Mendocino County Today: Friday 12/5/2025

By AVA News Service on December 5, 2025

A DEEPENING MARINE LAYER will return along the coast with patchy drizzle. King tides combined with tidal anomaly will continue to bring the threat of coastal flooding in low-lying areas around Humboldt Bay today. A series of frontal systems moving north of the area will bring a chance of light rain or sprinkles across the northern portion of the area through the weekend, especially for Del Norte and Humboldt counties. (NWS)

STEPHEN DUNLAP (Fort Bragg): A cloudy 41F this Friday morning on the coast. Drizzle tomorrow maybe is about all the forecast offers other than the usual mix of clouds & sun. Rain maybe NEXT weekend, we'll see ?

THURSDAY'S RESULTS

NCL II BOYS ALL-LEAGUE

Co-Most Valuable Players

Leo Ramos, Jr., Calistoga
Aidan Crockett, Sr., Sonoma Academy

First Team

Elian Diaz-Zepeda, Sr., Sonoma Academy
Mateo Elliott, Sr., Sonoma Academy
Gale Gearinger, Sr., Sonoma Academy
Aaron Garcia, Sr., Tomales
Dominc Gomez, Sr., Tomales
Jorge Lopez, Sr., Tomales
Noah Lambrecht, Sr., Credo
Oliver Graziani, So., Credo
Elias Montanez, Sr., Calistoga
Iker Rodriguez, So., Roseland Collegiate Prep
Gavin Evans, Jr., Mendocino

Second Team

Teo Foehl, Jr., Sonoma Academy
Marcel Nsizoa Ndi, So., Sonoma Academy
Heyson Vasquez, Sr., Tomales
Anthony Vasquez, Fr., Tomales
Elijah Gottlieb, Sr., Credo
Rafael Rodriguez, Sr., Calistoga
Julian Villagomez, Sr., Point Arena
Diego Martin, Jr., Roseland Collegiate Prep
Aiden Parker, Sr., Mendocino
Damian Eligio, Sr., Anderson Valley

Honorable Mention

Liam Kramer, Jr., Sonoma Academy
Jesse Teodoro, Jr., Tomales
Braedan Swift, So., Credo
Collin Elliot, So., Credo
Victor Martinez, Jr., Calistoga
Jose Bernal, Sr., Point Arena
Leo Zamora, Sr., Roseland Collegiate Prep
Emiliano Rocha, Jr., Mendocino
Arturo Garcia, Sr., Anderson Valley
David Sandoval, Sr., Geyserville

ERNEST PETER ZASTE, III

It is with heavy hearts and our deepest sorrow that we announce the passing of our beloved Son, Brother, Father, Uncle and Friend Ernest Peter Zaste III on Sunday, November 23, 2025 at the age of 46.

Ernest was born on October 24, 1979 in Pittsburg, California. Ernest was known for his larger than life personality, unwavering loyalty, witty sense of humor, his big heart, and the love for those he cared for deeply.

As a tribal member of the Guidiville Rancheria, Ernest was a proud Native American with skill in beadwork. He took pride in recently teaching classes to young tribal members locally. He enjoyed creating pieces for family and friends.

Ernest was also very proud of achieving a clean and sober lifestyle. He celebrated with his family after receiving his 2 year chip on November 7th.

Ernest is survived by his mother, Pamela Zaste; his siblings Joan Pickron and Gregory Zaste; his children Jordan Zaste, Ernest Zaste IV, and Eran Zaste; his nieces and nephews Julian Pickron and wife Courtney, Damian Pickron, Roger Zaste, Aaliyah Gee, Callie Zaste, Naomi Zaste, William Zaste, and Cooper Zaste; and finally his great niece and nephew Cameron Pickron and Jayci Pickron.

Ernest will be missed beyond measure by all who knew him. There will be a viewing for friends and family to bid farewell to Ernest on Thursday, December 4th, 2025 from 2pm - 8pm at Eversole Mortuary. He will be cremated in a private family ceremony.

FORT BRAGG POLICE INVESTIGATING HATE CRIME NEAR COTTON AUDITORIUM

On December 2, 2025, around 7:09 p.m., Fort Bragg police officers responded to a report of a hate crime in the 600 block of North Harold Street involving a pride flag. Officers are also aware of photos and posts circulating on social media, but at this point they do not have any identified suspects.

(Elise Cox, Mendolocal.news)

FAL ALLEN (former AV Brewing Manager):

This post is for every one that is upset with Anderson Valley Brewing Company for laying off a few of their employees. It is always unfortunate when a company has to lay people off, but it is usually a serious measure, taken to restructure the company and save it from further decline. It’s rarely something done by a prospering enterprise. And so it is in this case. These lay offs were not done out of malice, spite or greed - quite the opposite; they were a necessity. In fact the brewery held off on these lay offs as long as they thought they could (probably 2 or 3 months longer than they should have waited; they had hoped not to do it at all). The lay offs were done so that the company could continue to pay their other employees. Simply put, there was not enough money to pay everyone. For those who think this is hyperbole or untrue I will elaborate. Under the last ownership the CEO (the owner's son) and the son's wife had the top two salaries in the company. They paid themselves up to the very end. The previous owner took money out of the company in other ways too, they left many of the suppliers unpaid and even towards the end had another company make payroll for them and then did not pay them back. Unlike the old owners, today's owner and his partner have taken home no salaries ($ZERO.00). They are paying all their suppliers and have not short-changed anyone. In fact, each month they must take money out of their personal savings to cover payroll. And even these lay offs may not be enough to keep them from having to do that again and again for some time to come. But they know they can not continue to operate this way. The brewery needs your support now more than they ever have. Boycotting them will not help them survive and certainly will not help them re-hire or hire anyone in the future. So - If the community wants to lose the Anderson Valley brewery, a brewery that has employed hundreds of people over more than 35+ years, a company that puts on and sponsors an annual beer fest that has brought in over $1,00,000 in donations to local non-profits over the years, a brewery that today pays their bills, a brewery that supplies the community with free music, free disc golf, a free meeting place, free rent for the circus so that you all come come and enjoy it, who donates thousands of dollars to local non-profits each year in beer and wearables, then boycott and run the real risk of losing out on all the things the brewery offers and that so many of you have enjoyed over the years. No more jobs for anyone, no more donations, no more beer fest to help the nonprofits (and bring in tens of thousands in sales to the valley), no more music, no more disc golf, no more community space, no more beer. You do what you think is right and fair.

‘ACCOUNTABILITY PROVISIONS’?

by Mark Scaramella

Last week Mendolocal.news reporter Elise Cox broke the unsurprising news that “Mendocino County Supervisors' Approval Rating Stinks.”

According to the results of a Mendocino Council of Governments (MCOG) survey to gauge the level of support a road tax measure might get from voters, the survey found that only 30% of those surveyed had a favorable opinion of the Supervisors. 50% had an unfavorable view. Presumably 20% had no view or were neutral on the question.

Reasons offered for the unfavorable view were homelessness, a lack of good-paying jobs, the condition of local streets and roads, and waste and inefficiency in government.

No reasons were offered to explain the 30% with a favorable view.

We don’t blame the supervisors for “homelessness,” but, of course they could do more about it if they wanted to, which may be why such a visible problem, especially in the Ukiah area, was mentioned first. Nor do we blame the Supervisors for the County’s historical lack of good paying jobs, although they could at least try introducing a living wage ordinance like the one Sonoma County has if they wanted to.

The condition of the County streets and roads in the unincorporated areas of the County is indeed the responsibility of the County, but the County is limited by the paltry amount of funds available for road maintenance — which is why they’re asking the public about their level of support for a road tax.

“Waste and inefficiency,” while likely true to some extent, is too generic a complaint to take seriously.

Reporter Cox also noted that the consultant conducting the MCOG survey said that the public would be more likely to support a road tax if the proposal contained “accountability provisions.”

That’s where we couldn’t help chuckling.

The late John Pinches, the only Supervisor in Mendo history who actual knew and cared about road maintenance and construction, told us repeatedly that roads are the least transparent and least understood activities in the public sphere. When the public votes for “roads” they have no idea what they’ll get or if they’ll get anything at all. Nobody outside a few contractors knows how much “roads” might cost and “oversight,” much less scheduling is difficult at best.

For example. how much was paid for the few miles of macadam that make up the “Great Redwood Trail” segments in Ukiah? Those were small projects that did not have to comply with California’s strict road construction specifications, yet they cost millions of dollars for just a few miles.

One estimate we found on-line for road resurfacing in rural areas of California said the cost is around $280k per lane per mile. So let’s say $600k per mile to resurface the typical two-lane County road. Mendocino County has about a thousand miles of roads in various stages of deterioration, very few in good shape. How big a dent could a modest sales tax make? You can do the math. Be prepared to make lots of little round circles.

A road tax proposal that simply says the money raised will go to “improve county roads” will be a guarantee of a giant black hole where the money will be dumped, never heard from again. Also guaranteed will be that a large portion of money raised will be spent on planning and management. Take Big Orange, for example, a few years ago a state audit showed that Caltrans has the highest percentage of bureaucracy and administration of all the state’s bloated agencies at around 30%.

The only way to provide anything close to “accountability” would be to specify which roads are to be improved (i.e., a priority list), what kinds of improvements are to be made, and how many miles must be improved. And even that would be hard to manage.

Close followers of Mendocino County officialdom will remember that 2017’s Measure B, the “Mental Health Treatment Act” was sold to the public as a way to reduce the level of street people with mental health or drug problems. It included “accountability provisions,” and look what that got us. I.e., basically nothing.

Measure B specifically calls for the creation of “a politically independent ‘Mental Health Treatment Act’ Citizen’s Oversight Committee which shall review the independent annual audit of expenditures …”

No such audit has ever been done much less “reviewed.” Nobody seems to care that the measure’s specific annual audit requirement is being ignored.

“…and the performance management plan [shall be reviewed] for compliance with the Specific Purpose of this ordinance.”

In short, that “specific purpose” was to “provide assistance in the diagnosis, treatment and recovery from mental illness and addiction…” Not to provide facilities where local agencies can make money by placing a small set of “reimbursable” mental patients to get their meds straight.

None of the millions of dollars of Measure B money has been spent for that specific purpose. No such plan was ever prepared. In the end the Supervisors, not the “independent” oversight committee, threw up their hands and declared that the 2018 Kemper Report was the “performance management plan,” which has not been reviewed for compliance by anyone, much less followed.

The text of Measure B continues: “This committee shall also provide recommendations to the Board of Supervisors on the implementation of this ordinance.”

The closest they got to “recommendations” was the commissioning of the Kemper Report which has been ignored throughout. For a while after Measure B passed, a Measure B committee member, typically former-Sheriff Tom Allman, reported to the Board about the Committee’s activities. But even that petered out after a couple of years. Meeting frequency has dwindled to a couple times a year, not that anybody’s paying attention.

