Mendocino County Today: Sunday, Dec 21, 2014

• Home Invasion
• Navarro Forecast
• Weed Series
• Police Reports
• Sea Rise
• Hoopa Confrontation
• Catch of the Day
• Grotesque Truths
• Christmas Trees
• FBI Errors
• Palace Inertia
• Carcass
• Visit California
• LBJ University

TWO YOUNG Sonoma County men are being held in the County Jail as suspects in a Redwood Valley home invasion in early September. Mark Anthony Papillion, 21, was booked into the jail Wednesday night. Nathan Zingarelli, 18, of Santa Rosa, was also booked into the jail on Dec. 7th.

ON SEPTEMBER 7TH at 5:32 a.m., deputies responded to a reported home invasion robbery in the 7000 block of East Road. The male resident of the home was found injured when deputies arrived on scene. The bandits had apparently entered the home at 4am that morning. The injured resident of the home told deputies he was confronted by four or five suspects described as "20-something" white males.

ONE OF THE SUSPECTS was armed, and the others demanded marijuana and money before ransacking the home. The homeowner reported to deputies that the suspects took several firearms, personal belongings, and “a few” marijuana plants which were growing outside the home.

THANKS TO THE CRUCIAL MENDOSPORTSPLUS

Mighty Navarro Dropping Like Lead Balloon — Sand bars visible by the flotsam at Highway 1 bridge and around "Potato Island."

KPIX, CHANNEL 5 DOES YET ANOTHER — FOUR-PART — NORCAL POT ROUND-UP

(with some actual new information, a short report on the mystery Emerald Triangle pot raiders, a segment on “marijuana candy/medicine,” and an update on possible legalization)

Part 1: (Follow the links for the other three parts.)

http://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/video/10968588-kpix-news-special-californias-green-rush-part-1-of-4/

COPS ON PATROL IN UKIAH

ON FRIDAY December 12th at about 1:05 PM Ukiah Police responded to a residence in the 700 block of El Rio Court for a domestic violence incident. Officers learned 21 year old Maric Santiago Arriaga and the victim argued, and Arriaga punched the victim in the stomach and drug her out of the residence by her hair. Arriaga had apparently fled out the rear of the residence, and officers located him hiding in a shed. Arriaga refused directions from the officers, and physically resisted being taken into custody. After a struggle, Arriaga was brought out to the police vehicle, where he used his head to strike the vehicle causing a dent. Arriaga proceeded to strike his head on the interior of the vehicle, and was belligerent and threatening with the officers claiming to be an MMA fighter and that he could harm the officers. Officers had located a baggie of methamphetamine Arriaga had discarded in the backyard before being taken into custody. Arriaga was charged with domestic violence, resisting arrest, vandalism, possessing methamphetamine, and violating probation.

ON SATURDAY December 13th at about 3:30 PM Ukiah Police responded to a residence in the 600 block of South Oak Street for a disturbance. Officers learned 33 year old Alfredo Vedolla was arguing with the victim’s mother, when the 17 year old male victim interceded and told Vedolla not to talk to his mother in that manner. Vedolla punched the 17 year old victim in the chest, and then fled the residence. The victim sustained visible injuries from the assault. Vedolla was seen entering a vehicle which was soon stopped in the 1100 block of East Perkins Street. Vedolla was on probation for domestic violence and prohibited from consuming alcohol. Vedolla had been drinking and was arrested for violating probation and for battery on a minor.

ON THURSDAY December 11th at about 11:40 PM Ukiah Police responded to a residence in the 700 block of South Orchard for a shooting at a residence. Arriving officers discovered several bullet holes in the exterior of the residence near the garage. Officers learned a resident had been inside the garage with numerous visitors when they heard the gunshots and bullets strike the residence. A witness saw several subjects running from the area but they were not identified. Officers were unable to obtain more information regarding the suspects and the case remains under investigation. 14-3729

ON MONDAY December 15th at about 1:55 PM Ukiah Police responded to South State Street and Wabash Avenue for a reported hit and run traffic collision. Ukiah Police dispatch had received numerous calls regarding the incident, and Officers learned a witness had observed the suspect vehicle run the red light at State Street and Washington Avenue at high rate of speed, and run off the road and collide with several fence posts while turning onto Wabash Avenue. The suspect vehicle was described as a lifted white or silver Chevrolet pick-up last heading west on Wabash at a high rate of speed. Officers located a witness in front of a residence in the 200 block of Wabash, and discovered the suspect vehicle parked in the driveway. The witness had confronted the suspect, who replied he was intoxicated and to go ahead and call the police. The vehicle had recent damage consistent with the reported collision, and the registered owner was determined to possess numerous firearms. The suspect, 39 year old Garret Alto, opened the door of the residence and yelled at the officers, then retreated inside. With the assistance of the Mendocino County Sheriff’s Department, a perimeter was established around the residence and Alto repeated this behavior several more times until officers were able to detain Alto and take him into custody. Alto was handcuffed and kicked an officer, striking the officer. Alto was belligerent and uncooperative, and was arrested for DUI, hit and run, resisting arrest, and battery on a police officer.

