Mendocino County Today: Sunday, August 10, 2014

• Lodge Fire
• Gravelly Fire
• Sea Shell Inn
• Recondite Reading
• Catch of the Day
• Backup Advice
• Sheriff Reports
• Creekside Camping
• Daddy
• Green Blob
• Krauthammer Lies

AS OF AUGUST 9 at 7pm the Lodge Wilderness fire is up to about 7500 acres with 30% containment, another small improvement over prior reports. There are now 11 injuries reported and 58 structures threatened. The firefighting effort is now up to 190 engines, 50 crews, 32 bulldozers, 15 helicopters, 30 water tenders and a whopping 2192 personnel. On Saturday evening “The fire continues to burn in heavy timber. Firefighters are challenged by steep, rugged terrain with difficult access. Unsettled weather is moving into the area and may increase fire activity. The southern and eastern boundaries of the fire continue to be threatened by extreme fire behavior. Additional resources continue to arrive to assist in slowing the fire’s growth. An Evacuation Order has been issued for the area around the eastern boundary of the Lodge Fire in the following areas: Camp Seabow, Elder Place, Tan Oak Park, Bald Mountain Ranch, Mad Creek, Elk Creek east of Brush Mountain. An evacuation shelter has been set up by the American Red Cross at the Leggett School, 1 School Way. Please visit www.wildlandfirersg.org for information on how to prepare for an evacuation.”

SUNDAY MORNING'S UPDATE [7am, Aug 10]: 8500 acres, 30% contained, "The fire continues to burn in heavy timber. Firefighters are challenged by steep, rugged terrain with difficult access. Unsettled weather is moving into the area and may increase fire activity. The southern and eastern boundaries of the fire continue to be threatened by extreme fire behavior." The evacuation order and shelter remain in place.

GRAVELLY FIRE & FIRE PREVENTION — Early morning fire serves as a reminder to be careful in the forest (WILLOWS, Calif).

Early this morning, fire crews responded to a fire reported near Gravelly Valley Airstrip located north of Lake Pillsbury on the Upper Lake Ranger District of the Mendocino National Forest. The Gravelly Fire was reported at 1:50 a.m. and was contained at approximately one acre before 6:00 a.m. Mop-up has continued throughout the day. While the exact cause of the fire is currently under investigation, with no lightning in the area, it is likely human caused. In addition, as deer hunting in "A Zone" - in the southern portion of the Mendocino National Forest - continues, with more people in the forest, there is increased potential for human-caused fires. "Today marks 70 years of Smokey Bear's fire prevention message that human-caused wildfires can be prevented by being aware and taking precautionary measures in the forest," said Acting Deputy Fire Chief Eddie Childs. "That our firefighters responded to a likely human-caused fire this morning serves as a reminder that we need to be vigilant whether we are recreating or working in the forest." Forest officials note that there are many unexpected things that can cause a spark - like a chain hitting rocks on a gravel road, a bullet deflecting off a rock, the heat from an exhaust pipe in tall grass, or even the possibility of campfires relighting in exceedingly dry conditions. It only takes a single spark or ember to start a fire. As hunting season continues across the forest, visitors are asked to be careful. "The Mendocino National Forest has been very fortunate this season to not have a large wildfire," said Childs. "But historically, many of the Forest's largest fires have been human caused, with many of those started during late summer and fall as hunters and other recreational visitors come to enjoy the forest. It's very important for both public and firefighter safety to remain vigilant and careful with anything that could spark a fire, especially now as fire suppression resources are becoming increasingly scarce due to ongoing fire activity across the West." For more information, please contact the Mendocino National Forest at 530-934-3316 or visit www.fs.usda.gov/mendocino

FROM THE AVA of July 2011:

