- Napa Temblor
- Ross & Dunnebeck
- Signal Ridge Bust
- Woodhouse & Madrigal
- Police Reports
- Catch of the Day
- Clean Water
- Analysis of Baseball
- Last Days
- Exemptions & Mitigations
- CalTrans Press Release
THIS MORNING'S EARTHQUAKE was not widely felt in Mendocino County, and not felt at all in the Anderson Valley. It jolted — more like rolled — people awake as far south as San Francisco. The 3:20am event did significant damage in the downtown Napa neighborhoods where it struck hardest and to which it seemed mostly confined.
ON AUGUST 22, 2014 at approximately 0830 hours, Floyd Ross Jr. 81, of Ukiah, and Douglas Dunnebeck, 86, of Ukiah went hunting on a private ranch on Pomo Lane in Ukiah. While traveling on a private road within the ranch, the 2007 Polaris Ranger ATV they were traveling in went off road and collided with a tree. Ross and Dunnebeck were ejected from the ATV and both sustained fatal injuries. After Ross and Dunnebeck had been away for an extended period of time, friends began to search for them on the property. On August 22, 2014, at approximately 1645 hours their Polaris Ranger ATV was located and Ross and Dunnebeck were found to be deceased. There was no evidence found to indicate they were wearing helmets at the time of the collision. At this time impairment is unknown. This collision is still under investigation. — CHP Press Release
FLOYD ROSS was Charles Mannon's number two man at the Savings Bank for many years. C.D. (Craig Douglas) ‘Pete’ Dunnebeck was the founder of Acme Rigging, a logging supply outfit in Ukiah which was financed and kept viable for decades by the Savings Bank. Mr. Dunnebeck was in the news in 2012 when an article about his $1,000 contribution to Mitt Romney appeared entitled, “C.D. Dunnebeck pours money into Republican Presidential campaign — Ukiah donor makes generous gift to Mitt Romney (R).” Mr. Dunnebeck also made large donations to the Ukiah Humane Society and the Adventist Hospital.
A RESIDENT of the Signal Ridge area west of Philo tells us that today there was a “big cartel bust up off Signal Ridge from the back side of the Rossi Ranch all the way to Pipers.” 20,000 plants, maybe more. The raid involved Fish and Game and numerous law enforcement people.
A READER WRITES: (in response to our comment that Tom Woodhouse, candidate for Third District Supervisor, said nothing in his recent Ukiah Daily Journal interview) “Woodhouse is new to politics and someone must have told him to stay away from specifics. If you take a stand on ten issues and people disagree with one of them, they may turn on you. But around here, people want to know where you're coming from. Being outspoken will turn off the fringes, but people will respect you and even support you if you can give a clear reason for your position.
"BUT HOLLY APPEARS TO SAY SOMETHING when she really doesn't. Go to YourPublicMoney.com and find the link to Dickerson's pension reform conference and go to the panel of wannabe elected officials, which includes Holly. Scroll through until you see her — there are a couple of spots — at one point she spins into free fall bafflegab mode for over ten minutes. Tell me if you think she said anything or showed any real insight into the problems of pension reform.
”WOODHOUSE DOESN'T BLOW HIS OWN HORN but he has been in business locally for 30 years and has a track record of being involved with the schools and the community, painting out graffiti and cleaning up the creeks. All those things have a positive ripple effect. And what has Holly done? She went to work for a dope grower supply house in shipping and receiving right out of college and ten years later she was still filling dope grower orders for truckloads of soil — she never progressed within the company after ten years. She has been on the Willits City Council for ten years and its the same story. What has she done?
”HOLLY IS THE EPITOME of the cookie cutter faux liberal the AVA claims to despise. She is the dream candidate of career Dems like Jim Mastin and Val Muchowski. And people like the Drells who never had to work for a living but are trying to keep anyone else from doing so. Not everyone wants to be an organic gardener or dope grower. We need some local businesses so people who want to work at a legit job can do so.
”WOODHOUSE MAY NOT SAY MUCH but he is thoughtful and open to hearing what people have to say. People trust he will do the right thing once he gets elected. Holly comes across like someone who really wants the job and Woodhouse comes across like someone who really wants to do the job. Despite the AVA liking her, the people of the third district can figure this one out.”
