Mendocino County Today: Wednesday, July 9, 2014

• Public Defenders
• Gelhaus Not Charged
• Fugitive on Bicycle
• Catch of the Day
• Chronic Liars
• Working Overtime
• Appreciating Roger
• Weed County
• Men's Fashion
• Dylan Songs
• Food Money
• Living Dead
• WTF Andy
• No Tunnels

TOMMY WAYNE KRAMER'S Sunday columns are a dependably lively read. I'd like them for his genius at annoying the inland libs even if they were as dull as, say, a Democratic Party fundraiser. Last Sunday's col defended public defenders, citing the recent case of Joan Rainville's DUI. As Kramer pointed out, the DA has every advantage, the Public Defender none in a job made impossible by the fact that everyone the Public Defender is defending is invariably guilty as charged. Or overcharged as often happens. The only case I can think of offhand where the defendant was obviously not guilty is The People vs. Martin Laiwa of Point Arena. In that one, the late Ron Brown, soon after peter-principled into a sinecure as a Superior Court judge, managed to send Laiwa to state prison for a murder he'd didn't commit. Laiwa allegedly confessed to a single investigator while the investigator's tape recorder was off when Laiwa joked, “Sure, I did it.” That joke cost him twenty years of his life. But fathom the depths of incompetence of a public defender who couldn't convert that circumstance into an acquittal!

* * *

I THINK the Public Defender in the Rainville case screwed up big time, not that Joan is innocent, and not that she isn't a straight-up menace when she knocks down a few and gets behind the wheel. But as I understand it, and as Bruce McEwen reported, the PD missed the opportunity to exclude Joan's drunk driving history, and treated the thing like it was a routine DUI and not the unique, Assault With A Deadly Weapon charge Joan was looking at. A jury considering only her most recent arrest would likely have been much more lenient, and the real issue in the assault charge was intent. Was Joan, drunk and behind the wheel, thereby weaponized? Hardly. Cosmically, though, poor old Joan got justice. Priors or no priors somehow she's got to stop doing it.

CONTROVERSY is roiling in Santa Rosa, where 13-year-old Andy Lopez was shot and killed by Deputy Erick Gelhaus of the Sonoma County Sheriff’s Office. Around 3pm on October 22, 2013, Gelhaus spotted Lopez carrying a gun and demanded that he drop the weapon. When Lopez did not drop the gun, which turned out to be a toy pellet gun that lacked the orange cap that federal law requires, and instead turned toward Officer Gelhaus, Gelhaus fired on Lopez, hitting him seven times. Local District Attorney Jill Ravitch has yet to decide whether criminal charges will be filed against Gelhaus, though a press release from her office stating that none would be filed was sent to local media on Monday then retracted the same day by her office. This is Ravitch’s first response to the eight-month-old shooting, and comes shortly after her June reelection. Lopez’s family has alleged civil rights violations, and the FBI has opened an independent inquiry.

RAVITCH'S OFFICE released the results of its investigation into the boy's death on Monday with the announcement that there would be no criminal charges filed against Deputy Gelhaus. The report revealed that marijuana's active ingredient was present in Lopez's blood and, the DA speculates, may have affected Andy's judgment when he was approached from behind on the street by Gelhaus and a second officer. “Dysfunctional attention to visual and auditory stimuli, impaired judgment, slowed decision making and increased mental processing time are amongst the common consequences (of using marijuana),” Dr. Reese Jones wrote.

THE DA'S REPORT said Lopez possessed a marijuana cigarette and Visine eye drops. Jones, described as an expert on marijuana, said cognitive abilities after using pot are particularly limited when it comes to reacting to a “sudden, unanticipated” event.

DA RAVITCH has concluded that Gelhaus perceived the boy as a legitimate threat and acted in self-defense.

ON JULY 5, 2014 around 8:30pm deputies from the Mendocino County Sheriff's Office were patrolling the Covelo area when they encountered Mario Palacio, 48, of Covelo who was riding a bicycle on Howard Street near Highway 162. Deputies were aware Palacios was currently a fugitive from the State of Oklahoma and had a warrant for his arrest for felony charges. Those charges stemmed from Palacio failing to appear on an automobile burglary charge in that state. Deputies contacted Palacio and arrested him for the outstanding warrant. A search of Palacio's person revealed a commercial quantity of methamphetamine which was packaged for sale. Palacio was arrested for possession and transportation of methamphetamine for sale. Palacio was booked into the Mendocino County Jail for possession of methamphetamine for sales, and transportation of methamphetamine and is currently held on $50,000.00 bail.

