Showers | Ted Davis | Hill Case | Willy Pole | FB Council Meeting | Roadside Brush | Two Tributaries | Jayson Jones | Skunk Ruling | Lorene Rexrode | Remembering Dave | Local Events | LWV Meeting | Yesterday's Catch | LA Lion | Krill Kill | Craig Free | Leftist Sex | Gene Therapy | Toxic Toad | Next Generations | Elusive Fox | Pornography Prevalence | TP Halftime | Donald Review | Bunny & Gaga | Nodding Terms | Person Detained | MAGA nightmare | Young Stalin | Lead Stories | Michael Rockefeller | Free Speech | Year Nine | Half Earth | For Keeps | Unlived Life | Runaway | Such Singing | Great Poem
STEPHEN DUNLAP (Fort Bragg): A rainy 48F this Wednesday morning on the coast. Another .37" of rainfall recorded this morning. Showers today, then dry skies until Saturday afternoon, then lots of rain to follow. The 10 day forecast shows rain from late Saturday thru next Friday. Again, no big amounts, just steady.
RAIN SHOWERS will continue across most of the area through today. Drier weather is expected late in the work week before a colder and stronger system may impact the region this weekend through early next week. (NWS)
BROOKELYNN DAVIS: I am in search of anyone who may have known my dad, Ted Davis. He was born and raised in ukiah. I’m looking for photos or videos anyone may have of him, but also getting the word out that he passed as I get ready for his memorial service. If you knew him and would like to be invited please reach out to me. Thank you in advance!
HILL CASE GOES TO THE JURY
Defense criticizes police investigators: "They didn't do their work."
by Elise Cox
A man on trial for attempted rape and kidnapping is implicated by DNA found in multiple places on the victim’s body. To avoid conviction, the defense must persuade jurors that the man’s DNA ended up there some other way — for example, through indirect transfer, such as the woman touching an object that had the man’s DNA on it and then touching herself.
Is that a reasonable explanation? That is the question facing the jury in the case against Willy Hill, a 42-year-old Fort Bragg man.
Deputy District Attorney Eloise Kelsey and defense attorney Justin Petersen delivered closing arguments Tuesday.
In her statement, Kelsey described Hill’s account of the evening as “lies spun from whole cloth.” She noted that Hill told one story to detectives in 2023 after his DNA was matched to samples taken from the victim’s body on the night of the attack, and later offered a different version at trial.
She argued that Hill’s new story — that he had spent extended time with the woman the same evening as the attack — was crafted after he had heard testimony from the victim and other witnesses. “He knows what the evidence is,” Kelsey said. “He’s got an answer for you for everything.”
Hill has prior convictions for sexual assault. In 2021, he pleaded guilty to assaulting the wife of a close friend in Fort Bragg. He also pleaded guilty to assaulting a woman he knew through his girlfriend after meeting her at a Fort Bragg bar while out on bail for the prior offense.
Kelsey argued that Hill had a pattern of targeting women in local bars, waiting until they had been drinking and were walking home alone. “The defendant has a proven pattern of conduct,” she said. “He is that compulsive that he does this even to those who are close to him.”
According to testimony, the woman at the center of the case was walking home from the Pub Sports Bar in Ukiah on October 27, 2019, when she noticed a man following her. When she confronted him, she testified, he rushed at her, overpowered her, and dragged her from the sidewalk to the ground near some trash cans.
The woman fought back. During the struggle, she testified, her assailant put his hands inside her shirt and down her pants. He also appeared to ejaculate against her leg, she said.
She eventually broke free and called the police. Officers responded. After giving a statement, the woman agreed to undergo a forensic examination at a hospital. A sexual assault nurse examiner collected DNA samples from the woman’s lips, breasts, abdomen, and other areas.
Four years later, DNA from the woman’s lips, breasts, and abdomen was matched to Hill.
Petersen told jurors the DNA could have been transferred indirectly.
Hill testified that he and the woman were at the Pub Sports Bar together that evening. He said they played pool using the same cue, interacted with a pet parrot, and that the woman used the same toilet seat after Hill to avoid waiting in line for the women’s restroom.
The woman testified that she does not recall meeting Hill at the bar.
Petersen also pointed to what he described as investigative shortcomings. The woman initially suspected that the assailant might have been a friend of a neighbor who had reason to be angry with her. Petersen argued that police did not obtain a DNA sample from that person. He also noted that investigators did not ensure DNA was retrieved from the victim’s pant leg, which had a wet spot she believed to be semen.
“They didn’t do their work, and because they didn’t do their work, they couldn’t prove it,” Petersen told jurors.
He reminded jurors of the standard for beyond reasonable doubt: “If you can draw two or more reasonable conclusions from the circumstantial evidence, and one of those reasonable conclusions points toward innocence and the other to guilt, you must accept the one that points to innocence.” Even if the conclusion pointing toward innocence seems less probable, he said, jurors must acquit.
“That’s the law,” Kelsey acknowledged in rebuttal. But she emphasized that the prosecution is not required to eliminate all possible doubt. “Everything in life is open to some possible or imaginary doubt,” she said.
Kelsey pointed out that the DNA analysis did not turn up additional unknown third-party DNA, which would have been expected if there was another attacker.
The question for jurors, she argued, is whether they have an “abiding conviction” that the charges are true.
“Believe the victim, believe the science, use your common sense,” Kelsey told the jury.
(mendolocal.news)
BIG CROWD TURNS OUT TO SUPPORT OFF ROADING TRACK AT SUMMERS LANE RESERVOIR SITE - process just starting
by Frank Hartzell
A big buzzing crowd of off-road motorcycle fun lovers showed up and begged the Fort Bragg City Council to make their long-time dream come true and develop an off-road riding track as part of the recreational amenities to be developed with the three new reservoirs off Summers Lane.…
POLICE CHIEF TELLS HOW TWO OFFICERS SAVED MAN'S LIFE, describes "active shooter" drill underway Tuesday
by Frank Hartzell
Police Chief Eric Swift gave a report on that and other matters to the Fort Bragg City Council Monday night and also detailed how two FBPD officers had saved the life of a man:
“We want to recognize two of our officers, Officer (Amanda) Pacheco and Officer (Keyona) Martinez.” The two women responded to a disturbance call. “When they arrived and spoke to a gentleman (who told them nothing was wrong) but they recognized something wasn’t right with him, so they continued to talk with him. They got him to agree to the emergency room. The emergency room stated that he would have died if they hadn’t brought him in. He was in a medical crisis. So I want to recognize them. They did a great job."…
I COULD HELP
Dear Editor:
I have just today learned of the community multi-agency drill to prepare for a mass shooting event. If I had known prior, I would have offered to participate. I am a resident of Fort Bragg. In January 1989, I was the school psychologist assigned to Cleveland Elementary in Stockton when a gunman opened fire on the playground at morning recess, killing 5 and wounding 30. I eventually became co-leader of the intervention project. My eventual role involved working with police, mental health, EMS, Press, hospitals, victim-witness services, and several other community agencies. I would be willing to share my experiences in the future, pro Bono.