* * *
ED NOTE: We'll concede that Woodhouse seems to have his virtues, especially his volunteer work, but where was his biz acumen when the Willits School District entered into a building finance deal that was rum on the face of it, or should have been? And if you doom Holly simply because she works for a nursery that sells dope garden supplies, you could similarly doom most businesses in the County: realtors who sell land to outside growers; banks that process cash; automobile dealers who sell new vehicles for cash, no questions asked. And so on. Everyone in this county is in the intoxicants business, one way or the other.
COPS ON THE STREETS OF UKIAH
ON AUGUST 14 On August 14th at about 6:05AM Ukiah Police responded to the AM/PM at 615 Talmage Road for a stolen vehicle. Officers learned the victim had left the vehicle parked and running outside the store, and returned to find the vehicle gone. Officers broadcast a Be On the Look Out for the vehicle. On August 16th at about 1:20 PM a Ukiah Police Officer observed the vehicle being driven in the 600 block of Babcock Lane, and stopped it in the parking lot of Oak Manor Park. The driver was identified as 30 year old Cherral Ann Ocobock who denied stealing the vehicle. Ocobock had two methamphetamine smoking pipes inside her purse, she had a warrant for her arrest from Southern California, and her driver’s license was suspended. A further search of Ocobock’s belongings revealed a hypodermic syringe and a stun gun, and she was found to be in possession of less than a gram of methamphetamine. Ocobock was arrested for vehicle theft and possessing stolen property, driving with a suspended driver’s license, possessing methamphetamine and drug paraphernalia, and possession of a stun gun by a convicted felon.
ON AUGUST 16th at about 6:40 PM Ukiah Police responded the area of North School Street and Ruddock Avenue for a suspicious subject seen in several yards and climbing fences, while holding a knife in his mouth. Responding officers determined the suspect had damaged a fence after being confronted by a resident, and that the suspect may have headed towards Gibson Creek. Officers searching the creek bed encountered 23 year old James Alan Morris, who matched the reported suspect description and who was standing with his hands behind his back. Morris was non-compliant with officers, and was seen holding an object in his hand. Morris refused to follow the officers’ instructions, and instead walked aggressively towards them yelling for them to shoot him while holding what looked like a large rock in his hand. Officers deployed a Taser and were able to safely take Morris into custody. Morris had a knife in his pants pocket, and he displayed symptoms indicating he had used a controlled substance recently. Morris stated he was on probation and parole, and had missed a recent appointment with his probation officer, instead using methamphetamine heavily all week. Morris had entered several yards hoping to avoid detection by law enforcement, and then entered the creek bed and removed his parole issued ankle monitoring bracelet shortly before being contacted by officers. Morris was arrested for violating probation and parole, trespassing, vandalism, and resisting arrest.
WHILE OFFICERS WERE IN THE CREEKBED searching for Morris, they encountered 20 year old Dariel Lamore Zapanta. While speaking with Zapanta officers noticed she appeared to have used a controlled substance recently, and she admitted to having used methamphetamine early that morning. Zapanta was found in possession of a methamphetamine smoking pipe, and physically resisted being taken into custody. Zapanta refused to place her hands behind her back, and repeatedly tried to pull away and struggle before finally being arrested. Zapanta was charged with having used a controlled substance, possession of drug paraphernalia, and resisting arrest.
ON AUGUST 18th at about 6:30 PM Ukiah Police responded to the parking lot behind the Ukiah Theater, at 612 South State Street, for a subject inhaling, or “huffing”, from an aerosol can and with his pants down. Officers located the suspect in front of the Prime Market, at 295 West Mill Street and identified him as 36 year old Jai Chandler Kamke. Officers found Kamke still had the aerosol can with him, and that he was on probation for possessing inhalants. Kamke was arrested for possessing an inhalant and violating probation. On August 19th at about 9:35 AM Ukiah Police responded to Friedman’s, at 1255 Airport Park Boulevard for a subject who’d taken several aerosol cans and was believed to be “huffing” behind the store. Officers learned the employees had seen the suspect inhale from an aerosol can upon leaving the store, saw him discard the can and vomit, then proceed to the rear of the store with the remaining cans. Officers located Kamke nearby, who upon seeing the approaching officers began hurriedly “huffing” from an aerosol can. Officers immediately arrested Kamke for possessing an inhalant and violating probation. Kamke stated he is aware of the dangers of “huffing” but is addicted to inhalants and only is able to stop when incarcerated.
