Mendocino County Today: Saturday, Dec 6, 2014

• Navarro's Mouth
• Rough Men
• Richardson Grove Reprieve
• Catch of the Day
• Police State
• Jaye's Paintings
• Food News
• Consider This
• Saulsbury's Last Day
• Rape Story
• Your Kiss
• Logical Fallacies
• California Droughts
• License Raid Abandoned

DON’T MISS the second set of photos by the Kalantarians of the Mouth of the Navarro River after the recent rains: “We returned to the mouth yesterday, and added more photos and commentary (at bottom of article). Here's two photos of the same rock, taken four days apart, which show how the opposite bank has changed (the changes on the near-side bank were more drastic and pronounced, but I could not get a good picture of it). You can also see the increase in turbidity.”

WHEN IT GETS DOWN TO IT, Orwell said it best: “People sleep peaceably in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf.”

HOW MANY ENCOUNTERS a day do you suppose the rough men, and now rough women, sort out every day? Many thousands, and many thousands necessarily involve physical restraint from which almost all of the physically restrained emerge among the living. That's saying something in country as unhinged as America has become over the years, and amazing considering the millions of guns in the land, and is there any need to point out that this society's free-range lunatic quotient is huge, all of it occurring in a country divided from the beginning along class and race lines. It's surprising that cops don't shoot a lot more people.

YOUNG PEOPLE may not believe it, but the rough men, fifty, sixty years ago, were a lot rougher. Any veteran of 60s demonstrations will tell you that if you got arrested, male or female, you could expect a nice pummeling, and if you popped off, you got a full beatdown. Bar fights and other interfaces between cops and citizens where the citizen didn't instantly obey police commands to cease and desist, saw the cops immediately go to full body slams and fungo bat blows to the head. And most Americans duly stopped whatever they were doing when the cops told them to stop.

ETCHED IN MY MEMORY under "Bummers, minor type," is my first encounter with law enforcement. As I dimly recall the venue it was on the walk home from school with my childhood pal, Al Boland. Al was a premature disrespecter of constituted authority, always in trouble at school, always suspect number one for minor acts of neighborhood vandalism, petty thefts, assaults on other children and so on. He was lively company, for sure. That day we were walking down the street, a pair of ten or eleven year olds, when a police car rolls past. Al instinctively gives the cop the finger. The cop drives on to the end of the block as if he hadn't seen us. Chortling at Al's insouciance we walked on. But when we got opposite the police car the cop jumped out at us. Grabbing us simultaneously by our throats, he gave us each a brisk slap in the face. “But I didn't do anything,” I whined. “You laughed though, didn't you?” the cop said. When I got home I complained to my mother about what had happened. “That's what you get when you associate with bad people,” she said, waving me off.

I'LL BET most children of the 1950s would say that my mother's attitude prevailed in their families, too. No matter how arbitrary authority might be, the authority was to be obeyed. And, of course, authority was presumed not to be crazy or vicious.

SOME YEARS AGO, I was fortunate to hear a lecture by historian Shirley Moore at the California Historical Society, San Francisco. She'd just published a history of black Richmond called To Place Our Deeds. Dr. Moore pointed out that Richmond hired black cops to police black neighborhoods. Those black cops were not apostles of the Mahatma. But for most of the West Coast white cops policed all neighborhoods and, of course, were quick to resort to violence in already estranged black neighborhoods. And most police forces remain predominantly white. In a country as fractured as this one, the only hope for a reasonable level of domestic tranquility is multi-ethnic police forces.

WATCHING the choke-out video that killed Eric Garner after reading accounts of it, it seemed obvious to me that Garner was murdered. Four cops, with a fifth hovering nearby, should have been able to keep Garner down and secure him without Officer Gym Biceps continuing to choke him. By the time Garner was down what was the point of the chokehold?

