Mendocino County Today: Friday, September 19, 2014

• Piercy Fratricide
• Parrish Postponed
• Cockamamie Opinion
• Labor Dispute
• The Riots
• Rain Report
• Career Move
• Strongly Reject
• Huffman Vote
• Catch of the Day
• Police Reports
• Gridiron Thugs
• Unethical Investing
• California Fires
• America's Demise
• Scotland Says No
• Stupid People
• Documentary Recommendation

ON WEDNESDAY, September 17, 2014 at 2:57pm the Mendocino County Sheriff's Office received a telephone report of a shooting incident on a piece of property located in the 78000 block of Highway 271 in Piercy, California. While Mendocino County Sheriff's Deputies were responding to the location the Sheriff's Office was contacted by a representative of the Jerold Phelps Community Hospital located in Garberville, California. It was reported that Carl Fragale, 28, of Apply Valley, the victim of the reported shooting in Piercy, had been transported to the hospital by family members. Upon arriving at the hospital Carl Fragale was pronounced dead as a result of a gunshot wound sustained during the shooting incident. Sheriff's Detectives were summoned to conduct an in-depth investigation into the shooting incident and were assisted by investigators from the Mendocino County District Attorney's Office. Sheriff's Detectives learned Carl Fragale had been staying in Piercy while growing approximately 120 marijuana plants with his brother (Anthony Fragale, 23, of Apple Valley), father, and friend. On Wednesday, September 17, 2014 while working in the marijuana garden Carl Fragale verbally confronted Anthony Fragale for being disrespectful towards the pair's father. The verbal argument led to a minor physical altercation between the brothers at a different location on the property. After the physical altercation concluded, Anthony Fragale took possession of a handgun and confronted Carl Fragale. During the confrontation Anthony Fragale shot Carl Fragale and subsequently helped transport him to the hospital where he died. Sheriff's Detectives arrested Anthony Fragale for murder and booked him into the Mendocino County Jail where he was to be held in lieu of $500,000 bail. (Sheriff’s Press Release)

PARRISH RESTITUTION MATTER POSTPONED AGAIN

Will Parrish’s Caltrans restitution hearing is now scheduled for Friday, October 10th.

COMMENTING ON OUR WEBSITE YESTERDAY, a writer named Nancy wrote: "The Mental Health Advisory Board was informed yesterday that County Counsel and Grand Jury legal advisor, Doug Losak has determined that County department heads are not required to respond to the Grand Jury. So don’t waste your time looking for Mr. Pinozotto’s response — there isn’t one. Also the HHSA response (referenced in the BOS response) is not on the GJ website because HHSA/Stacy Cryer did not provide the GJ with an electronic copy for posting. Is the County trying to silence the Grand Jury? Draw your own conclusions."

IF LOSAK'S COCKAMAMIE OPINION will guide the Mental Health Board, it's subpoena time, time to compel County government to respond to the Grand Jury. It's long past showdown time anyway after many years of County department heads simply ignoring the GJ. Pinizzotto has a legal conflict of interest. We think the DA should take a look at the privatization of mental health services, front to back, with a focus on Pinizzotto, Carmel Angelo and Ortner Management Group, the new owner of Mendocino County Mental Health.

WORKERS at Ross Liberty’s Factory Pipe Company located at the old Masonite industrial site north of Ukiah have contacted Teamster’s Union reps about forming a local at the Factor Pipe site.

FACTORY PIPE makes exhaust systems for jet-skis, ATVs and snowmobiles, etc. Liberty has reportedly contacted the infamous union busting law firm, Jackson-Lewis, a nationwide union busting outfit.

JACKSON-LEWIS specializes in “comprehensive preventative labor relations programs,” and other “services” aimed at keeping workplaces union-free.

WORKER COMPLAINTS are said to be primarIly centered around what they say are non-competitive pay rates for the skilled labor. We hope to have more on this local labor dispute in the next few days.

THE RIOTS

I've watched this city burn twice
in my lifetime
and the most notable thing
was the arrival of the
politicians in the
aftermath
proclaiming the wrongs of
the system
and demanding new
policies toward and for the
poor.

nothing was corrected last
time.
nothing will be corrected this
time.

the poor will remain poor.
the unemployed will remain
so.
the homeless will remain
homeless

and the politicians,
fat upon the land, will live
very well.