Mike Armstrong, Ph.D., Fort Bragg, 458-205-1202
MARINA ROSE ZEKLEY:
I know we have all commiserated at how out of control the scotch broom is getting along the sides of the roads. I’ve been tracking for a while roads I drive and hoping mowing/removal will happen for the last year or so but nothing has. (Photo is unrelated I’m just using one I took on 253 for attention)
I contacted CalFire a while ago since this is a massive fire hazard (I think it was Paradise where people couldn’t evacuate bc brush was burning so out of control on the sides of the roads if I remember right?) they said since it was road related, contact CalTrans however they only deal with state highways. (I reported 253 and 128 to them)
I was able to contact Mendocino DOT to report the other non state maintained roads (I specifically reported Comptche Ukiah, Orr Springs and Rd 409 since that is where I’ve driven and seen it getting out of control)
I urge everyone who cares about fire safety to contact and report where they are seeing it get out of control. This is a major disaster in the making if a fire happened and needs to be addressed in a serious manner.
The contacts for Mendocino DOT is: [email protected], +1-707-463-4363
For CalTrans you must go onto their website and report an issue
BOTH CREEKS IN MENDO
California Trout (CalTrout), Trout Unlimited (TU), CalWild, and the North Coast Regional Water Quality Control Board (North Coast Water Board) [yesterday] announced a partnership to work towards Outstanding National Resource Waters (ONRW) designation for two important tributary streams to the South Fork Eel River: Cedar Creek and Elder Creeks, and key feeder streams to these waters. If approved, Cedar and Elder Creeks would be among the first riverine ONRWs in California — building on existing designations for Mono Lake and Lake Tahoe and advancing statewide climate and biodiversity goals on public lands.
ONRW designation is reserved for waters with exceptional water quality and unique ecological, cultural, recreational, or scientific values associated with that water quality. This designation is one of the strongest legal mechanisms available to protect water quality under the Clean Water Act. ONRW designations prohibit any actions that would permanently degrade the existing water quality, while allowing short-term impacts from activities such as restoration and fuels reduction projects, road repair, or fire suppression.
“Outstanding National Resource Waters are the crown jewels of our rivers and streams,” said Redgie Collins, VP of Legal and Government Affairs at CalTrout. “Cedar and Elder Creeks reliably produce cold baseflows even in severe drought, anchor some of the best remaining salmon and steelhead habitat in the Eel, and buffer downstream ecosystems from warming and low flows. ONRW status is a powerful, but underused, tool to keep that water quality from being chipped away over time.”
The stream reaches proposed for ONRW designation include segments of Cedar Creek within the Little Red Mountain Ecological Preserve (including Little Cedar Creek, North Fork Cedar Creek, and associated wetlands), and Elder Creek and its tributaries.
“The North Coast Region is home to some of California’s most pristine, culturally significant, and scientifically important waters,” said Valerie Quinto, Executive Officer at the North Coast Regional Water Quality Control Board. “The North Coast Regional Water Board appreciates the opportunity to work with CalTrout, Trout Unlimited, and CalWild on this important project which aligns with our commitment to preserve, enhance, and restore the quality of the North Coast’s water resources.”
“ONRW designation for waterbodies that provide inherent resilience to the impacts of climate change can be a meaningful mechanism for affording these waters special protection and enhancing resilience to the impacts of climate change,” added Matt St. John, North Coast Regional Water Quality Control Board’s Climate Specialist.
As part of their partnership commitment, CalTrout, TU, and CalWild will assist the North Coast Water Board by preparing a technical report to support an amendment to the Water Quality Control Plan for the North Coast Region (Basin Plan), compiling scientific justification, completing legal and policy analysis, and drafting regulatory language for North Coast Water Board staff. A potential amendment to the Basin Plan is subject to scientific peer review and would be considered by the North Coast Water Board following public review. This collaboration will reduce administrative costs while helping the Board and the partnership build a replicable and scientifically robust ONRW designation process.
“Cedar and Elder creeks are linchpins for salmon recovery in the South Fork Eel,” said Matt Clifford, California Director for Trout Unlimited. “They provide a disproportionate share of the river’s cold summer flow and create vital thermal refuges at their confluences. ONRW designation will specifically recognize and protect their unique water quality and help us better conserve the habitat and native fish populations dependent on that water quality.”
“This partnership is about more than two creeks — it’s about showing how California can proactively protect its most exceptional rivers before they’re degraded,” said Mark Green, Executive Director of CalWild. “Cedar Creek’s unique red soil geology and Elder Creek’s nearly pristine research watershed are irreplaceable. Pairing existing wilderness and reserve designations with ONRW protections creates a model for keeping our best waters in their current, high functioning condition as the climate warms.”
Elder Creek anchors long-term hydrologic and climate research at the Angelo Coast Range Reserve and has been recognized as a hydrologic benchmark, National Natural Landmark, and former International Biosphere Reserve. Cedar Creek, with the highest baseflow of any South Fork Eel tributary, can contribute a large share of the river’s summer flow and forms cold-water plumes used by hundreds of juvenile steelhead during warm months.
JAYSON JONES
It's with a heavy heart that I post my cousin, brother, and best friend, Jayson Jones passed away last night.
Jayson loved everybody and would give anything he had to help anyone.
Jayson is survived by his family, his love Schelagh Allen Mayhan and her sister Omie Behrns.
We will be doing a gofund me to help with the experience that come with this.
Thank you to everyone who looked out for him and loved him.
(Fox Wilder)
LOCALS OUTRAGED AS COURT OKS CALIFORNIA SKUNK TRAIN'S EMINENT DOMAIN REQUEST
Court decision sparks new chapter in fight over Northern California tourist attraction
by Sam Mauhay-Moore
A yearslong saga involving the Skunk Train — an excursion that takes visitors on tours through the redwood forests of Mendocino County along a historic logging railroad — came to a head last month when a California appeals court gave the company that owns it the authority to condemn private property.
The ruling came as a reversal of a 2022 trial court decision that landed in favor of Mendocino County local John Meyer. Mendocino Railway, the company that operates the Skunk Train, filed an action in 2020 to acquire Meyer’s 20-acre property in the town of Willits in order to expand railway operations. The company argued that it had the right to acquire the parcel via eminent domain, which grants government agencies and public utilities, such as railroads, the right to seize private property.