EACH OF THE POLICE-RELATED deaths is different. Ferguson seems to me at least understandable if regrettable and, perhaps, unnecessary if the cop had carried a taser along with his gun. That was a taze situation, not one that called for lethal force. The shooting in Cleveland was shocking. The cops drive up, one jumps out and shoots the kid because the cop said, he thought the boy's toy replica gun was a real gun. I tried to imagine myself in that situation, and the best I could come up with was, first, I think I would have seen how young the kid was however big he might be and, second, have waited to see if he seemed likely to shoot at me. All of this depends on lightning assessments, of course, and in that case it looks like the cop simply jumped out of the car and opened fire. That cop has turned out to be a mental case determined unfit by the police force he first worked for. He shouldn't have been a cop in the first place.

IN THE CURRENT context of media hysteria, race demagogues, a deteriorating society generally, and the ancient fact of human life that most people believe what they need to believe regardless of the evidence, race relations will only get worse.

PLANS HALTED FOR WIDENING HIGHWAY THROUGH ANCIENT REDWOODS IN CALIFORNIA’S RICHARDSON GROVE STATE PARK

SAN FRANCISCO— After years of opposition, Caltrans has rescinded its approvals for a controversial highway-widening project that would endanger ancient redwood trees in Richardson Grove State Park, along Highway 101 in Humboldt County. Conservation groups and local residents this week dismissed a lawsuit they filed in federal court in July in exchange for Caltrans abandoning the project approvals and agreeing to restart the environmental review if the agency pursues the project. Caltrans has been prohibited from any project construction activities by both a 2012 federal court injunction and a recent state court order.

“This is an important victory stopping a nonsensical project that would have done terrible damage to an ancient grove of giant redwoods in our state park,” said Jeff Miller of the Center for Biological Diversity. “We’ll be ready to go back to court if Caltrans decides to pursue the project, and it’ll have to completely start over on environmental review and the approval process.”

Apparently the Richardson Grove project is dead, at least for now.

Conservation groups and local residents have now won three consecutive lawsuits challenging the “Richardson Grove Operational Improvement Project,” a proposal that would cut into and pave over the roots of many of Richardson Grove’s ancient redwoods, including some that are 2,000 years old, are 18 feet in diameter and reach heights of 300 feet. Caltrans has pursued this project solely to benefit passage for oversized commercial trucks.

“It’s time to investigate the huge amount of taxpayer money Caltrans has wasted pursuing this ill-conceived project,” said Natalynne DeLapp with the Environmental Protection Information Center. “Caltrans should have to answer why the agency continues to pour money down the drain pursuing a project that cannot be legally approved. Regulatory agencies and the public will not allow Richardson Grove’s ancient trees to be damaged.”

The latest lawsuit was filed by the Environmental Protection Information Center, Center for Biological Diversity, Californians for Alternatives to Toxics, Bess Bair, Trisha Lee Lotus, Bruce Edwards, Jeffrey Hedin and David Spreen. The lawsuit challenged Caltrans’ violations of the National Environmental Policy Act, the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act, the Endangered Species Act and the Administrative Procedure Act.

Background

Richardson Grove State Park, where tourists often first encounter large redwoods when heading north on Highway 101, is home to one of the last protected stands of accessible old-growth redwood trees in the world. The park also contains essential habitat for threatened and endangered species such as the northern spotted owl, and its creeks support runs of imperiled salmon and steelhead trout.

Caltrans first proposed the highway-widening project in 2007. Opposition to the project has grown substantially, led by the Save Richardson Grove Coalition, a diverse group of community members including economists, business owners, scientists and Northern California tribes with longstanding ties to the grove.

Caltrans claimed the highway-widening project was needed to accommodate large-truck travel, but acknowledged that the portion of road in question was already designated for larger trucks and did not have significant safety problems. The agency did not establish that the project was necessary for safety or would benefit the local economy. Smaller-sized commercial trucks have travelled through the grove for years to deliver goods to Humboldt County, and legislative exemptions have functioned to allow the passage of oversize trucks.

