both as a public face of his party and the administration he was in, but also as a behind-the-scenes operator, he was someone who, I think, a great many Americans came to recognize as an individual who wanted to exercise power in ways that were clearly beneficial to his political circle, to his economic allies, but that really did put the United States in some terrible places diplomatically and politically around the world.

And I would — one last thing I would say is that Dick Cheney was also someone who operated very aggressively as vice president and in other positions at the domestic level, and he was a very ardent advocate for massive tax cuts for the rich, etc. And so, it is very hard to delink Dick Cheney, a very fascinating, very complex man, from the evolution of the Republican Party that he ultimately came to criticize.

JUAN GONZÁLEZ: And, John, I wanted to ask you specifically about the war in Iraq. Cheney, while he was a part, along with Don Rumsfeld and Paul Wolfowitz, of the Project for the New American Century, was — sought regime change for Iraq as early as 1998, years before they actually came up with this excuse for invading Iraq.

JOHN NICHOLS: Well, remember that Dick Cheney had been secretary of defense under George H.W. Bush and had been a advocate for action against Iraq back in 1990, 1991. And so, you can really trace, with Cheney, something, you know, a focus on Iraq — some would say an obsession — that was very intense and that often took — put him at odds with people who said, “Look, the real problem is here. The real challenge is elsewhere.”

And one of the things about Dick Cheney was that when he became fixated on something, he didn’t let go. And he was very willing to, you know, keep pressing, even if his policies were exceptionally unpopular. And I think that, ultimately, the invasion of Iraq and what came after proved to be immensely unpopular. The American people recognize that this was something that was developed and organized in the White House, but not based on anywhere near the level of consultation or the level of international engagement or reflection that was needed. And so, Cheney had a reputation as, you know, this major player, particularly on the global stage, and yet, often, if you look back on it, there were moves that he made, steps that he organized, steps that he pushed for, that proved to be disastrous and that proved to be wrong.

And so, again, I think Cheney is an incredibly complex man, and I think he is fascinating. I think he definitely committed himself to a life of public service — there is no question that. And yet, in that public service, even going back to the 1970s, you see an effort or willingness to err on the side of secrecy, on the side of power politics, to not consult Congress, to actually insult Congress, and to concentrate power in the presidency, in the White House, to do the things that he and his allies wanted to do.

And then, yes, as we know, he then became a very stark critic of Donald Trump for using that concentrated power, ultimately to force his own daughter, Cheney’s own daughter, from a position of leadership in the House of Representatives. And I do think that, again, if we look at where the Republican Party is today and how it sees the presidency as almost an unlimited base of power, and a base of power to make not just political moves, but economic moves, I think you have to recognize Cheney as someone who created that and who played an absolutely central role in telling Republicans that if you get power, you should do what you want to do.

DICK CHENEY, IRAQ & THE MAKING OF HALLIBURTON

by Jeffrey St. Clair

Cheney watching the 9/11 attacks on NYC before being rushed into the White House bunker. Photo: White House.

This is an excerpt from Jeffrey St. Clair’s book on war-profiteering, Grand Theft Pentagon (Common Courage, 2005).

There’s no more pungent symbol of the corrupt nature of the Bush administration’s invasion and occupation of Iraq than Halliburton, the Houston, Texas-based oil services conglomerate, which has made billions from the war even in the face of charges of massive overbilling, shoddy work, official bribery and political influence-peddling.

The remarkable thing is that Halliburton’s looting of Iraq and the US treasury happened in broad daylight, right under the nose of the press, the Democrats and Michael Moore, who made Dick Cheney’s former company the bete noire of his film “Fahrenheit 9/11.” Nothing deterred the company from capitalizing on the war it helped orchestrate.

Even the Pentagon’s own team of auditors, who nailed Halliburton red-handed for bilking the government for $108.4 million in overcharges for only “one task order” of its work in Iraq, found their report languishing in a kind of bureaucratic netherland for many months.

The damning investigation by the Defense Contract Audit Agency was completed in early October of 2004 and shipped up the line to the Pentagon’s dark triumvirate, Douglas Feith, Paul Wolfowitz and Donald Rumsfeld. And there it sat. The Pentagon’s civilian leadership mothballed the explosive report for more than five months, until after the election, the inauguration, the State of the Union Address and the Defense Department budget request had all safely transpired.