STUDY EVALUATES HIGHWAY 101 AS CLIMATE CHANGE CLOSES IN

by Daniel Mintz

The authors of a new study on the vulnerability of road infrastructure to climate change say impacts will happen more quickly than anticipated and need to be planned for now.

A final version of the study was presented in a public meeting held on Dec. 18 at Eureka City Hall. The vulnerability analysis is one of 16 being done statewide, substantially funded by the Federal Highway Administration.

The work reflects a new approach to studying climate change. “A lot of the work, historically, has really been past-looking – what’s happening behind us,” said Rebecca Crow of the Eureka-based GHD engineering firm, which helmed the study. “We’re really at a changing point in time in how we look at and evaluate data and we’re starting to look forward, to project what the climate will be in the future.”

One of the study’s main objectives is to assess the vulnerability of California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) infrastructure in the district made up of Humboldt, Del Norte, Mendocino and Lake counties.

Another goal is developing “adaptation options” such as re-routing roadways, armoring them or constructing causeways that allow water to pass beneath them. Criteria for ranking the options range from cost considerations to social and environmental impacts.

The options and criteria were voted on by those who attended a public hearing in Eureka last August. In Humboldt, the Highway 101 safety corridor between Arcata and Eureka is the most at-risk piece of road infrastructure and armoring it, building causeways and re-routing it were ranked highest by attendees of the previous meeting.

Crow described climate change as a current phenomenon. “There are existing extreme weather events that tell us that things are changing and we’ve got to start taking notice,” she said.

As an example, she showed photos of a 9.1-foot early December king tide that almost completely submerged Indian Island. Other photos showed the effects of increasingly frequent flooding in Mendocino and Del Norte counties.

“This is a serious issue, we’re starting to see it now and we anticipate things to get worse in the future,” said Crow.

The study includes impact modeling based projections to 2050 and 2100. Brett Vivyan of GHD said the study’s projection of annual average daily temperatures by 2050 shows a rise of about three degrees in the region.

By 2100, the temperature increase is estimated at between four and six degrees.

Sea level rise is also modeled in the study and is an acute concern for Humboldt Bay, where land is subsiding. Under a high emissions or worst case scenario, the study projects sea level rise of between 10 to 26 inches in the Highway 101 safety corridor area by 2050 and between 26 to 70 inches by 2100.

Extreme precipitation is projected to increase by up to 11 percent by 2050 and up to 14 percent by 2100.

The bay is ringed with levees but “as seas get higher than those levees, there’s more room for the sea to move in,” said Vivyan.

Other areas of the county are prone to coastal flooding and rain-driven landslides, he continued. But the Highway 101 safety corridor is particularly vulnerable to rising seas and has high impact potential due to its traffic volume.

Crow said the next steps include aligning Caltrans design standards with anticipated changes. “If Caltrans continues to design for the status quo, there’s little room for adaptation,” she continued.

Questions were fielded from the audience, which included residents of other counties linked to the event via webinar technology. In response to a query about changing projections, Crow said the study includes a range of models which will be continually re-evaluated.

“This is a newer type of science that we’re doing,” she continued.

The study’s website is at www.northcoastclimatechange.com.

THE CHP announced Friday that a 17-year-old boy from Hoopa was shot to death by an officer responding to an early Thursday morning, single car accident near Willow Creek.

THE BOY had driven his vehicle off the road and into a telephone pole near Willow Creek but apparently emerged uninjured from the collision. When the officer arrived at the accident scene, the boy suddenly attacked the officer with a machete, and the officer, seriously injured, fired in self-defense. The officer is hospitalized at the UC Davis Hospital.

CATCH OF THE DAY, Dec 20, 2014

NANCY ANDERSON, Ukiah. DUI.

EDWARD ESQUIVEL, Willits. Burglary, probation revocation.

CATHERINE HIGGS, Laytonville. DUI.

NAOMI MANNONEN, Fort Bragg. Under influence of controlled substance.

SHAWN MORRIS, Calpella. Drunk in public.

MARK NEUGEBAUER, Fort Bragg. Criminal threats of death or great bodily harm.

CASEY RAY, Covelo. DUI.

DIEGO SANCHEZ, Willits. Domestic assault.

DAN SIMMIERMAN, Yucaipa/Redwood Valley. DUI.

JACOB STOUT, Ukiah. DUI.

