Mendocino County Today: Wednesday, Oct 22, 2014

• Game 1
• Gorchoff Resigns
• Baseball Dreams
• Rachel's Cairns
• Kansas City
• Motel Tragedy
• Unwanted Subject
• Catch of the Day
• County Farm
• Whitey Moon
• Epidemic Response
• CHP Job
• Child's Play
• Food Questions
• Arteaga ♥ KZYX
• Sako Doesn't
• Cash for Craig

GIANTS TAKE EARLY LEAD, then cruise behind Madison Bumgarner's fine pitching to take early 1-0 lead in 2014 World Series.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/mlb/2014/10/21/giants-royals-world-series-madison-bumgarner/17699623/

UPDATE: WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON.

DEANNA APFEL WRITES: "Mark [Apfel] is home, feeling fine, and he will be at the meeting tonight. Thanks for all your good wishes.

JUDY WATERMAN of the Price Waterman accounting firm, Ukiah, a firm specializing in small medical facility bookkeeping and accounting, is now functioning as financial officer for the Boonville health center.

IT SEEMS to be the prevalent community opinion that the cause of the unprecedented upset at the Center — the summary dismissal of McGhan followed by the protest resignation of a crucial Center nurse, Cindy Arbanovella, and a threatened walkout by the remaining Center staff — has imperiled the Center itself. The cause of all this distress is Shannon Spiller, executive director of the AV Health Center. She was appointed to the position two years ago.

AS IF ALL THIS TURMOIL isn't worrisome in itself, we learned late this afternoon that clinic founder Dr. Mark Apfel checked himself into the Ukiah Hospital with a high fever.

MRS. APFEL, WRITING LAST NIGHT, clarifies Dr. Apfel's condition: "Just to keep rumors from flying... Yes, Mark is in the hospital, but is OK. He had an infection and is doing much better and should be coming home tomorrow." --Deanna

WALTER MITTY AT THE PLATE

by Steve Heilig

Game tied, bottom of the ninth. Two runners on base, and any one of us scoring now means we win the whole enchilada. The pennant hangs in the balance. But I can't afford to even begin to think of that right now. The pitcher has been throwing hard and well and I've let a few go by, both balls and strikes. At his speed one has to make the decision to swing just as the ball leaves his hand, and hope for a best guess on what is coming and where it will pass. The crowd has been roaring like a pack of Blue Angel jets overhead but I've tuned that out, and it's just that windup, a short 90 feet away, and the white blur of the pitch, like a comet headed my way. Years of training and study and endless practice with both real pitchers and pitching machines, and it still comes down to this second, tuning out all distraction, blocking out everything but the incoming pitch, ignoring that dozens of colleagues are holding their breath and maybe millions of fans likewise; just focus and make that split-second decision.

He throws; everything goes silent; as if a gift, that rare but wonderful phenomenon where things slow down in a surreal slow-motion-type vision descends upon me and I see, for a split second, without a real thought, that he has perhaps misjudged a call from his catcher, maybe even slipped up a bit in his delivery, this is one I can probably hit, and I swing. The thwack of the wood hitting the ball is solid, loud, feels right as it vibrates down the bat to my hands. I know I connected hard as I drop the bat and begin a few steps towards first, looking up as the ball heads high and begins to descend. The sound in the stadium has reignited but I am still focused on that ball, seeing it go as high and far as I could hope, and glancing at my teammates out on the baselines, both halfway out between the bases, waiting to see if the ball is caught and they have to go back or can run like hell for the next bases, or maybe even home for the win. There's a moment where all hangs in limbo and then we all see the fans' hands reaching up in the stands, the ball dropping into the bleachers, it's gone, that's it, we win, the roar is intense, I am rounding first as it sinks in what has just happened and then second as it becomes reality and then third as in a dream and coming home where a mob is gathering, everybody shouting and jumping with joy and I am about to be mobbed and even dog piled by all my big colleagues and I have no idea how to think of what and even about how I am really feeling right now, every inch of my skin is tingling and my hair standing on end and even now I can sense that I have never been and will never again be as intensely ecstatic as I am at this moment, and very few people ever have been so blessed as to feel like this anytime in history, amen.