In eight years, the Measure B committee has made no specific recommendations to the Board of Supervisors. The Supervisors quit referring questions to them years ago. The Measure B committee meetings have been nothing but disorganized gab sessions from the outset. Measure B has only done two projects since its passage: The grossly overpriced “Crisis Residential Treatment Center” (talk about “waste and inefficiency”!) next door to the Schraeders’ admin offices on Orchard Street; and the soon to be completed Psychiatric Health Facility on Whitmore Lane south of Ukiah. Neither of those projects were the result of recommendations from the Measure B oversight committee, nor has the committee ever reviewed them, evaluated them, or looked into their operations, staffing and funding to see if the “specific objectives” of Measure B will be met. (Hint: they won’t.)

“The committee shall be comprised of eleven members,” says the Measure B text, “including a citizen selected by each member of the Mendocino County Board of Supervisors, a Member of the Behavioral Health Advisory Board, the County Mental Health Director or his/her representative, the County Auditor or his/her representative, the Mendocino County Chief Executive Officer or his/her representative, the Sheriff or his/her representative, and a representative of the Mendocino Chapter of the National Alliance on Mental Illness.”

By putting board-appointed citizens and government officials on the oversight committee, it was never “independent” and was dominated by the County reps. Later, as the committee proved itself to be totally useless, the Board appointed the Mental Health Director as the Manager of Measure B.

“The Mendocino County Board of Supervisors is encouraged to include professional experts such as psychiatric and health practitioners, first responders and other mental health professionals among the five committee members selected by the Board.”

No first responders were appointed. The “experts” on the Committee proved to be its least competent members who offered nothing but hours of muddled psychobabble to the meetings.

“The meetings of this committee shall be open to the public and shall be held in compliance with the Ralph M. Brown Act, California’s open meeting law.”

That one they did, not that it helped, not that many people bothered to pay attention to it.

So, given that dismal history, what would “accountability provisions” in a road tax proposal look like if the Board wanted them to be credible and supported by the public?

We’ll address that question in a future column.

KATHLEEN A. RIPPEY

We grieve the passing of our extraordinary friend, Kathy Rippey, in Willits, California on November 27th. She was one of those exceptional humans you feel privileged to know.

Rippey (as most knew her) leaves behind her niece, Kristine Storti of Phoenix, brother-in-law Rob Still of Milwaukee, and her beloved cat Ry Cooder. She is also survived by countless friends made through a life richly lived in Wisconsin, New Orleans and California. She was preceded in death by her parents, Robert and Jeannette Rippey, and sister Pamela Still.

Rippey’s life was interwoven with music and it’s world, starting with working in her father’s Waukesha music store growing up. Along the way she did other jobs like paralegal, grant writing and other work, but made sure to always keep a hand in the music world.

Eventually she realized her dream of moving to New Orleans, which became her beloved adopted home. While there, she proudly worked and wrote for Offbeat Magazine, the preeminent source of New Orleans music culture and business. She remained a life-long advocate of all things NO’s music. After being blown out of the city by Hurricane Katrina, she found a new home with old friends in northern California.

She was an avid reader and a dedicated follower of community issues wherever she lived. In Willits, she found a music home at a satellite station of KZYX, Mendocino County’s public radio station. There she had her own New Orlean’s music show, “Get On Up” and was also most recently deeply involved with fundraising and other work for the expansion of the station network’s home.

Rippey was a fierce advocate for fairness, equality and justice and remained politically minded to the end. When she could no longer hit the streets, she instead stayed involved by signing every online petition that mirrored her beliefs, and speaking her truth to all who would listen.

Her spirit and heart will forever spark us who knew her.

Celebrations of Life are planned for both Milwaukee, WI and Willits, CA in 2026, time and place to be announced. Please email [email protected] if you would like to be notified when details of the life celebration(s) are available.

In lieu of flowers, donations to support her beloved KZYX’s building project would be appreciated or to her beloved NO’s music home.

From stardust we come. To stardust we return.

LOCAL EVENTS (today)

MENDOCINO COUNTY PUBLIC SURVEY: COASTAL RECREATION

Mendocino County is pleased to announce the launch of a public survey to gather community input on coastal recreation as part of the ongoing update to the County’s Local Coastal Program (LCP). This survey will help the County assess current recreation patterns and anticipate future demand along the Mendocino coastline.

As coastal visitation continues to rise, understanding how residents and visitors use coastal parks, trails, beaches, and access points is essential. Survey responses will guide long-term planning, support coastal resource protection, and help ensure that recreational facilities and access remain sustainable and responsive to community needs.

Public input will directly inform the policies and strategies included in the updated LCP. All residents, visitors, coastal stakeholders, and recreation users are encouraged to participate.

The survey, which consists of 23 questions, is available here: Public Survey: Coastal Recreation in Mendocino County.

To learn more about the Local Coastal Program update, please visit the Local Coastal Program page at the County of Mendocino. General comments may be submitted at anytime via email to [email protected].

For questions about this survey, please contact Mark Cliser at Mendocino County Planning & Building Services - 707-234-6650.

Comments will be accepted until January 4^th, 2026

MICHAEL EQUINE

Longtime Mendocino Coast resident, Michael Equine passed away on August 25, 2025, at Adventist Health in Ukiah, CA. after a relatively short illness compounding lingering health issues. He was 84 years old.

Michael was the drummer for Cat Mother and the All Night Newsboys from 1967-1973. He moved with the band from New York City to the Mendocino Coast in November 1969 and remained a resident of Mendocino or Sonoma County for the next 55 years, leading an atypical life.

Michael John Herwig was born on November 23, 1940, in Port Huron, Michigan. He graduated from the New York Military Academy in 1958 and spent a decade in, and around, Greenwich Village, hooking up with Cat Mother in the summer of 1967. The band had a Top 40 hit in the summer of 1969 with “Good Old Rock ‘n Roll.” Prior to that he had played in The Ginger Men and, earlier, in The Mime and Me where he met Sykes Equen, who became the mother of his daughter Augusta Rain on February 3, 1963. They split shortly thereafter, with Michael adopting his Equine surname during that time. Forced to incorporate by their manager before they fled west, by virtue of preceding Bob Smith and Roy Michaels alphabetically, he became the President of Cat Mother Inc.. After he left the band in 1973, he continued to play drums locally for a few years before pursuing other interests outside of music.

Michael will be remembered variously by the many friends, few band mates, and fans who were touched by his presence. People who ran into him, in his later years in Fort Bragg, knew he was a deeply sensitive soul, proud of his brief foray into rock music, and grateful to have a roof over his head in Federal Housing in Fort Bragg.

He is survived by his daughter Rain, of Eureka Springs, Arkansas. Donations to assist with costs of his cremation may be sent to Rain Equine at 364 Lightning Ridge Road Eureka Springs, AR 72632

A NEW ERA FOR RURAL LANDOWNERS

From Cannabis to Campgrounds: How California’s New Private Camping Law Can Revive Mendocino’s Land Market

by Petra Buchanan

California is quietly rewriting the rules for how rural property can be used — and for many in Mendocino County, it’s a long-awaited second chance. A new state law and proposed changes to county code will allow private landowners to host low-impact camping, glamping, and RV accommodations with fewer barriers than before.

For a region still reeling from the collapse of the cannabis economy, this shift is nothing short of transformative. Former cultivation sites — many with road access, water systems, solar infrastructure, and flat clearings — are suddenly being reimagined not as failed farms, but as future destinations.

The Post-Cannabis Landscape

Mendocino County is full of former cannabis properties selling for 50–80% below their 2019 values. Once-thriving farms in places like Laytonville, Covelo, and Willits are now quiet, overgrown, and listed for a fraction of their former worth.

But while the cannabis dream faded, these properties still have something priceless: acreage, privacy, and proximity to California’s natural beauty. A new “camping on private lands” ordinance will make it possible to legally invite guests to share that beauty — without the exhaustive commercial campground permitting once required.

What the New Law Allows

Assembly Bill 518, signed into law on October 1, 2025 by Governor Gavin Newsom, is designed to support rural tourism and economic recovery. It will soon to be reflected in Mendocino County’s evolving land use code. While details will vary by parcel and zoning, new rules generally allow:

Small-scale campgrounds on qualifying parcels, often with simplified or ministerial permits.
Temporary and semi-permanent structures, including yurts, canvas tents, and tiny cabins.
Eco-friendly “glamping” operations with renewable energy and low-impact infrastructure.
Farm stays and recreation-based lodging that complement existing agricultural uses.

The state’s goal is to boost outdoor recreation access while giving rural landowners a viable alternative income source. For many, that means the chance to turn financial hardship into hospitality success.

Why County-Maintained Dirt Roads Matter

One of the most important details in Mendocino County’s evolving camping ordinance is where these new uses will be allowed. Many rural properties — especially former cannabis farms — are located on county-maintained dirt roads, not paved ones. These roads have historically served residential, agricultural, and commercial uses, and they provide safe, reliable access for emergency services, utility vehicles, school buses, and year-round residents.

Restricting private camping operations only to paved roads would exclude the majority of eligible parcels in areas like Laytonville, Leggett, Covelo, and Branscomb. It would also undermine the very purpose of the ordinance: revitalizing rural land and supporting economic recovery. Including county-maintained dirt roads ensures fairness, accessibility, and a realistic pathway for struggling landowners to convert failed cannabis properties into legitimate, regulated, revenue-generating businesses. Allowing camping on these county-maintained dirt roads aligns with California’s rural tourism goals while still protecting safety and environmental standards.

From Farmers to Hosts

The same qualities that once made a property perfect for cannabis — remoteness, water access, sunlight, and cleared pads — make it ideal for camping and retreats.

Former growers are now exploring conversions like:

Wellness retreats with yoga, sound baths, or forest bathing.
Boutique campgrounds that cater to Bay Area visitors seeking weekend escapes.
Event and festival grounds using existing roads and clearings.
Educational farm stays that reconnect visitors with the land.
Off-grid ecolodges powered by solar and rainwater catchment.

And with property prices still deeply discounted, new buyers are snapping up land with built-in infrastructure and turning it into revenue-generating escapes.

Navigating the Transition

Of course, these opportunities come with red tape. Old abatements, liens, and unpermitted work still follow many properties from their cannabis pasts. Before launching any new venture, it’s critical to:

Research the property’s regulatory history. Know what violations or liens exist.
Consult Mendocino County Planning & Building on new camping allowances and parcel eligibility.
Develop a compliance and permit strategy that aligns with the latest ordinances.
Budget realistically for cleanup, upgrades, and environmental review if needed.

Once-in-a-Generation Opening

The cannabis era transformed Mendocino County’s landscape — but now, a new chapter is unfolding. The combination of low land prices and favorable camping ordinances means rural California is poised for revival through recreation and restoration.

If you’ve ever dreamed of owning a retreat center, nature resort, or boutique campground, there has never been a better time.

(Petra Buchanan is a Mom, Friend, Pet owner, Land Use Consultant, short-term rental owner. Mendolocal.news)

CAROLYN ALAIRE CHERNOW

Carolyn Alaire Chernow (Joens), 84, passed away peacefully on November 12, 2025, in Fort Bragg, California.

Born on October 23, 1941, in Napa, California, Carolyn graduated from Fort Bragg High School in 1959 and remained a proud member of the Fort Bragg community throughout her life.