The plaintiffs first sued in 2010 when Caltrans certified inadequate environmental review documents and adopted a “finding of no significant impact.” In 2012 a federal court stopped the project, citing numerous errors in Caltrans’ mapping and measurement of affected old-growth redwoods and stating that the agency had been “arbitrary and capricious” in its use of what the court called ‘faulty data.” The California Court of Appeal in January 2014 ordered Caltrans to reevaluate the environmental impacts of the project under state law, finding that it had failed to fully assess impacts on ancient redwoods or provide measures to reduce potentially severe harm to the trees.

The latest lawsuit was filed earlier this year when Caltrans approved a “supplement” to its federal environmental review and renewed the project approval, while refusing to consider public concerns about the issues raised in the previous lawsuit. Caltrans failed to fix the numerous errors in mapping and measurement of affected old-growth redwoods that were cited by the federal judge in his order.

The attorneys for the plaintiffs are Philip Gregory and Pete McCloskey of Cotchett, Pitre & McCarthy, LLP; Stuart Gross of Gross Law; and Sharon Duggan, a long-time expert on environmental law.

(Environmental Protection & Information Center, Redway; Press Release)

* * *

BUT CALTRANS CAME RIGHT BACK WITH...

Caltrans has voluntarily withdrawn its Finding of No Significant Impact (FONSI), part of its federal National Environmental Protection Act (NEPA) documentation pertaining to the Richardson Grove Improvement Project. Based on this, the State of California filed a motion to dismiss a lawsuit filed by the Environmental Protection Information Center (EPIC), as it would be an unnecessary expenditure of judicial, attorney, and public resources for plaintiffs to pursue the federal litigation when further environmental review due to the state court writ may affect the federal environmental document and/or determinations.

Caltrans made its decision to withdraw its FONSI on November 17, following the October 21 entry of the state court writ. Plaintiffs voluntarily dismissed the action after Caltrans informed them of this decision and after being served with Caltrans’ motion to dismiss.

Caltrans is conducting further environmental review to comply with the State court order. If that review affects existing or previous environmental determinations, they will be addressed accordingly.

Caltrans conducted a thorough and comprehensive environmental analysis of the project, which the State Appellate Court upheld except as to certain aspects of the redwood tree root impact analysis. Caltrans is taking appropriate actions to comply with the Appellate Court decision and resulting Superior Court Writ.

The Richardson Grove Improvement Project was designed to be environmentally protective, with emphasis on the protection of old growth redwood trees and their root systems. Caltrans thoroughly and systematically examined the potential effects of the project on individual old growth redwood trees in the project area. No old growth redwood trees will be removed for the project.

CATCH OF THE DAY, Dec 5, 2014

JOY DAVIDSON, Fort Bragg. Under influence of controlled substance, failure to pay.

JIMMIE HARRISON, Redwood Valley. Stalking/threatening bodily injury.

ARION KELSEY, Fort Bragg. Saps or similar weapons, offense committed while on bail.

LADONNA LONG, Fort Bragg. Domestic assault.

JENNIFER MARTIN, Covelo. Parole violation.

ADRIAN MCWHINNEY, Ukiah,. Drunk in public.

ALFONSO SANDOVAL, Ukiah. DUI-Drugs, reckless driving.

AMBER THOMASSON, Ukiah. Petty theft, probation revocation.

ZACHARIAH WHITE, Calpella. Drunk in public.

A READER WRITES:

This probably sounds crazy to you, but…

I'm no lib lab. I haven't paid too much attention to the news lately because it is so difficult to watch over and over again. But today I watched the video of the police assault on Eric Garner and the unfathomable Grand Jury process. If you don't think we are headed toward a very scary police state then this is the case for it. It may be black on white, but no matter. What happens when things are really out of control as the culture drifts? The adversary position of egregious and uncontested police violation of the rights of people is all over this country.

The news everyday. Everywhere. Have our laws come to condone the strong over the weak and helpless? This big Black guy had no gun, and violating a tax law warrants a death sentence by choking because five policemen are so threatened? Video speaks louder than excuses. Can the police be excused because they needed to protect Themselves, plural? From what?