DANIEL STURMRELS, Redwood Valley. Petty theft, shoplifting, dirk/dagger, probation revocation.

MICHAEL WILES, Ukiah. Parole violation.

THERE WAS THE TRUTH of virginity and the truth of passion, the truth of wealth and of poverty, of thrift and of profligacy, of carelessness and abandon. Hundreds and hundreds were the truths and they were all beautiful. And then the people came along. Each as he appeared snatched up one of the truths and some who were quite strong snatched up a dozen of them. It was the truths that made the people grotesques. The old man had quite an elaborate theory concerning the matter. It was his notion that the moment one of the people took one of the truths to himself, called it his truth, and tried to live his life by it, he became a grotesque and the truth he embraced became a falsehood.

— Sherwood Anderson, Winesburg, Ohio

CHRISTMAS TREES

by Robert Frost

(A Christmas Circular Letter)

The city had withdrawn into itself

And left at last the country to the country;

When between whirls of snow not come to lie

And whirls of foliage not yet laid, there drove

A stranger to our yard, who looked the city,

Yet did in country fashion in that there

He sat and waited till he drew us out

A-buttoning coats to ask him who he was.

He proved to be the city come again

To look for something it had left behind

And could not do without and keep its Christmas.

He asked if I would sell my Christmas trees;

My woods—the young fir balsams like a place

Where houses all are churches and have spires.

I hadn’t thought of them as Christmas Trees.

I doubt if I was tempted for a moment

To sell them off their feet to go in cars

And leave the slope behind the house all bare,

Where the sun shines now no warmer than the moon.

I’d hate to have them know it if I was.

Yet more I’d hate to hold my trees except

As others hold theirs or refuse for them,

Beyond the time of profitable growth,

The trial by market everything must come to.

I dallied so much with the thought of selling.

Then whether from mistaken courtesy

And fear of seeming short of speech, or whether

From hope of hearing good of what was mine, I said,

“There aren’t enough to be worth while.”

“I could soon tell how many they would cut,

You let me look them over.”

 

“You could look.

But don’t expect I’m going to let you have them.”

Pasture they spring in, some in clumps too close

That lop each other of boughs, but not a few

Quite solitary and having equal boughs

All round and round. The latter he nodded “Yes” to,

Or paused to say beneath some lovelier one,

With a buyer’s moderation, “That would do.”

I thought so too, but wasn’t there to say so.

We climbed the pasture on the south, crossed over,

And came down on the north. He said, “A thousand.”

 

“A thousand Christmas trees!—at what apiece?”

 

He felt some need of softening that to me:

“A thousand trees would come to thirty dollars.”

 

Then I was certain I had never meant

To let him have them. Never show surprise!

But thirty dollars seemed so small beside

The extent of pasture I should strip, three cents

(For that was all they figured out apiece),

Three cents so small beside the dollar friends

I should be writing to within the hour

Would pay in cities for good trees like those,

Regular vestry-trees whole Sunday Schools

Could hang enough on to pick off enough.

A thousand Christmas trees I didn’t know I had!

Worth three cents more to give away than sell,

As may be shown by a simple calculation.

Too bad I couldn’t lay one in a letter.

I can’t help wishing I could send you one,

In wishing you herewith a Merry Christmas.

AN INTERNAL INVESTIGATION at the Federal Bureau of Investigation has found that the agency mishandled, mislabeled, and lost evidence in every region of the country. The agency is also storing more weapons, two tons more drugs, and less money and valuables than its records indicate. The report was based on a review of more than 41,000 pieces of evidence in FBI offices and could affect future criminal investigations, since lawyers are able to get evidence thrown out of court because of record-keeping discrepancies. Most of the mistakes appear to come from the FBI’s transition to a computer system called Sentinel. But some of the errors include disappearing evidence, which is more serious. “A majority of the errors identified were due in large part to human error, attributable to a lack of training and program management oversight,” auditors wrote in the report.

STOP STALLING!

To the Editor:

Growing up in a small community like Ukiah there was always one particular building that stood out to me: The Palace Hotel. Whether it be walking to Dig! Music to buy a CD or driving on State Street to get to work at The Dragon's Lair, The Palace Hotel has always been in the corner of my eye. There was something always mesmerizing to me about the way the ancient ivy slithered up the bricks that are practically as old as Ukiah itself. It saddens me to think that such an iconic land structure is rotting to the ground due to the lack of action taking place. The Palace Hotel desperately needs tons of recreational work in order to get it back to what it originally was and what it stood for: a place to gather with others and have a good time.