"THE KEN LaBOUBE FAMILY has owned Point Arena’s Sea Shell Inn for many years. The LaBoubes have aged and the Sea Shell has fallen into disrepair. Locals steadily complain that it had been taken over by tweekers and the miscellaneous undesirables most tourist-oriented towns don’t care to house on their main drags. There were even allegations of prostitutes operating out of the Sea Shell, although one wonders who made up the customer base. Historically, as in all the populated areas of Mendocino County, brothels once enjoyed official sanction; Madge’s in Ukiah slaked so much inland lust in the 19th and early parts of the 20th century Madge's contribution to the male mental health of Mendocino County is remembered with a sidewalk plaque. Where were we? Oh yes, the Fog Belt, whose city council has vowed to “clean up” the Sea Shell, going on to declare in a press release last week that “Over the last several years, the once favored, moderate-priced motel, has become an eye sore. With suspicious late night goings on, excessive loitering of unregistered hotel guests, unsupervised minor children and loose dogs, it has become a safety concern to all residents in Point Arena — of which, 110 signed a recently circulated a petition. City staff has cited the motel on numerous violations; from unleashed animals, broken window panes, open alcoholic containers, unsafe railings and barricaded emergency exits, and more. City Council is investigating the Inn’s Transit Occupancy Tax reporting and administrative record keeping.” According to the City, “Health and Safety issues take front place as the City looks to remove over 10 unregistered, abandoned vehicles, Ferrell [sic] cats and several dogs. Cleanliness and sanitation are equal concern; with excessive debris, broken glass and unlocked vacant rooms filled with trash and discarded personal effects. Increased dilapidation of structure and fixtures are of equal concern.” The City also concludes, “The owner has been cooperative and many changes are already underway. Your Point Arena City Council and staff are devoted to seeing this situation corrected.”

* * *

FAST FORWARD to August of 2014 and the PA City Council has vowed to go way past the now accomplished clean-up of the Sea Shell; the City has vowed to cleanse its main drag of drunks and drug people period.

* * *

ACCORDING to a legal notice which will appear in the August 13 AVA, Mr. LaBoube’s Sea Shell property is being sold to “Jeff Hansen and Laura J. Cover for $203,000 cash and assumption of liabilities in the approximate sum of $833,794.45, for a total approximate purchase price of $1,036,794.45 out of a years-long receivership process.” Six parcels are being sold. According the notice: “Real property commonly referred to as 125 Main Street/24935 and 24950 Hwy. 1, Point Arena, County of Mendocino, State of California…” But the Sea Shell Inn’s address is 135 Main Street, Point Arena, not 125 Main Street. 24950 S. Hwy 1 is the West Side Hotel which was listed as a public nuisance that had to be abated in the October 28, 2011 ICO. And 24925 S. Hwy 1 was listed as the “corner retail” lot/nuisance.

THERE’S a Jeff Hansen who’s the winemaker at Lula Cellars in Philo. We have not been able to find any reliable reference to Laura J. Cover. (The only one on the internet is a Social Worker in Salt Lake City.)

(From the Lula Cellars website) “Welcome to Lula Cellars, Anderson Valley's Newest Tasting Room! We are always open Friday-Monday, 11am-5pm. Our winery is located at 8627 Highway 128 in Philo, across from Baxter Winery. Lula, our namesake, was our winemaker's maternal Grandmother's first name. Jeff Hansen, our winemaker, produces limited amounts of world class, handcrafted Mendocino Coast Pinot Noir, Zinfandel, Dry Gewurztraminer and Dry Rosato. Lula has very big plans for its future. On May 1, winemaker Jeff Hansen plans to open a hospitality center at the 22-acre winery in north Philo. The new venture will include a tasting room, 8-acre pond surrounded by Adirondack chairs, guest cottage, 14-acre vineyard and 1-acre organic vegetable garden. 'I want to make this a great sensory experience,' Hansen says. 'We don't want to be just another winery.' Until then, sample wines at its downtown Philo tasting room." (Tasting room: 8627 Highway 128; 707-895-2904; www.lulacellars.com. New winery: 3101 Highway 128.)

* * *

POINT ARENA could certainly stand some new energy, and maybe this couple will turn out to provide it.

RECONDITE RECOMMENDED READING: Wilhelm Reich and the Cold War by Jim Martin. I say recondite because Martin covers a lot of complicated intellectual territory here, from Freudian psychology to communist and anti-communist politics in Europe and the US, to the politics of the Cold War.

I GOT TO know the author years ago when I unwittingly kicked off a weird dispute with a Fort Bragg man not known to me when I mentioned that The Mass Psychology of Fascism by Wilhelm Reich had represented a learning experience for me, insofar as I was able to decode it, but that Reich's “orgone box” seemed wacky even by Mendocino County standards.

