Mendocino County Today: Tuesday, Nov 18, 2014

• Rainfall Watch
• Newspaper Roulette
• Lethal Nuzzlebummery
• Autumn Leaves
• Murder Mystery
• Catch of the Day
• Kenya Fundraiser
• Gift Exchange
• Septuagenarian Dealer
• Starbucks Boycott
• 1949 Fashion
• Political Fantasies
• Mellow Fruitfulness
• Offshore Fracking
• Drought Bill

MARSHALL NEWMAN NOTES: “The Boonville rain gauge showed only 0.01 inches Friday morning as the last rainfall and yet the lower Navarro River flow rose nearly 25% since then. Clearly Anderson Valley is again receiving more rain than the official numbers indicate. Good, but odd.”

CURIOUSER AND CURIOUSER, and still wanting a trash mover (Boontling for big storm) to blast open the Navarro at the mouth where it's been closed for almost an entire year!

PS. MONDAY, November 17 — Well, I saw the upper Navarro River near the confluence today. Though hardly flowing at winter rates, Navarro River flow is more substantial than a few weeks ago. Both Indian and Rancheria Creeks show actual current and I saw no creek-spanning gravel bars. The water looks pretty clear at the moment. The land has greened up substantially. Hopefully this week’s predicted rains will add significantly to local totals. — Marshall Newman

A READER WRITES: “Note the ‘not business’ on the ‘For Sale’ sign – I suspect rumors are flying nonetheless. More news from inside Mendo media: The new editor at Advocate News and Mendo Beacon, a woman named Suzette Cook, just got her Masters at U. of Florida, but apparently has some local connection as per Facebook page post about her being a former Ukiah student. The interchangeable papers' websites still show Kate Lee as editor, but Suzette’s Facebook page (I looked it up) calls herself “editor-in-chief” at both newspapers. Sniff: editor-in-chief indeed: there are no other editors at all! I know Kate Lee had tried to retire a couple years ago, so she’s probably well out of it, by her own decision. The Record-Bee building in Lakeport has been sold. No word as to whether Record-Bee has to move – that of course being a big deal, due to all the local papers getting printed over there…”

I WONDER if I'm the only Mendo person who always feels like some mysteriously destructive force has reached into my skull and removed his cognitive apparatus after any interface (as the edu-people describe human communication) with a professional “educator”? America, of course, is the only country in the world that puts stupid people in charge of the education of the young, and dealing with these stupid people at any level of the vast edu-empire they dominate can be crazy-making.

FOR YEARS I DRAGGED MYSELF to school board meetings around the County — hundreds in Boonville, a couple in Fort Bragg, a bunch in Mendocino. And I attended lots of County School Board meetings where I became so unwelcome MCOE tried to get a court order banning me from attending.

SCHOOL BOARD MEETINGS and school boards, and we won't even get into a deconstruction of school administrators, are universally depressing to anyone aware that the typical end product of 12 years of "education" in this country can barely read and can't write at all. Neither can most school administrators, an old fact recently confirmed by the November elections. But from all the smiley faces and chirping about how wonderfully effective the "program" is at school board meetings is so far from the reality you look around the room and wonder, "Jesu Cristo! Are these people this stupid or are they nuts?" Both, with a lot of natural born nuzzlebum thrown into the mental mix.

TO ATTEND ANY KIND of school meeting is kinda like walking into Woody Woodpecker's family reunion. Everyone is semi-hysterical at unfunny remarks, and every one in the room is so obviously capable of great crimes if they so much as suspect there's a threat to their sinecures, their on-board, Nice People status, they'll come up shooting.