ON AUGUST 19th at about 1:10 AM Ukiah Police responded to a residence in the 700 block of South State Street for a vehicle theft. Officers were told the victim had met with a man and woman earlier in the evening at a residence on Waugh lane. The victim gave the man and woman a ride to the Observatory Avenue area, where the man grabbed the keys from the ignition and the woman held a knife to the victim, telling him to walk away from the vehicle. The victim did so, then returned to the area and was unable to locate his vehicle and then walked home before finally calling the police. At about 9:10 PM the investigating officer spotted the vehicle in the 1000 block of South State Street, and a high risk stop was performed on the vehicle in the 100 block of Observatory Avenue. The driver was identified as 37 year old Raul Amador DeLosSantos who was on probation in Lake County for possessing methamphetamine and in Mendocino County for DUI and drug influence. The passenger was identified as 25 year old Katie Ann Sanchez, and was later positively identified by the victim as the woman who had used a knife in the taking of the vehicle. DeLosSantos and Sanchez were arrested for vehicle theft, robbery, and carjacking, and DeLosSantos was additionally charged with violating probation.
ON AUGUST 20th at about 6:10 AM Ukiah Police responded to a residence in the 100 block of Clara Avenue for a vehicle theft. Officers learned the victim had left the vehicle running and unattended while in the residence, and exited to discover the vehicle missing. The vehicle was described as a green Ford Ranger pickup. About 20 minutes later a District Attorney Investigator spotted the vehicle being driven northbound in the 700 block of South State Street. Ukiah Police Officers responded and performed a high-risk stop on the vehicle in the 100 block of East Clay Street. As the driver was removed from the vehicle a pair of bolt-cutters that was hidden in his clothing fell to the ground. The driver was identified as 24 year old Zackary Alan Lawson, of Igo, who was on probation for DUI. A passenger of the vehicle was identified as 43 year old Michelle Frances Fabian who was on probation for possessing methamphetamine. Lawson had been drinking and was found too intoxicated to drive and was arrested for DUI, stolen vehicle, possessing stolen property, and violating probation. Fabian was arrested for vehicle theft, possessing stolen property, and violating probation.
(Compiled from Ukiah Police Department Reports)
CATCH OF THE DAY, August 23, 2014
KENDRA CAMPBELL-KRUMP, Laytonville. Failure to appear.
MARK DUMAN, Ukiah. Possession/sale of meth, resisting arrest, probation revocation.
CHARLES HENSLEY, Ukiah. Drunk in public, probation revocation. (Frequent flyer.)
VERNON KNAPP, Willits. Drunk in public, probation revocation.
CHRISTOPHER KRCH, Willits. DUI, probation revocation.
JEREMY MORRELL, Chico. Probation revocation.
JOSE RAMIREZ, Ukiah. Receipt of stolen property, possession of drug injection device, probation revocation.
ISIDRO RODRIQUEZ, DUI, Driving without a license.
THOMAS SANDERS, Willits. Drunk in public, probation revocation. (Frequent flyer.)
MATTHEW STEPHENS, Ukiah. Dirk/Dagger.
SAMUEL WALKER, Middletown. Drunk in public.
JEREMY WHITAKER, Willits. Court order violation.
DAVID ZAKEDIS, Willits. Probation revocation.
DAVID ZEGLINSKI, Ukiah. Domestic assault, false imprisonment.