Mendocino Railway’s argument hinged on the fact that it purported to offer both passenger commuting and commercial freight operations, thereby classifying it as more than just a for-profit tourist attraction. The trial court ultimately determined that there was not enough evidence available to prove these facts, especially given that a tunnel along the railway collapsed in 2015, severing what was once a route between Willits and Fort Bragg into two train lines that start in each town and travel a few miles into the forest before backing up in the opposite direction. Furthermore, early site plans for Meyer’s property included a campground and RV park, which were removed in favor of maintenance and freight loading facilities prior to litigation.
On Jan. 7, Division One of the First Appellate District of California published a ruling that reversed the trial court’s 2022 decision, stating that “our supreme court long ago recognized that a public utility retains its status even if it does not directly serve the public.” The decision sparked outrage among some locals, including Bruce Broderick, a Fort Bragg resident who for years has vocally opposed the Skunk Train’s efforts to acquire parcels of land in Mendocino County.
“It has no function as a railroad here,” Broderick told SFGATE. “The train backs up because it can’t turn around, because there’s nowhere to turn around, and it can’t go forward because the tunnel collapsed. They do this four or five times a day. They block Highway 1, they block all of the streets, they blare their horns as loud as they can. And that’s kind of what they do. That’s their whole function.”
Broderick holds the opinion that Mendocino Railway’s claims regarding passenger commuting and commercial freight services are false.
“They transport nothing other than tourists who pay large amounts of money to ride three and a half miles out of town, stop at a little pavilion where they party and then get back on the train,” Broderick said.
Robert Pinoli, the CEO of Mendocino Railway, asserts that both passenger commuting services and freight operations are ongoing: The railroad hauls materials for landowners on the route’s eastern end, Pinoli said, and recently hauled materials for a nearby resident who was replacing a bridge on his property.
“That bridge came via truck from Texas and was transloaded from truck to rail (the very definition of Interstate Commerce),” Pinoli told SFGATE via email.
Pinoli added that repair work to the collapsed tunnel “has been something that Mendocino Railway has been working on since 2015” and included a several-million-dollar hill stabilization effort in 2019. The company attempted to seek out more funding through a Railroad Rehabilitation and Improvement Financing loan, Pinoli said, but its efforts were stalled when the city of Fort Bragg and the California Coastal Commission filed a lawsuit against the railroad over its attempts to acquire an oceanside former mill site through eminent domain. Had it not been for this litigation, Pinoli said, “there would be trains passing through that very tunnel today.” Isaac Whippy, Fort Bragg’s city manager, declined SFGATE’s request for comment.
Meyer, meanwhile, has been fundraising for years to offset the legal costs of challenging Mendocino Railway’s condemnation of his property. He wrote on his GoFundMe page that he has been unable to find a property of similar value in the area, especially for Mendocino Railway’s appraisal amount of $350,000.
“I don’t want to stop the excursion trains from operating I’m trying to stop the owners from [their] illegal and abusive use of power,” Meyer wrote.
Per the appellate court’s decision, further proceedings related to compensation costs for Meyer’s property still need to take place. The conflict will likely continue: Meyer’s lawyer intends to take his case to the California Supreme Court, the Mendocino Voice reported.
(sfgate.com)
LORENE A. REXRODE
Lorene A. Rexrode passed away on December 22, 2025 in Santa Rosa, CA, at the age of 80.
Lorene was born on August 20, 1945, to Clyde and Phyllis Gibney in Fort Bragg, CA.
She graduated from Fort Bragg High and in 1964 she married her high school sweetheart, Douglas L. Rexrode.
Lorene attended beauty school in Santa Rosa for a short time, and discovered her passion for making floral arrangements and sewing.
Lorene retired from Harvest Market after 30 years.
She was preceded in death by her parents, siblings Loren Gibney and Margaret Jensen; her husband of 54 years Doug Rexrode, and her son Russell Rexrode.
She is survived by her daughter Laurna Lee (Brandon), and grandchildren, Karlie Rexrode, Michael Lee, and Jesse Rexrode, and many cousins, nieces and nephews.
REMEMBERING DAVE NELSON
I knew this weekend would trigger. Last year our friend Dave enjoyed the Super Bowl, surrounded by family. Then he was gone. It was heartbreaking for Judy, daughters Julia and Jessica, family, friends, and the community. I feel Dave's spiritual presence, and I am grateful for that. I miss him, our talks, our passion for politics, and our circle of friends. Bless you, Dave.
by Mike Geniella
A community gathering is planned for March 30 in honor of the late Mendocino County Superior Court Judge David E. Nelson, whose towering presence helped reshape the county’s legal, political, and cultural landscapes.
Nelson’s death on Feb. 17 at age 77 has sparked an outpouring of sympathy and respect for a man widely known for his keen intellect, courtroom compassion, and kind manner that extended from family, friends, and colleagues to the least fortunate.
Superior Court Judge Ann Moorman, a close associate and friend of Nelson’s, has practiced law for 37 years and is mourning his passing.
“I’ve never had another colleague like Dave, and his combination of commitment to justice, his understanding of the law, and his instinct for the human condition. I probably never will,” said Moorman.
Mendocino Coast attorney Steve Antler, a friend of Nelson’s for four decades, recalled shopping with Nelson in a local supermarket when an unexpected encounter captured the essence of the judge’s impact on others in the courtroom.
“Two people walked up to him and reminded Dave they had been defendants in his drug court. They thanked him profusely and said, ‘You saved our lives,’” said Antler. “It was clear to me then how the essence of his being was trying to help people have a good life.”
Nelson, a Minnesota native, moved to Mendocino County in the early 1970s after graduating from Stanford University and receiving his law degree from Yale Law School. He was part of an influx of newcomers to the county a half-century ago who shifted the political dynamics of a then rural conservative county and infused communities with a new appreciation of alternative education, the arts, and social mores.
Nelson and his then-wife Phyllis Webb bought land in the hills out Low Gap Road west of Ukiah and, with friends' help in 1974, built a house to live. They entered into a land partnership with Gina Campbell and Billy Jamison, which remains in force today between the two families and their four grown children.
Nelson’s career as a criminal defense lawyer began to surge after he became involved in some significant cases, and the county became the center of the outlaw marijuana industry that sank deep roots in the so-called ‘Emerald Triangle.’
Nelson had a solo law practice, but he often worked in tandem with some of the best-known criminal defense attorneys in Northern California: Moorman, Susan B. Jordan, J. Tony Serra, Chris Andrian, and Richard Petersen. Nelson’s public posts from that era proclaiming “Busted?” were legendary.
Even though Nelson and wife Phyllis eventually divorced, ‘the land’ remained a passion for both. Nelson retreated there over the years to recharge personally and professionally. He loved having friends out, hiking in the hills, and discussing the day's events over a cold beer or two on the deck.
Land partners Billy Jamison and Gina Campbell remained close friends with Nelson, who married Judith Fuente 38 years ago and lived on Ukiah’s Westside in a cottage-style house where Nelson continued his love of gardening until his passing.