That really happened, just last week, but alas and of course it wasn't me out there, it was new San Francisco Giant Travis Ishikawa, sending his team to the World Series against so many odds and expectations, including likely his own, as he'd just recently not even been on the field and barely on the team. But for a second there my mind slotted me into his place, and it was me hitting the homer and getting the glory. I admit it. And I expect — heck, I know — that countless other people, mostly men, had a similar experience of some kind, whether they admit it or not. At that moment, more Americans probably wanted to be Ishikawa than anybody else alive. It's not really envy, or any coherent wish, but a human fantasy reaction of "what must that feel like?" rooted in boyhood experience and dreaming, and then we come back from glory to reality and our lives, for better or worse. If it's for worse, it's the pathetic sorry sadness of fictional Walter Mitty, the would-be war hero/surgeon/assassin office worker, forever immortalized by James Thurber in a short story in 1939. But for most of us it's a harmless, even fun flight of fancy. So I admit it, I'm a Walter Mitty, sometime.

Not that I really have any regrets about my own long-gone baseball non-career. I had fun, in little league and in unofficial games. I was a decent enough player, given my small stature — a fast runner, decent hitter and fielder, usually playing third base or outfield. My accurate and fast throwing arm was probably my best feature, at least in the infield (very long throws from the far outfield were more difficult), and I'd even done some pitching. Some of my best pals were much better overall and I was never among the first chosen for teams, but wasn't shamed in that ruthless process either.

Then one year I unaccountably found myself on the All-Star team. Much later I wondered if my dad, a big shot in town, had given some money to the local league officials or something to help bring this about, but that was absurd — I think he was barely even aware I was playing, caught up in his own business and travels. My parents had never even come to see me play, which was fine by me — I would have been too self-conscious with them there. But somehow they found out I would be in the All-Star game — OK, I might have let that slip at dinner or something — and he was in town, so they showed up. I was at third as the game began. Playing third struck me as the most intense position after catcher and pitcher, and some called it the "hot corner" as the line drives from right-handed hitters would come at you so fast there it was almost like hitting pitches, but instead trying to catch them or at least knock them down and keep them in the infield. And it was a long throw diagonally across the diamond to first, often with no room for error or delay if the runner was halfway fast. In the All-Star game there were batters from all over the area we didn't know, so we were told to assume they were all hard-hitters and to play well back and ready. And the first guy up, one of the strangers, was indeed a big, tall guy.

The first pitch of the game came; I was crouched down, waiting, and he smacked it hard and a bit to my left, so I was able to hop over without too much of a stretch and grab it on one bounce, set myself for the throw, and fire it as hard as I could towards first. Everything went sort of white for a second and I barely heard a cheer, not knowing if the runner was out or safe over there. All I knew was that something was wrong in my body, mostly my throwing elbow, but really all over. I just stood there, stunned, feeling pain like I'd never felt radiate up and down from that spot. I must have stayed immobile for some time, as soon I noted that our pitcher was winding up again, and another batter was in the box, ready. Mutely, I just turned right and walked over the base and towards the side of the field. Soon enough somebody noticed and yelled "What the heck are you doing?" I couldn't even reply. I just held my elbow in my glove and shook my head. It hurt too much to even cry (that would come soon enough). It turned out to be pulled ligaments, and that arm was in a sling for weeks, and that was the end of my baseball career. My parents got to see one pitch, one play. Thankfully, it turned out that runner was indeed out.

No longer into playing, as adolescence was coming on anyway, I did one stint as an umpire the next season. That was fascinating, but not so fun when friends gave me grief about calls they didn't agree with. What were worse, though, were the truly Mitty-ish dads, pathetically living through their embarrassed sons, who yelled and bullied me and made fun of my slightly-lengthening hair: "I didn't know girls could umpire," taunted one sad case. I even forfeited one game when the players intentionally kept throwing their bats while smirking at me and I borrowed a tactic from major leaguer and broadcaster Joe Garagiola's famous book Baseball is a Funny Game: "If that bat hits the ground, your team loses." Power! That caused a near-riot and soon after I was outta there, as it just wasn't worth the minimum wage and aggravation and paranoia — I had scary fantasies of angry dads waiting for me on the walk home after games. Maybe my big dad's reputation in town did save me there. In any event, from then on it was just random pickup hardball and softball games, as we moved through our teens and many of my cohort evolved into drug dealers, drunks, scammers and sailors, bringing cases of beer and other bottles and all manner of illegal substances to the games but still playing seriously and with skill. That all faded away too with time, as the nearby waves and other distraction became ever more compelling.