Her working life reflected her warm and welcoming spirit. She served as Manager at Tradewinds Lounge and later as Assistant Manager at the Beachcomber Motel.

During the late 1970s and the 1980s, she was an active member of the Footlighters Little Theater, contributing to local productions with enthusiasm and humor. A lifelong member of St. Michaels and All Angels Episcopal Church in Fort Bragg, she found meaning and connection in her faith.

Carolyn also found great joy in simple pleasures, especially crossword puzzles, reading, and caring for her cats.

Carolyn’s greatest pride was her family. She was a beloved sister to Lila Romeri and William Joens. She was predeceased by her father, Arthur Joens, in 1992, and her mother, Dorothea Joens, in 1996. She leaves behind five children: Dale Conour (Kendra), Ken Conour (Sharon), Karla Van Hagen (Jim), Lisa Stevenson (Rob), and Chuck Chernow (Kim). Carolyn cherished her role as grandmother to Grant Conour, Garret Conour, Quinn Conour, Cecily Conour, Cambell Conour, Justin Hatfield, Ashley Lindley, Steven Woeppel, Mitchell Navarro, Rigel Navarro, Kylie Navarro, Jaret Navarro, and Rhys Navarro.

Carolyn’s legacy is one of warmth and resilience. May her memory bring comfort to all who knew her.

FORT BRAGG NEVER DISAPPOINTS

by Terry Sites

We enjoyed a glorious Thanksgiving dinner in the tiny but exquisite north coast town of Westport hosted by our friends who are two of only 60 year-round residents.

Highway One north to Westport on the “lip of the continent” can be a little scary. At least going north you are in the inside lane hugging some of the last dirt before everything drops off into the Pacific Ocean. Coming back south you are in the outside lane sometimes with no guardrail and it’s a long way down into a very cold blue surf. We made it!

On our way home we decided to spend “Black Friday” in Fort Bragg. Far from a mad scramble to buy as much stuff as possible at the least expensive price, the day unfolded in an entirely different way. No danger of being homogenized or cookie cuttered in Fort Bragg where the only “Big Box” store is Safeway.

We are familiar with Fort Bragg and always start each visit there with a trip to the Headlands, an old school coffee house that is the perfect place to sit and decide what comes next. After fortifying ourselves with strong coffee and almond bear claws (that came all the way from the Costeaux Bakery in Healdsburg) we were ready to make our move. Just outside the coffee shop is a big public kiosk that is always plastered with layers of posted flyers. For a relatively small town there sure is a lot happening. There are announcements for what’s going on in music, art, politics and personal services. I really can’t envision such an outpouring of cultural riches appearing at any ordinary suburban outpost. Fort Bragg is different.

One flyer reads, “Report Killer Whales — we have limited information on southern resident killer whales when they are outside the Puget Sound areas. Please report your sightings 1-866-672-2638.” We heard a story while we were in town about a pod of dolphins that were being stalked by killer whales when one dolphin jumped right out of the water and onto the back of a boat to find safety.

Live music is everywhere. “Hairball Music by DJ DLT” at the Little River Inn. “Big Sticky Mess” funky live music at Piaci Pub. Duralee Brown sings and plays at Cucina Verona. Jazz “Jam and Swing Dance” with the Mendocino Coast Jazz Society at Tall Guy Brewery; also at Tall Guy on alternate nights is Open Mike and Karaoke. Nina Gerber is doing a fundraiser at Newport Ranch. Fort Bragg Community Concert Series running May through December. By the way, a great way to find out what is happening musically is always available online through the “Set List” at the Mendocino Voice news website.

The visual arts are also well represented. You can find Holiday Crafts and Food at the North Coast Artists Gallery. “Makers and Bakers” will be at the Caspar Community Center. The First Annual Fosse Dance Show “Unity” will be playing soon at Cotton Auditorium.

You can gain knowledge by taking a “Mushroom Education” class at the Mendocino Coast Botanical Gardens. Learn about the forest by riding an ATV through the woods with the Redwood Forrest Foundation. Learn disaster preparedness at Meadow Farm. Take Yoga with Deborah. Sign-up for an “Elderberry Workshop for Winter Wellness” with Evolution Wellness. Personal Services on offer include Home Health Care Personal Assistants, “Window Wizard” window cleaning, or a dip into astrology, dream work and psychic readings with “Kama Loka” — home visits and remote readings available. Heart breaking is the flyer from “Men’s Victory Home: It’s not too late, call for help, 707-541-0978.”

On the political end a faux recruitment poster for I.C.E. declares: “Cowards, Losers! Thugs! Separate Families!, Beat Up Seniors!- No Credit? No Morals? We Want You!” There is an invitation illustrated by a picture of a crown with an “X” over it (no kings) to “Join the Fort Bragg Solidarity Crawl this holiday season to support local businesses that have pledged to make Fort Bragg safe for immigrants. Look for signs like this to see who took the pledge.”

On a lighter note we always like meandering on the two main downtown business streets. We love looking into the shop windows. Brick and mortar retail has been hit hard by online competition. This leaves downtown areas with lots of vacancies. This is sad in many ways. But one of the positive outcomes is the proliferation of small quirky shops able to find low rents in a downscale market. These people put a lot of really interesting things in their windows. There is much here to ponder. A Barbie Doll with a small Chinese vase stuck on her neck where her head used to be shares space with a wild haired mannequin wearing a lobster hat. At the tattoo parlor a porcelain statue of two fetching young women, one applying a tattoo the other receiving it, look cheerfully out at passersby. Beautiful murals adorn many outdoor walls, some fresh and bright and others softening into pastel shades from years in salt laden air.

Fort Bragg has not one but two used bookstores and both have good sections on local history. The people behind the counters are knowledgeable and they actually love books. Any request is seriously considered and usually you will be personally escorted to the section of the store where your requested book or subject might be found. I have developed a special interest in the Noyo fisheries. There are a surprising number of more or less self-published books written by local fisher people and their relatives. It turns out these are hot items in high demand. When I find a new one to add to my collection I am very glad. On Black Friday I found “Trolling on the Edge: the Story of a Noyo Fisherman” by Jeanne Duncan. This book is full of very specific descriptions of what happens on a fishing boat — a real find.

When we start to run out of steam we head for Laurel’s Café near the Skunk Train station on Laurel Street where we down bowls of homemade clam chowder and indulge our sweet tooth with fresh lemon meringue or banana cream pie. Sometimes we leave downtown behind for a while and go down to Noyo Harbor for sweet Lobster Bisque at Princess Seafood.

Fortified, we climb back up out of the harbor. A quick stop at “Little Cup” on Redwood Street is always rewarding. The owner is constantly changing her space, which is filled with old toys, ephemera, hand printing presses and clay. Right next-door is the Larry Spring Museum, which defies description. Let’s just say that if you are a curious person you have to put a visit to this uncanny museum on your bucket list. Larry was clearly a very curious person and one who never stopped exploring this crazy world we live in. I like the bumper sticker we got there, “You may think that life on this planet is expensive but it includes one free trip around the sun every year.”

Before leaving we have to have a beer at Tall Man Brewing, a new kid on the block for downtown Fort Bragg, but a huge presence in keeping things in town vital. Often there is live music. But even when there isn’t it is a pleasure to sit and watch the world go by through his plate glass windows. Owner, Patrick Broderick (a “tall man” at six feet eight inches) is often on hand to pour your beer. Families may be seen playing board games together while huddles of football watching men sit at the long tables. Everyone is welcome just like an authentic British pub.

So if you’re taking a trip to the coast make sure that Fort Bragg is one of the places you hit. There is always something to see, drink, eat, hear, enjoy or think about there. Also if you’re from a warmer clime the temperature there is never too far from 70 degrees in one direction or the other. On a scorching inland day the people in Fort Bragg are enjoying a cool breeze that is not just nice, but a refreshing break.

MENDOCINO STUDY CLUB’S SECOND CHAPTER

Edited by Averee McNear

On March 4, 1933, the United States banking system collapsed. Citizens could not retrieve their deposits and the panic that ensued affected everyone. Large banks reopened first, while some smaller banks like those on the Mendocino Coast never reopened. Many jobs were lost in the coastal lumber industry, and the Study Club felt the impact from both these events as many families left the area in search of jobs.

Throughout the Depression years the Study Club focus was on local needs. Club members supplied food and clothing to families and individuals, donated to the Dental Fund in the Mendocino Schools, and sponsored a baby clinic. In 1936, the topic of starting a kindergarten was discussed but abandoned because there weren't enough children in the school district. The Club ended the annual children's Christmas party that year for the same reason.

Certificate awarded to the Mendocino Study Club from the California Federation of Womens Clubs in 1938.

In 1937, Club members voted to hire a man to dispense with garbage and ashes and chop kindling for Club use, chores the ladies had been doing themselves. The following year, the Mendocino Lumber Company was absorbed by the Union Lumber Company, and the Club lost the use of their meeting rooms. At the fall meeting, the Club voted to write a thank you letter to the Mendocino Lumber Company for the use of their building for fourteen years at a low rent, and the last meeting there was held in October 1938.

The meetings were moved to Mrs. MacCallum's Hall, originally called Kaze Hall. It was owned by Daisy MacCallum, a member and former president of the Study Club. Rent was $6.00 a month plus the cost of lights. The building had previously been used as a community recreation hall. A one-lane bowling alley became a gentlemen's billiards hall, and there were stacks of large tabletops and wooden sawhorses that could be set up for banquets. The old three-foot wooden candleholders were often used for lighting. These amenities served the Club well when the rooms were offered as an emergency hospital, used for children's clinics, a weekly Red Cross sewing room, Civil Defense Headquarters, a military hospitality house, draft registration, and many other war-time services. In 1950, Mrs. MacCallum had the building remodeled and renamed it Kelliowen Hall, a combination of her own and her mother's maiden names.

For training and security prior to and during World War II, military servicemen were stationed on the coast in barracks at Point Cabrillo Light Station, the Mendocino Woodlands, and Russian Gulch Park. In February 1941, each Club member donated fifteen cents to purchase Bibles and Testaments for the boys in Army Training Camps. In the December meeting minutes: “War has brought many more servicemen into our locality… the Club might be able to provide recreation or entertainment for the men.”

Small children were cared for in a nearby room while their mothers attended classes in home nursing, knitting and sewing. In March, it was reported there were 256 names of civilians ready to do their share of civilian defense work, and that members were to supply cookies for soldiers baked at home since the Club couldn’t obtain a sugar ration. The following year members paid for wood used for heat at the Red Cross weekly meetings.

In October 1943, the Club embarked on a project to raise funds for the National War Fund through the California War Chest, Inc. They “adopted” a veteran from Fort Miley's Veterans Hospital, and later each member made up a Christmas package for a wounded boy in the hospital.

In early 1944, members wrote Congressmen asking for support of the Federal Aid to School Cafeteria Lunch Program, and the secretary wrote a letter favoring the use of the Mendocino Woodlands for a convalescent camp for service men. Due to gas rationing, members were unable to attend the county Women's Federated Clubs Convention in Ukiah but volunteered to make a trip to Santa Rosa to donate to the blood bank because gas was provided.