“We loved Dave Nelson and his steadiness. He never wavered in his convictions,” said Gina Campbell.
Nelson’s law practice thrived, and he emerged as one of the North Coast’s premier lawyers. In 1984, he and fellow attorney David Riemenschneider formed a partnership with law offices in the historic Republican Press newspaper building across School Street from the Mendocino County Courthouse.
“Dave was a kind, generous, honest, funny, intelligent, and empathic individual,” said Riemenschneider, who has known Nelson since 1966. Riemenschneider was appointed a Superior Court judge in 2012 and served five years with Nelson on the bench before his friend and former law partner retired.
“Dave was a first-class friend, and first-rate law partner and judge. His clients were universally grateful for the heartfelt and quality representation he gave them,” said Riemenschneider.
Nelson’s wife Judith Fuente, and his two daughters, Jessica and Julia were the center of his life.
Daughter Julia Newberry of Napa said, “I hope he can be an inspiration for us to deepen the connections we have with each other. To look for the good in people. To listen with intention. To give and receive love freely and graciously as he did so well.”
Jessica Nelson of Minneapolis said her father set “an amazing example of being kind and curious, working hard, and doing good in the world. Every day I try to be like him. I think is true for so many who knew him.”
Beyond his devotion to family and the law, Nelson left his mark on the region’s politics.
In 1980, Nelson helped orchestrate the election of fellow Stanford graduate Dan Hamburg to the Mendocino County Board of Supervisors. Nelson devoted his energies to getting Hamburg elected to Congress in 1992 and became his top district field representative for two years.
The ‘Hamburg era’ may have been short-lived in local politics, but Nelson’s advice and political support continued to be sought as his personal and professional stature rose. He remained well connected in Democratic Party politics and in Sacramento, where Nelson’s recommendations still mattered.
Beyond the law and politics and Nelson’s support of local cultural institutions like Ukiah Players and SPACE, a local school of performing arts and cultural education for young people, athletics played a significant role in his early life.
In his youth, Nelson was an all-state athlete during high school in his native Rochester, Minnesota, in football, track, and basketball. He was inducted into the Rochester Sports Hall of Fame in 1996. Nelson, the son of an elementary school principal, was the paragon of Midwest values. Nelson earned an Eagle Scout badge and was student body president at his John Marshall High School.
Nelson was recruited out of high school for his football skills, but he declined offers from East Coast schools in favor of Stanford.
In his first year, Nelson was the starting quarterback for Stanford’s freshman team. Nelson played safety under legendary Stanford coaches Bill Walsh and Dick Vermeil, a Napa Valley native. He had his 15 minutes of stardom when he intercepted a pass during the big game with UC Berkeley and was an All-Conference Honorable Mention in the Pacific Coast Conference in the fall of 1967.
Family, friends, and Nelson’s adopted community were impressed with his past accomplishments but what they most remember is his personal credibility, his honesty, his understated humor, and his love of a good party.
Judge Moorman said Nelson brought a “humble and empathetic intellect” to the bench, including his devotion to the Adult Drug Court. “He used his compassion alongside the rules and laws that we must enforce in a civil society to break apart the cycle of addiction, economic injustice, violence, and generational trauma.”
Nelson is survived by his wife of 38 years, Judith Fuente, and daughters Julia Newberry (Brian) of Napa and Jessica Nelson (Joe Slag) of Minneapolis; a brother, Dr. Roger Nelson (Marcia Hall) of Phoenix, Arizona; sisters Jan Meslin (Pete) of Cayucos and Lori Wesley (Mike) of Dublin, Ohio; and four grandchildren, Elle and Quinn Newberry and Freya and Leif Slag. He was preceded in death by his parents, Irene and Woodrow Nelson.
The community gathering in Nelson’s honor will be held from 2-4 p.m. March 30 at SPACE, 508 W. Perkins St., Ukiah.
In lieu of flowers, the family suggests donations to the Friends of Drug Court Fund.
Donations can be made online at https://communityfound.org/fund/friends-of-the-drug-court-fund/ or by check to the Community Foundation of Mendocino County, 204 S. Oak St., Ukiah, 95482, with “Friends of Drug Court Fund” in the memo line.
LOCAL EVENTS (this weekend)
LEAGUE OF WOMEN VOTERS MEETING
The League of Women Voters of Mendocino County will hold its February meeting on 2/21, from 10-noon, at the Caspar Community Center. The program will address national and local program priorities. Input from this meeting will help determine focus for the League at the national level, and set priorities for action at the local level. In person attendance is strongly encouraged, but a Zoom option is also available; find the link on the League website: https://my.lwv.org/california/mendocino-county.
The link is on the first page of the most recent Voter newsletter.
For more information, call 707-937-4952.
CATCH OF THE DAY, Tuesday, February 10, 2026
DAVID BROWN, 29, Ukiah. Probation revocation, resisting.
ROBERT GARDNER II, 38, Willits. Controlled substance with two or more priors, paraphernalia, county parole violation, failure to appear.
LEAH JOHNSON, 23, Fort Bragg. Assault with deadly weapon not a gun, elder abuse resulting in great bodily harm or death, child endangerment.
KIMBERLY JONES, 55, Ukiah. County parole violation.
SAMUEL PACHECO-FRANCISCO, 27, Covelo. DUI, evasion.
BRANDON SMITH, 37, Willits. Controlled substance with two or more priors, more than an ounce of pot, paraphernalia, suspended license, failure to appear.
OCEAN TEMPERATURE, PREY ARE THREATENING WHALES
Editor:
I thank David Haynes for prompting deeper krill research. He is right that krill are vital to ocean health, transferring energy from phytoplankton into the food chain, sustaining whales and many other species, and contributing to carbon sequestration.
Conversely, his claim that Pacific whales are harmed by krill overfishing appears to conflate Antarctic and Pacific species. Of roughly 80 krill species worldwide, the most heavily harvested is Antarctic krill (Euphausia superba), fished near Antarctica under precautionary limits approaching 620,000 metric tons annually and feeding Southern Hemisphere baleen whales.
Pacific krill (Euphausia pacifica) are found in the North Pacific Ocean, ranging from Japan to Southern California. They are harvested in far smaller quantities, primarily by Japan, whose harvest has historically been between 50,000 and 60,000 metric tons annually. Canada’s harvest in British Columbia is capped at 500 metric tons per year. The West Coast of the U.S. is closed to krill fishing.
This would suggest that the primary pressures on whales along the Pacific Coast are more likely driven by changes in ocean temperature and prey distribution than by overfishing of Pacific krill.
Janet Leisen
Santa Rosa
DONATE HALF THAT FIVE GRAND TO…
We Know What We Must Do!
Greetings of revolutionary ecology and whatever peace & justice that may still be squeezed out of this collapsing civilization. As Swami Sivananda said: "What we need is a brand new civilization based on the Immortal Atman".
