Mendocino County Today: Saturday, Mar 7, 2015

• Stolen Truck
• FB Rally
• Herbicide Meeting
• County Deficits
• Trash Traffic
• Helping Homeless
• Hotel Considerations
• AVA Mascot
• Marine Sanctuaries
• Missing Girl
• Utility Repairs
• Marco Updates
• Police Reports
• Catch o'the Day
• Alex Johnson
• Water Theives
• Mr Fish
• Klamath Rights
• California Royalty
• Forest Supervisor
• Israel's Weapons
• Youth Today
• Online Dating

WHO'S GOT MURPH'S TRUCK?

Stolen Truck — Mountain View Rd, Manchester - Tues 3/3/15 @ 2:30-3:00 AM.

Gold 1995 Chevy 4WD (K1500) work PU.

Decal "TD" on upper passenger door window.

Rear bumper sticker "Living to Pull" (arm wrestling)

CA license plate 5A22228

If anyone sees it please call the CHP or Sheriff immediately.

Thank you.

If anyone sees it please call the CHP or Sheriff immediately. (And 707-489-8910 or 707-489-8010) Thank you.

RALLY TO SAVE the Old Coast Hotel last night (Friday) was described by MendoSportsPlus as a friendly affair "more like a block party."

Good turnout, passing traffic overwhelmingly supportive of the demonstrators.

WAS THURSDAY'S meeting with the Mendocino Redwood Company at the Comptche Community Center productive? An attendee says, “Well, from the anti-herbicide perspective, yes, certainly. An excellent turnout, with a majority of speakers being reasonably concise and to-the-point. So we didn’t have to suffer through a lot of long windy speeches, and, instead, we got to hear from many different people. A mosaic of opinion, all, save one, mildly to highly critical of current MRC practices. I was surprised that Mike Jani did not attend. He sent two employees, who ‘came to listen.’ So they got an earful of unrest and unhappiness from the community. What MRC will do with this information, if anything, is yet to be seen.”

THE TOTAL PROJECTED MENDOCINO COUNTY MENTAL HEALTH DEFICIT is $4.6 million, of which $3.9 million is state audit exceptions from 2008, 2009 and 2010 - long before privatization. The State giveth and the State taketh away. Technically, the County is not fined or compelled to write a check, but future reimbursements for money already spent by the County are not reimbursed until the audit exception amount is recovered. It is an ongoing prob that the County has never gotten a handle on for several reasons, which include (in no particular order) the ability of the state to go back seven years or more to demand reimbursements and different state managers and auditors see things differently — approved expense allocations can be disallowed years later by freshly minted bureaucrats; County employees may have provided services to people who did not qualify, or lack of paper trails, or County managers goofed in interpreting very complex regulations. In the past the County has had some success in mitigating the audit exceptions following an intensive review process, which also sucks up a lot of high dollar County staff time. The concern is that Ortner may be no better than the County at tracking the paperwork and implementing the regs.

THE PARTY LINE on the proposed $5 million trash transfer station goes like this: it will have a minimal environmental impact with about half an acre of pygmy forest destroyed and some pine and cypress cleared away. Except for the driveway, the facility will be invisible from Highway 20. All operations will be enclosed. The purpose is to allow the collection trucks (and self-haulers) an efficient dump process so that these loads can be consolidated into transport trucks for the haul to Jerry Ward's operation in Willits, which will reduce truck trips on Highway 20 and save enough in truck time and mileage towards long term rate stability and pay for the facility. The alternative, offered by Empire Waste Management, Inc., the garbage behemoth and their “paid shill and newly elected Fort Bragg City Councilmember,” as one pro-transfer station put it in an unkind reference to Lindy Peters, is to build it at Empire's Pudding Creek location, which would mean driving most of the Fort Bragg region’s trash through town to the transfer station on Pudding Creek and then all the way back through town and out Highway 20 to Willits. At the Highway 20 location, many collection trucks and self haulers will not need to drive through Fort Bragg at all. Opposition is spearheaded by a couple of neighbors (and no, I would not want a transfer station next door to me, either) but other than the closest neighbors, the impact will be virtually undetectable. And the whole new $5 mil show is a far better alternative than driving all the garbage through town twice, or continuing the status quo which means double the amount of garbage trucks making the round trip to Willits.