WHILE FANCY WESTERNERS are pouring clean water on their heads, every 20 seconds a kid is dying because they can’t access proper sanitation, linked in many cases to a lack of clean water. Just let that marinate for a bit. Every 5 gallon bucket of clean drinking water thrown away for a public relations stunt could be 5 gallons of clean drinking water for a kid who may die from unsanitary living conditions and lack of clean water...... A thousand and one ways water is being abused. Just watch your clock tick by; because when the bell tolls, it will toll for all of us. Just remember, another couple of children just died from lack of clean water while you read this. But don’t worry; the celebrities, politicians and business folks will throw more buckets of water on their heads. (Andrew Smolski)
ANALYSIS OF BASEBALL
by May Swenson
It’s about Ball fits
the ball, mitt, but
the bat, not all
and the mitt. the time.
Ball hits Sometimes
bat, or it ball gets hit
hits mitt. (pow) when bat
Bat doesn’t meets it,
hit ball, and sails
bat meets it. to a place
Ball bounces where mitt
off bat, flies has to quit
air, or thuds in disgrace.
ground (dud) That’s about
or it the bases
fits mitt. loaded,
about 40,000
Bat waits fans exploded.
for ball
to mate. It’s about
Ball hates the ball,
to take bat’s the bat,
bait. Ball the mitt,
flirts, bat’s the bases
late, don’t and the fans.
keep the date. It’s done
Ball goes in on a diamond,
(thwack) to mitt, and for fun.
and goes out It’s about
(thwack) back home, and it’s
to mitt. about run.
I HAD JUST SEEN A MAN about his headaches and was about to call someone about her backache when the receptionist beckoned me over. 'Mrs Lagnari is on the phone,' she mouthed in a stage whisper. 'Her husband is in terrible pain. Will you go and see him?'
During their training physicians are urged not to jump to conclusions. They're supposed to wait until they've worked through a battery of questions and prodded the patient all over before they draw up a list of potential diagnoses. Even so, I could help wondering why Mr Lagnari's pain was worse. He had advanced pancreatic cancer, which had spread to the liver. His tumor might have lurched in size, I thought, pressing on and infiltrating the nerves around the pancreas. The metastases growing in his liver could have begun stretching the liver's capsule; 'capsular pain' can be frustratingly difficult to control. I'd seen him only the week before and increased the dose of his opiate medication; he might have developed resistance to the new dose already. Perhaps a deep vein thrombosis had formed in his legs — a well-known complication of a tumor like his. Or his pain might be existential: Mr Lagnari knew that he was dying.
His wife and son opened the door before I had a chance to ring the bell. They made way for me in the tiny vestibule, their faces pinched with worry. 'He's more settled now,' the son whispered, anxious that his father might overhear, 'but he thinks his number's up.' I nodded: his impressions might be more useful than whatever Mr Lagnari would tell me.
He was leaning forward in bed, propped up on a few pillows, his face more withered and pale than it had been the week before. He winced at the smallest movement, and held his hands over the pit of his stomach as if protecting it. The room was just wider than his double bed. He raised one arm to greet me, and with the other switched off the television.
'I took some of that stuff you gave me,' he said, 'and it's a bit better. No need to fuss.' But he was gritting his teeth. He was wearing Fentanyl patches, which soaked an opiate through his skin directly into the bloodstream, but I'd also given him a bottle of liquid morphine to use in the moments when the patches weren't enough.
'What does it feel like?'
'Like a burning, horrible pain, coming up from here' — he bunched his fingers over his solar plexus — 'and into here': he spread the fingers out wide and grazed them over his sternum and the right side of his chest.
'Is it worse if you breathe in?' I asked.
'A bit,' he said.
Any pain or swelling in your legs?'
He shook his head, and I lifted up the duvet to check his calves: they too were withered and pale, no sign of thrombosis.
I sat down on the edge of the bed.
'Anything you can do to make it go away?' I asked.
'If I keep on sitting forward it's a bit better.'
I examined his belly, pushing tentatively down over his stomach, then pressed my hand into the hollow beneath his right ribcage while he breathed deeply in and out. His liver didn't feel any larger or more tender than when I'd last examined him a couple of weeks earlier.
'So what do you think?' he asked, holding my gaze. He had been straining to keep things light, as if we were bantering about the weather. But now he looked down, smoothing the duvet between his leg and the depression in the mattress where I sat, and asked: 'Am I dying?'