CATCH OF THE DAY

COLLEEN ANGELERI, Napa. Felony pot growing.

MARLO ANGELERI, Napa. Felony pot growing.

STANDFORD GLASS, Ukiah. Probation revoked.

CLINT GUNTER, Ukiah. Appropriating lost property without making effort to locate owner, failure to appear, probation revoked.

KURT IVERSEN, Point Arena. Felony domestic violence. (Picture not available.)

DOUGLAS POLEN, Willits. Evading a peace officer/reckless driving.

AARON PRATT, Ukiah. Misdemeanor trespassing, probation revoked.

JOHN KNIGHT, Ukiah. Ex Felon with a firearm, firearm altered, concealed firearm in public, under the influenced of a controlled substance, probation revoked.

BULLSHIT & TRUTH PT. 2

by Jeff Costello

"…I feel like bombing a church, now that you know the preacher is lying." --  Bob Marley

A friend of mine had a business card reading "Hon. W.B. *****, Retired Contractor and Consultant."  Basically he was a drunk and bullshit artist.  Not unlike most politicians, he just lacked the ambition for that.  But he was "honorable"  -  the card said so.

The real revolution occurs in our youth, if we refuse to accept the conditioning to admire the rich, the famous, and to respect authority.   If we accept this conditioning as children we give over our individuality and accept a role of cultural-intellectual-spiritual servitude.  We watch TV and live vicariously through showbiz stars, politicians, big-time religious crackpots.  We obediently purchase every technological "miracle," only to learn that these devices are being used to spy on our every move.

It seems difficult for people to achieve this in adulthood. Too many "yes, buts..."  We argue about the Tweedledums and Tweedledees for whom we have "the right" to vote.

"Yes, but...the democrats at least have the well-being of the middle class in mind."  "Yes, but... the republicans are concerned about our national security and our interests in other parts of the world.  They protect my investments."  "Yes, but loss of freedom is worth it for our security's sake."

Meanwhile, in casual conversation. a contractor in Denver says "We have to get rid of that nigger in the White House."  He speaks for millions who won't use the word and feel the same way, but deny their racism with all their might if confronted.  Where was that  guy who yelled "You lie!" at Obama when Bush was going on about Saddam's uranium from Africa, and human-animal hybrids?  And let's not forget "Mission Accomplished."  Apparently a white lying sack of shit is preferable to anybody black.   Many of them turn it around and call Obama racist. Kind of like right-wing homosexuals in the closet who are viciously anti-gay in public. Plenty of them out there, too     And it's not because "illegal" immigrants are brown, of course.  It's that they're illegal, they are breaking the law.  Heaven forbid, criminals.

Politicians and preachers, authority figures we are programmed to respect, have made an industry of righteously denying their behavioral indiscretions and peccadillos.  First the denial, and eventually the tearful apology.  Both are bullshit, anything to retain their lucrative positions of power.  The question becomes, why do we put up with it?  We know the "bums" can't be "thrown out"  because the new crop is always the same.  And my concern becomes whether we are a forgiving people, or just a population of chronic liars relieved to know the big guys do it, too.

OVERTIME

Dear Editor,

I was asked a question recently about overtime, so I’m writing to you in hopes of reaching many employers and employees. Please be advised, overtime for non-farm workers is anything over 8 hours in one day or 40 hours in one week.

So if I worked 10 hours per day two days a week, for a total of 20 hours a week, that is 16 hours at regular pay and 4 hours at time and a half, which is the overtime rate. If I worked 6 hours per day seven days a week for a total of 42 hours, that would be 40 hours at regular pay and 2 at overtime.

Anyone with questions can call the Labor Relations Board in Santa Rosa. A person usually answers the phone and they are very helpful.

Best wishes, Nancy Mayer, Philo

WE’LL MISS YOU, ROGER.