THE "TRIPS THROUGH TOWN" argument fails to note that Main Street Fort Bragg is already heavily travelled because it doubles as Highway One. The garbage truck traffic to and from Pudding Creek would barely be noticed because there isn't that much of it. Ditto for Highway 20 along which the trash traffic now travels.

OPPONENTS are hardly confined to “a couple of nimby neighbors.” The new facility will require increased rates to pay it off. Alleged savings via alleged enhanced environmental efficiencies are vague and unconvincing.

INSULTING FB COUNCILMAN PETERS and vilifying opponents of the proposed project is Mike Sweeney's main move against anybody critical of him or his plans. He and former Ukiah councilman and supervisor Richard Shoemaker did the same thing when they tried to foist off a new transfer at Calpella, north of Ukiah. They're allies in this FB thing, too. (Shoemaker exerts influence via his girl friend who is FB's city manager.)

OPPONENTS to Old Coast Hotel conversion to dubious mental health programs, and opponents to the Transfer Station have aligned themselves with the opposition to the mall sprawl-blight planned for the west side of Highway One across at the intersection with Highway 20. The Fort Bragg Planning Commission approved a negative declaration for a retail center, saying everything is hunky dory with the environmental review, but voted against the project. Both sides are appealing to the beleaguered City Council, which is under threat of a recall. (BTW, environmental reviews have an uncanny way of turning out the way the people funding them want them to turn out.) The real target of the recall, in the opinion of Sweeney-Shoemaker and their FB City Council allies, is City Manager Linda Ruffing who has given the Council their marching orders for the last ten years. New Councilmembers Lindy Peters and Mike Cimolino, have made it clear they are not willing to blindly follow the City Manager. The old guard, led by the insufferably smug Mayor Turner and the narcoleptic Doug Hammerstrom, are trying to circle the wagons around the City Manager, brush off the critics as a handful of ill-informed malcontents and keep conducting business as usual. Former Police Chief Scott Mayberry, unceremoniously offed when he got crosswise with the City Manager, is said to be waiting in the wings, either as a recall candidate or as a candidate at the next regular election.

ONE MORE INDEPENDENT vote on the Fort Bragg City Council could mean the end of the preposterous $5 million transfer station off Highway 20, the crazy conversion of the Old Coast Hotel profiting only the well-paid employees of Mendocino County's Industrial Poverty Complex, and a stake through the heart of Todd's Point as shopping mall.

OPPONENTS of the Old Coast Hotel conversion are being portrayed as meanie faces lacking compassion for the homeless, the addicted, the mentally ill. Of course the meanie faces are instinctively opposed to helping strategies, but lots of decent people are fed up at what they view as the cynicism of the people who profit off poverty, and have blithely profited off it for years now as the numbers of wounded people increase in large numbers every year.

LOOK AROUND Mendocino County and you'll see well-paid people — personal friends who hire each other and, natch, vote for professional Democrats, presiding over laughably ineffective “programs” allegedly aimed at getting the addicted and the insane off the streets. They call the drunks and crankers and old fashioned bums “homeless” rather than by the more precise individual, and often self-inflicted, disability.

IF MENDOCINO COUNTY were serious about getting street people help and indoors, the conversation, presently non-existent out of pure self-interest, would be aimed at approaches like the one that just kicked off in San Francisco, where a fat array of poverty pimps have feasted on the addicted, the insane, and the incompetent for 50 years. (Churches used to go it alone, but then the libs figured out that they could make good public money sitting around in meetings all day talking about the problem rather than doing something about it. Then they vote for entrenched Democrats who don't even raise the issue of homelessness and exactly who's out there on the streets. And who's out there, in Mendocino County, are people drinking themselves to death or whose drug habits are out of control. They've got to be compelled into help.)

SAN FRANCISCO has just opened the “Navigation Center” in an abandoned public school in the Mission District. It's “designed to move entire homeless encampments from sidewalk to permanent homes in just 10 days.” We'll see, but at least it's a practical step in the right direction. This is what Mendo needs, a place where the entire unhoused population — maybe 200 people, max — is out of the weather while their special probs are addressed. The habituals, mostly chronic drunks, would live more or less permanently at Mendo Meadows.