— Charles Bukowski

A NAVARRO READER WRITES: “We had a few decent (although short-lived) downpours yesterday evening, featuring the big drops, and then a steady gentle rain most of this morning. The ground is wet, leaves are falling, mycelium thankful. I didn't realize how much I've missed the rain.”

FORMER Chief Deputy District Attorney in Mendocino County and Willits native, Victoria Shanahan, is leaving the Sonoma County DA's office for private practice. Shanahan challenged another former Mendo assistant DA, Jill Ravitch, for Sonoma County DA this past election, losing to Ravitch, a connected Northcoast Democrat, by about a 2-1 margin. Shanahan is joining Adams Fietz Trial Lawyers, specializing in criminal defense.

SMART TRAIN OFFICIALS “STRONGLY REJECT” GRAND JURY FINDINGS

http://www.pressdemocrat.com/home/2832307-181/smart-rejects-changes-recommended-by

SANTA ROSA RESIDENT Greg Karraker commented: “This just in: Charles Manson strongly rejected the findings of the jury who found him guilty.”

THE HUFF DOES GOOD

Congressman Jared Huffman, Facebook, Thursday, September 18, 2014:

“I just voted against an amendment to arm and train so-called 'moderate' Syrian rebels as part of a broad new multi-year military intervention in Iraq and Syria outlined by President Obama.

“Here's my full statement:

“Today I voted 'no' on the McKeon Amendment to arm and train so-called 'moderate' Syrian rebels as part of a broad new multi-year military intervention in Iraq and Syria outlined by President Obama last week. I also voted 'no' on the continuing resolution in which it was incorporated.

Today's vote was not, as some have argued, a choice between supporting the President's plan and simply doing nothing about ISIL. To be clear, I share President Obama's assessment of ISIL as a brutal terrorist organization, I support the goal of destroying them, and I believe there should be an American role in a broad, multinational response to ISIL.

My 'no' vote today is because this plan for a new American-led war in Iraq and Syria is being advanced without a proper congressional authorization as required by the Constitution, and because I believe the strategic assumptions underlying the plan are deeply flawed.

Frankly, we should know better than to provide arms and training to fighters we know very little about — and what we do know is troubling. We should know better than to take the lead in fighting and funding this war without a real multinational coalition where the countries most impacted by the ISIL threat carry their fair share of the risk and cost. And we should know better than to do all of this on the basis of wishful assumptions and rosy assurances that the conflict will not escalate out of control.

Keeping Americans safe and advancing our security interests in the Middle East requires we be smart, not just tough. We must learn from past mistakes.

Because Congress seems to be abdicating its constitutional authority over this war, I expect this will be last opportunity for me and other members of Congress to go on record in opposition to it. I hope I am wrong. I hope that when Congress reconvenes, there will be a debate and vote on a specific authorization for this war instead of pretending that authorizations from 2001-02 are good enough. But I fear that Congress just missed the last opportunity to reassert its constitutional authority over going to war, and to stop a poorly conceived war plan that is not only likely to fail, but likely to draw our country deeply into a prolonged sectarian conflict in which we are not even clear about what we hope to achieve and who is on our side.”

CATCH OF THE DAY, September 17, 2014

JAMES ANDERSON, Willits. Drunk in public. (Frequent flyer.)

BRITTON AZBILL, Covelo. DUI, vehicle theft, misdemeanor hit&run.

CURTIS BETTEGA, Covelo. Driving on suspended license, unlawful display of vehicle registration, evasion, probation revocation.

BLAKE DOMINGUEZ, Wilton, CA. DUI, Suspended license. (Photo not available.)

GLENN FARMER, San Francisco. Failure to appear.

PATRICK HEPPE, Fort Bragg. Petty theft, failure to appear, probation revocation.

DREW HOWELL, Ukiah. Drunk in public, resisting arrest. (Photo not available.)

LUKE JACOBSON, Fort Bragg. Parole violation.

REMO McCOSKER, Ukiah. Probation violation. (Frequent flyer.)