Editor,

Requiem for Roger

You will always be the greatest men’s tennis player ever in my opinion. You could not have tried any harder or played any better than you did today. A younger man beat you by the smallest margin, even though he looked tired, frustrated, and had to take a medical break. You are never any of those things. Your fitness, grace and composure are unmatched, in any era. My heart aches for you, but you have one more try this year at the US Open.

While you will be trying for a record-breaking 18th championship, your opponents will be smelling blood, thinking you are beatable and demoralized. I know you will give it your all. You always do. You are a champion in every sense of the word. One more win and no one can ever dispute your excellence. And if you don’t win in New York, will you come back next year, or will you hang up your racket??

I will miss seeing you play, as millions around the world will too. Your physical ability and stamina at age 34 are simply awesome!! You are the finest athlete in the world, but that’s just my opinion. I appreciate the thousands of hours of practice you have played, the tens of thousands of various strokes and serves you have repeated, all behind the scenes, so that all we, the public, see is your beauty on the court.

Thank you Roger, and I wish you success in New York and hope to see you lift that trophy.

Louise Mariana, Mendocino

WITH SO MUCH of California's cannabis business operating in the more lucrative underground market, and with so many growers across the region (see the map below), the California Department of Fish and Wildlife and the Humboldt County Sheriff's office say they lack the resources to eradicate all offenders. So they target the most egregious.

THE FOURTH OF JULY rolled in just in time to celebrate the disintegration of Iraq following our eight-year, $3 trillion campaign to turn it into a suburb of Las Vegas. Me and my girl went over to the local fireworks show, held on the ballfield of a fraternal order lodge on the edge of town. The fire department had hung up a gigantic American Flag — like, 50 feet long! — off the erect ladder of their biggest truck, in case anybody forgot what country they were in. Personally, I was wondering what planet I was on. It was a big crowd, and every male in it was dressed in a clown rig. The complete outfit, which has (oddly) not changed in quite a few years (suggesting the tragic trajectory we’re on), includes the ambiguous long-short pants, giant droopy T-shirt (four-year-olds have proportionately short legs and long torsos), “Sluggo” style stubble hair, sideways hat (or worn “cholo” style to the front), and boat-like shoes, garments preferably all black, decorated with death-metal band logos. You can see, perhaps, how it works against everything that might suggest the phrase: “competent adult here.” Add a riot of aggressive-looking tattoos in ninja blade and screaming skull motifs and you get an additional message: “sociopathic menace, at your service.” Finally, there is the question: just how much self-medication is this individual on at the moment? I give you: America’s young manhood. — James Kunstler

THE BOB-FEST

by Bill Bottrell

This Bob-Fest was more ambitious than previous years. Bob Markel could rightly call himself a local impresario after the two-nights of all-Dylan songs he produced and promoted, renting the biggest hall in Mendocino Village. He seems to know the Dylan canon well, assigning songs according to what he knew about the various singers and musicians. I was given the task of singing "Ballad of a Thin Man" and "Tweeter and the Monkeyman". I also did duets on "Chimes of Freedom" and something my friend Lawrence Bullock and I cooked up, a mash-up of "It's Alright Ma" and "Eleven Outlined Epitaphs" and "Mr. Tambourine Man." For this, Lawrence, who also sells coffee for our local roaster, edited a dramatic narrative, cutting and pasting his way to a very successful 6-minute piece of entertainment.

I had planned a simple solo version of "Only a Pawn in Their Game", but as I heard, during dress rehearsal, the various voices each bringing their own interpretation to both well-known and lesser-known Dylan tunes, I knew I wanted to pull "Only a Pawn" out of the program. I had no re-interpretation. I would've been ashamed to present the version I had neglected to flesh out. That's how good much of this was.

Marcus McCallen's "Man In the Long, Black Coat" had me hearing the song for the first time, and wondering why the album version is so lifeless, yet so crowded with egos. Similarly, Steven Bates' "Blind Willie McTell" brought new empathy to the story. Martha Bouquin's "Chimes of Freedom", certainly well-enough known by most, now re-interpreted due to gender and her experience as a vocalist, took those iconic images and stretched them out generously for all to live with. Sheila Fetzer drawled "Tangled Up In Blue" as if she had lived it last week. Denny Lunsford did "Love Minus Zero/No Limit" with the unstudied growl of the working man, and when it came to the harmonica break, he blew that thing like Dylan was there, eliciting a roar of recognition and approval. Richard Fienbop played "Hollis Brown" as if from a black, threatening cloud.