Please know that I am free to go wherever and do whatever. There is over $5,000 available in the bank checking account, the monthly EBT came in yesterday, and enough health care for a family of four. I do not need to be at the Washington, D.C. homeless shelter any further, since the D.C. Peace Vigil in front of the White House was swept away by the current presidential administration, and now only individual participants go there to make various political statements. The formal vigil group is now informal.
You are hereby informed that my spiritual identification is with the nameless formless Absolute, which works through the body-mind complex without interference. I am not this body. I am not this mind. Immortal Self I am! Thank you very much for appreciating all of this. You are most cordially invited to contact me here:
Craig Louis Stehr, [email protected]
WHY "IN VIVO" IS IN
Editor,
One of the most remarkable scientific breakthroughs in recent years has been the ability to manipulate a patient’s cells or genes to potentially cure diseases.
This cutting-edge form of medicine, called gene therapy or CAR-T therapy, has radically transformed the lives of many very sick patients, particularly those with blood cancer or blood disorders like sickle cell disease.
But the first generation of these treatments came with some pretty big trade-offs. Now, new companies say they have found a way to avoid them, and they’re attracting interest from deep-pocketed pharmaceutical giants.
On Monday, Eli Lilly agreed to buy the biotech company Orna Therapeutics for up to $2.4 billion. Orna makes drugs that train a patient’s own immune cells to fight autoimmune diseases, like rheumatoid arthritis and multiple sclerosis. Lilly was particularly excited about the way that Orna does that — an approach the industry calls in vivo, which is Latin for “in the living.”
Early iterations of cell and gene therapy have relied on an approach called ex vivo, where a patient’s cells are removed from their bodies. These are sent to a lab, where they’re modified, then sent back to the hospital and reinfused into the patient. This is expensive, time-consuming and complicated. A gene-editing treatment from Vertex Pharmaceuticals hasn’t gained much traction, in part because of challenges around collecting the patient’s cells.
The ex vivo approach also takes a toll on patients, who must undergo toxic chemotherapy to make room for the new cells. The chemo can leave them infertile. It can also potentially cause cancer.
Orna uses a lipid nanoparticle — basically a ball of fat — to deliver circular RNA and send instructions to the body’s immune system on how to fight a disease, avoiding the headache of collecting cells and editing them in a lab. The hope is that these immune-system treatments will be safer and easier for patients.
Orna’s lead drug, ORN-252, reprograms a patient’s T cells, which help the body’s immune system fight diseases. This approach has proven to work well in treating blood cancer, like multiple myeloma. More recently, scientists have found that so-called CAR-T therapy can also treat diseases caused by a person’s immune system attacking their body.
While these autoimmune disorders can cause painful symptoms, like joint pain and muscle weakness, patients might not be willing to try a therapy that could come with its own risks.
Orna believes it can make that trade-off go away. And Lilly now has 2.4 billion reasons why that’s worth betting on.
I wonder if gene therapy will someday help with my arthritis?
I wonder if it will help patients with multiple sclerosis?
John Sakowicz
Ukiah
CHARLES NEWLIN:
“Social security and Medicare that succeeding generations will not get to enjoy.”
They will if they show some political good sense. The only reason SS has fiscal problems is that wealthy people are paying a much lower effective rate, because income over a certain amount is exempt from SS tax, as is "unearned" income. Remove those two exemptions, and both programs would be in good shape. Fortunately, the party system/duopoly is breaking down, collapsing before our eyes, so the next generations will actually get a shot at saving Social Security. Medicare, too, if they don't have the gumption to make it universal.
Housing is another matter. the real problem is that physical resources and space are running short. the country is finally more or less full. (There's lots of space, but in places where people don't want to live.) Solving that problem will probably require major changes in the nature of our housing, as well as stopping the growth of population. The latter is taking care of itself, but the former depends on a maze of codes and regulations that will have to be rethought, over the opposition of the agencies. I wish them luck with that. The political breakdown could help with that, too, but probably won't. I don't see new beginnings happening.
ONLY 50 OF THESE WILD CANINES ARE LEFT. CALIFORNIA BIOLOGISTS JUST CAUGHT ONE.
These alpine creatures eluded biologists for years
by Anna FitzGerald Guth
The population of an elusive fox species that roams the Sierra Nevada likely only has about 50 individuals left.
Biologists from the California Department of Fish and Wildlife finally captured and attached a GPS collar to one of these rare foxes near Mammoth Lakes in January. They’ve been trying to trap one in the Sierra for years.
After giving the fox a collar, the scientists set it free. Tracking every move of this one Sierra Nevada red fox offers a unique opportunity to study the endangered species, the agency announced on Monday.
“This represents the culmination of 10 years of remote camera and scat surveys to determine the range of the fox in the southern Sierra, and three years of intensive trapping efforts,” Julia Lawson, an environmental scientist for the CDFW, said in a statement. “…Our goal is to use what we learn from this collared animal to work toward recovering the population in the long term.”
The foxes, known to be extremely cautious, typically avoid people at all costs in their remote habitat.
For Noah Greenwald, the endangered species co-director for the nonprofit Center for Biological Diversity, the trapping already yielded important information about the animal.
“I would say this is significant because it expands our knowledge of where they occur and what habitat they are currently using,” he told SFGATE. “They found this fox considerably south of where the animals are known to survive currently. If they are spreading out, it indicates that they have a better chance of survival.”
Although red foxes are common throughout North America, Europe and Asia, the Sierra Nevada red fox is a distinct lineage only found in the mountains of California and Oregon, according to the CDFW. The subspecies declined in part due to hunting and trapping in the early 20th century and has continued to have low genetic diversity. Biologists assumed the population in the Sierra Nevada was gone forever until a trail camera recorded one near Sonora Pass in 2010.
In 2024, the Center for Biological Diversity sued the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for allegedly not protecting critical habitat for the foxes as a component of the 2021 listing under the Endangered Species Act. The population in the Sierra is protected under both the federal and state endangered species acts.
Another stressor for the fox is the changing climate. The red foxes thrive in the snow, Greenwald said. Years with low snowpack may harm them, as that can allow low-elevation foxes and coyotes to enter their alpine territory and compete for resources. Coyotes also prey on the red foxes.
“Our world is changing very fast because of climate change and habitat destruction,” he said. “We’re at risk of losing amazing species like these high-elevation foxes.”
ON-LINE COMMENT OF THE DAY
I'm the mother of adult sons and this warning about the prevalence of pornography has been shouted loudly by many others, over a long period of time. I raised my boys during the 90's and later when social media and high-speed internet was new and I can tell you, there were many of us warning about this.
“LIFE CHANGES in the instant. The ordinary instant.”