TRAVIS MOORE, Fort Bragg. DUI causing injury, ex-felon with firearm, property damage over $400.

PEDRO REYNAGA, Ukiah. Drunk in public. Probation revocation.

RONALD SHIELDS, Ukiah. Parole violation.

MIRANDA SIMS, Eureka. Possession of controlled substance.

CASSIE WATKINS, Albion. Burglary.

ON TUESDAY, September 16, 2014 at approximately 7pm Deputies from the Mendocino County Sheriff's Office were dispatched to contacted Mendocino County Jail staff regarding the escape of an inmate. When Deputies arrived Jail staff advised that earlier that day the inmate, Brett Edward Harlan, was taken to the Mendocino County Superior Court to petition for a temporary four-hour release pass, so he could visit a sick relative. The pass was granted and Harlan was released, but he was ordered to return to the Mendocino County Jail on Tuesday at 4pm. Harlan subsequently did not return by the listed date/time to surrender himself to Mendocino County Jail staff and he is now considered an Escaped Inmate. Deputies contacted Harlan’s family members in an attempt to return him to the Mendocino County Jail. Deputies learned Harlan informed family members after his release that he would not go back to jail or surrender himself as had been previously ordered by the court. Deputies continued their searched for Harlan and followed up on leads but they could not locate him as hoped. Harlan is believed to be hiding in the areas of Willits or Redwood Valley and should be considered dangerous. Anyone with information on the whereabouts of Brett Harlan is urged to call 911 or the Mendocino County Sheriff's Office dispatch center at 707-463-4086. Harlan is a 56-year-old white male adult, standing 6-feet tall and weighing 220 pounds. Harlan has a shaved head and a tattoo of “Shirley” across the upper front chest area near the neck line. Harlan also has a tattoo on the right side of the neck below the ear, a tattoo on back of his head and has a prosthetic right leg. Harlan had been in custody in the Mendocino County Jail on September 4 charges for vehicle theft, Violation of a court order, Evading a peace officer, Assault on a peace officer, Possession of a controlled substance and Violation of probation. (Sheriff’s Press Release)

* * *

ON MONDAY, September 15, 2014 at approximately 8:43pm, Deputies from the Mendocino Sheriff's Office responded to a residence in the 17000 block of Oklahoma Lane in Fort Bragg, California in an attempt to locate Terry Murphy, 58, of Fort Bragg, who had three misdemeanor warrants for his arrest for violation of probation. Deputies arrived at the location, contacted Murphy, and arrested Murphy without incident for the outstanding warrants. Incident to arrest, Deputies searched Murphy and located a small plastic bag containing a clear crystalline substance. The substance field tested presumptive positive for methamphetamine and had a gross field weight of 0.7 grams. Murphy was transported to the Mendocino County Jail where he was booked on open charges of possession of a controlled substance, and violation of probation. Murphy was also booked on the three misdemeanor arrest warrants to be held in lieu of $10,000.00 bail for his open charges, and $15,000.00 for the three arrest warrants. (Sheriff’s Press Release)

* * *

ON FRIDAY, September 12, 2014 at approximately 9:57pm, Mendocino County Sheriff’s Deputies where traveling northbound on Highway 1 in the area of Gibney Lane when a white minivan was observed traveling at a high rate of speed and partially in the wrong lane. The deputy began to pursue the vehicle southbound on Highway 1, with speeds reaching in excess of 100 MPH. As the vehicle reached the intersection of Highway 1 and Simpson Lane, it encountered vehicular traffic. The white minivan was traveling at such a high rate of speed, the driver had to lock up the brakes, causing the vehicle to skid on the roadway to avoid striking the rear of another vehicle. The deputy attempted a traffic enforcement stop but the minivan continued northbound on Highway 1 at speeds ranging from 30-55 MPH. The vehicle turned eastbound onto Highway 20 and continued at speeds ranging from 30-55 MPH. As the minivan approached the area of mile post marker 5.5 on Highway 20, the driver of the vehicle accelerated to approximately 55 MPH through the windy section of roadway. At mile post marker 6.02, the driver of the minivan lost control of the vehicle while negotiating a sweeping left-hand curve. The minivan’s passenger side wheels traveled off the roadway into the gravel, causing the vehicle to lose traction and enter into a skid. The vehicle was then propelled across the roadway into the opposing lane of traffic and subsequently collided with the embankment on the opposite side of the roadway. The vehicle came to a rest facing westbound on the shoulder of the roadway. The driver accelerated the vehicle back onto the roadway and then stopped perpendicular in the eastbound lane. The driver again accelerated, driving the vehicle off an approximately 75 foot embankment, where the vehicle came to a rest. The driver, Anthony Fields, 32, of Fort Bragg was subsequently placed under arrest for Driving Under the Influence, Evading a Peace Officer, and Violation of Probation and booked into the Mendocino County Jail, where he was held on a no bail status. (Sheriff’s Press Release)