Since its establishment in 1891, The Palace Hotel has gone through many renovations. It has included a restaurant, hotel service, a café, and was an overall entertainment center for people all around the area. Celebrities, movie stars, and anyone who was fiscally secured would come to The Palace Hotel for a nice getaway. But by 1981 The Palace Hotel was shut down due to threats of demolition (ukiahpalacehotel.com); ever since then the hotel has been in a constant state of “under construction.” In recent years The Palace Hotel was in an episode of Ghost Hunters due to it supposedly being haunted.

With the knowledge that I have regarding the stalling of renovations on the Palace Hotel, the handling of the Palace Hotel is a representation of what is going on in our government with the filibusters and the making up of any petty excuses as to why no action is taking place. As a citizen I know I cannot be the only one who is tired of people talking about getting things accomplished in our society without actually having anything accomplished.

Whether it be the renovation of the Palace Hotel or the passing of a bill, the amount of time it takes to do anything nowadays is just outright not okay. Although we may be a small town with not a lot occurring, that does not mean we should be lazy when things do occur within the community. We as a community need to take a stand and make sure that our town is progressing into a positive direction and set an example to the future citizens of Ukiah about how to handle disputes.

I believe that the perfect example of doing something like this is to push the owner or whoever is taking charge of the construction of The Palace Hotel to actually get the construction done. It should not have to take over 20 something years to figure out what to do with a building and then completing that goal.

As a former resident of Ukiah, what I would personally like to see happen to the Palace Hotel is that the owner, Eladia Laines, quit making excuses about the various reasons the renovations cannot continue and start doing her part as an owner and take care of what needs to be done for the Palace Hotel to be in proper condition. I believe that instead of transforming the Palace Hotel back into a Hotel it should be turned into apartments/condos that range from a single studio to an one/two bedroom apartment. Or maybe even renovate it back to what it originally looked like when it was first opened and have people take tours during the summer and if people want they can stay the night for an additional price.

Kathryn Wellik, San Francisco

WELCOME TO CALIFORNIA, ARIK

(Sheriff’s Press Release, October 22, 2014) — 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 on to 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.

* * *

Editor,

Is it corruption? Is it retaliation? You decide.

I guess my first mistake was visiting California. I mean, who in their right mind would visit California? Maybe I wasn't in my right mind. I was listening to talk radio.

Anyway, they started discussing how California was going to fall into the ocean. I know, I know, they've been saying that for years now. But for some reason it hit me this time. I thought to myself: I haven't seen all of California and its going to go down. I'm going to be there to see it. So I started walking from Ashland, Oregon. I got about halfway up the mountain, along the highway, and it started to rain. I got about three fourths of the way up the mountain and it started getting cold. Real cold. I was prepared but the wet and cold hit me. I was freezing. I had just hit the top where Calihan's is. From the highway the sign says "vacancy." So I went down there.

The sign on the front door said they were closed. There were about six cars in the parking lot. I stepped to a door where an ashtray was and proceeded to hit a butt. I looked at the door. It was open. I went in. At the front desk I rang the bell. I stood there for at least 10 minutes. Then I roamed the halls calling out "Hello — is anyone here?" I walked the halls for 20 minutes. I sat down in the game room and watched TV for a while. When I was semi-dry I thought, "Man, I don't want to get in trouble." So I left.

Right around the corner there was a big gravel shed. I climbed in there and fell asleep.

Out of the blue I awoke. I saw a giant freezing fog come out of the woods. I swear this was coming for me. Bewildered, I ran back to the hotel. When I left before I made sure to shut the door behind me. Luckily, the door was still open. I went back in. In the lobby I sat down on the couch and set my coat out to dry and plugged my cellphone in. Sitting on the couch I didn't feel too comfortable. But I fell asleep anyway at about 8am.

I awoke when I heard something and there sitting behind the desk was some guy. I stood up to explain myself. As I stood the man screamed like a girl, "Oh my God. Where did you come from?" I told him that I had seen the Vacancy sign from the road. The door was open and I was waiting in the lobby for someone who worked here. He told me, "It's okay. Go back to sleep. I still have some things to do before we open." So I did.

About two hours later I heard a woman's voice. I woke up and overheard the end of the conversation. The man said, "I didn't know what to do, you know, his type, I didn't want him to get violent with me." Hearing this, I quickly grabbed my things and went to the door of the small office they were in. I apologized again and explained that the sign said vacancy. And the door was open. I added that I did nothing but sit in the lobby and wait for an employee. I didn't include that the employee told me to go back to sleep, not being one to throw him under the bus.

She started to tell me that no matter how cold it is, "You can't just break in to places." I are reiterated to them, "This is a hotel. Your sign said Vacancy, and the door was open."

At the same time I pulled out a credit card. Unbeknownst to her it was no good. But I said, "I wanted to rent a room but because you've treated me so unfriendly I don't wish to anymore."