And on it went. Most everybody sang a number: Billy Schieve, Phil Dunn, Jamie Peters, Danny Barca, Jon Faurot, Jamie Gilliam, Bruce Graves, Kirk Handley, Sue Sisk, and Sam Ware.

This is what I want to describe: the magical, mythological, spiritual, and cultural celebration that came from this concept of a Bob-Fest in a small town.

Dylan's life-work has been poorly analyzed for 50 years. It would serve all the pundits, writers, and critics well to erase every bit of dogma they have spouted over the years - wipe the slate clean - and attend a Bob-Fest in a small town. Because for this life-long Dylan observer, here, finally, is where it is revealed.

I've always scoffed at those who would try to ascribe meaning to meaningless Dylan songs, and those who would label him a "poet", and those who would label him "america's greatest songwriter", and those who would review his records. My problem with all the analysis was that it depended on known labels. I had come to the conclusion that Dylan had invented his own art-form: neither the song, nor the record, nor the concert, nor his vocal style, the lines he wrote, none of these begin to define his art-form. His art-form cannot be named, not just because it's never been done, but because it barely exists. It is elusive. Like a sub-atomic particle that we can only say exists because we see its effects, we can not say what Dylan's art-form is. We can only see its effects.

Nowhere are the effects more clearly evident than here, 50 years down, in a small town, with real people assuming the roles - the electrician, the cook, the nurse, the auto-supply store clerk, the bartender, the hermit, the local radio station executive, the gardener. Here, all these people are playing and singing DYLAN songs. Add to that, the full house audience, seated at tables, sweating and fanning in the poorly ventilated old Portugese Hall, who know the words, and mouth along or sing out when the spirit moves, who push aside the tables when the urge to dance takes hold, any one of whom, placed on stage with a bit of direction, spotlit against the band, could also present their version of a song, but who, having gladly paid to attend as audience members, play their role just as mysteriously as the chosen musicians do.

There are many lessons here. One is the old content-context relationship. Dylan has famously challenged his concert-goers by re-interpreting, sometimes brutally mangling, his well-known songs. My observation over the decades was that he was insisting that we not point to the recording, the album as his work, rather, we should look to the song. Only now do I understand what he was really saying: "There is nothing to see or hear in ANY of this. Don't look at it, it will disappear." We can record a Dylan performance in the studio, make an object out of it, give it some art-work cover, and sell it in stores or on-line. We think we have captured something. But then he takes some part of it, stuffs a rock-band into a ten-foot by ten-foot white translucent box, and sings it completely differently on a tacky TV awards show. And we still can't see or hear it. Even though we just received the most artful lesson in content-context we'll ever be treated to on mainstream TV. What, exactly, were we experiencing? A kinetic sculpture? A song? A rock concert? Poetry? A TV show? A crude singer? All those things, but also none of them. We experienced Bob Dylan placing just one more misshapen stone in a meandering, invisible mortarless stone wall. A wall of his own random design that, by now, stretches across a continent. It protects the fields it surrounds. It has kept out all manner of monsters that have devoured all other formerly innocent entertainments.

I've seen Jon Farout, a some-time housepainter, standing in the corner at a local restaurant, strumming his guitar and singing in a breathy head-voice his brilliantly delicate take on dozens of hoary old rock songs. He's very good, and only because it's been part of my life-work, I can put down my fork and listen and appreciate the song anew. But the diners take the man in the corner singing "Day in the Life" at face value. It is background music because it is meant to be background music. They do not put down their forks, or even stop talking for a minute, and listen.

But take Mr. Farout's same performance, put him solo on stage, place a spotlight on him, give him 300 paying, like-minded, reverently attentive audience members, let him play "One More Cup of Coffee", and you have 300 cases of goosebumps and that sudden, dynamic roar of appreciation at the end of a delicate song.