Well, welcome to the face of fascism. He had no ability to defend himself. It was horrifying. What is our country coming to? Why do the police need to put this kind of violent, killing act on a citizen of this country for selling illegal cigarettes?! What if this was your child? Your cousin? Your family? He was not threatening them. Every American must ask themselves this question. What would happen to me? Aren't we all the same people of this country? I think race should be removed from the equation. This is about police violence, supreme authority, and the uselessness of a Grand Jury and the justice system. We all need to understand that something has gone really south in this country. There seems to be afoot the existence of a kind of disparate divergence between the power of inviolate military-like authority and the man on the street. Guantanamo here we come. And you can publish this.

JAYE’S PAINTINGS

I'm pleased to announce that I'll be in town and will be exhibiting and selling new paintings for this year's Anderson Valley Unity Club's Annual Holiday Bazaar! It will be held in the Apple Hall at the Boonville Fairgrounds. Come visit and do your holiday shopping too! Art makes great gifts! This Saturday, December 6th, from 10 am until 4 pm. Looking forward to seeing you there!

Love, Jaye Alison Moscariello

BOONVILLE WINTER MARKET, rain or shine, Saturday in front of the Boonville General Store, 10-12:30. (Some vendors will not be there, as they will be selling all day at the Holiday Bazaar in the Apple Hall at the Fairgrounds in Boonville.) You will still find some of your favorite produce, meat and other products at the BWM.

A WHOLE PIG PROCESSING Workshop in Covelo by Tamara Wilder this Solstice Dec 20-21. Camping optional. Tamara is an expert in the field and the class will be hands on, informative, fun and delicious. If you have been interested in the whole process of going from animal to meat to food, then this is the class for you. Both days end in community potluck dinners where we will share the culinary adventures, organ meats, head and more! Call or email, 650-773-9787, rubychristinehead@gmail.com for more the registration form or more details and feel free to pass this info on to someone who may be interested. ($225-$300 sliding scale, minimum $150 for one day. includes seminar, potluck-style sat & sun dinners, optional camping , tools & materials)

PETIT TETON FARM put a holiday page on their website: http://petitteton.com/holidays.html. The farm is at 18601 Hwy 128, 4 miles south of Boonville, and is open most of the time during the week, Saturday after 2pm, and most Sunday afternoons. Stop by or email farmer@petitteton.com or call 684.4146 to find out if we're open and what's available or just drop in. We look forward to seeing you.

AN UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN CALLER left a message on our machine this morning: “Did you catch this morning’s talk show on KZYX? What an ego! He repeats words so much that it takes twice as long for him to say anything! Twice as boring!”

CURIOUS, we looked it up and she’s right!

http://considerthis.us/

FOOT CHASE LEADS TO DEATH FOR POINT ARENA MAN

by David Torres, of the Independent Coast Observer

On Wednesday afternoon, the day before Thanksgiving, what began as a seemingly minor incident in downtown Point Arena turned deadly. At approximately 12pm the California Highway Patrol and Redwood Coast Volunteer Fire Department Chief Mike Suddith responded to a call of a man allegedly throwing rocks at an adult and a child and stealing a diaper bag in the 200 block of Main Street.

Daniel Cedar Saulsbury, 39, of Point Arena, led law enforcement officers on a foot chase and, after being tasered several times, died as paramedics struggled to revive him at the west end of Mill Street in Point Arena.

Saulsbury, who had been living with his mother in Fort Bragg, had been in the area for several days, said witnesses, and had been acting erratically at times. Saulsbury had a long history with drugs, alcohol and other run-ins with Mendocino County law enforcement.

One witness who asked not to be identified said she was playing pool with Saulsbury the night before and he seemed normal and happy. But on Wednesday she saw him walking east on Port Road, smiling but acting out of character.

Deb Parsons of Gualala said he was in the post office shortly before the police were called when Saulsbury hurried in and asked to "lock the door," saying people were after him. Saulsbury, then reentered the post office and repeated his plea to lock the door.