DON’T RUSH COAST HOTEL DECISION

To: Fort Bragg City Council, 416 N. Franklin Street, Fort Bragg, CA 95437

Re: CDBG grant for MCHC [Mendocino Coast Hospitality Center] Purchase of Old Coast Hotel

Dear Council Members:

I represent the Concerned Citizens of Fort Bragg, a newly-formed and unicorporated association whose members share, both among themselves and with the MCHC, a desire to see that the homeless in our area are treated with dignity, respect and receive appropriate social and medical services. This core group, a part of the roughly 1,220 residents who signed a petition to you asking that that 101 North Franklin not be the site for the new MCHC facility, are asking for your further in-depth consideration.

If I correctly understand matters, final action has not been taken on this project. On January 12, 2015, you approved Resolution No. 15-014, approving the future transfer of over $1 million to “acquire a homeless services facility.” Your upcoming April 13, 2015 full Council meeting, the agenda shows:

“Consideration of Forgivable Loan Agreement with Mendocino Coast Hospitality Center, Inc., for up to $1,162,791 to Acquire and Rehabilitate the Old Coast Hotel located at 101 North Franklin Street, Using Funds from CDBG Grant #14-CDBG- 9881. Funding for the facility purchase will total $900,000, and remaining funds of up to $262,791 will be allocated for purchase and escrow fees and for rehabilitation plans, construction management, and construction. This will be the final action required of City Council for release of the CDBG funding for this activity.”

I am writing to ask that you final action be deferred and that this matter be reconsidered, including a reopening of public comment. My understanding is that CDBG rules or guidelines allow you to defer the receipt of these allocated monies for a period of three years without penalty.

I base my request for such action on the following points, which include legal attributes worth your consideration.

1. Lack of Accurate Public Notice of January 2015 Meeting

Evidently a number of citizens were confused about both the timing and location of this meeting that was an essential or pivotal one where you passed the resolution in question.

The agenda was publicized on December 31, 2014 but had the wrong address for the project (showing South Franklin rather than North Franklin). The Advocate wrote an article that addressed the problem but it did not appear until January 8, 2015, which was the same day an amended agenda was posted. This, of course, gave the public only four days advance notice of the location and time. The corrective action by City staff is commendable but the resultant time line may not have been legally sufficient.

2. Unclear Allowance of Activity under Zoning Law

The City’s Fact Sheet (“Homeless Services Facility”) found on your website recites that the proposed use “for homeless and mental health services downstairs and transitional housing upstairs is already allowable.” (Emphasis in original.) Similarly, staff’s Agenda Item Summary (Item No. 4A) for the January 12, 2015 meeting expresses that this is a “’permitted use’ in the Central Business District so a use permit is not required.” The Consistency finding on page 3 states the use is “consistent with…Section 18.22.060.B, which allows residential component mixed use only on second or upper floors.”

When I looked up this section, I was somewhat surprised to find that it addresses “CBD Frontage and Façade Standards,” and issues relating to pedestrian street character and flow as well as façade design. I didn’t find anything there about residential upstairs uses. That said, it is evident that section 18.22.030 allows mixed use of CBD property consistent with Table 2-6. When I turned to that table under “Residential Uses,” it appeared to me that “Emergency/transitional shelter” was not allowed.

On the evening of February 27, I wrote to Coordinator Jennifer Owen about the question and she indicated by email of March 2 that, “There is a difference between "emergency/transitional shelter" and "transitional housing.” She added: “I'm not a planner, and both Marie Jones and our planner Sean O'Rourke are out today, so I can't point you to the precise code sections or law that clarify and codify the distinction. I will ask one of them to provide you with more specific information when they return tomorrow.”

Unfortunately, I’ve not heard from either of them at this point. I could not find any further definition in the Code as to the meaning of “transitional” shelter but do note that the project proponents and the City both agree that is a full part of this project. Certainly there are some understood differences between “emergency” and “transitional” shelter, though I’m a bit puzzled where that line is drawn exactly. But I don’t see that the Code discriminates between the two in terms of permitted use. And MCHC evidently will be providing somewhere between five and 11 units of transitional housing.