Because Dylan never allowed us to hear his voice, creating some of the most broken, twisted vocal sounds - sometimes very graceless and amateur vocal sounds - because he would not let us pin down what he sings like, we can now hear almost anybody, from supermarket check-girl to junior high school student, intone one of his compositions and bring it as much revelation as Dylan ever did. But intrinsic to this is the stage, the dress-up, the spotlight. It would be a mistake to equate the importance of this framing context to famous musicians wearing funny glasses at the rock and roll hall of fame TV show. No, it's not the flash. It is the reverence.

There were many sublime moments at the Bob-Fest. Among the assembled community, players and audience, the hall that contains them, and out to the street, and across the globe, there was a unifying field. That field is surrounded and protected by that invisible hand-made stone wall, the one Dylan himself, completely alone, has fashioned over these 50 years. Somewhere in that field, defended by the wall, is the art-form.

It is available to all of us. It is truly a folk-art, and though Bob Dylan is well-known as one difficult and crusty character, all along, he was making us this gift, a unity every town and city can and should invoke.

FOOD PROGRAM INJECTS HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS INTO THE COMMUNITY

Tonya Stultz, mother to five-month-old Miles and a childcare provider in Ukiah, works closely with the Rural Communities Child Care (RCCC) program. Run by North Coast Opportunities, RCCC provides Stultz and other child care providers in Mendocino and Lake Counties with free trainings and events like an annual Provider Appreciation dinner; resources including educational materials and toys; and client referrals. But Stultz’s favorite benefit of working with RCCC is getting reimbursed for most of her food costs. She participates in the California Adult and Childcare Food Program (CACFP), a state-funded program that supports child care providers who serve healthy meals and snacks to the children in their care.

Stultz, who said she “wanted to be like Mary Poppins” from a very young age, started participating in CACFP seven years ago. “I was trying to talk to parents about nutrition, but those that didn’t care weren’t bringing healthy food for their kids,” says Stultz. “I couldn’t afford to provide it myself, so I joined the food program to be able to serve healthy food to all the kids in my care.”

Every year, CACFP funnels hundreds of thousands of dollars into Lake and Mendocino Counties. In 2014 the amount is $418,000, with $340,000 going directly toward reimbursing childcare providers for the healthy food they serve.

That money is at risk if a fraction of that amount – $30,000 – can’t be raised by September 30, the end of the federal fiscal year. According to Teri Sedrick, Program Director for Rural Communities Child Care, “Right now I’m assuming we have to function without all that money, and figuring out what’s going to be cut.”

The additional $30,000 is necessary to pay for staff hours not covered by CACFP. The food reimbursement money is essentially useless without staff to recruit child care providers, help them apply for the program, and do the daily, weekly, and monthly tasks associated with keeping the program running. That includes checking and troubleshooting the provider paperwork, as well as doing tri-annual site visits at all participating providers. Says Sedrick, “If we can’t staff it, we can’t do it.”

For the past several years, Sedrick has been finding ways to cover that $30,000 using existing funds and creative budgeting. However, state and federal cuts to child care programming means that there is no wiggle room to make up the deficit. “It’s too bad because $30,000 is really a drop in the bucket compared to the wide reach the program has,” says Sedrick. Because the providers spend the Food Program money in the communities where they work and live, it creates a multiplier effect that benefits everyone. And with 60 to 70 child care providers participating each year, hundreds of children are served healthy meals and snacks every day.

Monica Quintero, a childcare provider in Potter Valley, has been participating in CACFP for about seven years. In addition to getting reimbursed, Quintero likes the program because it equalizes what’s being eaten. “When parents used to bring lunches, kids would fight or get jealous because they had different food,” she says. “Now, the kids give me ideas about what they’d like to eat and help me prepare it. It’s fun and educational.”

CACFP is easy to apply for, with resources and applications available in English and Spanish and staff members on hand to answer questions and help with the process. Although it requires daily accounting of what was served, “it’s not much work once you’ve gotten the hang of it,” says Stultz. Adds Quintero, “The forms are really simple to fill out.”

The benefits far outweigh the paperwork. Stultz says that the children in her care “clear their plates,” and that it’s a great selling feature when parents are deciding whether or not to enroll their kids.

