POLL WORKERS NEEDED ON THE COAST
To Registered Voters on the Mendocino County Coast:
The Mendocino County Elections Office is looking to add a few “Election Day Workers” to our Polling Place Teams throughout the Mendocino Coast. While Election Day is busy and can be hectic, being an Election Day Worker is very rewarding to help serve your community. Polls are open from 7:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. on election day. In 2026, elections will be held on June 2 and November 3.
At any point in time throughout election day, the Elections Office needs to have 4 Election Day Workers at each polling place to properly staff each polling place. We are looking for registered voters in the community to step up and help us out. We need an Inspector, a Judge and 2 clerks, at the County’s Point Arena polling place. We can split the day for the Judge and the clerks, but the Inspector should be there throughout the day. We have brief job descriptions for those interested. We are also in need of an Inspector at one of our polling places at the Little River Inn.
The Clerks greet voters and answer basic questions to assist the voters and the Inspector and Judge as needed.
The Judge issues ballots and determines if the voter can vote a regular or provisional ballot. Assists the Clerks and Inspector as needed.
The Inspector oversees the polling place, they are responsible for picking up poll supplies, contacting the Polling Location to pick up a key, arrange for set up the day before election with the workers and the location, assisting voters and other workers. Packs supplies and equipment at the end of the evening. Completes required paperwork.
If you are interested in working at a polling place, please call the Elections Office at 707 234-6808, or email us at [email protected] we would love to speak with you and send you some additional information. The County pays a small stipend to Election Day Workers.
The County would like to keep these polling places open. If we cannot find people willing to work at polling places, the County may be forced to close polling places with insufficient staff.
MAZIE MALONE:
Mark Scaramella is right [about the County’s failure to spend millions of Measure B dollars on required mental health and substance abuse recovery and treatment services]. There’s no data, and there’s money available for treatment.
Why and where this falls apart is what actually happens after people are arrested or assessed, and who we’re mostly talking about.
A lot of the people cycling through Prop 36 and CORE are homeless. Many also live with serious mental illness and addiction which means dual diagnosis. You can’t treat addiction without treating mental illness at the same time and expect anything to change.
What happens instead is a loop.
Arrest.
Assessment.
Release.
Repeat.
That’s likely why the data never shows up. Without treatment that addresses both mental illness and addiction, and without housing to stabilize people while that happens, there isn’t much to measure beyond repeat contact.
So the “lack of funding” excuse does not hold. Measure B money exists. Sorry but this isn’t mainly a crime problem; it’s homelessness and untreated serious mental illness being managed through law enforcement because there’s nowhere else for people to go.
If Prop 36 and CORE are working, show the outcomes.
If they aren’t, stop pretending they are.
Show us how many people have entered and completed Assisted outpatient treatment/Laura’s law.
The only info we seem to track is whom and how many times an individual is arrested.
TIMELY FLICK
In WAG THE DOG (1997), the President has been credibly accused of pedophilia. He is way behind in the polls. His ads are lame, his opponent's are good (in one we hear Maurice Chevalier singing ‘Zank heaven for leetle girls…’) With the election two weeks away, Robert DeNiro, the world's greatest fixer/publicist, is hired. He realizes it would take the outbreak of war to divert voters' attention from the sex stuff.
CUT to the mansion of Dustin Hoffman, an egotistical Hollywood producer, as DeNiro engages him to make the video and audio that will convince US voters that Albanian terrorists represent an existential threat and that the President has mobilized the military to respond.
The illusory war is projected successfully.
When Dustin Hoffman insists on claiming producer credit, a nod from the President's fixer gets him offed.
Fascism wasn't so imminent in 1997, but what really dates ‘Wag the Dog’ is the total absence of social media.
— Fred Gardner
UNMARKED PURSUIT WITH UNCLEAR AUTHORITY RAISES ALARM AFTER COVELO CHASE
by Lisa Music
On Monday, January 19 multiple residents reported seeing a high-speed vehicle pursuit through Covelo involving an unmarked vehicle displaying red and blue emergency lights while pursuing a fleeing vehicle through Covelo—despite no recognized law-enforcement agency reporting involvement.
Round Valley Tribal Police, the Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office (MCSO), and the California Highway Patrol responded. MCSO deputies ultimately located a matching vehicle in the Longvale area near the Highway 162 and Highway 101 intersection. The vehicle yielded to a law enforcement stop, and three plain-clothed occupants of an unmarked car outfitted with emergency lights, wearing tactical gear and carrying weapons were contacted and questioned before being released at the scene pending further investigation.
According to scanner traffic, interviews, and official statements, the pursuit involved three young men who had been previously employed by the Round Valley Indian Tribe and were now associated with efforts to establish a tribal police department for the Sherwood Valley Band of Pomo Indians near Willits. Sources say the program is still being developed. At present, our sources say, it is operating in a security capacity on Sherwood Valley tribal land, focused on removing trespassers and providing basic security under the leadership of Austin Walrath, a former Mendocino County correctional officer sworn into that role in 2024. Sources tell us the individuals involved had no jurisdiction or authorization to operate on the Round Valley Indian Tribe reservation.
Round Valley Tribal Police Chief Carlos Rabano said his department was not notified before the three men—who reportedly refer to themselves as the Sherwood Marshalls—entered Round Valley territory and initiated a pursuit after allegedly spotting a wanted felon.
Rabano said the presence of armed individuals in an unmarked vehicle created confusion and alarm within the community and among responding agencies. “We got these unmarked… units with unknown individuals… running around with guns in a vehicle pursuit, which is… against the law,” he said, emphasizing that there was no written memorandum of understanding (MOU) authorizing the activity. “We definitely are not a part of them. They’re not a part of us.”