― Joan Didion
“I THINK we are well advised to keep on nodding terms with the people we used to be, whether we find them attractive company or not. Otherwise they turn up unannounced and surprise us, come hammering on the mind's door at 4 a.m. of a bad night and demand to know who deserted them, who betrayed them, who is going to make amends.”
― Joan Didion
PERSON DETAINED IN NANCY GUTHRIE CASE AS COPS PREPARE TO SEARCH PROPERTY NEAR TUCSON
by Melissa Koenig
An individual has been detained in connection with Nancy Guthrie's abduction, with police now expected to search a property near Tucson.
The unidentified individual was taken into custody south of the city Tuesday night, hours after federal authorities released terrifying doorbell camera footage from Nancy's home the night she was abducted.
It showed an armed figure clad in a ski mask and carrying a backpack, wearing black latex gloves. The suspect can also be seen tampering with the mother-of-three's Nest doorbell camera and ripping the camera from its holder on the door frame.
The device was missing by the time sheriff's deputies arrived that morning.
It remained unclear Tuesday night whether the suspect who was brought in for questioning was the individual who was seen in the surveillance footage.
But authorities are now preparing to search a property associated with the detained individual, ABC News reports.
At the same time, local SWAT teams, a bomb squad and the FBI's elite Hostage Recue Team has been deployed to the city, with a federal source telling Fox News Digital that the specialized tactical team 'always forward deploys in a situation like this.'
Meanwhile, a Bitcoin account referenced in reported ransom letters sent to various news outlets saw some activity on Tuesday, one day after a deadline for the family to pay $6 million for Nancy's safe return.
I can only tell you that we have seen activity in the account,' TMZ's Harvey Levin said Tuesday night, without elaborating.
Local news outlet KGUN later reported that the activity amounts to less than $300.
TMZ is one of three outlets that received alleged ransom notes in connection with Nancy's abduction.
The 84 year old was reported missing after failing to attend a virtual church service with friends on February 1, Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos said.
She was last seen the night before, attending dinner with her eldest daughter, Annie and son-in-law Tommaso Cioni.
Tommaso then dropped her back off at her house at around 9.48pm and her garage door closed at approximately 9.50pm, according to police.
By 1.47am, Nancy's doorbell camera was disconnected, with the newly released footage showing the suspect ripping the camera from its holder on the door frame.
Another video released by officials showed the masked individual attempting to cover the lens with a clenched fist, then searching the area around the door, ripping a bunch of flowers from the entranceway, and waving them at the camera.
The suspect also appeared to be hunched over as he made their first approach to the door, bowing his head.
Police were seen on Tuesday going door-to-door around Today Show host Savannah Guthrie's sister's home and asking nearby businesses for any surveillance footage they may have taken the night of February 1.
(DailyMail.uk)
Ed note: The suspect, an Hispanic delivery driver, has been released. He said he doesn't watch television and had never heard of any Guthrie.
IN SOUTH MINNEAPOLIS
by Amna A. Akbar
I live in one of the south Minneapolis neighborhoods that ICE and CBP have been pummeling for the last few weeks. This is where Alex Pretti (the observer on foot) and Renée Good (the observer in a car) were murdered by federal agents last month, and where George Floyd was murdered by local police in 2020. Mixed in terms of race, class, gender and sexuality, these neighborhoods are black, brown and white; Somali and Latine; professional, poor and working-class; queer, trans and straight. They are also the heart of the left in the Twin Cities: all four DSA-endorsed members of the city council come from around here. In Powderhorn Park in June 2020, a hive of protesters booed the centrist mayor, Jacob Frey, for refusing the call to dismantle the police department. This place isn’t perfect, but it is a MAGA nightmare.
Lake Street runs through here, marked with panaderías and sambusa shops, nearby churches and mosques, punk bike collectives, cafés and theatres. In January, ICE abducted several members of the Oglala Sioux Tribe from under the bridge near Little Earth, the first and now only Indigenous public housing in the country; it began as an early project of the American Indian Movement. In February, Mercado Central, a co-operative food hall with 35 Latino family businesses, started a GoFundMe for $500,000; business is down by 90 per cent and they cannot make rent.
Everyone’s physical safety is at risk, and you feel it when you walk around. Things are quiet, until they are not: symphonies of whistles and car alarms alert us to ICE’s possible presence every day. Many people do not go out. Day to day, distribution channels organize, pack and deliver food, toilet paper and art kits to those trapped at home. Those who are on the streets wear colorful whistles around their necks and are on high alert. The other day, as I was standing at a street corner near my place with S, nothing visible to suggest we were on ICE watch, a woman rolled down the window of her small car and said to us: ‘I think that car behind me is ICE. Do you see the tags?’ I turned towards her but I wasn’t sure what she was asking me to do. She must have seen my pupils widen. She repeated herself and mumbled: ‘Maybe I’m being paranoid.’ I took a few steps to look. ‘It’s not ICE,’ I told her, and she looked relieved. I was relieved, too, realizing the paranoia is shared.
‘We had whistles. They had guns,’ Becca Good said of the day that ICE agents killed her wife, Renée. Our opponent is tricked out with military gear, staying in Hilton hotels and renting Enterprise cars, with technological support from Palantir and Amazon Web Services. Enabled, in other words, by corporate behemoths that govern our lives in other ways, too.
They operate faster than they used to. On a sub-zero day in December, in the early days of Operation Metro Surge, in the suburb of Chanhassen, dozens of masked federal agents tried to detain two men on a construction site. Dozens of neighbors came to disrupt them. The agents were armed, masked and waving around tear-gas canisters. The men climbed onto a roof, surrounded by observers. One man left in an ambulance and was later taken into ICE custody, but the other didn’t come down until hours later, after ICE had gone. Early on, there were more stories like these. Then they started using Mobile Fortify, a facial recognition app that runs on smartphones. The abductions now happen within minutes and it is much harder to delay and obstruct them. They have also moved further into the suburbs, where the geography is far more diffuse.
The local federal court received almost as many habeas petitions – asking judges to order the release of those unlawfully detained – in January as in the entire period from 2016 to 2024. More important, the federal judges in Minnesota are granting the petitions and people are coming home (though not without ICE obstructing and demeaning them at every step). But then ICE started transferring people out of state as quickly as possible, often within eight hours, thwarting the local habeas efforts. Every day now, chartered deportation flights leave from the Twin Cities airport carrying people with their hands and feet in shackles.
Observers report other adaptations. ICE have gone from wearing tactical army gear to Midwestern civilian garb; I have even seen photos of agents in keffiyehs. They have changed their cars and their license plates: from out-of-state to in-state, to blotted plates or none at all. Meanwhile, Trump’s ‘border tsar’, Tom Homan, has replaced Greg Bovino as head of ICE operations in Minnesota, an attempt to dim the lights on what will be a violent march in either guise. ‘There’s no sanctuary from federal law enforcement,’ Homan has said.