There was a critical shortage of nurses during WWII, and Congress passed the Bolton-Bailey Bill, a scholarship program for Cadet Nurses. The Federation took up the cause, and in 1943, the Mendocino Study Club embarked on a scholarship program that remains one of the Club's major projects. With the end of the war in 1945, the Cadet Nurse Program was discontinued, and the Club began looking for a local girl who will take a regular nurses' course. In 1946 Dolores Stenback (Lemos) was given $100 but changed her major from nursing to teaching and returned the money. In 1948, both Billie Mae Larsen and Patricia Dellingham did finish the nursing program. The Club expanded the search to Fort Bragg and eventually expanded the scholarship requirements to include teaching candidates.

— Excerpted from Ladies of the Afternoon 1908-2008: the First 100 Years of the Mendocino Study Club by Jean Droz and Janet Barnes

(Kelleyhousemuseum.org)

JOAN BURROUGHS NOTES:

My grandmother, Blossom Vestal/June, was born in Boonville in the “Missouri House” building September 9, 1880.

Blossom attended the school shown in the photo. It was located on the same site described by Mr. Ron Parker. The photo dated 1878 is more than likely showing an accurate date if it is the same building. I do not have the snail or email address for Mr. Ron Parker, the history-photo buff. I would appreciate you sending this on to him. Hope all is well. Much love to the gang.

CATCH OF THE DAY, Thursday, December 4, 2025

RYAN BALLOU, 50, Willits. DUI-any drug.

ANTONIO CRUZ, 22, Pocatello, Idaho/Ukiah. Failure to appear.

GORDAN HANOVER SR., 53, Ukiah. Failure to appear, probation revocation.

GIOVANNI LENTA, 26, Redwood Valley. Public urination, resisting.

ALEJANDRO LOPEZ-GARCIA, 20, Fort Bragg. DUI, probation revocation.

JUSTIN TIMBERLAKE, 42, Fort Bragg. Controlled substance, paraphernalia, probation revocation. (Frequent flyer.)

TRIMMER TALES

by Paul Modic

I met my trimmer at the coffee shop in Eureka to see about resuming work. We started talking and I told her she was unreliable because she left for the weekend and didn't contact me again for six weeks.

She became enraged and started screaming at me. She stood up and I stood up and I screamed back at her. The people at the other tables looked up a little shocked as we went at it for a few more seconds but neither of us cared.

She went outside and I followed her out the door. When we got to her car we quickly made up, she was coming back to work: she needed the job and I needed a trimmer.

She had one new condition: she would have to bring her dogs down to be with her instead of going back up on weekends to visit them. She had had a falling out with her ex who watched them during the week after he overheard her on the phone telling her mother that she was just using him for dog-sitting and had no intention of getting back together.

I reluctantly agreed to the new situation.

She came back down and took over all the spaces: she trimmed in the work room with her dogs at her feet, used the guest house for kitchen and bath, and slept in another cabin up the hill with her dogs. They were an incongruous pair: one a full grown mutt and the other this yapping little number.

Whenever I came in the door of the work cabin, where she was wearing a big green plastic cape that looked like a shower curtain (I guess the leaves and stems slid easily off it), she looked up from her work with a big smile and her dogs joined in staring up at me. Sometimes the big dog would shake and if the sun streaming through the window were at the right angle I'd see clouds of dust and dander billowing into the air, likely a million or a billion mites included.

One day I went out to the cabin and asked if I could ask her a personal question.

“Sure,” she said.

“Well, whenever I prepare some food I almost always offer you some, but when you make food you never offer me any. Why is that? And I think I know the answer.” I figured she would say that she prepares a certain amount each week so she needs to keep that in order.

“Because if I gave you some then you would expect it,” she said.

“Hmm, okay,” I said, thinking that whenever someone talks about what's going to happen in the future it's bullshit because no one knows what's going to happen.

After a week of working with her dogs, a new worker was due to arrive and I suggested that she clean the work room. I asked her to first take everything out and then wipe, wash, and mop down the room, even the walls, then move her dogs down to the river cabin for the first day or so until we found out if the new girl was comfortable working with dogs in the little cabin. (This was likely as she was definitely a devoted dog owner herself.)

She seemed to take offense at this request—was I was calling her dogs dirty?

As the days went on she became very argumentative and it was so stressful I couldn't be around her and I wasn't sure what the problem was. A class thing? Boss vs worker? Had I insulted her dogs? It got very uncomfortable, I might see her in the morning for a few minutes and maybe in the evening. One day I was up at Chautauqua Natural Foods and I spotted a friend.

“My trimmer is abusing me,” I whined. “She wants to argue all the time.”

“Then get rid or her,” she said.

“Oh, it's complicated, then I'd have to find someone else. If I bring someone into my personal space I need to know them, like for years. And I want her to work with a friend who's arriving soon. She's mostly an amazing person: smart, funny, kind, and sexy, but there's that 5% of her that is just very difficult to deal with.”

Finally I couldn't take it anymore. I wrote up a list of talking points and questions and brought her into the house. She refused to sit, this huge woman hulking over me.

“You're abusing me,” I said. “You argue all the time and I don't know why. I don't want to argue anymore.”

She started arguing again, ranting that it was all me. “And you got so upset when I wouldn't share my food with you!” she snapped.

“What, why do you say that? All I did was ask you a question,” I said. “That's it, you're gone, clean up and I'll pay you off!”

Ah, the trimmers, the good times and the bad. Now they're all gone and never coming back.

ON-LINE COMMENT OF THE DAY

Nobody forced you to put the bottle or pipe to your mouth. You can blame whoever you want, or your environment, or your parents, but it is YOU who still chose to go through with it. When you can accept that, then you can work on your sobriety.

As far as treatment centers, yes, I’ll agree we’re sorely lacking on that. We don’t have enough. I’ve also seen people stay sober for 30 years and die from natural causes. But if you don’t want to quit on your own and find a way to check yourself in and go through the process of healing, you won’t. We on the other side can treat the effects of addiction; you have to do the rest. The alternative is keeping you locked up and away from hurting yourself and others for longer periods. Might not address the root problems, but at least you’re not out causing more problems for a while.

ESTHER MOBLEY: WHAT I'M READING

Speaking of wine review sites, JamesSuckling.com made two relatively high-profile hires: Susan Kostrzewa, former Wine Enthusiast editor in chief, is the publication’s editorial director, and Andrew McMurray, veteran of the New York retailer Zachy’s, is its new publisher.

Red abalone love to eat grape pomace, apparently. An experiment led by the Kashia Band of Pomo Indians of Stewarts Point Rancheria in Sonoma County found that when fed a diet incorporating leftover grape skins and seeds, abalone grew three times faster than a control group, according to a release by the California Aquaculture Association.

A woman accidentally used her sister’s $300 bottle of wine for cooking and then let another relative take the fall for it. Now she’s writing to Slate’s advice columnist, Kristin Wong, seeking guidance on what to do. Doesn’t take a professional to figure this one out!

SOME REMINDERS ABOUT MILITARY LAW AND UNLAWFUL ORDERS

Editor:

These thoughts are addressed to those who have never served in the U.S. military (any branch). The rest of you know them to be true. Anyone who joins any military unit is taught that he or she (or they) are under the jurisdiction of not the U.S. court system but the Uniform Code of Military Justice. Many of the basic tenets are emphasized. Many recruits sleep through the instruction. Because of the importance of discipline to military performance, and especially obeying orders from a superior, harsh penalties (including death in wartime) can be imposed by court-martial on those who disobey.

However, Article 90 and Article 92, dealing with disobeying orders, stipulate “lawful orders.” The recruit indoctrination also teaches that obeying unlawful orders may lead to prosecution and punishment determined by court-martial.

Legal analysis and precedent have shown that unlawful orders include not just internationally designated and recognized war crimes but also orders to suppress lawful protests in violation of First Amendment rights. A day doesn’t pass when President Donald Trump doesn’t break the law, or threaten to, in oh so many ways. I suggest he and his minions tone down the rhetoric.

J. Chris Kuhn

Santa Rosa

REPORT CALLS FOR OVERHAUL OF CALIFORNIA EDU-BUREAUCRACY

Putting the Department of Education in an advisory role would clarify muddled responsibilities, according to one recommendation

by John Fensterwald

California’s school governance system needs to be overhauled to make it more accountable, clear up confusing lines of authority and address uneven assistance, according to a new report released Monday.

These and other systemic weaknesses are undermining the potential success of the state’s landmark programs like universal kindergarten and the support for school districts to tackle the achievement gap, chronic absenteeism and other challenges under local control, the report from the research center PACE asserts.

The expected cuts in federal education funding and transfer to states of oversight responsibilities by the Trump administration adds urgency to reorganize a complex and flawed multi-agency system, starting with the California Department of Education, the 94-page report titled TK-12 Governance in California: Past, Present and Future argues. The state must now “meet the demands and opportunities of this moment,” the report said.

“Given shifting federal responsibilities, declining enrollment, and widening achievement gaps, California can no longer postpone reforms that have been overdue for a century,” Julie Marsh, professor of education policy at USC and one of the report’s three co-authors, stated in a press release. “We must take on the challenge of modernizing our governance system now.” PACE, which stands for Policy Analysis for California Education, is a research center led by faculty at Stanford, UC Berkeley, UC Davis, UCLA and USC.

A key and likely controversial recommendation would transfer control of the Department of Education from the elected State Superintendent of Public Instruction to the governor and the governor-appointed State Board of Education. The state superintendent, in turn, would become the independent ombudsman and “elected chief champion for students.” That shift in role would provide what’s been missing under the current system — an independent evaluator of the effectiveness of multi-billion-dollar programs and school improvement efforts, the report says.

Centralizing authority in the governor would clearly delineate lines of authority by answering a question that has confused Sacramento for decades — Who’s in charge of education and the bureaucracy that runs it? Is it the governor and the State Board of Education that sets policies such as academic standards, but doesn’t implement them? Or the state superintendent, who is charged with running the education department and campaigns on policy changes without the statutory authority to enact them?

The California Department of Education and State Superintendent Tony Thurmond could not be reached for immediate comment.

A Long-Standing Debate

As far back as 1920, a report by a special legislative committee, called the Jones Report, argued that the “double-headed system” of competing authorities was counterproductive.

It “should be superseded at the earliest opportunity by a more rational form of state educational organization,” said the report, which called for abolishing the state superintendency by a constitutional amendment and replacing it with a commissioner of education, appointed and overseen by the state board.

Eight decades later, the PACE report notes, the Legislature’s Committee to Develop a Master Plan for Education also recommended that the operations of pre-K12 be placed under the governor.

Proposed constitutional amendments to abolish the state superintendency have proven unpopular with voters, who may see the position as providing an independent voice. Four times between 1928 and 1968, voters defeated initiatives. One reason the idea hasn’t been proposed since is that the California Teachers Association, which has been a big campaign contributor to the last four state superintendents, would likely go all-out to defeat it. California is one of only 12 states that elect their state superintendent.

CTA could not be reached for an immediate comment.