Now I just watch, being like many others in San Francisco a fairly fair-weather fan. If I actually go to the lovely and ever more expensive and segregated waterfront park, the relentless blare of commercials and terrible songs — I mean, Journey? — and silly chatter over the overly-amplified loudspeakers mostly irritates me, as do many of my fellow fans with their ever-constant cameras and phones and blather. It seems anything resembling a quiet moment is a sin against capitalism and modern baseball, or something. On television, it's not much different, although one can control the volume if not in a dreaded "sports bar." The three TV and radio announcers — when I was a kid, there was only one guy announcing the Dodgers games, Vin Scully, and he was plenty — rattle off endless ridiculous statistical trivia, just because they can: "That was the sixteenth left-handed Hispanic hitter to swing at a low curve from a rookie right-hander in post-season game with two outs and a man on second and one relief pitcher warming up in the bullpen with…" etc etc and so on, almost all of it silly and meaningless stuff, a curse of technology. Either way, the commercials and sponsorships and so forth are in your face and hard to tune out. The players, far from being the loyal team we wish they were, are all super-highly paid businessmen raking in much more from the sponsors and others and ready to jump to the next higher-paying team at the drop of another million or so dollars.

It's just the way it is now. And I'll jump at any opportunity to show up and see it all happen, nonetheless. I mean, a man can dream. You got a line on any World Series tickets?

RACHEL OLIVIERI WRITES: I have one of the longest USPS contract routes in the US - 150 miles - 2 counties - 3 zip codes - about 180 customers - super rural - 50 miles of gravel switchback roads with two summits 3000-3500 ft. The background behind the below picture is near the top of the first summit - Summit Valley.

Cairn building started really small and than grew into something unintended as most things I tackle do. This is a collection of Cairns (free standing - self-supporting rock markers) just off a large collection of mailboxes for rural customers. It was built, literally, one or two rocks at a time over the course of Spring-Summer. I have a whole series of different sites that I will post if some find it interesting.

AL SARACEVIC WRITES: "On behalf those who couldn’t make it out to Kansas City for Games 1 and 2 of the World Series, this San Francisco scribe went out and played tourist today. We are happy to report that KC is one fine city, with super friendly people and great history. Located at the confluence of the Missouri and Kansas Rivers, Kansas City is home to some of the best barbeque you’ll ever eat. It counts Harry Truman as one of its finest sons. And the city boasts a proud history of jazz music and baseball. Fats Domino sang that he was 'Going to Kansas City.' Now I know why."

UPDATE: Arizona man accused of crashing through motel wall, fleeing

by Frank Hartzell, frankhartzell@gmail.com

Police are mystified about why Michael Bitney crashed his work truck through the wall of a Fort Bragg motel on Friday night, killing a Lafayette woman in her room and injuring her 7-month-old nephew.

http://www.advocate-news.com/local/ci_26763712/mother-two-killed-while-waiting-family-return-from#

ON MONDAY, October 20, 2014 at approximately 9:00 A.M., Mendocino County Sheriff's Deputies were dispatched to the 44000 block of Highway 101 in Laytonville, California regarding an unwanted subject. When Deputies arrived at the location they came into contact with Arik Caldwell, 32, of Laytonville who would not respond to the Deputies verbal commands. During the contact Caldwell spoke in an unintelligible manner and appeared to possibly be under the influence of a controlled substance. During the contact Caldwell became aggressive towards the Deputies by physically attacking them with punches and kicks. During the incident, three Deputies sustained minor injuries while struggling with Caldwell before they could get him under control and handcuffed. During the struggle, Caldwell grabbed for items on a Deputy's duty belt and also grabbed onto a Taser that a Deputy was attempting to deploy. Caldwell was placed under arrest for Resisting Executive Officers by Means of Violence and transported to a nearby hospital for medical treatment. Once Caldwell is cleared from the hospital he will then be booked into the Mendocino County Jail where he will be held in lieu of $15,000 bail.

CATCH OF THE DAY, October 21, 2014

CHARLIE CARROLL, Ukiah. Drunk in public.

DAISY GWIN, Willits, Pot cultivation, processing, possession for sale; child endangerment.

ROBERT GWIN, Pot cultivation, processing, possession for sale; child endangerment.

DANIEL HOLMES, Upper Lake/Ukiah. Drunk in public, probation revocation.

JOFRE NAVARRO, Barcelona/Willits. DUI.

CHRISTOPHER WOOD JR., Mendocino. DUI.

MARTIN BRADLEY has done some preliminary research on the county farm, which, at one time, was Mendocino County's strategy for the humane care of its habitual drunks and miscellaneous incompetents:

"Spent a half hour in the online Ukiah Daily Journal archives trying to find the roots of the inmate honor farm. I found this reference right away which is a good start. June 1, 1954. The first months of the publication of the Ukiah Daily Journal, merging the papers that preceded it. Five questions submitted to the candidates for Mendocino County Sheriff Coroner.