She told me to leave. Happily and quickly I made tracks.

On the highway I ran and jogged over the California border hoping to get to California before the police showed up. I did, and this has nothing to do with why I am now in Mendocino County Jail.

I made it to California, obviously. I walked to the second exit on I-5 where there was a Chevron station. I bought $50 worth of food and ate all of it. I was famished. After about three hours of sitting around I started attracting dirty looks from the workers so I left. Back on the road.

Not two minutes on the highway a deputy sheriff pulled up behind me. I dropped my backpack and stuck my hands in the air. He told me to put my hands down and explained that pedestrians were not allowed on the highway. I asked him if it was a jailable offense? He said no. I asked what would happen if I continued to walk on the highway. He said he would continue to advise me to get off of the highway. I told him I had just spent three hours getting here from the last exit and I wasn't going back. He told me to get off at the next exit. I asked for a ride. He said, "I would have to search you first." I told him "Go ahead — I have nothing illegal on me." He patted me down and threw my backpack in the back and stuck me on the back seat. At the next exit he dropped me off which happened to be a rest area about five miles out of Yreka. He told me I could camp at the rest area and look for a ride.

I wrote "Southside" on a piece of paper not knowing that it meant something else around here. I spent three days flying this sign and getting dirty looks from just about everyone. Finally on the fourth morning I got picked up by a guy from Utah who told me he was a "rubberstamp." Then he explained a rubberstamp was someone who collected SSI and lived in his vehicle traveling around. I said cool, I was just traveling through California, just visiting. He said he was looking for a road dog. We got along great for three days.

Outside of Laytonville at a rest stop in the middle of the night he got angry because I was listening to music and he couldn't sleep. He kicked me out of his van and took off. The rest area said, No camping. So I walked along the road until I was worn out and slept in the woods right off the road.

Again, none of this has anything to do with why I am in the Mendocino County Jail. I will be getting to that.

It took me another day to walk into Laytonville. I got into town at dusk. That night I bought a soda and something to eat at a little market. I ate it and went to the Chevron station where they told me I was not welcome. I left saying something rude.

I continued to walk. I went to a place called Chief's. I went into the laundromat but the guy working there said he was just closing up. I told him that it seemed like it was still early. He told me everything around there closed early. I sat around most of the night charging my cellphone and playing on the Internet.

Sometime after midnight I walked back around town and found a good place to sleep and crashed out. The sun woke me up. I walked back to Chief's. It was not open yet. I had no money. When they opened I sat around waiting and asked people politely to help me wash my clothes because they were soaked and mildewy. It had rained the past couple of nights. Everything I had was soaked.

As I sat there I read a sign on the wall that said, "We need help with cleaning and gardening." I thought, perfect — and it will help me too. Instead of asking around to see if anyone wanted my help, I just started cleaning. There were cleaning supplies in the corner. I moved the mop bucket out, filled it with clean water and started to sweep and mop. I moved everything out of the area and sorted some dirty rags into a laundry basket and put the clean ones into a bucket.

After a while a big guy came in and started yelling, "Just what do you think you're doing?"

I pointed at the signs and said "Just cleaning up."

He screamed, "I don't need help, get the fuck out of here."

I put the mop down and screamed back "Fuck you. This is my house." I said that mostly just to say something rude back to him.

He said, "I'm calling the cops."

I said, "Go ahead. I've done nothing illegal." I grabbed my things and went out to the road to wait and explain myself. After waiting for half an hour for the police to respond I started entertaining myself by hopping around on some large rocks that were alongside the road there away from anyone.

Three deputy sheriffs pulled up and yelled at me, "Why don't you come over here and talk to us." I yelled back, "We're talking right now and everyone can hear what is being said. You want to have a private discussion, why don't you get closer to me?"

At which point the deputies bunched together and came about five feet from me and said "Come down from there." At which point I squatted down to eye level with them and said, "Does this make you feel more comfortable?"

I could visibly tell it did not. They were shaken.

Then they said, "No, get off the rock."

I jumped down landing about a foot in front of them, and said, "Hold on a minute while I grab my ID and phone so I can record this conversation." I stepped away. A second later I was hit by a taser gun. It's not so bad, let me tell you, just a little unnerving. I spun back to face them and got hit with another taser. At this point an officer rushed me and hit me with his baton in my knee and I fell over, face-first. Once on the ground I had all three deputies on my back. They proceeded to tase me and clobber me with their batons.

At some point I got hit in the shin which gave me a two-inch gash. Then I got hit on my head and started spraying blood all over the ground. The whole time I was being tased. The taser was literally pressed between my balls and my ass. All the while they continued to beat me. At some point I passed out.