Childcare Food Program Manager Jamie Castaldo is hopeful that enough money can be raised through grants and business partnerships to keep the program going. RCCC worked with First 5 to apply for a nutrition grant to support Lake County childcare providers, which has been awarded and will help to enhance the program. RCCC is also reaching out to the local grocery stores most frequented by childcare providers. “I hope they see the program as a value to the community and to their businesses, and want to work with us,” says Castaldo, who notes that many avenues are being explored. “We’re working very hard to find a way to keep this funded.”

For more information on the Food Program or to make a donation, contact Castaldo at (707) 994-4647, extension 128.

THE LIVING DEAD by Robert W. Service

 

Since I have come to years sedate

I see with more and more acumen

The bitter irony of Fate,

The vanity of all things human.

Why, just to-day some fellow said,

As I surveyed Fame's outer portal:

"By gad! I thought that you were dead."

Poor me, who dreamed to be immortal!

 

But that's the way with many men

Whose name one fancied time-defying;

We thought that they were dust and then

We found them living by their dying.

Like dogs we penmen have our day,

To brief best-sellerdom elected;

And then, "thumbs down," we slink away

And die forgotten and neglected.

 

Ah well, my lyric fling I've had;

A thousand bits of verse I've minted;

And some, alas! were very bad,

And some, alack! were best unprinted.

But if I've made my muse a bawd

(Since I am earthy as a ditch is),

I'll answer humbly to my God:

Most men at times have toyed with bitches.

 

Yes, I have played with Lady Rhyme,

And had a long and lovely innings;

And when the Umpire calls my time

I'll blandly quit and take my winnings.

I'll hie me to some Sleepydale,

And feed the ducks and pat the poodles,

And prime my paunch with cakes and ale,

And blether with the village noodles.

 

And then some day you'll idly scan

The Times obituary column,

And say: "Dear me, the poor old man!"

And for a moment you'll look solemn.

"So all this time he's been alive -

In realms of rhyme a second-rater . . .

But gad! to live to ninety-five:

Let's toast his ghost - a sherry, waiter!"

SELF-FULFILLING SAMADHI — Greetings of bliss divine, Please enjoy the superb Daily Zen reading for July 8, 2014, in which “self-fulfilling Samadhi” is the topic.

Here is the link: http://www.dailyzen.com/zen/zen_reading32.asp

I am available for more frontline radical environmental and peace & justice direct action participation. Following seven months of assisting the anarchist housing rights organizer who was brutally injured by ku Klux Klan NoLa Police, I am now ready to leave new Orleans… Will continue ever onward without my presence. Please contact me as soon as possible. I am available!

PS. Please call Andy Caffrey and urge him to wire me the $290 which he owes to me hello everybody, Andy Caffrey is back from the Earth First! Rendezvous, which he reports on his political website that he had such a good time singing with our buddy dany lyons around the campfire and partying. Okay, now that the former congressional candidate and future presidential candidate is back in Garberville, CA, I want his possible-future constituents (who are you!) To telephone him at 707-923-2114 and urge him to go up to Ray's Supermarket in Garberville, and wire me the $290 which he still owes to me, because I lent it to him to open his congressional camapign office. It is time for me to leave New Orleans and I need my money. Peace, Craig Louis Stehr in New Orleans at (504) 302-9951, or email me at CraigStehr@pamho.net.

Nota bene: I am available for more frontline radical environmental/peace & justice participation. So contact me already. What are we waiting for?

PPS. Andy, Please!

What The Fuck, Andy? Are You The Poster-Person For The End Of Leftism In America?

From:   "Return Money" <returnmoney@gmx.com>

Hi Andy, I am trying to understand why you do nothing at all to repay to me my $290, which I lent to you to help you to secure your previous congressional campaign office at 446 Maple Lane in Garberville, Ca. You are able to obtain money, because you just returned from a trip to the Earth First! Rendezvous, and certainly you needed money to do that. Therefore, when are you going to go to Ray&#39;s Supermarket in Garberville and wire me my own travelling money? You may telephone Bork in New Orleans at (504) 302-9951 and leave a message with her explaining what your problem is, and then return my money immediately. I hope that this sane email finds you well. PPPS. If your goal was to prove that the left wing in America is no longer particularly effective, you have succeeded.