"EDWARD S. AXT Former Under-sheriff

RENO BARTOLOMIE D. A.'s Investigator

G.  BROADDUS Incumbent Sheriff

N. JOHN RAWLES Highway Patrol Inspector

"Question 5: "Are you in favor of establishing a county jail farm for Mendocino county?"

"On the November 2, 1954 Bartolomie defeated Broaddus.

Fascinating, I'll follow this as time permits. From what I gathered, there was a Farm at the State Hospital, and it sounds like some jail inmates did work there with residents."

‘WHITEY ON THE MOON’

A rat done bit my sister Nell

With Whitey on the moon

Her face and arms began to swell

And Whitey's on the moon

I can't pay no doctor bills

But Whitey's on the moon

Ten years from now I'll be paying still

While Whitey's on the moon

You know, the man just upped my rent last night

Cause Whitey's on the moon

No hot water, no toilets, no lights

But Whitey's on the moon.

I wonder why he's uppin' me?

Cause Whitey's on the moon?

Well i was already given him fifty a week

And now Whitey's on the moon

Taxes takin' my whole damn check

The junkies make me a nervous wreck

The price of food is goin up

And if all that crap wasn't enough

A rat done bit my sister nell

With Whitey on the moon

Her face and arms began to swell

And Whitey's on the moon

With all that money i made last year

For Whitey on the moon

How come I ain't got no money here?

Hmm, Whitey's on the moon

You know I just about had my fill

Of Whitey on the moon

I think I'll send these doctor bills

airmail special

(To Whitey on the moon)

— Gil Scott Heron

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PtBy_ppG4hY

EBOLA! PREVENTION & RESPONSIBILITY

Take the First Step

by Ralph Nader

Ebola! Ebola! Ebola! The word is everywhere — the name of the deadly virus from West Africa with a seventy percent fatality rate. A sense of dread and dismay is beginning to spread through our country. Asking vital questions will shed light on how to stop the spread of the current outbreak as well as prevent future outbreaks. Policies impacting both infectious diseases and those institutions that focus on treating, curing and stemming outbreaks need to be reworked to offer stronger support for nations with almost no public health facilities.

Since Ebola was first detected in the Congo by the Ebola River in 1976, it has sporadically struck remote villages in West Africa. Why haven’t Western countries responded with their advanced medical science and testing laboratories? For the same reason they were late in responding to malaria, resurgent tuberculosis and HIV/AIDS, which together continue to take millions of lives a year. These diseases prevail in developing nations and were initially uncommon in developed countries. Until, as with HIV/AIDS, they make their way to Western nations.

Why didn’t the National Institutes of Health (NIH) properly anticipate Ebola? It did, according to NIH director Dr. Francis Collins. “NIH has been working on Ebola vaccines since 2001,” he asserted, pointing to stagnant congressional funding for developing a vaccine and therapeutics. Dr. Collins said that with funding, “we probably would have had a vaccine in time…”

What was Congress funding? It was pouring trillions of dollars into the blast everywhere, quagmire “War on Terror,” which has spread al-Qaeda-type groups and violent instability into a dozen countries in a classic “blowback” against the U.S.

Along with the estimable Doctors Without Borders, I have been urging Presidents Clinton, Bush and Obama to make the fight against the invisible but heavyweight viral and bacterial “terrorists” into a major priority. With organized pressure from HIV/AIDS victims and their families, the U.S. government was forced to address this disease domestically and in Africa. However, there is no such victims’ lobby for the international fight against malaria and TB. Modest increases in public funding for the prevention and treatment of malaria and TB are due significantly to the efforts of Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vermont), some foundations and some citizen groups like Princeton Project 55.

Collectively, the American people should take Congress to task for such neglect in the face of global experts in these and other infectious diseases saying “it is not a matter of if, just a matter of when.” Huge budgets are passed by members of both parties for weapons of mass destruction reminiscent of the Soviet Union age of hostilities. If the status quo persists, the pittances provided by Congress will do little to thwart infectious diseases that have taken and will continue to take millions of lives.

What of the immensely profitable drug companies — coddled with huge tax credits and billions of dollars in taxpayer-funded drug development given away free to selected pharmaceutical corporations like Pfizer and Bristol-Myers-Squibb? They have long avoided doing work on vaccines because, unlike life-style drugs such as Viagra or those for chronic ailments like high-blood pressure, vaccines are not taken daily or often. Vaccines do not have the same return on investment for pharmaceutical companies as those medications taken daily for a variety of conditions and treatments.