He explained that while it was later determined a preliminary conversation had occurred between the Sherwood Valley group and a Round Valley council member about the possibility of placing an MOU discussion on a future agenda, no agreement was brought before the tribal council prior to Monday’s incident. Rabano also said he was never contacted directly about an MOU request involving his department. “They didn’t contact me, the chief of tribal police,” he told Redheaded Blackbelt in a phone interview on Tuesday. “You have to go to the tribal office, get on the agenda… They didn’t do that.”
The pursuit—reported to have reached speeds of up to 80 miles per hour through Covelo and past school grounds—raised serious safety concerns and threatened to undermine long-standing community trust in the Round Valley Tribal Police Department, while also potentially complicating the development of the Sherwood Valley program. Rabano said his department has spent years working to build trust in the rural, predominantly Native community with deep mistrust of outsiders and government. In the course of the unauthorized pursuit, fears of federal agents speeding through tribal land spread through the community along with rumors of tribal authorization of an MOU with an outside agency, though no MOU exists.
Rabano explained that Round Valley Tribal Police prioritize major crimes—such as burglaries, domestic violence, and wanted felons—over aggressive enforcement of minor infractions that can inflame tensions. “We’re interested in help,” Rabano said, noting longstanding working relationships with MCSO and CHP already in place. “But for the time being… I would appreciate it if they just stayed on their jurisdiction. This is our territory.”
Tribal police departments are structured based on decisions made by the tribal government itself. Some tribes pursue federal certification, which requires officers to meet federal training standards and operate under additional oversight. Others choose to keep their departments fully under local tribal council control. In either case, tribal police authority is generally limited to that tribe’s own land unless formal agreements are in place.
Sources say the Sherwood Valley program has not reached that stage. Its policies, they say, have not been fully approved by the tribal council, and the individuals involved do not meet the training, certification, or oversight requirements associated with sworn tribal or federal law enforcement.
Rabano said the three individuals had previously worked briefly with the Round Valley Tribal Police in limited, non-sworn roles and were not academy trained. He explained that one of the previous employees was under 21 and legally unable to attend a police academy or carry a firearm, and that none had completed the background checks, psychological evaluations, or field training required for sworn law-enforcement officers. Rabano said that while they conducted traffic stops during that period, their actions ultimately strained community trust. “When those guys worked here last time… that just… created a firestorm,” he said. “Folks were just really upset and angry.”
MCSO Sheriff Matt Kendall confirmed that the Sheriff’s Office is actively investigating the incident. He said he has been in contact with a Sherwood Valley representative who indicated they had no prior knowledge of any attempt to formalize an agreement with Round Valley authorities.
“[Chief Rabano] has a tough enough job, and he doesn’t need to be having to apologize for the actions of another department,” Kendall said, adding that Rabano has worked hard to build trust in the community and partners closely with MCSO and CHP as issues arise on the remote tribal land.
The incident has raised potential legal issues, including questions about impersonating a peace officer, given reports of red and blue emergency lights, tactical gear, firearms, and conduct consistent with a law-enforcement pursuit despite the absence of recognized authority, certification, uniforms, or mutual aid agreements.
Officials involved said the incident caught local agencies and tribal leadership by surprise.
Redheaded Blackbelt contacted Austin Walrath for information about the Sherwood Valley program and the reported actions of his recruits. Walrath said he had no comment at this time. It remains unclear whether he was aware of or authorized the actions taken in Covelo.
As of publication, no charges have been announced. The investigation remains active and is being led by the Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office.
(Redheaded Blackbelt, Kymkemp.com)
LEW CHICHESTER (Covelo):
Thank you for the accurate and timely information about this confusing event. Who were these guys? The Sheriff has a regularly scheduled community meetings on the third Wednesday of the month (that’s today) at the Covelo Recreation Center, next to the rodeo grounds and near the airport, at noon. Perhaps a bit more information will be forthcoming.
ON-LINE COMMENTS OF THE WEEK
[1] The Fed is a fake organization to allow bankers to control our economy. It is completely and totally anti-constitutional,and should have been shoveled into the dustbin of history a long time ago.
[2] My first political activism was canvassing for McGovern. I started to sour on the Democrats with the Patriot Act and Iraq. I cried the night Obama won, but none of the change he promised and I'd hoped for actually happened. Then I watched the DNC kneecap Sanders twice.
Then they gleefully shut the country down and took ownership of covid as an election issue: Trump's killing Americans, but we will save you. That was it. I'm so done. I've never felt so intellectually and emotionally healthy as I do, no longer identifying with a group of self-serving politicians while looking down on those with differing views. I also learned my only loyalty ever again will be to the truth.
[3] I used to work in local tv news in a major market. When I left, I turned off local news. Several years later, I turned off national news. Mental/emotional health tip: TURN OFF THE NEWS. If you want to know what's going on, look online. You can check sources you trust and are not being bombarded by death and destruction stories before you hear the story you want to hear.
[4] Masked police are definitely a problem.
The problem exists because the protesters are trying to identity the ICE agents in order to find their home addresses and retaliate against them and their families.
After the assassination attempts on Donald Trump and on members of the Supreme Court, and the assassination of Charlie Kirk, we can't pretend ICE agents are not putting themselves and their families at risk just because they are executing the laws passed by our democratically elected Congress.
So yes, masked law enforcement is bad, but the alternative, law enforcement and their families attacked, is worse.
Come up with a way to protect unmasked law enforcement and I'm listening.
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