Craig Louis Stehr Telephone messages: (504) 302-9951 Permanent email address: CraigStehr@pamho.net Snail mail: 333 Socrates Street, New Orleans, LA 70114

BIG RALLY AGAINST THE TUNNELS SET FOR JULY 29!

by Dan Bacher

July 29 will be the last day for public comment on Governor Jerry Brown's Bay Delta Conservation Plan to build the peripheral tunnels.

I urge every body to join Restore the Delta at a rally marking this date and in raising the ongoing message “NO TUNNELS!”

"We are at a critical time in the BDCP twin tunnels process–we must make our opposition against the tunnels seen and heard throughout the state," according to an announcement by Restore the Delta. "We need all supporters to show up in large numbers to show how unpopular these tunnels really are. Save the date, share our event, and plan to join us."

The twin tunnels won't create one drop of new water, but they will lead to horrendous environmental degradation. The construction of the tunnels will hasten the extinction of

Central Valley Chinook salmon, Delta and longfin smelt and other fish species, as well as imperil the salmon and steelhead populations on the Trinity and Klamath river.

Brown' "legacy" project will destroy the largest estuary on the West Coast of the Americas that provides a nursery for many species. It will harm salmon, halibut, leopard shark, soupfin shark, sevengill shark, anchovy, sardine, herring, groundfish and Dungeness crab populations stretching from Southern Washington to Southern California.

The habitat "restoration" proposed under this project will greenwash this project, just like the Marine Life Protection Act (MLPA) Initiative's fake "marine protected areas" greenwashed fracking, pollution and other environmentally destructive activities off the California coast. In a surrealistic scenario, the BDCP will take vast tracts of Delta farmland, among the most fertile on the planet, out of production in order to irrigate toxic, drainage impaired land on the west side of the San Joaquin Valley and provide Delta water to Southern California developers and oil companies conducting fracking and steam injection operations in Kern County.

The tunnels are being constructed in tandem with the federal government's plan to raise Shasta Dam, a project that will flood many of the remaining sacred sites of the Winnemem Wintu Tribe that weren't inundated by Shasta Dam. There is no doubt that the tunnels and Shasta Dam raise plans constitute cultural genocide against the Winnemem Wintu and other Northern California Tribes.

I strongly urge you to attend this rally to show the Governor that you strongly oppose the environmental devastation and cultural genocide that will be caused by this plan.

Caleen Sisk, Chief and Spiritual Leader of the Winnemem Wintu Tribe, emphasizes the danger that the peripheral tunnels pose to California’s fish, people and rivers.

“The common people will pay for the peripheral tunnels project and a few people will make millions,” says Sisk. “It will turn a once pristine water way into a sewer pipe. It will be all bad for the fish, the ocean and the people of California.”

Here are all of the details:

Date: Tuesday, July 29th

Location: West Steps of State Capitol, 10th St and Capitol Street, Sacramento

Time: 11:30 AM

Download and share our flyer. More details to come on speakers and live music.

If you are an organization interested in tabling or speaking, please e-mail Stina@RestoretheDelta.org and/or Javier@RestoretheDelta.org.

To RSVP for the bus ride from Stockton or Oakley or if you have any questions relating to event, please contact Stina@restorethedelta.org or call (209) 475-9550.

Buses will be departing at 9:30 AM. RSVP is required for bus rides and must be submitted by July 21, 2014. A $10 donation is required for bus ride, however we will not turn you away if you cannot make the donation.

Bus Departing Locations

(1) Oakley: Lauritzen Yacht Harbor, 115 Lauritzen Ln, Oakley, CA – parking spots will also be available.

(2) Stockton: AG Spanos Parking Lot, 10100 Trinity Parkway, Suite 120, Stockton, CA – parking spots are available in the highlighted areas (see map).

Recommendations For All Rally Attendees

1. Bring snacks and drinks to stay hydrated and energized.

2. Dress appropriately for hot summer weather.

3. Bring handmade signs opposing the tunnels.

4. If you have not made a public comment yet, you still have time to make one: http://restorethedelta.org/how-to-comment-on-bdcp/

For more information, go to: http://restorethedelta.org/events/