During the avoidable Vietnam War, the second leading cause, after wartime injuries, for hospitalization of American soldiers was malaria. The Pentagon got so fed up with the U.S. drug companies refusing to do any research for anti-malarial drugs, that it set up its own very successful research division at Walter Reed Army Hospital. It was there that dedicated physicians and other scientists developed most of that era’s breakthroughs for anti-malarial medicines at a fraction of what the price-gouging drug companies would have charged patients for access to the same medication.

Such drug industry indifference is not new. The public should demand that Big Pharma disgorge some of their profits, stop charging Americans the highest prices in the world, and create a fund to pay for research on drugs that can curb the spread of infectious diseases.

Another question is why there are so few doctors and health workers in these African countries. Dr. E. Fuller Torrey wrote in the Wall Street Journal recently that for years the U.S. has been part of the brain-drain of African physicians (and other health care professionals) because of an entirely preventable doctor shortage in our own country. He wrote, “The loss of these men and women is now reflected in reports about severe medical-manpower shortages in these countries, an absence of local medical leadership so critical for responding to the crisis, and a collapse or near-collapse of their health-care systems.”

He estimated that Liberia, a country of four million people, has only 120 Liberian physicians, while there were 56 Liberian-trained physicians practicing in the U.S in 2010.

Through H-1B visa preferences, we lure doctors and nurses from the developing countries that need them desperately. In contrast, Cuba, a much smaller and less wealthy country, has dispatched thousands of doctors over decades to assist needy countries in Latin America and Africa. Just this month, Cuba announced it had sent 165 healthcare workers to Sierra Leone with another 296 doctors and nurses on their way to Liberia to help counter the spread of Ebola.

Going deeper, we might ask how the “structural adjustment” policies of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund stripped developing countries of funds that could have been spent on health facilities and public works. At the same time, the World Bank and IMF pushed these countries to cut consumer food subsidies and change land that had produced grains and vegetables for the local populations into land for growing cash crops for export that drains these earnings to pay for their ever increasing debts to these financial institutions.

As long as Western nations keep politicizing the World Health Organization and keep it on a short budgetary leash (its annual budget is less than any of the revenues of the largest hospitals in Boston, Cleveland, New York or Houston), these nations are playing with the fate of millions of people, including those in Europe and North America.

Let’s face it, when it comes to putting preventative programs in place and reordering our public priorities, only we the people can get it done. Citizens are a democracy’s first responders. The first move is easy; call 202-224-3121 and ask for your Senators and Representatives. If you don’t get elected representatives on the phone, tell their assistants your questions and demands and ask for a detailed letter describing what your lawmakers intend to do about infectious disease epidemics.

No one can stop you from taking this first step.

(Ralph Nader’s latest book is: Unstoppable: the Emerging Left-Right Alliance to Dismantle the Corporate State.)

CHP SEEKS FREE HELP WANTED BLURB

Greetings From CHP!

I was wondering if I could ask all of you to put out this blurb during your public safety announcements or something similar if possible? Or let us know how much a print ad would be?

"California Highway Patrol is now accepting applications for openings for a Public Safety Dispatcher. If you enjoy helping people, can handle times of high stress and can multitask, this job is for you! Go to www.chp.ca.gov, click on "Join the CHP" and follow links for current exams on how to apply. The final filing date is November 14, 2014. Complete background investigation, physiological screening and fingerprinting and drug testing will be completed on those selected for employment."

Please feel free to call me if you need further information (but don't give my number out on the radio! LOL)

Thank you so much! Rhonda Coffman, Public Safety Dispatch Supervisor I Ukiah Communications Center

FB COUNCIL CANDIDATES (two of them, anyway) ANSWER QUESTIONS FROM THE MENDOCINO COUNTY FOOD POLICY COUNCIL

Mendocino County, CA-

The Mendocino County Food Policy Council (FPC) announces responses to nine questions posed to each of the candidates for county or city office in Mendocino County. Each of the candidates was presented with the questions on September 16, 2014 and given until October 10, 2014 to submit their answers. Two candidates replied: Kevin Doble, candidate for City Council in Ukiah; and Heidi Kraut, candidate for City Council in Fort Bragg. If candidates would still like to respond, they can send their answers to Jen Dalton, FPC Coordinator, jdalton@ncoinc.org.