THE FORT BRAGG man was Jim Martin, best known these days as the author of How To Fish the Mendocino Coast, a Fish and Game commissioner, and local rep to MLPA (Marine Life Protection Life), the statewide effort to restore ocean fisheries off the Northcoast. This resume wouldn't lead us to expect him to land at, of all people, Wilhelm Reich. The guy is quite a scholar.

SO, BACK THEN, Jim had written in to say I didn't know what I was talking about, which was true; I didn't know anything about “orgone accumulators,” theory and practice of, and I didn't know much about Reich beyond that he was a disciple of Freud's who'd fled the Nazis, settled in the US, got on the wrong side of Amero-Stalinists, and died in prison where the feds had dispatched him for fraud, i.e., selling orgone boxes.

I DID KNOW I had a nutty relative who regularly hooked himself up to a thing called an Alpha Machine to straighten out his brain waves, apparently self-aware enough to realize he had head probs. I put the orgone box in the alpha machine category. And still do. Come on. You climb into a box and sit there raking in (accumulating) good vibes culminating in all-round better functioning via enhanced orgasms? Diet, exercise and a pint of whiskey a week will get you functioning just fine.

HOPE THIS DOESN'T kick off another round of disputes with Martin, an adult with whom it is possible to disagree without him getting all het up and taking it all personal-like. Which makes him rare indeed in the Mendo context. And I like the guy, and I enjoyed reading his book on Reich about whom, whatever else you might say, was an interesting man in an interesting time, the run-up to World War Two and on into the McCarthy hysteria in the US.

A GOOD REVIEW of the book can be found here.

CATCH OF THE DAY, August 9, 2014

WILLIAM BOYCE, Ukiah. Under the influence of controlled substance, possession of smoking/injecting device, probation revocation.

TUCKER CHESTER, Fort Bragg. Violation of court order, probation revoked.

KRISTY COX, Fort Bragg. Unlicensed driving on highway.

BRETT HARLAN, Ukiah. Felony burglary, vandalism.

GREGORY HELLMAN, Ukiah. Probation revocation.

JOHN HOAGLEN, Willits. Parole revoked.

JEREMY KENYON, Fort Brag. Resisting a public officer, probation revoked.

THOMAS LYNCH, Willits. Under the influence of a controlled substance, probation revoked.

PATRISHA MOODY, Ukiah. Probation revoked.

SEAN MOYNIHAN, Ukiah. Under the influence of controlled substance, possession of smoking/injecting device, probation revocation.

SHANE ORTIZ, Fort Bragg. Failure to appear, failure to pay, suspended/revoked driver’s license.

ROBERT OWENS, Ukiah. Interfering with business.

DANIEL PEREZ, Calpella. DUI.

NIGEL RIOS, Covelo. Public intoxication of alcohol, probation revoked.

ERNEST SALO, Fort Bragg. Probation revoked. (Frequent flyer)

SCOTTY WILLIS, Ukiah. Resisting a public officer. (Frequent flyer)

COMPUTER TIPS

by Bob Collette

BACKING UP YOUR COMPUTER DATA should be one of the most important tasks of every computer user...yet only a minority is doing it regularly.

Here are a few things to consider. Online back has been around since the beginning of the internet. It has been repackaged and given the cute little name “Cloud”. Don’t be fooled, it is not what it is marketed to be. Using online storage is really only good for small files like Word docs, PDF files, email backups, QuickBooks backup, and small picture files under 100kbs, etc. Normal size picture files, music, and movies could take hours or even days to backup using the so called “Cloud”. It tends to slow your computer down and can use a lot of bandwidth, which is a big consideration if you get your internet through a satellite dish or a portable hotspot. Retrieving multiple large files backed up on the internet can crash your computer and waste a lot of your time.

I strongly recommend using an external hard drive in combination with online backup.

1) Use the external hard drive for your music, movies, and picture files. Try and purchase at least a 1 Terabyte (1000GB) external hard drive. Backup example: Create three folders on the external hard drive called Music, Movies, and Pictures. Now drag and drop copies of all your music, movies, and pictures from the computer to the three folders. It may take an hour or so if you have a lot. You can easily take your external hard drive to a friend’s house to share them.