AUTUMN LEAVES #3

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H4nfGvlfpWU

MURDER MYSTERY NIGHT at the Shed in Boonville. AV Jr/Sr. High Teen Drama’s 2014 drama. A Murder Mystery Night is an event with a fictional setting. And it’s interactive with the audience. When all the audience has arrived, a murder occurs. The victim and suspects are the actors. The audience is then tasked with solving the murder. Short scenes (which are scripted) are performed by the actor. Then the audience is allowed to question the actors. Their answers are improvised but structured to be relevant to the murder. The audience, individually, guesses at who is the murderer. And then the murderer, the motive and the method are revealed. The setting is a Victory party for the school and basketball team for having won the Redwood Classic. Starring eight Jr and Sr. High students who have been part of this semester’s Teen Drama Theater Arts Class. Friday, November 21st and Saturday, November 22. Doors open at 6:30 and all guests must arrive by 7pm! $10-$20 sliding scale for general admission. $5 for students and seniors. All proceeds go to the AV Teen Drama Fund. (— Marcos Magdaleno)

CATCH OF THE DAY, November 17, 2014

IAN ANDERSON, Eldon, Missouri/Ukiah. Petty theft, fugitive from justice.

CHRISTOPHER BIORD, Fort Bragg. Drunk in public, refusing to leave. (Frequent flyer.)

STEVEN MITCHELL, Ukiah. Possession of meth, driving without valid license.

ERIC ROBERTS, Ukiah. Probation revocation.

STEVEN WHITE, Ukiah. Drunk in public.

ARON WOOD, Piercy/Laytonville. Pot cultivation, processing, possession for sale; resisting arrest, crimes while on bail.

NICOLE WOOD, Laytonville. Pot cultivation, processing, possession for sale; resisting arrest, crimes while on bail.

SIGNAL RIDGE HOSTS FUNDRAISER WEEKEND FOR EQUIP MANYATTA

Mark your calendars! Once again, this Thanksgiving weekend, Saturday and Sunday November 29-30, Signal Ridge Tasting Room will be hosting a fundraiser to support Equip Manyatta, a US non-profit that supports the Manyatta Youth Resource Centre (MYRC) in the Lake Victoria region of Kenya. Philo native Keevan Labowitz was instrumental in establishing both the Manyatta group and its supporting US non-profit. The MYRC became a community-based organization in 2009, and five years later they now offer soccer for girls and boys of all ages, drama and dance programs that create their own material and perform at schools and special events, and a recording studio where artists create award-winning music and master production skills. The MYRC provides programs for more than 200 boys and girls in the Manyatta slums of Kisumu, Kenya's third largest city. The MYRC also offers partial and full education fee assistance for many of these boys and girls. It turns out that creating a vibrant organization was the easy part. Figuring out how to continue to finance it is much harder. Small grants and individual donations finance Equip Manyatta, which in turn is the principal funder of the Manyatta Youth Resource Center. Your contributions keep it all going. We are also working on expanding our funding base and would welcome your ideas on how to do that. All proceeds from the Signal Ridge tasting room the weekend after Thanksgiving will benefit the MYRC and its programs. Come show your support and pick up some great wine for the holidays! Bottles of sparkling wine will be $25 each or $99 for 6! Buy a bottle each of Pinot Noir, Zinfandel, Pinot Gris, Gewurztraminer, and sparkling wine for $99! Kenyan handcrafts and jewelry will also be available. For photos and current information about the project go to www.GlobalGiving.org and search for Manyatta or call Keevan Labowitz at 831-227-5458. Signal Ridge tasting room is located at the Madrones just south of Philo at 9000 Highway 128, and can be reached at 707-895-3588. For more information about Signal Ridge Vineyards visit the Signal Ridge Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/SignalRidge. See you there!

GEEZER STONER OF THE YEAR

Man, 79, a sort of pot version of Walter White, charged in pot bust, challenges police search

by Denise Lavoie

When police in Junction City, Kansas, stopped a beat-up pickup truck for speeding in June 2013, the driver got a lot more than a traffic ticket: The stop led authorities to Massachusetts and Arizona, where they said they found about $15 million in cash, almost 400 pounds of marijuana and ledgers detailing drug deals going back to 1992.

The driver, Marshall Dion, told police he was a retiree from Tucson who was living off his $690-per-month Social Security check. He also said he had left his drug-dealing days behind, but federal authorities say he was still going strong at age 78 as a key player in a large marijuana operation. In his truck, police found $828,220 in cash.