Each question was designed with the help of the California Food Policy Council, of which the FPC is a voting member. The questions are designed to address critical issues that relate to all aspects of our food system. The term "food system" is used to describe all the activities involved in producing, processing, transporting, storing, selling, marketing, and eating food and improving soil health.

The Questions and Answers are as follows.

Over 30,000 jobs in the North Coast Region are in the food system, yet many of the workers are undervalued and are more likely to experience substandard working conditions. We estimate that 17.2% of the California’s workforce is in the food system, including production, processing, distribution, retail, and service industries. What labor issues in the food chain are you most concerned with and how would you address them?

DOBLE: While I’m certainly not an expert on this topic. This question prompted me to do a little research. What I discovered was that an overwhelming majority of labor issues revolve around Access to Benefits and Health and Safety issues. These issues are prevalent in all the aspects of our food system. I think we can have an affect on the Distribution, Retail, and Service Industries by recognizing those businesses which provide healthy and safe work environments, and provide benefits to their employees. The City could also create incentives for new businesses who commit to providing this to their employees.

KRAUT: No answer

According to www.HealthyMendocino.org, over 16% of the population in Mendocino County is food insecure. What incentives would you give to farmers’ markets to increase use of EBT at their markets?

DOBLE: One thing that comes to mind is for the city to promote our Farmers Market by incorporating the market into the various events that the City sponsors down town. Promotion by offering a quarterly announcement about the benefits of the program to go out with Utility Billing is another thought that comes to mind.

I would also like to see a regular volunteer recognition/proclamation at the city council meetings. I think the folks who have volunteered and who may volunteer in the future as the program grows should be recognized and commended for their efforts.

KRAUT: I think one really simple way to boost use would be to have a banner at the entrance to the farmer’s market that says something like “Farmer’s Market Today – EBT Accepted”. I would guess that some people see the market and keep walking or driving by because they worry about prices or think the food there is not available to them. I think it might also be possible to fund a postcard mailer to households that qualify for EBT benefits letting them know when the market is held, what is available there and what kinds of payment are accepted – a written invitation to join their neighbors at the market. Maybe this should be sent to all residents at the beginning of the market season.

California has the lowest rate of participation in the CalFresh/Food Stamp program in the nation.  Millions of California residents, and thousands of local Mendocino County residents, are eligible but not enrolled in this important nutrition program.  This results in an economic loss to our local grocery stores and farmers, as well as a missed opportunity for low-income families to be able to purchase healthy food.  What policies would you support to boost participation among the currently eligible population for a program that has a $1.79 economic multiplier for every $1 spent?

DOBLE: I am in full support of Integrating CalFresh with Covered California enrollment. Anything that can be done to identify eligibility should be done. I also support the concept of same day service. I find it troubling that someone who may need food today must wait 30 days after applying to receive it. These are two efficiency improvements that should be implemented.

KRAUT: I think that coordinating with other agencies that provide low— and moderate—income services is probably the most effective way. Outreach to food bank clients, low—income housing residents and others who have already come forward for some other kind of service makes sense.

The overwhelming prevalence of unhealthy food and beverage options in many restaurants, supermarkets, smaller retailers, city and county-owned concessions and vending machines have been identified as significant contributors to obesity and diabetes, especially among low-income communities and people of color. 23.5% of Mendocino County adults are obese and at least 6% of adults are diabetic. What would you do to address these issues in Mendocino County?

DOBLE: I would like to see more healthy choices at some of the city sponsored events, such a Pumpkin Fest, and Sundays in the Park. I think it is not unrealistic for the city to offer a reduced vendor fee to Non-Profit vendors who are willing to promote healthier products.

KRAUT: Using interactive educational programs to shape kids’ ideas about food seems like the best way to influence how and what they eat as adults. Here in Fort Bragg we’ve seen the school district team up with groups like Safe Passage and the Noyo Food Forest to look at where our food comes from, how we can grow it and how our nutrition can be improved through local food production. Student involvement includes helping produce crops, learning to cook food, and community presentations on food and alcohol issues that affect all of us.

According to a 2012 USDA report, California ranks first in the nation in the total number of organic farms and generated $93 million in value added organic sales in 2008. What should the state do to incentivize further adoption of sustainable and organic farming methods?

DOBLE: I would hope the state would look for creative ways to re-invest in the UC Cooperative Extensions and the Resource Conservation Districts (RCD’s). This investment could be directed to expanding these agencies to offer more programs and assistance for sustainable and organic farms. I think there should be a link made between the Climate Change Policies, and potential funding from cap and trade.