THUGGERY & THE NFL

Dear Editor:

The sordid stories that keep coming out about NFL players charged with physical abuse of women and children is alarming and disgusting. The problem goes beyond the abusers as there is also the issue of "hitmen" who play to injure and take out the other team's players and particularly the quarterback. When that happens the reaction of the crowd reminds me of the Romans in the Colosseum when one gladiator killed another gladiator or Christians were thrown to the lions.

The blame lies with the owners as well as the coaches who condone the bad behavior on and off the field of their players. Money talks and there is a lot of money in professional football. Our country is and always has been a violent country and such a violent sport has a lot of appeal to its fans.

In peace, Jim Updegraff, Sacramento

* * *

ON LINE COMMENT OF THE DAY #1

Why are we surprised by any of this? We pay uneducated, socially inept children to play a game. These individuals have been elevated to superstar privileged status for no other reason than making the team owner richer. When someone, anyone, finally says NO, it is a sound they are not equipped to handle and they act out. The NFL and Teams have to stop empowering these individuals and start treating them like real people with real rules consistently applied and put them in prison where many of them belong.

ANTI-SOCIAL INVESTING

To the Editor:

At last year's Annual Treasurer's Report, the Mendocino County Public Banking Coalition, along with Supervisor Hamburg, spoke to Shari Schapmire, the Mendocino County Treasurer, about using ethical criteria for county investment screening. Shari assured us that she would take ethics into consideration. When she divested from HSBC bank, we took that as a small step in the direction of ethical criteria.

Yet, on page 13 of this year's Annual Treasurer's Report under Investment Objectives, ethics has still been omitted from the three other criteria of preservation, liquidity, and rate.

In the new language of finance, a loan is considered an asset. An Asset Backed Security could well be a package of bundled sub-prime mortgages. I see that 3.6 percent of the public money was kept in ABS's last year. Is it even ethical to put public funds into an unregulated market note?

Every Treasury Bill, Commercial Paper, Corporate Note and ABS is basically a loan in exchange for an IOU "note" with interest. I noticed securities in PNC Bank, US Bank, Wells Fargo, JP Morgan. These 4 banks are repeat offenders on the list of mortgage fraud settlements. Yet, the Treasurer thinks they are a safe investment for the public trust. Their unethical business models make them unwise investments for Mendocino County.

The County currently owns notes from Pepsico and Coca Cola, yet together they gave $4.2 million to defeat Prop. 37, the GMO Labeling Law. I am proud to live in the first county in the United States that has outlawed GMO agriculture, yet the Treasurer loans the public money to companies that pay to defeat the values of Mendocino County. I would call that unethical.

Occidental Petroleum through their subsidiary Vintage already has leases in the Eel River Basin and off the coast of Point Arena for exploratory fracking wells and our Treasurer is loaning public funds to assist them. In a county, which would like to ban fracking, I would say that Occidental Petroleum is not an investment that complies with the ethical values of the People of Mendocino County.

And finally, Wal-Mart, the queen of corporate welfare. Our Treasurer loans the public funds to a corporations whose business model is to pay rock bottom wages forcing their employees to depend on public assistance to sustain them in poverty while the Waltons become some of the richest people on the planet. I would say that investment choice violates the public trust.

I once again implore whomever makes these investment policies to add ethical criteria as the 4th Investment Objective.