Now, Dion's lawyer is arguing that the police stop and search of his truck were illegal, and everything found as a result cannot be used against him. His lawyer, Henry Brennan, plans to argue in Boston federal court on Tuesday that the evidence should be thrown out.

Much of Dion's life is a mystery. Public records show he has lived in Boston; Portland, Maine; Grand Junction, Colorado; and Tucson, Arizona. He told police who stopped him in Kansas that he was headed home to Tucson from Pennsylvania, where he had met with his accountant.

Dion, now 79, appeared to live frugally, despite the millions authorities found and two homes he owned in Arizona. When he was stopped in Kansas, he was driving a 2002 GMC Sierra with an old refrigerator and other junk in the truck bed.

His legal troubles date back decades.

In 1985, Dion crashed a single-engine plane he was piloting in Kenosha County, Wisconsin, and Dion broke both his ankles. When sheriff's deputies arrived, he was crawling along a muddy field as bills floated in the air, said Cathy Baxter, then a deputy sheriff.

“This guy didn't even admit there was any money on the plane. He said, ‘That's not my money. I don't know where that money came from’,” Baxter said.

The government was allowed to keep nearly $112,000 recovered from the crash scene after a judge found it was likely drug proceeds. Dion was not charged criminally.

In 1989, after Boston police found more than 100 pounds of marijuana in his car, Dion was convicted of trafficking charges.

John Coffey, who prosecuted Dion in that case, said Dion wore a suit and bowtie and looked like a college professor. Conrad Beltzer Jr., Dion's attorney in the case, said: “"He wasn't a flashy guy at all. He didn't appear to have money.”

When Dion was stopped for speeding on Interstate 70 in Kansas, he allegedly told the officer he could look in his truck. “I am telling you I am clean. I've been out of the business. That was 23 years ago,” he said, according to a court filing by prosecutors.

Police used a GPS device inside Dion's truck to re-trace his movements to a self-storage facility in North Reading, Massachusetts, where they said they found $11.5 million cash, more than 168 pounds of marijuana and records of customers, amounts of marijuana sold and cash balances.

Dion's records showed he “had been trafficking in large amounts of marijuana since at least 1992,” prosecutors said in a court filing.

(Courtesy, the Associated Press)

NEIL YOUNG CALLS FOR STARBUCKS BOYCOTT

The company denies taking a position in a battle over GM food labeling

Neil Young has called on fans to boycott Starbucks, citing the coffee chain’s alleged role in a battle over genetically modified food labelling.

Writing on his website, Young accused Starbucks of “hiding behind” an organisation called the Grocery Manufacturers Association (GMA), which, along with three other food companies, is jointly suing the state of Vermont over a new law requiring genetically modified ingredients to be labelled on food products. Although Starbucks is one of the GMA’s many member companies, the corporation is not itself part of the court proceedings.

“I used to line up and get my latte everyday, but yesterday was my last one,” Young said. “Starbucks doesn’t think you have the right to know what’s in your coffee ... [It] is supporting a lawsuit that’s aiming to block a landmark law that requires genetically modified ingredients be labelled. Amazingly, it claims that the law is an assault on corporations’ right to free speech.”

In a statement, Starbucks denied playing any part in the Vermont legal battle and contended that it has yet to take “a position on the issue of GMO labelling”. The company “is not a part of any lawsuit pertaining to GMO labelling nor have we provided funding for any campaign”, the statement continues. “Starbucks is not aligned with [GMO maker] Monsanto to stop food labelling or block Vermont state law.”

Nevertheless, Starbucks did not condemn the GMA’s move. In fact, a representative of the company said of Vermont’s Act 120: “As a company with stores and a product presence in every state, we prefer a national solution [to GMO labelling]”, rather than state-by-state rules.

Still, Young shows no sign of getting back into a queue for his caramel macchiato. As the singer releases Storytone, his 35th studio album, the open letter remains prominent on his website: “Considering that Starbucks has been progressive on LGBT and labour issues in the past, it’s disappointing that it is working with the biggest villain of them all, Monsanto,” he wrote. “Monsanto might not care what we think – but as a public-facing company, Starbucks does.”