3. Need for Public Discussion as to Client Privacy & Appropriateness of this Location

You were presented recently with a letter signed by seven social service professionals, indicating that in their opinion the OCH site is inadequate and inappropriate because it does not provide any level of privacy and discreet contact. As all know, this is a very busy intersection and passing motorists will have significant opportunity to scrutinize and comment upon people entering and leaving. Yet client privacy is essential to such providers and anything that might have the effect of limiting client access, e.g. a fear of being seen, labeled and judged, as these professionals put it, would impair effective delivery of services. As they aptly put it, “If you were seeing a psychiatrist or in crisis, would you rather go to a private office or a “Center” in the middle of town being used for classes, housing and possibly a coffee shop?”

Other individual letters have been submitted that echo these concerns. One is by an LCSW who has practices 42 years, noting, “It is difficult enough for some mental health patients to have the courage to go for services, but to be seen by anyone walking or driving by can cause humiliation and shame. The entrances are inplain view of the public on both streets…Inside the building itself, there is very little privacy as well. The walls are thin, it is an old building and partitions will create a visual barrier but not a sound barrier.”

Another LCSW with 30 years practice, ending with, “My greatest fear is that if this is pushed through, and then it fails for all the reasons being expressed by others in our community, it will set back the goal of having a needed place. Let’s insist that our community think long and hard about the needs of the most fragile, and then design an environment where they are welcomed and feel safe.”

4. Questions for which the Public should have Answers

As a matter of robust and complete public discussion, there are a few topics that have remained obscure and demand transparency.

The City’s Fact Sheet indicates that the City voted “to approve the purchase” of the property in question. It does not clarify if the City thereby becomes the actual deed holder in trust for MCHC or whether it is simply handing the money over to that agency. If the City may end up potentially being the owner of the property, for example, were the private service provider to meet its demise or MCHC to change its purposes, what would that mean in terms of taxpayer liability?

Your staff Agenda Item Summary indicates that MCHC “actively searched for a suitable location” over eight months and “at least 20 different properties were considered and reviewed.” But the public lacks any further information about which properties and why they were found unacceptable to MCHC. Nor does the public have any information about the unnamed real estate professional who provided pro bono services.

The Summary recites that it was the “generosity of the Carines” that makes the OCH affordable. Without doubting that assertion, it seems the public ought to be informed about the general parameters of this arrangement and the extent to which a taxwrite off comes into play for the sellers.

There will only be “minimal interior rehabilitation activities,” according to the Summary. How will that provide, then, the necessary privacy and confidentiality for clients? Is a long-range plan to provide confidential services to clients consistent with the opening of a future coffee bar or commercial kitchen and/or computer lab. Does this “arrage of future uses” all comply with zoning and permit laws? Does this mix truly make sense or is it just a selling point?

Is the off-street parking appropriate and will it establish bad precedent? I could not find anything addressing this in the City’s documents to date. Yet these requirements have been rigorously enforced in the past by the City. Why the pass at this point for this project?

Why is this project being expedited? How urgent is the need, given the long-standing loss of units now for some time. What is lost by a further delay of a month or two? Apparently this project hit the City staff’s desk rather suddenly sometime in November 2014 and reached a resolution approval within in less than sixty days. Now the public is also being told that escrow may open by March 15 to move the sale along. All of this is unusual fast-track approval that not everyone in the City gets with their requests. Are there special considerations at work here that the public should know about?

5. Strong Public Sentiment Disfavoring this Location

My understanding is that those who want to see us provide for the homeless but not at this particular location were able in a matter of days to gather over 1200 signatures of residents and business owners. These were presented to you. Evidently they did not sway the vote and the resolution passed with three in favor, one against, and one abstaining. Commonly, in matters involving state environmental regulation, a significant environmental impact can arise by virtue of notable public opposition to a project, requiring the project proponent and lead agency to take this into account in conducting review. While the principle may lack direct application to this particular case, it certainly suggests that the project deserves additional consideration before the money is obtained and disbursed.

6. Inappropriate Compliance with CDBG Citizen Participation Requirement

The City did take the appropriate steps back in 2014 to consult with CDBG when the initial application was submitted. However, as you know, that was for a site at 300 N. Harrison, which proposal was abandoned by November 2014. Apparently both CDBG Section Chief Thomas Brandeberry and the City are of the opinion that no further participation is required. I’m somewhat doubtful about the strength of this conclusion and will be reviewing CDBG guidelines.