Robin Sunbeam, Ukiah

CALFIRE FIRE MAP OF CALIFORNIA, September 18, 2014. (Red: uncontained. Gray: contained.)

ON LINE COMMENT OF THE DAY #2

The death of the middle class and the third worldization of America. Already well under way and rapidly gaining ground each year of no growth/contraction and the scale backs and little collapses that go with it as a prelude to the larger collapse, which seems soon at hand.

It sort of follows a pattern. Businesses or industries close, because people are losing their discretionary income so buying new couches, fur coats, etc are not options or priorities. So more people lose their jobs because of a lack of business and then have no income. Then they lose their car, either by it getting towed by repo people or when it breaks down, they can’t afford to get it fixed, so even if there were jobs out there, they couldn’t drive to and from them. More and more then file for bankruptcy. Then the house goes. There are 5 houses on my block alone then have been foreclosed upon or are for sale. They just sit there. Nobody is buying them, if people rent them they don’t stay there that long. Then the cell phone gets shut off. If they don’t have a friend or family member to couch surf at, then they wind up homeless. When they wind up homeless, the cops show their compassion by arresting them for vagrancy or tearing down their tent cities. Some of them beat the crap out of them for the “fun” of it. There are no shortage of videos of this happening. When one homeless couple broke into one of these homes, the cops must have beat the shit out of them before they forced them out, judging from all the blood that was on the snow.

There are the ads of furniture stores and their big would be orgy tent sales, come by and get a hotdog, half off everything, no payments till 2017 and they pay your sales tax, etc. They were trying to offer people flat screen televisions to go with that couch or sofa, but that seems to have subsided. Their voices seem like distant pleas in the wilderness. The only cars in the lots of these places are the employees with the scared deer in the headlights look.

Then that Chinese restaurant that was once popular, now may get one or two sit in customers and a dozen or so carry out orders. They, like the once thriving furniture and appliance stores, seem to be the last hold outs, hoping in vain that the good old days will return.

This is the slow motion collapse, American style. Poverty, violence, and suicide as well as deaths from lack of access to food, shelter, water, and transportation will only rise and claim untold millions of Americans who just a few years ago, never saw this coming or imagined it could or would happen to them.

SCOTLAND SAYS NO. Scottish voters turned out in record numbers Thursday to decide whether to sever their 307-year-old union with England, and in the end decided to stay in the United Kingdom. Turnout for the referendum was as high as 91 percent in some constituencies as the no vote prevailed 55 percent to 45 percent. The unprecedent turnout made it difficult for analysts to accurately forecast the outcome of the vote, which gripped the nation. British Prime Minister David Cameron pledged to boost the powers of the Scottish parliament regardless of the vote.

COMMENT OF THE DAY

“I've never been lonely. I've been in a room — I've felt suicidal. I've been depressed. I've felt awful — awful beyond all — but I never felt that one other person could enter that room and cure what was bothering me...or that any number of people could enter that room. In other words, loneliness is something I've never been bothered with because I've always had this terrible itch for solitude. It's being at a party, or at a stadium full of people cheering for something, that I might feel loneliness. I'll quote Ibsen, "The strongest men are the most alone." I've never thought, "Well, some beautiful blonde will come in here and give me a fuck-job, rub my balls, and I'll feel good." No, that won't help. You know the typical crowd, "Wow, it's Friday night, what are you going to do? Just sit there?" Well, yeah. Because there's nothing out there. It's stupidity. Stupid people mingling with stupid people. Let them stupidify themselves. I've never been bothered with the need to rush out into the night. I hid in bars, because I didn't want to hide in factories. That's all. Sorry for all the millions, but I've never been lonely. I like myself. I'm the best form of entertainment I have. Let's drink more wine!”

Charles Bukowski

CRAIG RECOMMENDS: The motion picture "Take Me to the River.” It is an inspirational documentary of the history of Memphis/Stax Records music...it's a cold jam! Saw it today after a rousing hike in the east bay hills with zen man Steve Cunningham, followed by exceptional German beers at a new place on San Pablo Avenue...California Dreamin'...it's still a state of mind. Peaceout. — Craig Louis Stehr. Blog: http://craiglstehr.blogspot.com