Let me go back a second. I was wearing a pair of swim trunks, an athletic wife-beater shirt and shoes. That was it. There would be no way to hide a weapon. I was dragged to the police car and we went rocketing down the road. The cuffs were on so tight that I had permanent nerve damage in my right arm.

I realized when we stopped that I was going to the hospital. Two officers pulled me out of the car and slammed me down onto a gurney. The amount of juice they put on me was so great that I couldn't even hold myself up when they tried forcing me to walk. So when I say that they slammed me, I mean they body-slammed me. I received a staple in my chin and seven on the top of my head. I awoke in a hospital bed with the deputy sheriff sitting in a chair next to me. I was obviously in custody. I was in the hospital for three days, not allowed to use a phone. At some point on the second day the three officers showed up to say, "We just wanted to make sure you're okay." On the third day the nurses pulled out my catheter and the tube that was in my "junk" and I was told that I was being moved.

I am now in the Mendocino County Jail. I was in booking for at least a full day. Then after I was booked, I was put into "lock down." I was told that was because of the crime I had been charged with — charged, but not convicted. I am now back in Wing 4 while the officers walk the phone right past me. I had been in jail for at least five days before I was arraigned. At the arraignment I told the judge, "You should just go ahead and drop this case because you only have 72 hours to arraign me."

At this point the judge, the Honorable Judge David Nelson, told me in open court, "No. I have ten days to hold an arraignment hearing." Then they proceeded to take away my right to defend myself.

Back at the jail I started freaking out and banging on my cell door until they moved me to isolation. I explained to a sergeant that I was being mistreated and have not been allowed to use the phone. Since I've been here in isolation there is a phone in the cell but I will be damned if I can get the voice recognition system to work for me.

Now, going back again for a second, every cell I've been in has been filthy. I have sores all over my body. This is bothering me. I have asked repeatedly for cleaning supplies but to no avail. I used my bar of soap and water to wash down my cell from ceiling to floor. Upon moving to isolation I was stripped of my blanket and books and paper including a letter I had written to my lawyer which makes it legally wrong.

When they came the next time to tell me to cuff up, I said, "No. Every time I do you move me to some nasty cell and as soon as I clean it you come and take all my shit and move me again."

Six officers came into my cell, tased me, threw me to the ground and stomped me out. At some point my eye got cut and my right knee got broken.

I was stuck in a rubber room, buck naked. There is a hole in the floor for a bathroom and literally piss all over the floor. With my knee broken, I rolled around in piss screaming that my knee was broken.

At some point I was thrown into a suicide smock. I was told my leg is fine. Later in the night an officer asked if I wanted to go back to my cell? I said, "Yes, but I can't walk. I need a wheelchair." I was told that I would have to walk if I wanted to go back to my cell. So I manned up and walked.

The next day the medical staff told me that if I wanted my staples out I had to walk to the medical station. So again I manned up and walked there.

At the medical station I was told my knee was fine, it's just a little swollen. It was the size of a cantaloupe. For a month I was forced to walk on it with no painkillers except the occasional Tylenol. The whole time I was told it's fine and it will get better.

After a month I finally got an x-ray. The next day I was given a knee brace and a handicapped room and crutches. The nurse told me not to put weight on it. I said to the nurse, "Well, for the past month I've been told it's fine and I just need to walk it off." The nurse said, "I can't say anything about that, but at this point we don't want you putting any weight on it."

I got taken to the hospital for an MRI. The results are not set to be back until Monday. But the guy who did the MRI said there is definitely extensive muscle damage.

One last thing, I am a vegan. I've been a vegan for the past three years. I have been denied a vegan diet by the kitchen here. Not only that, I had the Chaplain request it as a religious diet. The kitchen told him that I had been receiving a vegan diet. Above all else they are denying my religious rights. It's crazy.

I've been in prison in Alaska for the past 10 years on an off and I've never dealt with something like this. When I finally did get hold of my mother, she told me the Internet said this whole country is corrupt.

She told me that a DA had just been fired over corruption. Literally, California is one of the most corrupt places around today and they wear that title like a medal of honor? You tell me: is it corruption or retaliation?

Aric Lee Caldwell, 52086

Mendocino County Jail

Ukiah

Any pro bono who wants to represent me in both the criminal case and a civil lawsuit, I say, Please. I'll be here.

AND NOW FOR AN ALMOST TOTALLY INCORRECT HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE, COMPLETE WITH CRANK REFERENCES (BY TOM CAHILL, FORT BRAGG AND PARIS)

Christmas Eve In The White House, 1963

by Tom Cahill

It wasn't enough for then Vice-President Lyndon Baines Johnson to realize his childhood ambition of becoming President of the United States by orchestrating what the French call a "coup d'etat"--the assassination of John Kennedy in 1963. LBJ wanted to be nothing less than America's greatest leader as he thought only a wartime president could be. He even tried to outperform his longtime idol, Franklin D. Roosevelt, according to Phillip Nelson in his second book about Johnson, "LBJ: From Mastermind to 'The Colossus'" (2014).