2) Securely backup your critical and important documents onto the internet using a good service like iDrive.com. Keep it under 5GB and it will always be free. Don’t synchronize...schedule your backups. Otherwise it will use your computer’s resources and bandwidth. Online backup is really nice for securely accessing your important files remotely.

Please don’t hesitate to contact me if you need assistance setting up your backups.

By Pro-Design Communications. For computer help call: 895-3186 or send your questions and comments to: Bob@myandersonvalley.com

JUST ANOTHER WEEK IN UKIAH

ON JULY 31st at about 4:45 PM Ukiah Police responded to the Savings Bank, at 414 East Perkins Street, for an altered check. Officers determined 25 year old Fabian Reyes Rosales had attempted to cash a check that appeared to have been “washed”, and the payee and dollar amount changed. Further investigation revealed the check had been stolen from the mail earlier the same day. Rosales was arrested for burglary, forgery, identity theft, and violating probation. 14-2277 On August 1st at about 1:35 AM a Ukiah Police Officer noticed a vehicle parked in the 1400 block of North State Street, and noticed the vehicle’s lights were on but nobody was in the vehicle. The vehicle was a BMW, but the license plates belonged on a different brand of vehicle. Further investigation revealed the vehicle was stolen from Clearlake several days prior. Several items of evidence were located within the vehicle, and the case remains under investigation.

ON AUGUST 1st at about 2:15 PM Ukiah Police responded to a residence in the 100 block of Observatory Avenue for a violation of a restraining order and the suspect refusing to leave. Officers learned that 39 year old Zebulon Couthern had a restraining order against him, prohibiting him from being within 100 yards of the victim. Couthern was located seated outside the residence and had been drinking. Couthern was arrested for violating the court order, and once handcuffed became belligerent and repeatedly tried to physically get away from the arresting officer. Couthern continued to twist his body and try to pull away from the officer, nearly spit on the officer, and made several threats. Couthern was also charged with resisting arrest. On August 6th at about 8:20 AM officers returned to the residence for Couthern having damaged the front door. Officers learned Couthern had returned to the residence at about 7:00 AM after being released from jail, and had again been drinking and tried to push his way into the residence, damaging the door. Couthern was located near-by, and placed under citizen’s arrest for vandalism. 14-2344

ON AUGUST 1st at about 3:00 PM Ukiah Police responded to the 600 block of South Orchard Avenue for a subject with an arrest warrant at location. Officers learned a fugitive recovery agent had spotted 25 year old Jody Allen McCoy, who had a warrant for his arrest from Lake County for failing to appear in court. McCoy was located and arrested at the location.

ON AUGUST 3rd at about 2:25 AM Ukiah Police responded to the area of Safeway, at 653 South State Street, for a stabbing victim. Officers located a 16 year old intoxicated male juvenile stumbling on the sidewalk of State Street, and saw his arms were bloody. The juvenile had a slash wound to one of his arms, and claimed members of an opposing criminal street gang attacked him. The juvenile was taken to the hospital for treatment, where he had to be physically restrained as he remained combative with medical personnel. The juvenile was then booked into Juvenile Hall for public intoxication. 14-2294

ON AUGUST 6 at about 2:30 AM Ukiah Police responded to a residence in the 100 block of Evans Street for a physical domestic fight with the female who had been seen naked lying in the street, and the male had apparently kicked the female.

Officers were met at the front door by 27 year old Ashley Ryan Lenhart, who was intoxicated and belligerent and refused to allow officers inside.

Officers eventually forced their way into the residence while Lenhart physically resisted, and she was eventually arrested for interfering with an officer.

Officers located 27 year old Robert Frederick Fackrell inside the residence, who was trying to calm Lenhart and coax her into cooperating with the officers.

Fackrell had two warrants for his arrest for violating probation and driving with a suspended driver’s license.

After speaking with numerous witnesses it was determined there had been a physical altercation between Lenhart and Fackrell.

He was arrested for the warrants and for domestic violence.

OPTION FOUR: CAR BOMBS?