I'm not afraid of discussing death; what I worry about is misjudging the readiness of patients to hear an honest opinion. 'Well it's getting closer,' I said. 'It's spreading in your liver....but I really can't give you a time. It could be days, it could be weeks.'
'But not months?'
'I wish I could tell you....We could send you back to the hospital for a scan,' I said, deliberately trailing off, watching his face to see whether he'd clutch at the chance, any chance at all, to delay what was happening to him. He knew what I was hinting at. There was silence for a few moments.
'No, I'm finished with all that,' he said. 'I'll stay here.'
'We could switch your medication from the patches to injections,' I said. 'They are more effective in many ways, though they might make you more sleepy.'
'That sounds good,' he said, relieved we were back to talking about managing his pain, and not his death.
I went back to the clinic. There were six or seven more patients to see, an hour's worth of paperwork, then more housecalls. Afterwards, I went to check on Mr Lagnari. A nurse had set him up with a drip of morphine, mild sedatives and anti-sickness medication, and he was asleep.
'The priest was in for an hour,' his daughter said, 'and he seems much more settled now.'
That was Tuesday evening; by Thursday morning he was dead.
— Gavin Francis, How Many Speed Bumps?
EXEMPTIONS & MITIGATIONS
Editor,
Laws, laws, endless laws. Laws so lengthy, 250 to 390 or more pages of small print, that even the lawmakers don’t read them in their entirety before voting on them. Yet it is a requirement of the law itself to know the law, as if one could commit to memory all of its particulars and contradictions. “The way of the law is a gift to the people”. The old man said. “The law must be clear and easily understandable by the people. If the law becomes something to get around, then it is of no use.” — From The Seven Arrows by Hymenyohosts Storm.
Exemptions and mitigations are legally sanctioned pathways to violate both the spirit of good rules such as the Clean Water Act and its mandate, Thou shalt not destroy wetlands. Both the immensely destructive, immensely profitable fracking industry which produces un-natural gas, a unique form of methane, and Caltrans which builds mega highways, culminating in the unnecessary Willits bypass, obsolete before it is built, utilize these “legal exceptions”. Both special interest, profit driven industries treat the law, the Clean Water Act, like wasps which lay their eggs on a caterpillar. When the eggs hatch, becoming larvae, the young larvae eat the insides out of the caterpillar, leaving a hollowed out exterior. So much for the mandate of the Clean Water Act, Thou shalt not destroy wetlands.
Exemptions extend beyond mere loopholes. Exemptions are a method of gutting the law without repealing the law. Exemptions are a political tool to insure that the law is used only against the less powerful and, as a corollary, the less and least wealthy. Mitigations such as the Caltrans plan to destroy the high points of the northern wetlands to create “new” wetlands makes a mockery of the Clean Water Act. Now that Caltrans has halfway achieved its goal and the demise of many migratory songbirds is assured, Caltrans has deigned to relocate the yellow traffic lane lines which aggravated the Willits traffic jam. Who painted the road clogging lines in the first place? Caltrans, while promoting its bypass plan with falsified traffic statistics. Shades of the New Jersey governor’s plan to block traffic to the George Washington Bridge. Ooops. Discovered. Bridgegate!
Perhaps a stupidity quotient isn’t adequate to evaluate this kind of behavior. Perhaps we need a happiness quotient. Are power politicians acting outside any moral or ethical restraints happy people? Do these behaviors create lasting respect? Does excessive monetary acquisition compensate for such dishonest behavior? Whatever has happened to conscience? It takes courage to dissent, to refuse to capitulate to wrong doing. Where is the courage? Ask your local politicians, Where is your courage?
Where do endangered and life threatened wildlife go when their habitats are destroyed? No where. They die. Thanks politicians. Perhaps you should reread The Wizard of Oz. The cowardly lion got courage. Get courage. Vote for what is good and right, for local autonomy in matters affecting our communities, for protection of the environment of our one precious planet. Vote down the vested, destructive interests of money and power. Your grandchildren, great and great-great grandchildren inherit this same earth as everyone else’s grandchildren, this same land your cowardice helps destroy.