Parsons, who said she didn't know Saulsbury, thought perhaps it was a joke. “I didn't know what was happening,” she said.

Shortly after that, a CHP officer who was nearby responded to the call while Mendocino County Sheriff's deputies were en route. The CHP officer and later fire chief Mike Suddith followed Saulsbury around town when he failed to respond to demands.

One witness across the street from the Arena Theater who knew Saulsbury said Saulsbury climbed on top of a car and threw rocks at the CHP Officer. Saulsbury then entered the Arena Pharmacy parking lot where owner Chris Jorgensen saw the CHP officer with a taser gun in hand and a line going out of it into Saulsbury who was on the ground. According to Jorgensen, Saulsbury suddenly jumped up, seemingly unaffected, and began walking south down Main Street. According to radio scanner traffic, the CHP officer called for Code 3 backup.

A group of kids playing soccer on Mill Street saw Saulsbury walking toward them, rock in hand, with the CHP Officer walking 30 feet behind him with his gun drawn and pointed to the ground while Suddith followed in his vehicle.

According to several witnesses on Mill Street, Saulsbury was able to get behind the wheel of his pickup truck which was parked near the end of Mill Street. At that time three police officers approached Saulsbury and one banged his baton on the window and ordered him out of his truck. He was pulled out and placed facedown on the ground and handcuffed. The group of soccer kids said almost in unison that they had witnessed Saulsbury being tasered several times prior to being pulled onto the ground. The fire department and Medic 120 Coast life-support ambulance were staged close to the sea.

At one point Saulsbury, who continued to be combative, suddenly turned pale and unresponsive. CPR was administered for approximately 20 minutes said witnesses. According to a Mendocino County Sheriff's press release, Saulsbury died at the scene.

He was placed in the Medic 120 ambulance and taken to the Point Arena CalFire station where according to ambulance personnel he was airlifted by a Calstar helicopter and taken to a hospital.

Two crime scene areas were taped off in Point Arena, one on Mill Street where Saulsbury went down and one in the Arena Pharmacy parking lot.

Because this was an officer involved fatality, the Mendocino County District Attorney's Office is handling the investigation and will determine if there were any constitutional violations or use of excessive force in the incident said Terry Gross, attorney for the city of Point Arena.

According to Gross, Kevin Bailey (of the DA’s office) is the chief investigator on the case and he will be contacting witnesses obtained from the preliminary investigation. If people witnessed the incident and are not contacted by the DA's office by Monday, December 8 and have information they think is important to the case they should call the DA's office at 463-4211, Gross said.

Gross also said she reached out to the Mendocino County Sheriff's Department and CHP who both indicated they will do their own internal investigations to determine if officers followed appropriate practices and procedures.

Saulsbury had a three-year-old son who was apparently in his custody although he had a history of spousal abuse in Mendocino County. His mother told deputies that he had been clean and sober for several years but feared he had met up with the wrong friends in Point Arena when she was told about his death.

Saulsbury, who attended Point Arena high school, had a history of trouble with Mendocino law enforcement dating back to 2006, 2007 and 2009 when he was arrested for DUI and possession of narcotics. In 2007 he was also arrested for reckless driving resulting in injury and an additional charge of contempt of court. While on felony probation for domestic violence in 2011 he was charged with inflicting corporal injury on a spouse or cohabitant, child endangerment and battery. In September of this year Saulsbury was arrested for assault, domestic violence, inflicting corporal injury to a spouse or cohabitants.

A 7pm candlelight vigil in downtown Point Arena brought friends together on Thursday.

(Courtesy, the Independent Coast Observer.)