The PACE report doesn’t endorse abolishing the office. Instead, since most of the state superintendent’s powers are defined by statute, it recommends rewriting statutes to redefine the job.

The report argues that shifting the authority over the Department of Education presents the opportunity to better manage it. The state board would be charged with hiring a department director with expertise in education administration and management. If enacted, California would join 20 other states, including Massachusetts, New York and Florida, whose state boards of education choose their chief state school officers, the report noted.

The current and previous state superintendents spanning three decades were previously legislators with no experience or showed an intense interest in running a large organization. Some had aspirations for higher office. The political nature of the positions “creates incentives” to overstate positive data and promising results “that raise visibility and public profile, whether to advance their reelection prospects or to position themselves for future opportunities,” the report says.

Thurmond, announced in September 2023, one year into his second four-year term, that he planned to run for governor in 2026. Three of the leading candidates to succeed Thurmond are a former Assembly speaker, the chair of the Assembly Education Committee and a former state senator.

Marsh and her two co-authors, PACE Director of Policy Research Jeannie Myung, the lead author, and Heather Hough, senior policy and research fellow at PACE, interviewed 16 prominent education leaders and presented preliminary findings to 30 experts in education governance at a February 2025 convening.

The co-authors granted anonymity to the 16 experts so that they could speak freely. The report included sharply critical assessments.

Referring to an overall lack of strategic thinking that leaves districts feeling overwhelmed, one expert said, “There are so many new shiny things that have incredible potential, but it feels a little like we are throwing spaghetti against the wall. We have community schools, expanded learning, teacher workforce initiatives, and all these things happening that have transformative potential. We have to think about: ‘What does it look like to implement them and learn to improve?’”

The 16 were asked to grade the effectiveness of state governance, based on a half-dozen key elements:

Strategic thinking — Having a long-term vision for improvement Accountability — Establishing mechanisms for responsibility and continuous improvement Capacity — Ensuring people and institutions have the resources and training to do jobs effectively Knowledge — Providing data and research to inform decisions Engagement — Seeking diverse voices in the policymaking process to shape governance Whole-of-system perspective — Coordinating efforts throughout the system to achieve shared goals for students.

The overall average grade of the 16 was 2.8 — in between poor and fair.

(edsource.org)

DECEMBER 2025 EYESORE: The Force is just sound and fury.

by James Kunstler

Behold, the George Lucas Museum of Narrative Art in Exposition Park, Los Angeles. Of course the darn thing had to look like a space ship, because George Lucas made the very $5.3-billion fortune that enabled him to aggrandize himself in this museum on the space movie franchise Star Wars. The 300,000 square-foot building contains 35 galleries and two movie theaters. Note the “environmental” roof-scape! What’s that narrative? Answer: The “green” roof is there simply to mollify the climate zealots on the LA planning board and allow Hollywood bigshots to enjoy their luxury-belief boost. It does furnish a clue, though, to the ironic heart of George Lucas’s story as a movie mogul: the guy really doesn’t know how to tell a story.

No, really, he can’t. The Star Wars saga is largely incoherent and has only gotten worse with each iteration. Lucas doesn’t really understand the function of dramatic action in narrative art. Here’s how you can tell: he marches characters onstage to babble about things that happened in the past. Then you get a big battle scene, a lot of visual effects dazzle and violence. Then another character traipses onstage to babble some more about things that happened long ago. That’s George’s understanding of narrative art, which is to say, he doesn’t understand it. By the way, Peter Jackson (Lord of the Rings movies) has exactly the same problem. George’s museum building doesn’t tell a coherent story about architecture, either. It’s just another visual effect.

Prediction: by year 2035, The museum will be converted into a homeless shelter.

Thanks to Deborah Bachner for the nomination!

INSANE CLOWN PENTAGON

Its critics may be hypocrites, but the Trump administration has created a massive mess for itself with its Venezuelan boat-bombings

by Matt Taibbi

This time, it’s not fake news. Donald Trump, War Secretary Pete Hegseth, Admiral Frank Mitchell Bradley, and soldiers involved with the September 2nd boat-bombing operation that allegedly involved firing a second time on survivors really do face serious legal exposure, with Trump and Hegseth even handing enemies potential grounds for impeachment through their own statements.

The administration’s behavior since Monday has been a master class in political dysfunction. Trump, Karoline Leavitt, and especially Hegseth created major political problems both by clumsily throwing troops under the bus at the first sign of scandal, and also by inadvertently giving evidence against themselves at the exact moment they’re facing a destabilizing challenge from Senators like Mark Kelly. How bad is it? Law professors and military analysts struggled to find words.

“Fucking shameful, and I voted for these guys,” says a former Army officer who served in Iraq and Afghanistan.

“It’s the kind of thing that makes military lawyers’ heads explode,” said Eugene Fiddell, who teaches military justice at Yale.

“Totally crazy,” added Michel Paradis, an author and human rights lawyer known for representing Guantanamo Bay detainees. “Even if I could come up with some sort of legal theory for why we can start bombing drug boats indiscriminately, you can’t shoot survivors.”

“It’s pretty remarkable that the United States has decided that at the — I’m not going to use the word whim — that at the discretion of the president, he can designate any criminal organization as a terrorist organization and start killing people as a measure of first resort,” said Geoffrey Corn, professor of law and a retired Army Lieutenant Colonel.

Former CIA analyst Larry Johnson described talking to service members who are struggling with these orders, adding that these missions also cross a line for him in a big way. “We’ve sort of enshrined under the banner of fighting terrorism this concept of extrajudicial killings,” he said. “Well, we’re now the goddamn Salvador death squads. It’s outrageous.”

Recapping:

The Washington Post Friday ran a piece titled “Hegseth order on first Caribbean boat strike, officials say: Kill them all,” that claimed a senior officer (later identified as Admiral Frank Bradley) fired a missile at a suspected drug boat carrying 11 people, then fired a second shot at two men clinging to a “stricken, burning ship.”

Leaving aside the already-fraught issue of whether or not the operations against drug traffickers are legal, it’s important to note that firing upon “the wounded, sick, and shipwrecked” is one of the Pentagon’s own paradigmatic examples of war crimes. Yes, the Post story was built on two layers of anonymous sourcing and Hegseth’s alleged “kill everybody” quote is far from proven, but the “if true” reporting may not matter, because statements about the mission by Trump, his spokespeople, and especially Hegseth all speak to a fundamental misunderstanding of criminal and military law that is problematic on its own.

The second Trump presidency has been marked by a dependably self-harming political cycle. First comes broad goal-setting (let’s crush DEI gravy trains, deport illegals, stop fentanyl imports), followed by bold action (slashing university funds, ICE raids, boat bombings), then predictable outrage of the “Fascism Scholars Flee for Canada” type, in turn inspiring ad-libbed tweets/truths/videos from officials that generate new problems (Trump’s “Agitators will be imprisoned!” post, FCC chair Brendan Carr’s “easy way or hard way” rant about Jimmy Kimmel, etc). Throughout, despite needing maximum popular support to advance their controversial policies, Trump and his top lieutenants trash whole demographics using language that invites obvious historical comparisons, while making one wonder if they know how to use the Google machine. Did Kristi Noem really not know Hitler also liked to call people “leeches”? More to the point, did Hegseth really not read the My Lai case before he replied to the Post’s “Kill them all” story?

In addressing the “fake news” report, Hegseth didn’t challenge the tale of shipwrecked survivors, but followed the pattern of creating new problems by tweet:

“These highly effective strikes are specifically intended to be “lethal, kinetic strikes.” The declared intent is to stop lethal drugs, destroy narco-boats, and kill the narco-terrorists who are poisoning the American people… The Biden administration preferred the kid gloves approach… Biden coddled terrorists, we kill them.”

“It’s almost word-for-word the order [Captain Ernest] Medina gave at My Lai,” says one attorney with experience in military justice cases. Ernest Medina was the infamous commander who reportedly told subordinates before a search-and-destroy mission in an area north of Quang Ngai, Vietnam, nicknamed “Pinkville” that “everything was to be killed,” including people and animals. “That sounds an awful lot like killing everybody on that boat,” the lawyer added.

“Secretary Hegseth has made many statements that he may come to regret politically, if not legally,” said Fiddell.

There’s already evidence of that regret. On the topic of the boat bombings, the Trump Administration made a sharp course change in the last few days.

As late as Monday, the message from the White House and the Pentagon was full-throated support of the mission and Bradley. The Admiral, said Trump spokesperson Karoline Leavitt, “worked well within his authority and the law, directing the engagement to ensure the boat was destroyed.” Meanwhile, Hegseth kept upping the ante on Twitter. Two days after the Post story he tweeted a drawing that put a rocket launcher on the shoulder of “beloved Canadian icon” and children’s book character Franklin the Turtle, showing it blowing up drug boats:

TAfter that, he said “we’ve only just begun… putting Narco-Terrorists at the BOTTOM OF THE OCEAN,” then took aim at critics who don’t understand the “fog of war” in which “American heroes” like Bradley operate.

The resolute talk began squeaking backward Monday. On that day, five “U.S. officials” went to the New York Times to say that yes, it’s true Hegseth “ordered a strike that would kill the people on the boat,” but that his “directive did not specifically address what should happen if a first missile turned out not to fully accomplish all of those things.” By the next morning, Tuesday, the Times ran an ominously detailed profile of the “stoic and cerebral SEAL known as Mitch,” describing Admiral Bradley as the scandal’s central character, who was now in “legal peril.” Never a good sign to see yourself introduced as the lead role of a coming scandal.

That same day, Hegseth went from “We have the back of our warriors” to saying he “didn’t stick around” for a second strike. Trump by then had already said he “wouldn’t have wanted” such a strike, leaving the Times to conclude:

The public comments of the president, Mr. Hegseth and Ms. Leavitt all leave Admiral Bradley exposed.

There’s an obvious caveat. Trump spent most of his first term fighting off media “bombshells” that often later fizzled, and his most recent problems are also tied to a Washington Post story built atop anonymous sources and authored by a Russiagate all-star. Cornell Professor and former Army judge advocate Brian Cox pointed out that a lot rests on whether or not Ellen Nakashima’s co-bylined Post story can be proven true in all its parts. For instance, if the boat was not destroyed but merely disabled, he believes that would change the whole picture.

“If it’s true that we have two survivors clinging to burning wreckage in the Caribbean, then attacking them would be a war crime,” Cox said. “But if their boat rather than being destroyed is disabled, and still qualifies as the military objective, then the attack is permissible.”

That assumes however that the ostensible justification for the operation holds up, which few lawyers I spoke with believed was possible (Fiddell wouldn’t even concede that this was a “real armed conflict,” making the issue not war crimes but “just crime”). What is that justification? The White House originally said Trump “determined” the United States was in an “armed conflict” with drug cartels and filed notice to Congressional committees. A classified Office of Legal Counsel (OLC) memo reportedly fleshed out the idea, saying the Administration was acting in collective self-defense of countries like Mexico, under attack from cartels that use cocaine sales to finance the use of force.