In recent years, Young has been commenting on political issues with increasing regularity. He has attacked the automotive industry, lobbied against fracking, and raised money for a Native Canadian group’s legal fight with oil companies. His new record also includes the song Who’s Gonna Stand Up? (And Save the Earth), which he has offered free to climate change activists.

Storytone debuted at No 20 on the UK’s Official Albums Chart.

(Courtesy, the Guardian of London)

LEGENDARY ANDERSON VALLEY EDUCATORS Blanche Brown (l) and Hazel Nobles (r) at their retirement reception in June 1949.

ON-LINE COMMENT OF THE DAY: The standard national turnout for a midterm election is in the 40% range, and the turnout for this one was 36.5%. Another 4% of the electorate showing up could have made the now-bygone election a very different story. I’ve heard some talk that the new Republican-sponsored voter-suppression laws had something to do with the low turnout, but the effect of those won’t really be felt until the higher-turnout Presidential election of 2016. A lot of Democratic Party Kool-Aid cheerleaders are attempting to float the meme that the recent strength of the US Dollar, the deflationary fall in petroleum prices, and the inflationary heights of the US financial markets are signatures of the Obama Administration’s wild success. It’s really sad to watch the supporters of the party with which I once upon a time threw in my lot become as desperate and pathetic in their Kool-Aid drinking as BushCo’s supporters became in 2006. I think what really happened is a bunch of working class voters just stayed home this time because the message is starting to sink in for them that the Democratic Party doesn’t represent their interests anymore than does the Republican Party. The Democratic Party’s middle-class-originated, codependent-doormat supporters insist that it does represent those interests, but the cognitive dissonance they have to indulge to persist in this conceit is becoming ever more obvious and pathetic.

SEASON OF MISTS and mellow fruitfulness,

Close bosom-friend of the maturing sun;

Conspiring with him how to load and bless

With fruit the vines that round the thatch-eves run;

To bend with apples the moss’d cottage-trees,

And fill all fruit with ripeness to the core;

To swell the gourd, and plump the hazel shells

With a sweet kernel; to set budding more,

And still more, later flowers for the bees,

Until they think warm days will never cease,

For Summer has o’er-brimm’d their clammy cells.

 

Who hath not seen thee oft amid thy store?

Sometimes whoever seeks abroad may find

Thee sitting careless on a granary floor,

Thy hair soft-lifted by the winnowing wind;

Or on a half-reap’d furrow sound asleep,

Drows’d with the fume of poppies, while thy hook

Spares the next swath and all its twined flowers:

And sometimes like a gleaner thou dost keep

Steady thy laden head across a brook;

Or by a cyder-press, with patient look,

Thou watchest the last oozings hours by hours.

 

Where are the songs of Spring? Ay, where are they?

Think not of them, thou hast thy music too,—

While barred clouds bloom the soft-dying day,

And touch the stubble-plains with rosy hue;

Then in a wailful choir the small gnats mourn

Among the river sallows, borne aloft

Or sinking as the light wind lives or dies;

And full-grown lambs loud bleat from hilly bourn;

Hedge-crickets sing; and now with treble soft

The red-breast whistles from a garden-croft;

And gathering swallows twitter in the skies.

— John Keats

30,000 PEOPLE DEMAND THAT BIG OIL BROWN HALT OFFSHORE FRACKING

by Dan Bacher

The state and federal governments have been in collusion with Big Oil in California for decades - and people concerned about the future of fish, wildlife and the oceans are fed up with the fact that Southern California's oceans were fracked at least 203 times over the past 20 years.

Citing fracking pollution’s threats to coastal communities and marine wildlife, the Center for Biological Diversity on Wednesday, November 12 delivered a petition signed by more than 30,000 people urging Governor Jerry Brown to halt offshore fracking in California’s coastal waters.

The petition was released the same week that a new report by American Lung Association's Center for Tobacco Policy and Organizing revealed that the oil industry from July through Sept 2014 spent an amazing $7.1 million lobbying legislators in Sacramento.

“California’s coast is a natural treasure, upon which millions of people and animals depend. But now oil companies are threatening entire ecosystems by intensifying drilling with toxic fracking techniques,” the petition says.