Three choices on the homeless

by Mike Sweeney

Homeless transients are filling the creeks and river around Ukiah with trash. What to do? Here are three options:

Choice #1: Do Nothing

In the absence of homeless shelters, the creeks and the Russian River provide inviting places to camp for people who have nowhere else to go. If I were homeless, that's where I would camp. Usually these places are hidden from view so the homeless can camp in seclusion yet remain within easy walking distances of stores and other urban necessities.

Tolerating creek and riverside camping helps keep the homeless problem out of sight so we aren't confronted every day by the shame of our societal failure to care for our people. Keeping it all out of sight is appealing. That's why our peace officers, always finely attuned to the community's priorities, have sometimes tolerated creekside camping.

The disadvantage of doing nothing is that most of the homeless leave behind trash of all kinds, including plastics, junk, insulation stripped from wires, syringes and toxics. In the Ukiah area this adds up to many tons of debris. The creeks cease being places of peace and beauty and instead become nasty dumps, denied to the rest of the community.

Unless someone cleans up before the winter rains, the trash gets washed into the river and contributes to the holocaust that humanity is inflicting on other living species as they get poisoned, entangled or suffocated by decomposed trash.

There are several wonderful volunteer cleanup efforts each year, and the Solid Waste Authority helps out as time permits. But our efforts only scratch the surface and the trash keeps coming. Some creeks are reoccupied the same day they are cleaned up. And the situation could get a lot worse.

A single concerned citizen, John McCowen, spends hundreds of hours tracking down campsites, cleaning up and urging homeless to move elsewhere. If McCowen gets tired of this thankless burden, or perhaps gets knocked on the head by some unruly transient, our creeks and rivers would quickly become even greater magnets for transients throughout the region.

Choice #2: Provide regular trash removal

The Solid Waste Authority could hire additional personnel and provide a continuous year-around cleanup service for the creeks and Russian River. As general manager of the Authority, I would be willing to implement such a program if funds were available.

I estimate that it would be necessary to increase the Authority's surcharge collected at the transfer stations by $2 per ton, yielding about $120,000 per year. With luck we could capture almost all the trash before it got washed away.

But there could be side effects. The free trash collection could contribute to Ukiah's appeal to the transient population and help increase their numbers. Also, other people in the community might decide to dump their trash illegally in the creeks if they know that the Authority's crew is sure to come around to pick it up.

Choice #3: Criminalize creekside camping

Currently the offense of camping in unauthorized places is treated only as an infraction by the city and county. Police and deputies can write a citation (ticket), which makes little impression on a homeless transient.

The deterrent value of these citations is about zero so few are written. But the city and county could amend their codes to make it a misdemeanor crime to camp in the floodway of a creek or river. This would greatly strengthen the hand of peace officers. Violators could be taken to jail. It would take only a few arrests before the message got around on the transients' grapevine.

While enforcement of a no-creek-camping policy would make Ukiah less of a magnet for transients, there would still be homeless among us. They would find other places to sleep on empty and accessible land, wherever their presence attracted the fewest complaints.

Trash would still accumulate but it would be easier to find, easier to clean up, and less likely to get washed away. Without the appeal of creekside campsites, Ukiah would become less of a magnet for transients from other places.

Clearly there are no good solutions to this problem. All we can do is seek the least-bad solution. It's time to choose.

(Mike Sweeney is general manager of the Mendocino Solid Waste Management Authority and sole suspect in the 1990 car bombing of his ex-wife, Judi Bari.)

DADDY

You do not do, you do not do

Any more, black shoe

In which I have lived like a foot

For thirty years, poor and white,

Barely daring to breathe or Achoo.

 

Daddy, I have had to kill you.

You died before I had time—

Marble-heavy, a bag full of God,

Ghastly statue with one gray toe

Big as a Frisco seal

 

And a head in the freakish Atlantic

Where it pours bean green over blue

In the waters off beautiful Nauset.

I used to pray to recover you.

Ach, du.

 

In the German tongue, in the Polish town

Scraped flat by the roller

Of wars, wars, wars.

But the name of the town is common.

My Polack friend

 

Says there are a dozen or two.

So I never could tell where you

Put your foot, your root,

I never could talk to you.

The tongue stuck in my jaw.

 

It stuck in a barb wire snare.

Ich, ich, ich, ich,

I could hardly speak.

I thought every German was you.