KRAUT: No answer

Some cities are creating food enterprise zones for value added food products (processed, prepared or preserved), and are supporting small food business such as mobile vendors (food trucks and sidewalk pushcarts), which can provide healthy food retail options. How would you support the growth of the small and micro enterprise healthy food businesses sector?

DOBLE: I think a revision to the current Downtown Zoning Code should be discussed. I think the City could lead by making these activities exempt from a lengthy permit process and the code should specify by classification where and when these activities could occur.

KRAUT: No answer

The average age of a California farmer is approaching 60 years of age and the possibility of a shortage of farmers in the future is real – a significant threat to an industry that generates $43 billion in revenue for the state’s economy. A) What policies would you propose to improve agricultural career technical education opportunities in Mendocino County? B) Would you support policies that enable beginning farmers to obtain financing to help them access land and equipment? If so why and how, and if not why not?

DOBLE: I would support policies that promote investment in startup small farms, I would encourage the Economic Development Finance Corporation (EDFC) to set up a financial model to help start up farms lease or purchase land from existing farms who might consider phasing out.

KRAUT: A. Support educational programs like 4—H, FFA, Noyo Food Forest and school learning gardens that get kids interested in small—scale agriculture early in life. Support vocational programs that offer adults training in agricultural skills. The City of Fort Bragg was recently awarded a Community Development Block Grant that included app. $186,000 in funding for the Giving Garden project. It will provide homeless adults with vocational training in small—scale crop production through a collaboration between the Mendocino Coast Hospitality Center and the Noyo Food Forest. The food produced will be provided to local feeding programs that provide meals for our lowest—income residents. B. I would certainly support policies that help beginning farmers get a project started. I know that the USDA offers loans specifically for Beginning Farmers and Ranchers. Perhaps the most helpful thing we could do at a local level is to help prospective farmers identify land that might be appropriate for farming in terms of space, zoning, water availability, etc… and then support their applications to existing farm loan programs.

The Mendocino County Food Policy Council is pursuing initiatives such as: assessing the status and availability of existing food processing facilities and small business incubators that would achieve new growth in this sector implementing school, non-profit, private, local government, and community wellness policies promoting policies and agreements that support increased access to land for the establishment of community and school gardens and farms. In what ways, if any, would you support these efforts?

DOBLE: I think the city would benefit by getting more involved in the discussion in an effort to find a common thread or link to city policies and the proposed food policies. I see the future of our economic policies in Ukiah needs to incorporate our food system. I think the opportunity for job growth in all aspects of the food system is upon us and we should be part of the program. I think the city could consider capital investment in programs that support access to land, new business, and education.

KRAUT: In Fort Bragg there is a shared—use commercial kitchen business – “Chubby’s Kitchen” – which acts as both a small food processing facility and a small business incubator. I am certain that if demand for this kind space grew we would support another similar or larger facility as they have operated since 2007 and have been a huge asset to the community. One great thing the City of Fort Bragg did in the past year is pass a resolution addressing Employee Wellness and Healthy Eating Guidelines. Under this resolution we have committed to providing nutritious food at city—sponsored events and in vending machines placed in city facilities. The best way to encourage community wellness is to set an example and show that it can be done!

Mendocino County Food Policy Council is comprised of 25 members, representing 10 food system organizations in your district. What role do you see for the Mendocino County Food Policy Council in supporting you with policy development?

DOBLE: I think the work that the Food Policy Council has done and is doing is critical to our future. The vision and expertise would be an asset to my work on the City Council. As I continue to learn more about this subject area I continually reflect on the potential this has to promote our City and create jobs. We are dealing with the reality of a shrinking middle class. This has a wide spread effect on our health, our education, and our future. We need now more than ever community based policies that will promote a self sustainable community.

KRAUT: I know the FPC is a great resource for information – you guys have done a lot of research and outreach on food—related projects in the county and I love the idea of starting with the info you have already amassed when we look at new projects and ordinance ideas. You also have a network in place that can help us build and refine policy ideas.

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The Mendocino County Food Policy Council's mission is to collaborate with farmers, food producers, institutions, businesses, and the public at large to create a sustainable local food system that reduces hunger, increases health and expands economic vitality.

The FPC released their Food Action Plan (FAP) earlier this year. The FAP is a roadmap to creating a healthy food system for all residents. All food policy council meetings are open to the public. Everyone interested in re-shaping our local food system is invited. Learn more and download a copy of the FAP at www.mendocinofood.org.

SAVE GAS! LISTEN TO KZYX!