It urges Brown to “act now to halt this dangerous practice and preserve our oceans for future generations.”

“Thousands of people are urging Gov. Brown to stop offshore fracking before dangerous chemicals or an oil spill inflict catastrophic damage,” said Miyoko Sakashita, the Center’s Oceans director. “Fracking offshore and onshore poses a toxic threat to our air, water and wildlife. The governor can end fracking in California and reject oil development plans that would frack federal waters off our coast.”

The Center wants Brown to halt offshore fracking in state waters under the Emergency Service Act, which authorizes the governor to impose a broad array of measures to protect the health and safety of state residents. Federal law also gives governors a special say in offshore oil and gas decisions that Brown could use to fight fracking in federal waters in the Santa Barbara Channel, according to Yamashita.

Yamashita said oil companies have fracked hundreds of wells off California’s coast and the oil industry has federal permission to annually dump more than 9 billion gallons of wastewater, including chemical-laden fracking fluid, directly into the ocean off California’s coast.

This rampant fracking has only become possible because of the cozy relationship between federal and state regulators and the oil industry, the largest and most powerful corporate lobby in Sacramento.

"The California Coastal Commission, meeting this week in Half Moon Bay, has struggled to determine the full extent of offshore fracking, which involves blasting water and industrial chemicals into the seafloor at pressures high enough to crack rocks and release oil and gas," according to Sakashita.

Offshore fracking is no surprise

The intensive fracking taking place off the California coast is no surprise to grassroots environmentalists, fishermen and Tribal leaders who challenged the corrupt Marine Life Protection Act (MLPA) Initiative.

In one of the biggest conflicts of interest in recent California history, Catherine Reheis-Boyd, President of the Western States Petroleum Association (WSPA) and leader of the campaign to expand offshore oil drilling and fracking in California, CHAIRED the Marine Life Protection Act (MLPA) Initiative Blue Ribbon Task Force to create fake "marine protected areas" on the South Coast. She also served on the task forces to create the alleged "marine protected areas" on the Central Coast, North Central Coast and North Coast.

This is not just a case of where the regulated have captured the regulators. In the case of the MLPA Initiative, the regulated - a big oil lobbyist and other corporate interests - actually served as the regulators!

The MLPA Initiative, funded by the Resources Legacy Fund Foundation, created so-called "marine protected areas" that fail to protect the ocean from fracking, oil drilling, pollution, military testing, corporate aquaculture and all human impacts on the ocean other than fishing and Tribal gathering. These "marine protected areas" are good for Big Oil, polluters and corporate interests - and bad for sustainable fishermen, tribal gatherers and the public trust.

Documents obtained under the Freedom of Information Act and media investigations by Associated Press and truthout.org reveal that the ocean has been fracked at least 203 times in the past 20 years, including the period from 2004 to 2012 that Reheis-Boyd served as a "marine guardian.” The Western States Petroleum Association that Reheis-Boyd heads is the most powerful corporate lobbying group in California. The association spent over $4 million, a new record, for the three month period from July 1 through September 30.

New report documents Big Oil's increase in lobbying expenses!

The American Lung Association's Center for Tobacco Policy and Organizing has just released a new report revealing that the oil industry spent $70 million on lobbyists in California since 2009.

In the last three months alone, the oil industry has spent an unprecedented $7.1 million lobbying elected officials with a major focus on getting oil companies out of a major clean air regulation.

The oil industry spending total from July through Sept 2014 amounts to an amazing $2.4 million/month, $78,000/day, $3,200/hour, $54/minute and $1/second!

And this doesn’t include spending on ballot measures or the recent election, including Chevron spending $3 million (unsuccessfully) to elect “their” candidates to the Richmond City Council. Big Oil also dumped $7.6 million into defeating a measure calling for a fracking ban in Santa Barbara County and nearly $2 million into an unsuccessful campaign to defeat a measure banning fracking and other extreme oil extraction techniques in San Benito County.