Even Congress was denied a peek at the report’s findings until mid-March 2005. The Pentagon rejected 12 separate requests from Congressman Henry Waxman, the California Democrat who has spearheaded the ad hoc congressional inquiry into Halliburton’s contract abuse, seeking to examine the internal audits of Halliburton’s $2.5 billion contract for fuel supplies and other services to the US military and occupation government in Iraq.

Waxman charged that the Pentagon withheld the damaging reports at the behest of the office of Vice President Dick Cheney, the former CEO of Halliburton.

The Halliburton audits were also concealed from a team of investigators from the United Nations, which is probing profiteering from oil contracts in Iraq. More than $1.5 billion of Halliburton’s $2.5 billion deal was funded by Iraqi oil sales overseen by the UN.

“The evidence suggests that the Pentagon used Iraqi oil proceeds to overpay Halliburton,” says Waxman. “And then the company and the Pentagon sought to hide the evidence of these overcharges from the international auditors.”

Call it the Oil-for-Contracts scandal. But you didn’t hear daily drumbeats about the outrageous rip-off on Fox News.

When someone finally leaked the audit to Waxman’s office, the documents disclosed a thick wad of Halliburton billings that the Pentagon bookkeepers deemed “illogical.”

The most peculiar billing found in this limited series of transactions was a $27.5 million charge for shipping cooking gas and heating fuel that the Pentagon auditors valued at $82,000. This single invoice amounted to an overcharge of more than 335 times the value of the liquified natural gas delivered by Halliburton’s subcontractors.

The auditors examined only a single task order in Halliburton’s scandal-plagued contract with the Army Corps of Engineers, yet their report lambasted nearly every aspect of the deal, from the no-bid award to the cost-plus nature of the contract to the almost total lack of supervision of the work orders and the subcontractors.

From May 2003 to March 2004, Halliburton sent the Corps of Engineers bills totalling more than $875 million for supplies of fuel to US operations in Iraq. For this task order alone, the Pentagon auditors estimated that Halliburton overbilled the government by at least $108.4 million. That’s real money, even by Pentagon standards.

But that’s only a rough opening bid for the true scale of the looting, in large part because of the company’s indefatigable stonewalling. The auditor’s report accuses Halliburton of misleading the government inspectors at nearly every turn. For example, the auditors allege that Halliburton simply refused to hand over any information on its subcontractors in Kuwait. “Halliburton failed to demonstrate its prices for Kuwait fuel were ‘fair and reasonable’”, the auditors wrote in their report.

Similarly, Halliburton kept the Pentagon investigators in the dark about the prices it paid for purchasing fuel from Turkey and Jordan.

The Defense Contract Audit Agency report comes on top of previous investigations tagging Halliburton, and its Kellogg, Brown and Root subsidiary, for more than $442 million in “unsupported” billings for its work in Iraq, including charges for meals that were never served, $45 cases of pop, unnecessary heavy equipment, tailoring fees and $152,000 for movie screenings. In all, a report prepared by the Democratic Policy Committee estimates that Halliburton’s overcharges in Iraq alone exceed $1 billion.

Okay, the Pentagon learned a billion-dollar lesson the hard way, right? Wrong. In July, the Pentagon discreetly let slip that it had awarded Halliburton a fat new contract for yet more logistics work in Iraq. How fat? Try $5 billion. In fact, the contract was secretly handed to Halliburton in May, but the Pentagon kept it under wraps for more than a month. Why? “The Army didn’t consider it necessary” to reveal the terms of the deal, a Pentagon spokesman explained to Reuters.

In the ever-expanding universe of Pentagon contracting, cost is never the problem; public exposure is.…

https://www.counterpunch.org/2025/11/05/dick-cheney-iraq-and-the-making-of-halliburton/

22 Comments

Chuck Dunbar November 6, 2025

“TURN THE VOLUME UP!”

Mayor elect Mamdani’s words to Donald Trump in his fierce, powerful, moving speech yesterday. Mamdani was a man on fire, speaking to the people of New York City. Finally— a Democrat who speaks with passion and and vigor, a young, strong voice of hope. A man with clear, specific plans to help the regular people of the city. A man who is an immigrant, and a man who values immigrants and the gifts they bring our country. What a contrast to Trump’s hate-filled blather, his destructive chaos, his crude threats to the whole world. My wife and I watched in awe as the man spoke.

Mamdani did indeed “Turn the volume up.” He didn’t hesitate to call-out Trump. Mamdani called out to a huge, cheering New York City crowd— and to all Americans — saying “We can do better!” Step aside, old, tired, corrupted, Democrats. The younger ones—full of passion and vision— are coming to lead America.