I’m sure you know that the HUD “Citizen Participation Requirements” found in subpart (a) of 24 CFR §570.486 [Local government requirements] specify that local agencies must, “Ensure that citizens will be given reasonable and timely access to local meetings, information, and records relating to the unit of local government's proposed and actual use of CDBG funds.” The agency must “[p]rovide for a minimum of two public hearings, each at a different stage of the program, for the purpose of obtaining citizens' views and responding to proposals and questions.” Finally, and of equal importance, the agency must “[p]rovide citizens with reasonable advance notice of, and opportunity to comment on, proposed activities in an application to the state and, for grants already made, activities which are proposed to be added, deleted or substantially changed from the unit of general local government's application to the state. Substantially changed means changes made in terms of purpose, scope, location or beneficiaries as defined by criteria established by the state.” (Emphasis added.]

I’d urge that, out of an abundance of caution and respect for the residents of Fort Bragg, and the fact that you’ve already chosen to publicly agendize the new location for comment, you will consider taking further public input and deferring your final decision.

Sincerely,

Rodney R. Jones, Attorney at Law

Mendocino

A GLASSY-WINGED SHARPSHOOTER has been discovered in Marin County.

This newspaper's favorite insect, the Glassy-Winged Sharpshooter kills grape vines. It first appeared in the grape-growing regions of the state 25 years ago when strict inspection methods against it taking hold in Napa, Sonoma and Mendocino counties were enacted.

FINAL PLAN FOR NORTH COAST MARINE SANCTUARY EXPANSION EXPECTED WITHIN DAYS

A dispute with the Coast Guard that for more than a month has stalled expansion plans for adjoining marine sanctuaries off the California coast appears to be resolved, paving the way for publication of the final regulatory proposal.

http://www.pressdemocrat.com/news/3618697-181/final-plan-for-north-coast

ANOTHER YOUNG GIRL MISSING SINCE MONDAY

by Kym Kemp

“The last time I saw her was when I dropped her off for school,” said Heather Massey about her daughter, Aicelynd. The Eureka woman said her daughter was supposed to spend the night at a friend’s home Monday after school. However, when Aicelynd didn’t come home Tuesday night, her mother discovered she hadn’t spent the night with her friend.

Heather Massey thinks her fourteen-year-old daughter did not leave Eureka at first. “Sometime Monday after school she took off and went somewhere or was taken,” Massey said. “A lot of people said they saw her that night at Winco with a guy.”

Aicelynd, Massey said, most likely headed to Redway or possibly went to Santa Rosa. She is 5’6” tall, approximately 130 lbs., has brown hair dyed red and brown eyes. If anyone has any information, they can contact the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Department at 445-7251, call Heather Massey at (707) 616-5490 or contact the private investigator, Chris Cook, at (707) 839-7422.

For more information, like the Aicelynd is Missing Facebook page.

(Courtesy, KymKemp.com / Redheaded Blackbelt)

CALTRANS IN MENDO:

Route 128 (29.0) – PG&E has been issued a Caltrans encroachment permit for utility repairs near Haehl Street beginning Tuesday, March 10. One-way traffic control will be in effect from 7AM to 4PM, weekdays. Motorists should anticipate 5-minute delays. LC#P128AA

Route 162 (5.7) – PG&E has been issued a Caltrans encroachment permit for utility repairs 1.4 miles west of Bloody Run Creek beginning Thursday, March 12. One-way traffic control will be in effect from 7AM to 4PM, weekdays. Motorists should anticipate 5-minute delays. LC#P162CA

Route 162 (11.9) – PG&E has been issued a Caltrans encroachment permit for utility repairs 1.9 miles east of the Rodeo Creek Bridge beginning Thursday, March 12. One-way traffic control will be in effect from 7AM to 4PM, weekdays. Motorists should anticipate 5-minute delays. LC#P162CA

MARCO MCCLEAN WRITES: Well, the moderator didn't ask the questions I sent in, and she wasted most of the two-hour forum with loyalty-flag dog-whistle questions. But even so, rather because of that, here are my recommendations:

NO on both candidates for District 2.

YES on DOUG MCKENTY for the at-large seat.

YES on DENNIS O'BRIEN for the District 5 seat.

(Not that Doug and Dennis combined will be enough to overcome the terrible oppressive inertia of 25 years of cowardly boards and Nixonian management at KZYX. But, small steps, I guess.)