And the language obscene

 

An engine, an engine

Chuffing me off like a Jew.

A Jew to Dachau, Auschwitz, Belsen.

I began to talk like a Jew.

I think I may well be a Jew.

 

The snows of the Tyrol, the clear beer of Vienna

Are not very pure or true.

With my gipsy ancestress and my weird luck

And my Taroc pack and my Taroc pack

I may be a bit of a Jew.

 

I have always been scared of you,

With your Luftwaffe, your gobbledygoo.

And your neat mustache

And your Aryan eye, bright blue.

Panzer-man, panzer-man, O You——

 

Not God but a swastika

So black no sky could squeak through.

Every woman adores a Fascist,

The boot in the face, the brute

Brute heart of a brute like you.

 

You stand at the blackboard, daddy,

In the picture I have of you,

A cleft in your chin instead of your foot

But no less a devil for that, no not

Any less the black man who

 

Bit my pretty red heart in two.

I was ten when they buried you.

At twenty I tried to die

And get back, back, back to you.

I thought even the bones would do.

 

But they pulled me out of the sack,

And they stuck me together with glue.

And then I knew what to do.

I made a model of you,

A man in black with a Meinkampf look

 

And a love of the rack and the screw.

And I said I do, I do.

So daddy, I’m finally through.

The black telephone’s off at the root,

The voices just can’t worm through.

 

If I’ve killed one man, I’ve killed two——

The vampire who said he was you

And drank my blood for a year,

Seven years, if you want to know.

Daddy, you can lie back now.

 

There’s a stake in your fat black heart

And the villagers never liked you.

They are dancing and stamping on you.

They always knew it was you.

Daddy, daddy, you bastard, I’m through.

— Slyvia Plath

THIS IS OWEN PATERSON, who was replaced last month as British Seceretary for the Enivornment, Food and Rural Affairs. It was in the July 20 edition of the Telegraph:

“It has been a privilege to take on the challenges of the rural economy and environment. However, I leave the post with great misgivings about the power and irresponsibility of — to coin a phrase — the Green Blob. By this I mean the mutually supportive network of environmental pressure groups, renewable energy companies and some public officials who keep each other well supplied with lavish funds, scare stories and green tape. This tangled triangle of unelected busybodies claims to have the interests of the planet and countryside at heart, but it is increasingly clear that it is focusing on the wrong issues and doing real harm while profiting handsomely. Local conservationists on the ground do wonderful work to protect and improve wild landscapes, as do farmers, rural businesses and ordinary people. They are a world away from the highly paid globe-trotters of the Green Blob who besieged me with their self-serving demands, many of which would have harmed the natural environment. I soon realized that the greens and their industrial and bureaucratic allies are used to getting things their own way. I received more death threats in a few months at (the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs) than I ever did as Secretary of State for Northern Ireland."

KRAUTHAMMER’S LIES

(Jayne Thomas of Richmond responds to syndicated columnist Charles Krauthammer):

Editor: Our local paper has a letters’ editor, Dora Scardina, who is very open to informed letters on Israel/Palestine, although she has to run idiot ones, too. She ran this one from me yesterday which I thought would interest you.

Editor,

Columnist Charles Krauthammer's column is a collection of lies.

Readers who contribute letters supporting Israel are woefully uninformed about the history and current issues of the area. But there's no excuse for you to print a collection of lies by syndicated columnist Charles Krauthammer.

Let's take one "blindingly clear" truth (Krauthammer's words): Destruction of the greenhouses in Gaza when the Israeli settlements were removed.

The Israeli settlers had always receive benefits that touched every area of their lives: subsidized land and water, day care, lower taxes, and cheap Arab labor. When the settlers left Gaza they expected Israel to compensate them for leaving behind the greenhouses. Israel refused and rather than turn them over to the Palestinians, the settlers destroyed over half of them (New York Times, July 15, 2005).

It's doubtful the remaining greenhouses could have been turned into a viable business. In any case, the Palestinian Authority lacked the manpower to oversee the greenhouses which ultimately were looted by the Palestinians for scarce building materials to use in their own neighborhoods.

Truthful sources abound. Start with the book, "The Case Against Israel," by Jewish professor of philosophy Michael Neumann.

— Jayne Thomas, Richmond