We have adapted too. South Minneapolis is alive with community defense practices. There are patrols and rapid response networks, people stationed at schools and bus stops, parents taking shifts watching daycare centers, protests and general strikes, grief ceremonies and rides. Recently, near the park, people had pushed garbage cans into the streets that ICE has been driving down. ‘ICE OUT!’ the handmade signs said.
My friend K, who was here in 2020, said that what was most remarkable now was that you could get so many of your needs met without paying a dollar. ‘It’s almost like a parallel society being built, a form of anarcho-communism.’ The day after that conversation, a local restaurant, Modern Times, renamed itself Post Modern Times and promised to provide free meals until the occupation is over (it’s also accepting donations). Its new motto is ‘Everyone welcome except ICE’. Meanwhile, a campaign is taking shape to organize a city-wide tenant union and to demand a moratorium on evictions.
In The Commune Form, Kristin Ross argues that ‘defense and the act of defending are more conducive to the creation of solidarity’ than resistance. Resistance, she says, ‘means the battle is already over and we have lost; our sole means of persevering is to “resist” the newly consolidated power we attribute to the other side.’ But defense ‘begins elsewhere – not with the state and its power, but rather with what it is that we hold dear: what we already have; a positivity, a thing worth fighting for.’
The Minnesota Star Tribune ran a story on Sunday about ‘makeshift checkpoints’ going up in south Minneapolis ‘to slow and track’ ICE on our streets. The cops keep taking them down. The headline – ‘Minneapolis tells residents to stop building anti-ICE barricades, but they keep popping up’ – missed the point. Is it our city, or is it theirs?
(London Review of Books)
A HAUNTING PHOTOGRAPH from World War II shows a tired, emaciated man, captured by the Nazis, mocked with smiles and sneers. At first glance, he might seem like any prisoner—perhaps a Jewish civilian, perhaps a soldier—but he was far from ordinary.
This was Yakov Josifovich Dzhugashvili, the eldest son of Joseph Stalin. Few today know his name or the tragic life he endured.
Yakov’s relationship with his father had always been strained. After yet another bitter argument, he once attempted suicide with a gun, only wounding himself. Stalin reportedly dismissed the attempt with cold disdain, saying his son was incapable even of shooting straight. Despite this, Yakov went on to serve as a lieutenant in the Red Army during the Second World War. In 1941, he was captured by the Wehrmacht.
The Germans hoped to exchange him for Field Marshal Friedrich Paulus, who had been taken by the Soviets after Stalingrad, but Stalin refused. He famously said, “I do not exchange a soldier for a general” and coldly added, “I have no son.” Under Stalin’s policies, any Russian captured by the enemy was automatically considered a traitor or collaborator—sentenced to death, imprisonment in the gulag, or left to die in enemy hands. Yakov was no exception.
The circumstances of his death at Sachsenhausen remain unclear. The Germans reported that on April 14, 1943, he threw himself against the camp’s electrified fence. Upon hearing of his son’s death, Stalin offered only a final, chilling remark: “Finally he is gone.”
Yakov Dzhugashvili’s life and death remind us of the unbearable weight of history, power, and expectation—a young man caught between the cruelty of war, the rigid rule of a father, and the merciless machinery of totalitarianism. Behind the photograph, the face of suffering is not just a prisoner’s; it is the shadow of a human story drowned in politics, pride, and tragedy.
LEAD STORIES, WEDNESDAY'S NYT
9 Killed and 25 Injured in Shootings at School and Home in British Columbia
Man Who Was Detained in Nancy Guthrie’s Disappearance Is Released
Grand Jury Rebuffs Justice Dept. Attempt to Indict 6 Democrats in Congress
Homeland Security Hires Labor Dept. Aide Whose Posts Raised Alarms
F.D.A. Refuses to Review Moderna Flu Vaccine
How Hate Groups and Terrorists Use Gaming Platforms to Recruit Young Children
Ukrainian Olympian Says He’ll Race With Banned Helmet Honoring War Dead
THE LAST KNOWN PHOTOGRAPH of Michael C. Rockefeller always does it for me.
He’s just calmly tinkering with his camera. The grin of the man next to him is haunting… Rockefeller is in Papua New Guinea, in a particularly remote part. And the tribe he stays with are notorious cannibals. The smile of that man, is the smile of a man who has tasted the flesh of human beings before.
Michael Rockefeller disappeared shortly after the photo was taken. He was only 27, and he was never seen again. Some say his small boat sank on a nearby island. An excellent swimmer, he likely didn’t drown and would have made it to dry land. After this? No trace of Rockefeller was ever found. No footprints, no pieces of clothing, no body, no hair. Nothing.
I’m pretty sure he was killed and eaten shortly after this picture was taken. I wonder if the grinning man is already thinking of what Rockefeller would taste like. He’s eaten enemy soldiers before. But never before did the tribe have a Rockefeller heir on the menu.
“MY BELIEF IN FREE SPEECH is so profound that I am seldom tempted to deny it to the other fellow. Nor do I make any effort to differentiate between the other fellow right and that other fellow wrong, for I am convinced that free speech is worth nothing unless it includes a full franchise to be foolish and even…malicious.”
― H. L. Mencken
IN HIS VISIONARY BOOK Half Earth, the late ecologist E.O. Wilson argues that protecting half of the Earth’s terrestrial and oceanic habitats is necessary to stave off the ongoing global ecological meltdown of species, subspecies and populations of native plants and animals and their habitats (I’ll add that a decrease in the human population is also incumbent to any roadmap toward planetary survival). To put Half Earth into perspective, although I am unaware of any recent attempts to quantify the amount of land in the U.S. that is currently under some level of protection, as a result of research I’ve done in the past, I estimate that less than 10% of the U.S. landscape is currently managed primarily for conservation purposes. This does not include roaded multiple use national forest and BLM lands; these lands are not “protected” in any rational use of the term. And less than 3% of our landscape is designated wilderness, the highest level of land protection in the U.S. Clearly, we have a long way to go in order to increase our protected acreage to 50%. Yet with roughly a third of the U.S. landscape under federal jurisdiction, transformation of these lands into conservation lands would be a good start.
— Howie Wolke
FOR KEEPS
Sun makes the day new.
Tiny green plants emerge from earth.
Birds are singing the sky into place.
There is nowhere else I want to be but here.
I lean into the rhythm of your heart to see where it will take us.
We gallop into a warm, southern wind.
I link my legs to yours and we ride together,
Toward the ancient encampment of our relatives.
Where have you been? they ask.
And what has taken you so long?
That night after eating, singing, and dancing
We lay together under the stars.
We know ourselves to be part of mystery.
It is unspeakable.
It is everlasting.
It is for keeps.