Thus with his incredible skill at manipulating people including the media and the masses and because of his unquestionable criminal insanity, he micromanaged the Vietnam War until he left the White House in January 1969. By then he bitterly called the Oval Office "a cage" for among other reasons the vicious chant of anti-war demonstrators he could hear in Lafayette Park across from the White House, "Hey, hey, LBJ. How many kids did you kill today," according to Horace Busby, longtime friend and aide of LBJ in his book "An Intimate Portrait of Lyndon Johnson's Final Days in Office" (2005).

At a party in the White House, Christmas Eve 1963--a month after JFK's murder--Pres. Johnson told members of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS)--America's highest-ranking generals and admirals--"Just get me elected (in November 1964), and you can have your war," according to Peter Dale Scott in "Deep Politics and the Death of JFK" (1993) and others.

About Christmastime, 1965, a year after winning his campaign against Barry Goldwater who he labeled a "warmonger," at another meeting with the Joint Chiefs of Staff, LBJ had one of his many "psychotic meltdowns" (called "hissy fits" in Texas), blaming the military leaders for his own mistakes in Vietnam. Screaming, cursing, expressing his "disgust with them all," and "Noting that it was he who was carrying the weight of the free world on his shoulders, he (LBJ) called them (the JCS) filthy names--shitheads, dumb shits, pompous assholes--and used 'the F-word' as an adjective more freely than a Marine in boot camp would use it. It was unnerving, degrading," according to a witness, Lt. Gen. Charles G. Cooper in his book, "A Marine's Story of Combat in Peace and War" (2002).

Does this remind you of another world-class megalomaniac who blamed his generals for his own miss-micromanaging the war in Europe and Russia in the early 1940s?

Admiral David McDonald of the JCS, like other military veterans no stranger to stress, said on his way back to the Pentagon after LBJ went "ballistic," it "was the worst experience I could ever imagine," according to Gen. Cooper.

About a year later, at a more mellow time for LBJ, he bragged, "It (the Vietnam War) belongs to anyone, it's my war," according to psychohistorian D. Jablow Hershman in her book "Power Beyond Reason: The Mental Collapse of Lyndon Johnson" (2002).

Yet on another occasion, when Pres. Johnson became exasperated with reporters who kept pressing him, demanding why the US was in Vietnam, "The President unzipped his pants, extracted his penis (he called Jumbo), and announced, 'This is why,'" according to Hershman in her book.

Lyndon Johnson casts a long shadow on American and world politics and history. To this very day, he and his unpunished crimes influences people and events as if he is mentor of the misguided, outright corrupt neo-liberals like the Clintons and neo-conservatives like the Bushes who--like LBJ--are self-proclaimed "masters of the universe." Personally, I see nothing less than a Truth & Reconciliation Commission being able to flush out of control these self-obsessed demagogs. And a place to start might be with Phil Nelson's newest book on Johnson, "LBJ: From Mastermind to 'The Colossus'" (2014). Buy a copy, study it, donate it to your library, and tell all in your network about the book. Or, unless you have a better idea, wallow in fear of the future of your children, your grandchildren and generations to come.

PS from Cahill.

Friends,

The murder victim named in a recent tabloid article, reported to me by a friend, about LBJ's role in the assassination of JFK, was probably Henry Marshall, a US Dept. Of Agriculture commissioner who discovered the Billie Sol Estes/LBJ multi-million dollar rip-off of the US government and would not be bribed. He died in 1962 of multiple gun shots to the chest, other injuries suggesting a struggle, and carbon monoxide was found in his lungs. Yet the death was at first ruled a suicide. But a Texas Ranger turned US Marshal--Clint Peoples--spent twenty or more years getting this cause of death reversed to murder.

According to a number of books I've read, LBJ had between a dozen to two dozen people killed from the time he first entered the US Senate in 1949. Many, like Marshal, were killed during LBJ's vice-presidency as his crimes were coming home to roost. These include dealings with Billie Sol Estes and Bobby Baker that were making headlines all over the country. US Atty. Gen. Bobby Kennedy knew of these crimes and may have been feeding information about them to the media that in turn was reporting the stories on front pages. At the very least JFK was going to bump LBJ from the ticket in 1964 and Johnson knew this. But all this information has been "disappeared" in the corporate media as well as "approved" biographies about LBJ by such authors as Robert Caro and Robert Dallek.

Among the murders LBJ PROBABLY was involved in was that of his own sister, Josefa, killed by Johnson's own personal hit man, Mac Wallace, whose fingerprints were found years later in the Book Depository after JFK was killed. Josefa was an alcoholic and druggie with a big mouth who knew too much about her brother.