Sincerely, Dorotheya M Dorman, Redwood Valley
THE FOLLOWING is a Caltrans press release:
The California Transportation Commission (CTC) today adopted 148 biking and walking projects, collectively valued at more than $430 million, in the state’s 2014 Active Transportation Program (ATP), making it the nation’s largest. The CTC will allocate nearly $221 million to the projects at its future meetings.
“We started the Active Transportation Program to establish California as a national leader in developing bike and pedestrian facilities,” said California State Transportation Agency Secretary Brian Kelly. “This program adopted today is the nation’s largest state commitment to bicycling, walking and other forms of active transportation. This program will increase transportation options for all Californians while reducing greenhouse gas emissions and improving public health and safety.”
“Today’s transportation system is more than just highways,” said Caltrans Director Malcolm Dougherty. “Our Active Transportation Program supports a healthy, active lifestyle that also helps achieve California’s safety, mobility and greenhouse gas reduction goals.”
Last year, Governor Brown signed legislation (Senate Bill 99, Chapter 359 and Assembly Bill 101, Chapter 354) creating the ATP. The new program replaced a patchwork of small grant programs with a comprehensive program. Here are some of the significant projects adopted under the new active transportation program:
Humboldt Bay Trail, Arcata Rail with Trail Project received $3.1 million in funding.
Eureka Waterfront Trail received about $2.5 million in funding.
Fort Bragg, Chestnut St. Multi-Use Facility and Safe Routes to School received $259,000.
Clearlake, Phillips Ave. Class II Bicycle Lanes & Roadway Rehab received $564,000.
Click here to view a list of all 148 adopted ATP projects. Detailed information about the ATP can be found on Caltrans’ website. The adopted projects comprise two components: the Statewide Program ($183.8 million for 126 projects) and the Small Urban/Rural Program ($37.3 million for 22 projects). Nearly 87 percent ($191.5 million) of the funds for these components are directed at 130 projects that benefit disadvantaged communities.
“Making it easier and more convenient to walk and bike is a direct investment in our health,” said Mary D. Nichols, Chairman of the California Air Resources Board. “This funding will help cities and counties throughout California take steps to fight air pollution and reduce greenhouse gases.”
Caltrans received approximately 770 applications from cities and counties across California, totaling nearly $1 billion in project requests, an excess in demand of three-to-one. California’s nine largest Metropolitan Planning Organizations (Bay Area, Fresno, Sacramento, San Diego, Southern California, San Jose, Stanislaus, Tulare, and Kern) are still eligible to recommend projects to the CTC on an additional $147 million in active transportation funds designated specifically to their regions based on population. The CTC will adopt projects submitted by MPOs in November.
Continuing the drive to rebuild California’s transportation infrastructure, the Commission also allocated nearly $706 million in funding to 125 transportation projects that will improve and maintain the state’s vital transportation system. More than $552 million of the funding will pay for “fix it first” projects that will repair bumpy pavement, preserve roads in good condition to prevent them from deteriorating, upgrade aging bridges and make roads safer for all.
“To get the most bang for the buck for taxpayers, Caltrans targets dollars where they are most effective - pavement preservation,” said Dougherty. “Every $1 spent on preventive pavement maintenance saves Californians $8 that would have been spent on expensive pavement repairs.”
The allocations also include nearly $21 million from Proposition 1B, a transportation bond approved by voters in 2006. To date, more than $17 billion in Proposition 1B funds have been put to work statewide for transportation purposes.
Here are some of the significant projects that will improve and/or preserve California’s valuable investments in its transportation system that received allocations:
Del Norte County: $3.8 million to rehabilitate 10 lane miles of roadway on US Highway 101 near Klamath.
Humboldt County: $5.5 million to rehabilitate 14 lane miles of roadway on Route 299 near Blue Lake.
Lake County: $4.9 million to rehabilitate 19.8 lane miles of roadway on Route 29 near Lakeport.
Mendocino County: About $22 million to rehabilitate 83 lane miles of roadway at three locations near Ukiah and Laytonville.
Wow, someone…? has finally articulated the 3rd District race…worts and all.