Editor,

How lucky I feel to live in this northern California county that is blessed with so much rural beauty; yet despite it's widely dispersed population, the many miles one must drive from one populated area to another, often traveling through relatively pristine forest or scenic expanses of well tended orchards and vineyards, there remains such a strong society of kindred spirits; the many of us who have come here many years ago from much more densely populated parts of the country, having chosen not to take part in the rat race that seems to predominate in many of those places, and now the next generation of those folks.

Mendocino County is unique in California, and perhaps the world; our particular blend of overeducated simple livers, country folks with connections to the most avant guard high-tech and art scenes of the Bay Area, perhaps the world's most vital center for creativity and innovation, close enough for weekend getaways. There is one thing that, more than anything else, unites this widely dispersed subset of the state’s population; our excellent public radio station KZYX.

Currently in the middle of one of its semiannual pledge drives, I was delighted to make a contribution to this essential cultural institution of our far-flung County, reaching, as it does, from the shores of Gualala to the hills of Round Valley, and everything in between with its broad selection of musical and spoken-word programming, whether one is into jazz, classical, rock 'n roll or the wide array of news and information shows on the station.

Due to the incredibly hard work and prudent leadership of John Coate and his equally indefatigable programming director Mary Aigner, this indispensable public resource has been pulled back from the brink of bankruptcy and is now thriving; looking toward a satellite station in Ukiah and all kinds of other improvements, including more local news.

It is so satisfying to hear the pledge drive totals keeping right on track to make their goal for the drive! Please, If you are one of the many listeners who never pitches in at pledge drive time, it's time to cut loose with a few shekels for this special thing that is one of the main features that makes life in Mendocino County different and better than anywhere else in the world, as far as I'm concerned at least. Whatever you do, don't pay any attention to those folks who have been trashing the station recently; apparently they think they have some kind of God-given right to air time, even though they may be impossible for others to work with. If you don't listen, why not? There's something great for just about everyone sometime during the week. You’ll never find those programs you love if you don’t tune it in! 90.7 in Anderson Valley, 91.5 in Ukiah, and 88.1 on the coast.

Sincerely, John Arteaga, Ukiah

"ALL ABOUT MONEY", with host John Sakowicz, on KMEC, returns on Monday, October, 27, at 1 PM, Pacific Time, with guest, Meryl Nass, MD.

We'll talk with Dr. Nass about Ebola, and our government's and the medical community's response to Ebola.

KMEC is heard in the Ukiah Valley at 105.1 FM.

We also stream live from the web at http://www.kmecradio.org/

BACKGROUND

On Friday, the New York Times published the article "White House to Cut Funding for Risky Biological Study," which said: "Prompted by controversy over dangerous research and recent laboratory accidents, the WhiteHouse announced Friday that it would temporarily halt all new funding for experiments that seek to study certain infectious agents by making them more dangerous." The piece quotes Richard H. Ebright, "a molecular biologist and bioweapons expert at Rutgers University, [who has] argued that the long history of accidental releases of infectious agents from research labs made such work extremely risky and unwise to perform in the first place. Dr. Ebright called Friday’s announcement 'an important, albeit overdue, step.'"

See USA Today from Aug. 17: "Hundreds of Bioterror Lab Mishaps Cloaked in Secrecy."

MERYL NASS, M.D.

Nass writes at the Anthrax Vaccine blog. She has debunked government claims from early on in the Ebola crisis, including the slowness of the response in Africa and the notion that U.S. hospitals were prepared. Her most recent post is "Is This A New, More Virulent Ebola?" She also suggests "examining the possibility of converting the excess BL4 labs to treatment centers for Ebola."

Bio: Meryl Nass is an internal medicine physician who discovered the first modern use of anthrax as a biological weapon, during the Rhodesian Civil War. She has been a critic of the government's mandatory anthrax vaccinations in soldiers, and the FBI's case against Bruce Ivins, the alleged anthrax letters perpetrator. She has provided testimony to six Congressional committees on anthrax, bioterrorism and Gulf War Syndrome.

KMEC 105.1 FM | www.KMECRADIO.ORG

TANTRIC SOLUTIONS

Warm spiritual greetings, Please know that I have negotiated an extension at the Berkeley men's shelter until November 1st. I need others to offer me "mutual aid" to relocate to Washington D.C., for more intense, effective frontline radical environmental and peace & justice participation. What are we waiting for?

Craig Louis Stehr

Email: CraigStehr@inbox.com

Blog: http://craiglstehr.blogspot.com

To contribute money: P.O. box 11406, c/o NOSCW, Berkeley, CA 94712-2406