The report documented record money spent on lobbying by the oil industry through the first 9 months of 2014. Big Oil has spent $13.6 million lobbying elected officials so far this year:

• This surpassed the prior record ($13.5 million) seen in all of 2013.
• The industry pent $1.5 million per month lobbying in 2014.
• Oil interests represented 17 percent of all lobbying in California last quarter.

The report also revealed huge increases in July-September 2014 compared to previous quarters. Big Oil made significant increases in spending in 2014 as the legislative session came to a close and as the industry intensified its anti-AB 32 campaign:

• The Western States Petroleum Association (WSPA), whose president oversaw the creation of so-called "marine protected areas" in Southern California, spent $4 million in the last three months alone, more than twice historical levels
• WSPA spent more than $7 million so far in 2014, leading all statewide lobbying by a wide margin
• WSPA paid nearly $2.5 million to KP Public Affairs in 2013-14, the state’s highest paid lobbying firm.
• Eight oil interests spent their most ever lobbying in California
• Four broke annual spending records in just 9 months.
• Phillips66 (4), Chevron (6) and Valero (9) are also all among the top ten lobbying spenders from July-Sept 2014.
• Phillips66 spent $880,000, 4 times over its recent average
• Valero spent $542,000 in 3 months - more than the prior 42 months combined.

Data source: Secretary of State’s online campaign finance/lobbying disclosure database

For more information, go to: http://www.lung.org/associations/states/california/advocacy/climate-change/oil-industy-lobbying-report.pdf

URGENT ACTION ALERT: Stop Salmon Killing Drought Relief Bill!

Your immediate attention is required regarding a federal "drought relief" bill in the Senate that will harm the Delta and economy significantly. The passage of this legislation could lead to the extinction of Central Valley salmon and Delta smelt, as well as imperiling the salmon and steelhead populations of the Trinity and Klamath rivers.

Members of Congress are manipulating the impacts of drought conditions to serve wealthy special interests, including corporate agribusiness, Southern California developers and oil companies conducting fracking and steam injection operations.

The House of Representatives recently passed drought legislation that seeks to accelerate massive water transfers from the SF Bay Delta to special interests in the arid regions of the South and West San Joaquin Valley. This bill will override environmental protections in order to provide “drought relief” for special interests.

"The SF Bay Delta cannot sustain additional water transfers without collapsing, especially in the midst of a historic drought," according to Restore the Delta (RTD). "This federal drought bill will put in place provisions that will allow water exporters to override existing environmental regulations that protect the SF Bay Delta from excessive water transfers."

"If the bill is allowed to pass, it will hasten the extinction of our fish and wildlife species and destroy our regional economies in farming and fishing, resulting in the loss of thousands of jobs and livelihoods," the group said.

This federal drought bill is in the Senate right now. Take action to save the largest estuary on the west coast of the America! Contact members of the Senate today to tell them you oppose the federal drought bill.

Senator Dianne Feinstein (California)

Phone number: (202) 224-2501

Email: https://www.feinstein.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/e-mail-me

Do you also have a Twitter and/or Facebook profile? After making a phone call or e-mail, tweet a comment in opposition to the federal drought bill to @Senfeinstein with hashtag #CAWater and post on Senator Feinstein’s Facebook.

Senator Barbara Boxer (California)

Phone number: (202) 224-3553

E-mail: https://www.boxer.senate.gov/en/contact/policycomments.cfm

Do you also have a Twitter and/or Facebook profile? After making a phone call or e-mail, tweet a comment in opposition to the federal drought bill to @BarbaraBoxer with hashtag #CAWater and post on Senator Boxer’s Facebook.

UPDATE: Please also call the following Senators today and urge them to oppose to the federal drought bill that will threaten the largest estuary on the west coast of the Americas!

Senator Mark Udal (Colorado): (202) 224-5941

Senator Jeff Merkley (Oregon): (202) 224-3753

Senator Maria Cantwell (Washington): (202) 224-3441

Senator Harry Reid (Nevada): (202) 224-3542

Senator Brian Schatz (Hawaii): (202) 224-3934

For more information, go to: http://us3.campaign-archive2.com/?u=06887fa70084fef8e939fef63&id=dabbd5da58&e=120d0c2b69