ROLLING STONE MAGAZINE announced Friday it had seriously screwed up in its story alleging a gang rape at a University of Virginia fraternity. The magazine admitted that it did not contact the man that an anonymous student, dubbed Jackie, said orchestrated an attack on her at a frat house, “nor any of the men she claimed participated in the attack for fear of retaliation against her.” The magazine admitted that “there now appear to be discrepancies in Jackie’s account, and we have come to the conclusion that our trust in her was misplaced. We were trying to be sensitive to the unfair shame and humiliation many women feel after a sexual assault and now regret the decision to not contact the alleged assaulters to get their account. We are taking this seriously and apologize to anyone who was affected by the story.”

I HAVE FOUND WHAT YOU ARE LIKE

e.e. cummings

LOGICAL FALLACIES CHART

Dearest Editoria,

Don't know about Mendo, but Lake County lords and ladies lavish the public with logical fallacies whenever challenged.

I ran across this totally by accident, the website is solely for the purpuse of getting this message out:

https://yourlogicalfallacyis.com/pdf/LogicalFallaciesInfographic_A3.pdf

Best regards,

Betsy Cawn, Lake County

CALIFORNIA DROUGHT WORST IN 1,200 YEARS

http://www.commondreams.org/news/2014/12/05/california-drought-worst-1200-years-study

BROWN ADMINISTRATION ABANDONS RAID ON FISHING LICENSE FUNDS!

by Dan Bacher

In a victory for recreational anglers, the California Ocean Protection Council (OPC) has abandoned its plan to raid fishing and hunting licensing funds to manage questionable "marine protected areas," created under the privately funded Marine Life Protection Act (MLPA) Initiative.

This reversal, in direct response to objections raised by the Coastside Fishing Club and the California Sportfishing League (CSL), shows that California’s fishing community can be a powerful voice in influencing the outcome of public policy.

The OPC on December 1 confirmed the removal of fishing and hunting license funds as a potential source of funds for marine protected area management. According to a Council document, “Current and potential funding streams for MPA management include:” the bullet point “Fish and Game Preservation Funds, xiv” and the associated footnote have been removed, as well as references to such funds in Appendix F. This is in response to comments received by Coastside Fishing Club on July 3, 2014 and Nov 21, 2014 and from California Sportfishing League on July 1, 2014 and November 24, 2014."

Not only was the proposed raid illegal, but it was a violation of the public’s trust, according to the fishing groups. Fishing license funds are intended to support programs that protect and enhance recreational fishing opportunities, not programs that deny anglers access to California’s coastline.

George Osborn, Legislative Advocate for Coastside and CSL, emphasized, "If it's so important for the state to have these MPAs, then it should be equally important for the state to fund the management of these MPAs from the general fund - and not to raid money dedicated for conservation, fish hatcheries and protecting and enhancing fishing opportunities."

In a letter to OPC Executive Director Catherine Kuhlman on November 21, Dan Wolford, President of the Coastside Fishing Club, summarized the Club's objections to the use of Fish and Game Preservation Fund as a source of monies for MPA management:

"Throughout the MLPA's implementation anglers were lectured that the purpose was ecosystem protection an not fishery management. The resulting MPAs have deprived receational anglers of access to public waters. It would now be inappropriate to argue that MPA management is anything but a nongame program. Therefore, under State law the Fish and Game Preservation Fund is not available for MPA management. The OPC's Partnership Plan must be amended accordingly."

The proposed use of the dedicated license funds to "manage" the alleged "marine protected areas" would have been a great mockery of justice, considering that these "marine protected areas" are not authentic ones that actually protect the ocean.

The questionable "marine protected areas" created under the MLPA Initiative fail to protect the ocean from fracking, oil drilling, corporate aquaculture, pollution, military testing and all human impacts other than fishing and gathering.

Unfortunately, while the OPC agreed to not raid fishing and hunting license funds to support the management of MPAs, it unanimously adopted on December 2 “The California Collaborative Approach: Marine Protected Areas Partnership Plan” as "an overarching guide for how a variety of partners can engage in marine protected area (MPA) management." The California Fish and Game Commission then endorsed the plan in its meeting in Van Nuys on December 3.