In other news, I'm live and local (not live and remote) tonight for my 9pm KNYO (107.7fm in and near Fort Bragg) show, meaning the front door'll be unlocked at 325 N. Franklin, next to the illustrious Tip Top bar. I have lots of things to read on the show, but I don't consider it an interruption if you want to come and talk about your project or bring your musical instrument(s) and show off. I'll probably be there till about 3am, live the whole time. Just push the latch, shove the door -- it sticks -- and walk right in.

ON SATURDAY, Feb 28, 2015 at about 126 PM, Ukiah Police Department Officers were dispatched to Wal-Mart (1155 Airport Park Blvd) regarding a physical disturbance in progress. Upon arrival Officers contacted the victim, a Wal-Mart employee and the suspect who was identified as 23 year old Derek Moye. During the investigation officers learned that Moye was attempting to place a money order at Wal-Mart, but that Moye was failing to follow directions. Wal-Mart staff attempted to explain to Moye what he needed to do to complete the transaction but Moye became increasingly hostile with Wal-Mart staff and was asked to leave the store. Moye refused to leave the store when requested to do so and continued being hostile towards employees. The victim employee then approached Moye and told Moye that he and his dog needed to leave the store as he was being disruptive. After Moye refused to leave the store, the employee took hold of Moye’s dog leash and asked Moye to leave the store once more. When the employee did this, Moye pushed the employee in the chest with two hands causing the employee to fall backwards into a wall. When officers attempted to speak with Moye regarding the matter, he became argumentative and officers noticed that Moye was displaying symptoms of alcohol intoxication. Moye was placed under citizens arrest for battery and booked into the Mendocino County jail.

* * *

ON MONDAY, March 2, 2015 at about 12:04 PM, Ukiah Police Department was dispatched to the 1100 block of S. State St. regarding a fight between two males in which one of the males was armed with a knife. This male was later identified as 19 year old Thomas Hanover. Once officers were in the area Hanover had fled and was located in the 800 block of S. State St. During the investigation officers learned that Hanover had been following two females and appeared to be arguing with one of them. The victim observed this and attempted to get Hanover to stop following and arguing with the females. At this point Hanover and the victim began arguing at which point Hanover reportedly displayed a knife and threatened to kill the victim. Hanover was arrested and booked into the Mendocino County jail for terrorist threats and assault with a deadly weapon.

CATCH OF THE DAY, March 6, 2015

JOHN BOWMAN, Fort Bragg. Probation violation.

LINDSEY BUTLER, Ukiah. DUI.

SHANNON CULBRETH, Willits. Drunk in public.

JOSE DURAN, Willits. Under influence of controlled substance.

PATRICK HANOVER, Covelo. Court order violation.

STEVEN HERMAN, Parma Heights, Ohio/Ukiah. Pot possession, sale, transport, furnish.

BAHA JAFFAL, Clearlake/Ukiah. Pot possession/sale.

AMBER LAURENT, Willits. Domestic assault.

JUSTIN OVERHOLT, Ukiah. Battery, resisting-threatening police officer, probation revocation.

JAMIETH ROUND, Fort Bragg. Under influence of controlled substance, destroying/concealing evidence, possession of controlled substance, resisting arrest, probation revocation.

PATRICK SLAUGHTER, Fort Bragg. Domestic assault.

ANDREW SNYDER, Redwood Valley. Trespassing.

FRED GARDNER WRITES:

Obit in yesterday's NYT http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/05/sports/baseball/alex-johnson-dies-at-72-deft-batter-won-a-key-ruling.html

Maybe Marvin Miller didn't do him a favor claiming "emotional problems." Johnson had described himself as "bitter" over racism... The Angels' GM framed him in '71... He took over his dad's trucking business in the '80s and lived "a nice, normal life."

I think I sensed at the time that they were trying to give him a bad rep... Why else would he be among the few baseball cards I mysteriously own?

STOP THE PUMPING

To the Editor:

The Redwood Valley Water District, has no water rights at this time to pump any water out of Lake Mendocino which belongs to the Russian River Flood Control and Water Improvement District (RRFCD), due to the fact that RRFCD has not declared that there is any surplus water available to the RVCWD at this time. The RVCWD water rights permit does not allow the pumping water from Lake Mendocino at this time due to drought conditions, water flows below the Lake, and also the level of the conservation pool at in Lake Mendocino.