The OLC memo as reported diverges from Trump’s public statements justifying the strikes to stop “massive amounts of drugs coming into our country to kill a lot of people.” Administration sources later began claiming authority under post-9/11 law permitting force against terrorist organizations, a designation the Cartel de los Soles earned two weeks ago. Under this theory, the government of Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro can be attacked using the same blanket force authorizations prior presidents claimed to justify actions against a long list of other designated “terrorist” organizations. But even some Republicans and erstwhile supporters of Trump are having trouble squaring the concept of invoking terror law to wipe out drug dealers.

Paradis points out that even if Hegseth didn’t give the “kill everybody” order and had nothing to do with any second shot, both Trump and more particularly Hegseth still have exposure based on the concept of Command Responsibility. This idea dates back to a 1946 Supreme Court case involving the Japanese Commander of the Philippines, Tomoyuki Yakashita, who was held responsible for “permitting [soldiers] to commit” war crimes, even if he didn’t have direct knowledge. The resulting doctrine obligates commanders to “prevent and investigate” once they become aware of illegal behavior by soldiers.

There’s already a long list of public statements and actions by Trump and Hegseth that raise the question of whether they even know what “Command Responsibility” is, but the most glaring might be the Administration’s weirdly relentless trolling on the subject. Even if one stipulates that the people in these boats are drug dealers, asking professional soldiers to kill (sometimes unarmed) civilians is a pretty major ask.

“With these boats, if the Coast Guard were approaching them and they started shooting at us, then we could blow ‘em out of the water. They bought the ticket,” said Johnson. “But that’s not what’s happening. They’re saying, ‘Oh, we think they’re carrying lethal drugs. But you don’t know. In my 40-year experience, sometimes the intelligence is wrong.”

Professor Corn, who spent 21 years in uniform, similarly became emotional over the topic of the still-serving military. “They’ve got legal opinions from within the government, the Department of Justice, probably the DOD general counsel that validate this claim of armed conflict and that we’re acting in self-defense against an ongoing armed attack,” he said. “I think their duty is clear, but I’d suspect that many of them are deeply uncomfortable with what they’re being asked to do and that’s tragic.”

If the administration can’t summon sympathy for foreign “garbage,” “animals,” and “leeches,” they should at least be able to empathize with the soldiers asked to execute these operations and amp down the yuksterism. Sadly, they don’t seem capable. Trump and J.D. Vance both made the same “I wouldn’t go fishing right now” joke. Vance replied to a tweet describing the operations as war crimes by snapping, “I don’t give a shit what you call it” (to be fair, in response to a Krassenstein). Hegseth, between his “Franklin the Turtle” gag and weird workout selfies, has been a one-man comedy show. He and Trump shared a laugh about how hard it is to find targets now before promising again to commanders in “difficult situations,” making “judgment calls” that “We have your backs”:

his of course drew condemnation from the Kids Can Press. Trolling Canadian honor is almost always effective, but dragging child readers into the argument that blowing up civilians is a big laugh made this effort a rare miss. By the next day Hegseth was tweeting again: “Admiral Mitch Bradley is an American hero, a true professional, and has my 100% support… America is fortunate to have such men protecting us. When this @DeptofWar says we have the back of our warriors — we mean it.”

This is more than an issue of taste. Joking about war crimes in a way is actually evidence of a failure of command responsibility, in that it demonstrates a lack of interest in punishing or monitoring such crimes. Fiddell doesn’t buy the argument that these Venezuela missions are part of a war, but “if you do adopt that position, then the president could hardly complain if the law of armed conflict concerning command responsibility winds up, let’s say, biting him in the foot.”

Then there’s the issue of letting subordinates twist for your decisions. The Times quoted Carrie Lee, head of the department of national security at the Army War College, who said: “For the top two civilians in the Pentagon and the White House to effectively wash their hands of it and claim no responsibility, while simultaneously saying that they stand by the decision, goes against any kind of ideas of responsible command.”

This story would look totally different if Hegseth did in fact have the backs of the personnel asked to pull off these crazy-ass missions. An argument Racket heard from more than one person, including from former human rights investigators, is that the world has changed and authoritarian behaviors need to be viewed differently. “Maybe it’s just a different America,” is how former Army infantryman, writer, and professor Matt Farwell put it.

If that’s what Trump believes, his people have to be willing to risk sharing the brig with those carrying out the orders. But it looks like Hegseth and the White House are already pulling the Shaggy/It Wasn’t Me move with regard to Bradley, whose crime —beyond following the orders in the first place — seems mainly to be failing to “coddle” a couple of survivors.

(racket.news)

10/3/1988 President Reagan standing next to a life size cardboard cut-out of himself at the Sheraton Hotel in Washington D.C.

IS THIS WHAT SPARKED THE UGLY UNRAVELLING OF DONALD TRUMP? HE'S RISKING EVERYTHING.

by Maureen Callahan

Donald Trump is becoming that dotard.

More so — he's becoming that crotchety old relative you avoid at holiday gatherings.

The grubby sexist who, when not ranting and spouting all manner of insults, falls asleep at the table.

Can anyone pull him back?

“Quiet, piggy.” That was the slur heard round the world. Trump was apparently so rattled by Bloomberg reporter Catherine Lucey, who dared ask about the Epstein files, that he lashed out the way he used to — the reflexive, disgusting name-calling he reserves for women, replete with finger-pointing.

It's not helping that Karoline Leavitt, Trump's White House press secretary, is defending the president here.

'Look,' she began. 'The president is very frank and honest with everyone in this room… I think it's one of the many reasons the American people re-elected this president, because of his frankness.'

You know what would have been smart? Trump letting Leavitt really speak frankly, and have her say it was inexcusable, unfortunate, maybe even that the president was sorry — but as a woman, she could in no way defend it.

That would have been amazing. And it would have made Trump look good — taking his lumps with some grace.

But no.

Leavitt continued: 'The president being frank and open and honest to your faces, rather than behind your backs, is, frankly, a lot more respectful.'

Lots of frankness there. Overcompensation, perhaps?

And Leavitt really believe that calling women names to their faces is somehow respectful? That is a sad defense right out of Reality TV 101.

Women everywhere see right through it.

Most women, myself included, feel that Trump's well-affixed mask is slipping, that the man who ran on protecting women — getting biological males out of female sports and spaces, ridding the country of violent immigrants who raped and murdered little Jocelyn Nungaray and 22-year-old nursing student Laken Riley — doesn't actually seem to like women all that much.

Misogyny goes beyond political party. It's depressing and dispiriting that we're still dealing with this.

It calls to mind no one so much as Ted Kennedy, who treated the women in his life like garbage and who left young campaign aide Mary Jo Kopechne to die in six feet of water — but women throughout America were told not to worry, because he sure was great at legislating for us.

Make no mistake: Trump risks ruining his legacy here.

After insulting Lucey, Trump did it again. And again.

On November 26, Trump called New York Times reporter Katie Rogers “ugly, both inside and out.”

The next day — Thanksgiving, no less! — Trump went for CBS News reporter Nancy Cordes, who had the temerity to challenge Trump's assertion that the Biden administration, having failed to properly vet Afghan refugees, was to blame for last week's National Guard shootings in DC.

Spc. Sarah Beckstrom, 20, died later that day.

A female service member gave her life in service to this country, and Trump can't grasp how insulting women insults Beckstrom's memory.

To Cordes: “Are you a stupid person? Because they came in on a plane along with thousands of other people that shouldn't be here, and you're just asking questions because you're a stupid person.”

What made headlines had little to do with Trump's actual point and everything to do with, yet again, disparaging female journalists with his juvenile name-calling.

Talk about stupid.

Trump topped it off this week by showing equal-opportunity offense in calling Minnesota governor and Harris VP pick Tim Walz the R-word.

It's all so beneath the dignity of the office. It will, of course, repel his female base.

It's the Donald Trump of “grab 'em by the p***y,” of Stormy Daniels and hush-money payouts, of being found liable of sexual abuse against E. Jean Carroll, of vulgarity and bold-faced misogyny.

So, what's set him off this time?

These outbursts have come just as the pressure mounted, even among his own party members, to release the Epstein Files — which Trump first said he would do, then said he would never release, and then was forced to renege.

Why? Why was he — is he, even now — so all over the place, contradictory and unnerved?

It's curious timing, given that Melania's Amazon documentary is about to drop next month. Notice that she hasn't said a peep in defense of her husband.

Nor has Ivanka said a word about her father.

And both women stayed away from Trump's Stormy Daniels trial.

Taken with the photos on Tuesday of Trump appearing to fall asleep during a cabinet meeting (very Sleepy Joe-coded), of approval ratings hitting a low of just 38 percent, of MAGA narrowly eking out a win in Tennessee, of midterms looming and the likes of Cory Booker getting hitched (kidding about that last one) — things are grim indeed.

An NPR/PBS/Marist poll, released Nov. 19, found that 55 percent of respondents would currently vote Democrat in the midterms. A Reuters/Ipsos poll last month found a dismal 20 percent approved of Trump's treatment of the Epstein issue.

If Trump truly wants to secure his legacy, if he wants MAGA to survive well beyond his presidency, he needs to course correct fast.

We know he won't apologize to any of the reporters he's name-called, and we sure as hell know he won't apologize to women on the whole.

But he should bear in mind the wreckage left behind by Ted Kennedy, whose memory has deservedly been sullied.

Politicians can legislate for women's rights all they want. But women can always tell a true misogynist when we see one.

(DailyMail.uk)

FRANCIS SCOTT KEY was a gifted amateur poet. Inspired by the sight of the American flag flying over Fort McHenry the morning after the bombardment, he scribbled the initial verse of his song on the back of a letter. Back in Baltimore, he completed the four verses and copied them onto a sheet of paper, probably making more than one copy. A local printer issued the new song as a broadside. Shortly afterward, two Baltimore newspapers published it, and by mid-October it had appeared in at least seventeen other papers in cities up and down the East Coast. (amhistory.si.edu)

This is the earliest known manuscript of Key’s song. It is probably one of several drafts that Key made before sending the copy to the printer.

THE STAR-SPANGLED BANNER

O say can you see, by the dawn's early light,
What so proudly we hail'd at the twilight's last gleaming,
Whose broad stripes and bright stars through the perilous fight
O'er the ramparts we watch'd were so gallantly streaming?
And the rocket's red glare, the bomb bursting in air,
Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there,
O say does that star-spangled banner yet wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave?

On the shore dimly seen through the mists of the deep
Where the foe's haughty host in dread silence reposes,
What is that which the breeze, o'er the towering steep,
As it fitfully blows, half conceals, half discloses?
Now it catches the gleam of the morning's first beam,
In full glory reflected now shines in the stream,
'Tis the star-spangled banner - O long may it wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!

And where is that band who so vauntingly swore,
That the havoc of war and the battle's confusion
A home and a Country should leave us no more?
Their blood has wash'd out their foul footstep's pollution.
No refuge could save the hireling and slave
From the terror of flight or the gloom of the grave,
And the star-spangled banner in triumph doth wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave.

O thus be it ever when freemen shall stand
Between their lov'd home and the war's desolation!
Blest with vict'ry and peace may the heav'n rescued land
Praise the power that hath made and preserv'd us a nation!
Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just,
And this be our motto - "In God is our trust,"
And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave.