— Joy Harjo (2013)
Joy Harjo was appointed the new United States poet laureate in 2019. Born in Tulsa, Oklahoma, in 1951, Harjo is a member of the Mvskoke/Creek Nation. She is the author of several books of poetry, including An American Sunrise, which is forthcoming from W. W. Norton in 2019, and Conflict Resolution for Holy Beings (W. W. Norton, 2015). She is a current Chancellor of the Academy of American Poets and lives in Tulsa, Oklahoma. (poets.org)
"THE WORLD IS FULL of people suffering from the effects of their own unlived life. They become bitter, critical, or rigid, not because the world is cruel to them, but because they have betrayed their own inner possibilities.
The artist who never makes art becomes cynical about those who do.
The lover who never risks loving mocks romance.
The thinker who never commits to a philosophy sneers at belief itself.
And yet, all of them suffer, because deep down they know: the life they mock is the life they were meant to live."
— Carl Jung
SUCH SINGING IN THE WILD BRANCHES
It was spring
and finally I heard him
among the first leaves —
then I saw him clutching the limb
in an island of shade
with his red-brown feathers
all trim and neat for the new year.
First, I stood still
and thought of nothing.
Then I began to listen.
Then I was filled with gladness –
and that’s when it happened,
when I seemed to float,
to be, myself, a wing or a tree —
and I began to understand
what the bird was saying,
and the sands in the glass
stopped
for a pure white moment
while gravity sprinkled upward
like rain, rising,
and in fact
it became difficult to tell just what it was that was singing –
it was the thrush for sure, but it seemed
not a single thrush, but himself, and all his brothers,
and also the trees around them,
as well as the gliding, long-tailed clouds
in the perfectly blue sky — all, all of them
were singing.
And, of course, yes, so it seemed,
so was I.
Such soft and solemn and perfect music doesn’t last
for more than a few moments.
It’s one of those magical places wise people
like to talk about.
One of the things they say about it, that is true,
is that, once you’ve been there,
you’re there forever.
Listen, everyone has a chance.
Is it spring, is it morning?
Are there trees near you,
and does your own soul need comforting?
Quick, then — open the door and fly on your heavy feet; the song
may already be drifting away.
— Mary Oliver, from Owls and Other Fantasies (2003)
I DO…
Love the earth and sun and the animals, despise riches, give alms to every one that asks, stand up for the stupid and crazy, devote your income and labor to others, hate tyrants, argue not concerning God, have patience and indulgence toward the people, take off your hat to nothing known or unknown or to any man or number of men, go freely with powerful uneducated persons and with the young and with the mothers of families, read these leaves in the open air every season of every year of your life, re-examine all you have been told at school or church or in any book, dismiss whatever insults your own soul, and your very flesh shall be a great poem and have the richest fluency not only in its words but in the silent lines of its lips and face and between the lashes of your eyes and in every motion and joint of your body."
— Walt Whitman - Preface to 'Leaves of Grass'
#(&^%$! Scotch Broom!! We had a patch near the road on our property near Philo. I spent several days during a few winters pulling it up by the roots. It helped, but I never got rid of it entirely.
It took me 5 years of pulling the stuff out by the roots to completely eradicate a small (15’x15′) patch. A docent at Occidental Arts & Ecology Center described it as “nature’s scar tissue”. So true, if you strip away everything else, it’s what grows to fill the space.
I have a spot that I have been pulling seedlings up for 30 years. Over those 30 years there have been no new seeds introduced. I actually think I am getting to the end of it now. We will see.
Agree about the dreaded scotch broom–we have it all around us on other properties, and I watch for invasion scouts and get em quickly. My bane these days, after several very wet years and lush growth by all plants–yellow oxalis ( yellow woods sorrel, oxalis stricta–called the “weed of the month” in one place) I used to have it here and there in the garden, tried hard to keep it out of my beds near the house. Now have utterly lost that battle, it has spread like mad. I could control it by spraying, but don’t do that due to our well and other issues. So trying to see those yellow flowers as pretty little things and live with it. At least it’s not tall, not a fire hazard, like the broom.
Bert Bertolero, the one-time “Dirt Gardener” on KCBS Radio and owner of the East Bay’s Navlet Nursery chain, used to say the best way to deal with yellow oxalis was to move.
The road sides and cuts in Washington are completely covered with the stuff .
A wall of green and yellow. No diversity, no bugs no birds, waiting to burn.
Identifying the small plants is not too hard once you start pulling the big ones.
Like all invasives early control is much easier.
Deer love to eat the leaves. The seed is poisonous. The seed is usually introduced by equipment that picks it up in one location and moves it to another. Road side mowers are one example. The seed is activated by disturbance that allows sun light to hit and warm bare ground where the seed can be waiting to germinate for many decades. Fires, dirt moving, brush clearing, road mowing, etc. will activate the seed. Pulling up the adults actives the seed on the ground below, and if continued, begins a process that can take decades to complete.
Pulled it all out four years ago by hand and with a weed wrench and it’s all back, now I just gaze down on it and wonder if that guy’s kid will pull it out, or just forget it…
“Another stressor for the fox is the changing climate. The red foxes thrive in the snow, Greenwald said. Years with low snowpack may harm them, as that can allow low-elevation foxes and coyotes to enter their alpine territory and compete for resources. Coyotes also prey on the red foxes.
it’s a dog-eat-dog world out there.
IN SOUTH MINNEAPOLIS
All brought to them courtesy of the MAGAtry, and the ego of trumples. Wake up, country… You’re letting yourself be ruled by an insecure moron, and yet more morons in what’s called “congress” and the judicial branch. Ya reaps what ya sows!
JE—FROM THE GRAVE
Friends, I say to you all
That now I’m gone,
I think of our fine times
with memories so fond.
We had our fun—
Far beyond compare.
Now we’re told
It was not just or fair.
And I’m down here now,
Safe and always warm.
But sadly you’re all left
Amidst a public swarm.
It’s darn tough and nasty,
It’s sure an awful mess—
A high price you paid,
My sweet island guests.
So, my pals and buddies—
I plea that you’ll behave
Otherwise, see you soon—
You too, the Devil’s slave.
Should be I “plead.” Sorry, Jeffrey
What happened with the coaching change at AV high school basketball? Surprised I haven’t heard a word from this publication that “fans the flames of discontent” and seems so cover so much about sports. Wazzup?
All we’ve heard is rumors as we await confirmation. Myself, I hope what I’m hearing is untrue.
Cedar Creek photo: Where’s the creek?
It is too bad, I guess, that I have come to discount anything these four organizations do or say.
Government grants are what feed them.
Mike Geniella — Nice writing today.
A very cool ending for MCT today, with Mary Oliver and then the great American poet, Walt Whitman. His words and heart were in the right place. We’ve had some true heroes now and then in America, Whitman one of them.