- George Hollister November 6, 2025
  
  Recently a friend of mine said, “Capitalism is men eating men. With socialism it’s the other way around.”
  
Justine Frederiksen November 6, 2025

I disagree with Drew Magary’s premise that Americans chose “woke” Tuesday.. There’s a lot of daylight between Nosferatu’s hand and “woke,” and I read the results as people wanting a lot less BSC people running the country/world. Let’s hope there is still time to choose that.

Stephen Dunlap November 6, 2025

I hope I do not see the day when my weather forecast is missing but a picture of me is posted instead…………………

Norm Thurston November 6, 2025

Nice to see Robert Service included in today’s poetry line-up.

- George Hollister November 6, 2025
  
  Seeing it was Robert Service required me to read it.
  
Me November 6, 2025

Loving the art! Thank you for balancing news with art.

Harvey Reading November 6, 2025

R.D. BEACON:

I have heard similar rants since I was kid in the fifties. Sounds as dumb now as it did then. MAGAts lack creativity…

- Kirk Vodopals November 6, 2025
  
  Not sure why they print his drivel…
  
- Marshall Newman November 6, 2025
  
  Plus R.D. Beacon has it wrong – it is the Republicans, through the budget bill they support, that keep the the government shut down.
  
  - Koepf November 6, 2025
    
    Why don’t you head up to the Beacon Light Lounge in Elk and speak to R.D. in person? Lovely view, cheap drinks, and conversation with an interesting man.
    
    - Marshall Newman November 6, 2025
      
      Maybe so, but still wrong.
      
- Jim Armstrong November 6, 2025
  
  Drunk, stoned, stupid or senile, Bruce and Mark like him.
  
Koepf November 6, 2025

ANTICIPATING NEW ICEHOUSE

Is this a joke? Most serious albacore fishermen have refrigeration on their boats, as they often range far out for many days. Days in which ice would eventually melt. Historically, ice was used primarily by salmon boats fishing closer to shore (thousands of tons seasonally), but mostly they’re all gone thanks to the Democrats and environmentalists in Sacramento and Jared “ice man” Huffman, who have destroyed the salmon season.

- gary smith November 7, 2025
  
  There are fisheries besides albacore still ongoing in Fort Bragg. The draggers all use ice. Hook and line black cod and rock cod need ice. Buyers need it.
  What surprised me about the article, and I hope it’s wrong, is that this plant only makes 20 tons in 24 hours. That would only ice up a couple of draggers or maybe ten smaller boats. It won’t ever do if salmon trolling comes back.
  
Chuck Dunbar November 6, 2025

Surreal Headline of the Day

“Elon Musk Wins $1 Trillion Tesla Payday: Shareholders approved a plan to grant Mr. Musk shares worth nearly $1 trillion if he meets ambitious goals, including vastly expanding the company’s stock market valuation.”
Politico, 11/6/25

Time to stop buying Tesla cars.
Time to tax the rich.

- George Hollister November 6, 2025
  
  In order to tax Musk, and the rest of the billionaires as is proposed, the tax would have to be on unearned income. That’s not going to happen.
  
  - Chuck Dunbar November 6, 2025
    
    Taxing the rich—Here’s one way:
    
    “A wealth tax. Senators Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and Elizbeth Warren (D-MA) both have proposed versions of a straight-up tax on the wealth of very rich people. There are some differences between their plans but, in general, both tax nearly all the assets of the mega-rich, rather than their income from wealth.”
    
    From: “THE MANY WAYS TO TAX THE RICH”
    
    THE TAX POLICY CENTER
    
    - Chuck Dunbar November 7, 2025
      
      And if it’s “not going to happen,” the reason is simple–our system is corrupted so badly, with the wealthy buying-off politicians of both parties to do their bidding. They don’t want to pay their share. They don’t care about others. They want to hog it all. Good for Mamdani for raising the issue in NYC. It may soon become “The Big Issue” of our politics, as it should.
      
      - Harvey Reading November 7, 2025
        
        Wait until AI becomes a total agent for the wealthy, with its programming slanted toward the “morality” of the wealthy. We’ll be easy prey for programmers.
        
      - Norm Thurston November 7, 2025
        
        +1
        
      - Jim Armstrong November 7, 2025
        
        Yep, number one.
        It may not be the cause of every other problem, but it certainly exacerbates them all.

22 Comments

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