(Complete version of "The Star-Spangled Banner" showing spelling and punctuation
from Francis Scott Key's manuscript in the Maryland Historical Society collection.)

*Washington Square Art Fair* (1945) by Thomas Hart Benton

KATHERINE LOWREY:

I would not want to live under the Taliban. however, if I were an Afghan and foreigners came into my country and started killing my countrymen I would not sign up to do interpreting work for them. How many of the people who help our armed forces are sort of ratty characters right from the start?

LEAD STORIES, FRIDAY'S NYT

Most Immigrants Arrested in City Crackdowns Have No Criminal Record

Obstacles to Trump’s Push to Deport Minnesota Somalis: Reality and the Cold

Supreme Court Clears the Way for Republican-Friendly Texas Voting Maps

An Explosion, Then Survivors: Military Officers Show Lawmakers Video of Sept. 2 Boat Attack

Suspect Arrested in Inquiry Into Pipe Bombs in D.C. Ahead of Jan. 6 Riot

Zelensky’s Government Sabotaged Oversight, Allowing Corruption to Fester

After 1,297 Games, LeBron James’s 10-Point Scoring Streak Ends with Lakers’ Buzzer-Beater

'LISTEN, I told him. 'Don't be so tough so early in the morning. I'm sure you've cut plenty of people's throats. I haven't even had my coffee yet "

— Hemingway, ‘To Have and Have Not’

MURDER MOST FOUL: DOUBLE TAP SURVIVORS

by Kary Love

Growing up surrounded by World War II veterans, most of whom refused to discuss their service fighting the horrid fascist enemies, as kids we turned to the movies to learn about war. The WWII Vets I knew did not brag about their “lethality,” or their “warrior ethos.” Most of them refused to talk about it at all, apparently regarding their service as at best a necessary evil, not something to celebrate. That was the difference between America’s great citizen soldiers and Nazi Germany’s warrior culture that elevated war to be the highest achievement.

In America, we watched movies where the evil Nazi U-Boat captain would surface his sub after sinking an Allied ship, and then grin while he ordered his crew to open fire on the survivors desperately clinging to wreckage in the roiling, often burning ocean. This was the stark difference between America’s heroic citizen soldiers and the murderous Nazi legions. America fought to liberate all humans from evil, Nazi legions lived to kill–even unarmed, unthreatening, defeated opponents. That was why America fought, to rid the world of such cruel, heartless, ignominious, berserker warriors without honor.

The fathers returned from the war preferred to shake the dirt of the necessary evil from their boots and return to the noble, humble work of building a better world for their kids, as plumbers, electricians, carpenters–any profession other than killer. The horrors of war were not to be celebrated. If anything, they had fought, as so many noble soldiers before them, to end war. I was told by one Vet that on his return from war he had jettisoned all his medals and awards from battle because, “I never want anything to do with that again.”

After World War II America led the allies to enshrine in the law of nations a rule of law governing the difference between civilized warfare and barbarians, such as Nazi U-Boat captains, or the cowards in the SS who machine gunned unarmed civilians into mass graves. The resulting Nuremberg Principles emerged as a towering achievement of civilized nations. In the future even war itself would be subject to law. No future Hitler’s illegitimate orders to murder would be followed by honorable soldiers. Those who followed illegal orders would be tried as war criminals. America hung such spineless criminals after Nuremberg Trials.

Such humble heroes, so different from the grinning Nazi U-Boat captain enjoying murdering helpless US Sailors swimming in the sea after the sinking of their warship, seemed to bring the light of a new sun into the world. A world where war, if tolerated at all, was to be subject to law. A just war, fought for human liberation or not at all, was to be fought justly, by honorable soldiers who would do the job and then, like Cincinnatus, return to their farms and plows to feed their fellow humans. Such humble heroes were all around us as we grew up sheltered by their courage, their strength, their morals and their decency. This allowed us to dream, to build, to go to the moon, inhabit space, while on earth, science cured many diseases, comforted the sick, and the only war was the war to end poverty.

Murder most foul, the double-tap murder of helpless survivors of boat sinkings, had been abolished from the earth. A new birth of decency, of hope, of a world that could be united under law, for the uplifting of all people, repudiating the barbaric Nazi “berserker warrior” rose over the earth like a new sun. Imperfect? Certainly. Much hard work remained for true leaders to guide the great mass of humanity upwards remained. But the greatest generation, now mostly passed from the earth, established a pinnacle of accomplishment and achievement.

Murder most foul cannot be allowed to tarnish their admirable heroism. Double tap murders, whether on the high seas, or in marketplaces to which first responders rush, peopled with women and children injured by a terrorist bomb, only to be unscrupulously targeted for a “double tap” are beneath contempt. Those who order such crimes are either repudiated by decent human beings, or the world descends into utter madness. Allowing double tap murder sinks American greatness and restores Nazi U-Boat barbarism most foul.

(Kary Love is a Michigan attorney. CounterPunch.org)

THE ART OF DROWNING

I wonder how it all got started, this business
about seeing your life flash before your eyes
while you drown, as if panic, or the act of submergence,
could startle time into such compression, crushing
decades in the vice of your desperate, final seconds.

After falling off a steamship or being swept away
in a rush of floodwaters, wouldn't you hope
for a more leisurely review, an invisible hand
turning the pages of an album of photographs-
you up on a pony or blowing out candles in a conic hat.

How about a short animated film, a slide presentation?
Your life expressed in an essay, or in one model photograph?
Wouldn't any form be better than this sudden flash?
Your whole existence going off in your face
in an eyebrow-singeing explosion of biography-
nothing like the three large volumes you envisioned.

Survivors would have us believe in a brilliance
here, some bolt of truth forking across the water,
an ultimate Light before all the lights go out,
dawning on you with all its megalithic tonnage.
But if something does flash before your eyes
as you go under, it will probably be a fish,

a quick blur of curved silver darting away,
having nothing to do with your life or your death.
The tide will take you, or the lake will accept it all
as you sink toward the weedy disarray of the bottom,
leaving behind what you have already forgotten,
the surface, now overrun with the high travel of clouds.

— Billy Collins (1995)

27 Comments

bharper December 5, 2025

AV Brewery
Thank you Fal for clarifying the situation at AV Brewery.
The new owner wants to save it not gut it as the previous owner did.
Decisions to stop production by the former owner crippled sales in a down market.
I’m helping develop new products without compensation because the brewery may be saved by the new owners.
Bill Harper

Reply
Chuck Dunbar December 5, 2025

KB–Nice shot of the last full moon of the year. My wife had told me of the full moon with its own cloud, and you got it! Thanks.

Reply
- Marco McClean December 5, 2025
  
  Speaking of which, Muin Daly wrote today to the MCN Announce listserv:
  
  Older friend lost her iPad from top of her truck last night trying to get a
  shot of the full moon, parked on pullout across from airport on LL Road
  facing West — please contact if found. It’s her main source of communication.
  
  [email protected]
  
  Reply
Adam Gaska December 5, 2025

RE Cost of the Great Redwood Trail.

Phase 4, which is currently under construction, has $4 million appropriated for engineering, environmental compliance, and construction. It’s 1.9 miles so roughly $2 million a mile.

Reply
Mazie Malone December 5, 2025

Happy Holidays AVA’ers 🎅🎄

On Measure B and the so-called “accountability provisions,” was that a belief by the authors of the measure or a trick? 🤦‍♀️ The measure promised an independent oversight committee, and then immediately stacked it with representatives from the Sheriff’s Office, the Auditor’s Office, the CEO’s Office, plus five “citizens” chosen by the Supervisors themselves. That is definitely not independence. That is political control dressed up as oversight, and of course that is why the committee never held anyone accountable.

There’s another point that needs to be straightened out. A PHF is not where someone “gets their meds straight.” A PHF is short-term crisis stabilization: safety, assessment, and acute intervention. Once someone leaves, the responsibility moves to outpatient psychiatric care. And while we technically have psychiatric care in this county, there is no coordinated system that connects PHF discharge to timely follow-up. That gap is one of the main reasons people end up back in crisis. Buildings don’t fix that. Committees don’t fix that. The system paid for by the County is entrusted to enact protocols that address the needs of people living with these conditions they are the “experts.”

This is the real failure. Measure B should have focused on the structure, the protocols, and the support that exist outside the jail and outside the PHF. That’s where outcomes are decided. Without continuity, accountability gets misdirected usually back onto the individuals dealing with these issues.

There are solutions, but they require protocols, intervention, transparency, and actual collaboration. Here are some very necessary structural changes that would address the gaps in treatment and care:

A 24/7 clinician-led crisis team so people aren’t relying on law enforcement for medical emergencies. Psychiatric follow-up within days of a PHF discharge, not weeks. A coordinated medication-management system instead of leaving people to navigate the cracks on their own. Real detox and treatment options. Stabilization that includes a housing plan instead of sending someone straight back to the street. Systems that include family when appropriate, because when family is involved, the chance of recovery increase everyone in the field knows this. Transparent data so the public doesn’t have to guess what’s happening. And funding that goes to services, not endless planning, committees, and meetings. Above all, protocols that match the severity of what people are actually living through.

Until the County builds those pieces the real responsibility chain we’re going to keep getting the same outcomes, the same crises, and the same excuses. The PHF is a band-aid. It is not infrastructure. It is not support. That happens outside the walls of institutions, and we simply do not have it.🤦‍♀️

mm💕

Reply
- Chuck Dunbar December 5, 2025
  
  Pretty perfectly said, Mazie. It’s really kind of common sense, the reality of what would work best for these folks…
  
  Reply
Chuck Dunbar December 5, 2025

From the AVA a few days ago, this haunting thought: “The loneliest moment in someone’s life is when they are watching their whole world fall apart, and all they can do is stare blankly.”
— F. Scott Fitzgerald

I saw just this look on someone’s face this last week. A big piece of this person’s life had fallen apart. It made me feel like crying, and I wished I could repair what seems badly broken. But I can’t.

Reply
Kirk Vodopals December 5, 2025

Apparently John Leal is still alive. Can the journalists at this paper confirm this?

Reply
- Kathy Janes December 5, 2025
  
  I saw him yesterday at the Senior Center.
  
  Reply
  - Kirk Vodopals December 5, 2025
    
    Great. this paper reported him dead yesterday. pretty upsetting….
    
    Reply
Morgan Baynham December 5, 2025

The Supes Low Approval::

::::
Maybe the board would have a higher approval rating if its members spent more time with the people they represent. It used to be normal to see our 5th District supervisors at local fundraisers, board meetings, potlucks, and other community events. Mendocino 4th of July parade. Come on Ted where are you. I remember meeting Norm De Vall, John Peterson etc, at the Great Day in Elk or the Mendo County Fair or the local fire department barbecues. It used to be that all of the county supervisors showed up at their County Fair.

Ted Williams has never been seen at any of these events. If the board wants the public’s confidence, they need to get out there, meet people face to face, and offer real updates about what is going on. This county is not that big, and the supervisors are paid well. Being visible and accessible should be part of the job.