"The Council also directed staff to continue to manage and update an internal workplan with core state agency partners that explicitly assigns roles and responsibilities for ensuring implementation of the Partnership Plan," according to a memo from John Laird, California Secretary for Natural Resources and Chair of the Ocean Protection Council.

Laird failed to mention that Ron LeValley, the co-chair of the MLPA Initiative "Science" Advisory Team for the North Coast that oversaw the crafting of alleged "marine protected areas" that violate the gathering and fishing rights of the Yurok and other Tribes, is now in federal prison for conspiracy to embezzle over $850,000 from the Yurok Tribe!

Rather than discussing this draft plan, the members of the Council and the Commission should have asked for a review of the alleged MLPA "science" in light of the fact that LeValley, the head science official for the North Coast MLPA process, was involved with a scheme to embezzle money through false invoices for scientific "spotted owl surveys" that were never conducted!

In addition, Laird and other MLPA Initative advocates have continually claimed that the process "respected" Tribal gathering rights, but that claim has no basis in fact, since the MLPA Initiative prohibits Tribal fishing and gathering in the State Marine Reserves created under the Initiative.

In the April 2014 election edition of the Yurok Today newsletter Yurok Tribe Vice Chairperson Susan Masten summarized the position of the Yurok Tribe, the largest tribe in California with over 5000 members, regarding the MLPA Initiative:

"The State of California is beginning to implement the so-called Marine Life Protection Act. From the very start, the Tribe has not supported this initiative because it does not recognize the Tribe’s inherent hunting and gathering rights. Also, the Act lacked the sophistication required to properly steward the diverse ecosystems on the Yurok coastline.

Since time immemorial, the Yurok Tribe has practiced a highly effective method of marine resource management, which has ensured an abundance of sea life to sustain our people. The Creator gave us the right to properly harvest marine resources in the coastal areas within Yurok Ancestral Territory. With this right, comes a great duty to protect and conserve these resources. To that end, we are developing our own marine life management program, based on our traditional knowledge of ocean ecosystems as well as western science."

The MLPA Initiative, called an "open, transparent and inclusive" process by Laird, other state officials and corporate "environmentalists," was anything but. The process was characterized by its private funding by the Resources Legacy Fund Foundation; its failure to create authentic marine protected areas; numerous conflicts of interests including the leadership of the South Coast process by the President of the Western States Petroleum Association; incomplete and terminally flawed science; and violation of traditional Tribal gathering rights.

The problem is that "the California Collaborative Approach: Marine Protected Areas Partnership Plan" that the Council and Commission endorsed, does nothing to address any of these "inconvenient truths."

The 46-page plan accepts as legitimate the questionable "marine protected areas" created under an illegitimate process - and serves to only greenwash a process based on bad science and public policy, rather than attempting to deal with the MLPA Initiative's "inconvenient truths."

For example, the use of private funding, the basis of the Initative's myriad of problems, will be encouraged in the monitoring phase, according to Page 33 of the plan:

"Private philanthropy actively supported the design and designation phases and now the management of California's MPA network. There is an opportunity for private philanthropy to become involved in financially supporting management of various scales. Currently, private donors can support registered 501(c)(3) organizations that are partnering to support management. In the future, however, additional mechanisms may be established to increase opportunities for giving."

Laird's leadership role in pushing the creation of fake "marine protected areas" that fail to protect the ocean from fracking, oil drilling, pollution, corporate aquaculture, military testing and all human impacts on the ocean other than sustainable fishing and gathering is part of the overall Brown administration neo-liberal "environmental" vision that favors Big Oil, corporate agribusiness, corporate polluters, greedy billionaires and the 1 percent over the public trust and the people of California.

The final draft of the "California Collaborative Approach: Marine Protected Areas Partnership Plan" is now available at: http://www.opc.ca.gov/webmaster/ftp/pdf/agenda_items/20141202/Item5-master-final-partnership-plan.pdf

For more information about the MLPA Initiative, read my investigative piece, The Five Inconvenient Truths of the MLPA Initiative: http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2013/05/25/18737342.php