The newly-published book I'm reading right now--"LBJ: From Mastermind to 'The Colossus'" by Phil Nelson (2014) is by far the best on this subject. It takes up where his first book (2010) leaves off and he quotes from many more sources than I even knew of.

And I thought I knew a lot about Johnson but it seems my 30-page work-in-progress (which I will forward again) is just the tip of the tip of the iceberg. Nelson presents much of the rest of the mass of ice and is even blowing my mind. For instance, I have found that I was NOT exaggerating when I compared LBJ to Hitler. They both suffered from the same megalomania and other psychological problems. And since LBJ continues to influence the US government, when the tally of deaths and destruction TO THIS VERY DAY is finalized, Johnson may have out-Hitered Hitler. This is why I called my previous e-mail "The LBJ University of Dirty Tricks." The GANGSTA is still running the USA from the grave. He is the mentor, the teacher of the corrupt neo-liberals and neo-cons who have been running Washington, Wall Street, the Pentagon and the intelligence community since the coup d'etat of Nov. 22, 1963.

Some of you may recall from books and films about Hitler foaming at the mouth in rage, blaming his generals for his own incompetence micromanaging the war in Europe and Russia. Well LBJ did the same, blaming the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) for the misconduct of the war on Vietnam.

On page 348 of Phil Nelson's latest book, he quotes Marine Corps Lt. Gen. Charles G. Cooper who reported his own eyewitness account of a JCS meeting, "Noting that it was he (LBJ) who was carrying the weight of the free world on his shoulders, he called them (the generals and admirals) filthy names--shitheads, dumb shits, pompous assholes--and used the 'F-word' as an adjective more freely than a Marine in boot camp would use it. It was unnerving, degrading."

Admiral David McDonald said of LBJ's psychotic meltdown at this time, "It was the worst experience that I could ever imagine."

Johnson had very serious psychological problems that many on his staff including Bill Moyers recognized but all were afraid of him and did nothing. But Phil Nelson has the quotes and the sources proving LBJ's SERIOUS emotional sickness.

How the corporate media and especially Hollywood has ignored the criminal insanity and high crimes and misdemeanors of LBJ is a wonder. When they do and the floodgate is opened, it's going to be amazing. For instance I suspect the corporate dictatorship--in allowing these critical books on Johnson to be published--may be trying to throw LBJ "under the bus" to protect the remainder of their criminal empire. If not now, then soon there might hopefully be a US Truth & Reconciliation Commission like the one that helped South Africa transition to democracy.

If you read no other book about LBJ, this is the one for you. And you would be doing your local area a great service by encouraging your library to buy Phil Nelson's latest book.

Tom Cahill

PPS. Friends,

Can we agree that the "Military/Industrial Complex" has many names including the "shadow government," the "invisible government," and the "corporate dictatorship," the last of which I favor?

Now for a double question a LITTLE tougher. How could the corporate dictatorship rule so effectively for so long--since the coup d'etat of Nov. 22, 1963--to the present without the help of the corporate media (aka the "mainstream media")? And how could the corporate-owned media (fast becoming a monopoly) be so effective in covering-up so much criminal and treasonous behavior in government without the help of "spin doctors" of the public relations firms on Madison Avenue and K Street (recommended viewing, BBC's "The Century of the Self")?

Now can we agree that Lyndon Baines Johnson, with his deep-seated psycho/spiritual illness, set the example and thus the stage for the criminally-insane rulers of the USA since his reign of treason and terror?

As I've mentioned before, I've been an LBJ watcher since 1959 and my thirty-page plus essay-in-progress since 2004 shows clearly my knowledge and disapproval of the 36th POTUS. But since reading Phil Nelson's latest book ("LBJ: From Mastermind to 'The Colossus,'" 2014), I've become convinced that Johnson has been the mentor (teacher) of most of the Washington gang of thugs that followed him. LBJ showed them how to maximize secrecy and subterfuge to manipulate everyone--friend and foe alike. We might even say members of the ruling elite since 1963 have all been graduates of the "LBJ University of Dirty Politics."

So what can those of us who are nonviolent do to wake the world out of it's psychoma? Here I can only report what I'm doing . . . promoting the use of the following (1) a brainstorming technique taught by the San Francisco Brain Exchange, (2) establishing our own public relations firm(s) and (3) organizing a Truth & Reconciliation Commission like the one that helped South Africa transition to democracy.

So what do YOU think we can do?

Tom Cahill

ED REPLY: Totally off, Tom, with cranks as your primary sources. I wonder if you agree with the proposition that most people believe what they need to believe regardless of the evidence?