Reply
- Mike Kalantarian December 5, 2025
  
  All county supes should not only attend the fair but also participate in a dunk tank. If well advertised, attendance would soar on that day, and ball ticket sales could raise money for a good cause.
  
  Reply
Mazie Malone December 5, 2025

Thanks Chuck, ☃️❄️

mm💕

Reply
Julie Beardsley December 5, 2025

“Waste and inefficiency,” while likely true to some extent, is too generic a complaint to take seriously.”

Actually, let’s look at the past 10 years or so….. first there was combining Social Services, Mental Health and Public Health under one umbrella as Health and Human Services (HHSA). Then when it became apparent that this arrangement wasn’t working or saving money, the departments were separated back out. Then came the push to combine Mental Health, or Behavioral Health and Recovery Service (BHRS) as it is now known, with Public Health, despite strong objections from Public Health staff and local community members who had a vested interest in seeing Public Health continue the work they were doing. Public Health spent over 10 years and thousands of dollars in resources and staff hours to try to become an Accredited Public Health Department. This effort was abandoned a year or so ago. Accreditation is like a road map for how to run a Public Health Department, but with Public Health being taken over by the psychologist Dr. Jenine Miller, it’s not doing what it should be doing and so can’t be Accredited. I have seen the waste of materials, overbuying, and actual fraud being committed to cover up purchases. Combining the Tax Collector and Auditor’s office, despite objections from the staff, and now un-combining them. – another example. The firing of several qualified Public Health directors is another example of waste and inefficiency. The firing ( or harassment until they quit) of so many staff members I have lost count, by managers who felt threatened because they were incompetent, and the staff members knew these supervisors and managers were in over their heads. Darcie Antle the current CEO is a classic example of someone who should not have been made CEO, and we the tax payers are on the hook for all the nonsense County management perpetuates. These terminations frequently get the County into legal hassles that cost the tax payers millions of dollars. The recent letters to this publication about managers at Social Services berating staff, and behaving in ways that should have gotten them immediately fired, is another example. When I was President of SEIU 1021, I talked to members of the Board of Supervisors about some of these problems, and got the response that they don’t want to get involved in staffing issues. So the problems continue because no one is willing to do anything about the bad behavior or stupid decisions. Everyone who cares about our Mendocino County community should be calling out this crap!

Reply
- George Hollister December 6, 2025
  
  The money spent is outside money, meaning is comes from the state and federal government. Right? The number one objective for the county is to bring in as much of this outside money as possible. Right? Cost control is in conflict with the number one objective, as long as the outside money keeps flowing. Begging for more money is also always required. The Board of Supervisors don’t care about outside money programs because they don’t strain the county budget, and, I am guessing, there is an administration fee taken off the top. I suspect this is going on all over the state and country. Mendocino County is distinctive because there is a newspaper that reports on local government. It is easy to understand how a billion dollars plus was illegally siphoned off in Wisconsin with no one local giving a twit about it.
  
  The outside money scam is also corrupt. The economy that depends on outside money works on electing representatives who will endlessly fund them. Government grants are another part of this. Eventually this money will run out. Then what?
  
  Reply
  - Harvey Reading December 6, 2025
    
    Raise federal income taxes to 90 percent on income in excess of $200,000 annually…from ANY income source. Let the rats whine away and provide all the misinformation they can if they don’t like it.
    
    Reply
Julie Beardsley December 5, 2025

Oh and here’s another one – appointing members of a Public Health Advisory Board, and then never having meetings. Because they don’t want no advice.

Reply
- Eli Maddock December 5, 2025
  
  Thanks, Julie, for this and all your posts.
  I do know who to call out…
  But Who do we call to do this call outing? And How do we oust these unelected CEO types? And who’s going to take their place?
  thanks
  -Ignorant, discontented fan waver/citizen
  
  Reply
Mazie Malone December 5, 2025

Me again, 🎄

Also in 2022 there was a pie graph that was circulated by Ted Williams via social media that showed where the measure b funds were allocated. Some of those funds were allocated to NAMI who utilized a very small portion of the total 700,000 and then rescinded the rest, based on what I’m not really sure. The whole purpose of that organization is education and advocacy for individuals and their families who are experiencing mental illness, the education portion specifically for Serious Mental Illness! Then of course, the training facility that gets barely any use. I do not understand the point of that literally those meetings can be held at a number of places in town. And the one that really gets me is the psychiatric aftercare allocation. Over $1 million for that I am assuming since it is not transparent info that most of that is cost related to transport of patient to psychiatric health facility via ambulance and transportation by RCS back to Mendocino County. So technically the new PHF here in ukiah should cut that cost significantly. Since we have not seen such a graph since we have no idea if the cost of that went up, there is also the cost of mobile outreach teams that was 1,360,000. I wish i could post the graph but the important thing is that spending the funds in this manner gives the appearance of success. In actuality success means support, treatment and housing that is the infrastructure that is necessary to alleviate these conditions.

mm💕

Reply
- Eric Sunswheat December 5, 2025
  
  RE: Then of course, the training facility that gets barely any use. I do not understand the point of that literally those meetings can be held at a number of places in town.
  
  —>. In the past, I speculated a theoretical understanding that the purchase of the surplus church property for the training facility, could have been construed as a mitigation scheme, for Redwood Valley community law enforcement supporters of then Sheriff Tom Allman, but little was actually published about this, and to date, the notion remains an unsubstantiated conspiracy theory somehow wrapped up in the motivational terms of County litigation, with death court settlement agreement with the estate of jail inmate Stephen Neuroth, that required corrective action.
  
  Reply
  - Mazie Malone December 5, 2025
    
    Hiya Eric, 🎄☃️
    
    Are you saying the training facility was connected to the Neuroth case? Can you elaborate on why you think that? Thanks
    
    mm💕
    
    Reply
    - Eric Sunswheat December 6, 2025
      
      Dear Mazie,
      Although I don’t recall having read the actual $5 million document settlement decree per se, and wrote extensively in AVA comments section over time, part of the judgement was LE training, although Sheriff Allman alleged to the public, his concern was the suicide mental health death of his (Allman’s) brother, and made no public mention of Neuroth agreement, in this regard that I am aware of.
      
      Tom Allman withheld the Neuroth jailhouse death video for 4 years, so he could be reelected Sheriff, in my opinion, before the Neuroth estate obtained court ordered video release. Allman later resigned.
      
      I spent one week during Steve Neuroth’s last three weeks of life with Steve, in a remote secure wildland setting, and kept a focus on County stonewalling. Seems that most litigants against the County, simply run out of deep pockets trying to gain a judgement..
      
      In another vein, I still don’t know why Sheriff Allman in a previous incident, may not have used a fire extinguisher as LE required County vehicle equipment, investigated by CalFire official who was former one term Mendocino County Board Supervisor (don’t recall name), and received a hero award from Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, for sustaining serious burns to his unprotected hands, while failing to ultimately save a school teacher on Hwy 101 from tragic death, because of her spilt gasoline container car fire, that happened near her school house of employment.
      
      Reply
      - Bruce Anderson December 6, 2025
        
        It’s tempting to trash this bag of slanders, Eric, but I’ll use it as an opportunity to say that the Allman parts are untrue and the Neuroth affair is much more complicated than Eric says in his effort to libel the former Sheriff, an honorable man imo.
        
        Reply
      - Mazie Malone December 7, 2025
        
        Good morning Eric, 🎄☃️
        
        Of course I had to go look up the fire incident, I remember when that happened. It always struck me as a strange and tragic situation, and I recall people having a lot of questions about it at the time.
        
        As for the rest, I understand why you’re drawing those lines, but without something concrete it’s hard to say how much of it connects. What we do know is that the Neuroth settlement required improved training, and how the County chose to meet that requirement isn’t always spelled out clearly for the public.
        
        What stands out to me is the long, repeated pattern in this county. Things get presented as change, but the mindset behind the decisions stays the same. Money gets spent, committees get formed, programs get announced, meetings are held… and the reality never actually shifts.
        
        And historically, law enforcement has held most of the influence in these conversations. When Sheriff Allman was both Sheriff and sitting on the Measure B Committee, it’s hard to imagine anyone really pushing back or offering a different direction.
        
        My original point remains: the training facility is barely used, it just sits there, with an occasional meeting, and it ends up feeling like another example of a project that looks complete on paper but doesn’t function in practice.
        
        I did want to ask you something, since you mentioned spending time with Mr. Neuroth in the weeks before his death. Were you friends with him? And if so, do you have any insight into the claim that he was using methamphetamine? We know he suffered from Schizophrenia it was documented. However it’s unclear whether the statements made by law enforcement about substance use were accurate. Serious mental illness alone can mimic stimulant use, and even heavy marijuana use can be interpreted the same way. I myself experienced Law enforcement telling me when I asked for help that my son must be on meth, I was of course, not happy about the accusation and it’s simply was not true. So any clarity you have would be helpful.
        
        If you’d prefer not to answer publicly, you’re welcome to email me instead: [email protected]
        
        Thanks
        
        mm 💕
        
        Reply
  - Mazie Malone December 5, 2025
    
    Hi again, ☃️
    
    I was just reading up on Mr. Neuroth and that whole incident, including watching the first part of the video I decided to not watch the violent part. I have seen it once before a long time ago. I also read the comments from regular AVA’ers and the late James Marmon. So to me, it seems Eric that you were trying to say that as part of the lawsuit law enforcement is required to undergo CIT training. And the redwood Valley facility is meant for that unfortunately they do not use the nationally accredited model of CIT. Which is what measure B should be paying for.
    
    The ridicule and mocking by LE including the nurse is disgusting and I hope they were all fired!
    
    “After the judge ordered the case to go to trial, the parties agreed to settle for a total payment of $5,000,000. Mendocino County will pay $3,000,000, while the City of Willits will pay $500,000. Caudillo’s employer, the California Forensic Medical Group (which has since merged with Correct Care Solutions to become Wellpath), agreed to pay $1,500,000. Further, all Mendocino County Sheriff’s deputies and Willits police officers must undergo crisis intervention training on how to properly handle people with mental illnesses. The settlement was reached in January 2019.” See: Neuroth v. Mendocino County, U.S.D.C. (N.D. Cal.), Case No. 3:15-cv-03226-RS-NJV.
    
    That’s from … https://www.prisonlegalnews.org/news/2019/aug/6/cops-guards-beat-mentally-ill-arrestee-death-jail-nurse-watches-5-million-settlement/
    
    Wow, it sure seems that case was strung out for some time since he died in 2014 and it wasn’t settled until 2019.
    
    So sad ….
    
    mm💕
    
    Reply
Chuck Dunbar December 5, 2025

“INSANE CLOWN PENTAGON”

Good to see Matt Taibbi directly take on Trump and Hegseth over the murdering of Venezuelan boatmen by US forces. Taibbi usually ignores Trump’s depredations and takes on seemingly trivial issues that matter little. This issue is important and timely.

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Doug Holland December 6, 2025

What does a trimmer trim?

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Mendocino County Today: Friday 12/5/2025

CAROLYN ALAIRE CHERNOW

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