Nevertheless, the RVCWD is now pumping unlimited amounts of so-called “surplus water” to agriculture users in Redwood Valley for frost protection possibly reducing the 8,000 acre-feet available to all RRFCD water contractors and users. The RVCWD, use of water for frost protection and irrigation this spring could deplete several thousand acre-feet of water that belongs to the RRFCD causing severe rationing and hardship for RRFCD contract water customers.

The RRFCD Board of Trustees, has taken no action and is abdicating its responsibility, by not making public this action by the RVCWD. In addition, the Trustees are not currently engaged in protecting their own water contractors from this illegal “take” of their 8,000 AF of water at this time.

The RVCWD, although allowing unlimited use of water for frost protection and irrigation, has not lifted the rationing of water to domestic customers of 50 gallons of water, per person, per day. This policy unfairly subsidizes agriculture users not only financially but by giving RVCWD agriculture customers unlimited water at the expense of domestic users. This could open a door for RVCWD domestic customers to initiate a lawsuit against the RVCWD for unfair practices.

The Sonoma County Water Agency could also initiate a lawsuit against both the RRFCD and the RVCWD for endangering their water supplies which come from Lake Mendocino. And the State Water Resources Control Board could step in and issue another cease and desist order against the RRFCD and the RVCWD for allowing unlimited water usage for frost protection in drought conditions.

In addition, the RVCWD is serving water to out of its place of use (and the RRFCD place of use), despite a cease and desist order from the State of California (since 2005), to stop these practices. It is time that the RRFCD Board of Trustees stop the illegal pumping by RVCWD of its 8,000 AF immediately. And it is time that domestic users of RVCWD water are treated fairly by the RVCWD instead of being used to subsidize agriculture users.

— Ava Peterson, Redwood Valley

NEW POST AT KLAMBLOG

Members question Klamath Tribes' vote to approve the Klamath Water Deals

http://klamblog.blogspot.com/2015/03/members-question-klamath-tribes-vote-to.html#more.

It includes a recent press release from members of the Klamath Tribes who have banded together in the group Honor the Treaty of 1864. Here is an excerpt from the post:

“… when it comes to water deals in the American West, the feds have not honored their duty as trustee for the tribes but rather have worked during negotiations to keep the water with (mostly white) irrigators and especially with federal irrigation interests. That, in his view, is a fundamental abrogation of the federal government's duty as trustee to look out for and advance the interest of federal tribes. If that interpretation of the federal trustee duty is correct, tribes may have recourse in the future to reverse some of the western water deals in the federal Court of Claims."

And here is another:

“…Over 30 western water deals involving tribes have already been approved by Congress and many more, including the KBRA and UKBA, are in the pipeline. Several tribes, including the Nez Perce and Klamath Tribes have approved water deals which trade away or agree not to exercise in-stream water rights which have been granted to sustain salmon fisheries. To date, however, few have questioned the morality of trading the water salmon need for funding and other benefits tribal governments want for their people and their reservations. Should federal tribes have the legal right to trade away water the salmon need? Even if they have that legal right, is a tribal government trading away the water fish need morally correct?"

Read the full post, learn how to contact the Honor the Treaty of 1864 group and leave a comment at KlamBlog. (klamblog.blogspot.com)

Felice Pace

Klamath

THE INTERTWINING OF NEWSOMS, BROWNS & GETTYS

http://www.sacbee.com/news/politics-government/dan-walters/article12311672.html

MENDOCINO NATIONAL FOREST’S NEW SUPERVISOR

WILLOWS, Calif. - Ann Carlson was recently selected as the 22nd Forest Supervisor for the Mendocino National Forest. She is scheduled to arrive on the Forest April 6. Currently Carlson is the Eagle Lake District Ranger on the Lassen National Forest in Susanville, Calif. "I feel very fortunate to be selected for this position and look forward to meeting new people and providing leadership for the Mendocino National Forest," Carlson said. A series of public open houses to meet Carlson are being planned later this spring. Carlson has a Bachelor's degree in Aquatic Ecosystems Assessment and Management from Western Washington University at Bellingham and a Master's degree in Aquatic Ecology from Utah State University at Logan. She began her career as a fish biologist on the Tahoe National Forest in 1989. While there, Carlson built partnerships with local groups to provide aquatic restoration opportunities, environmental education and improved fishing. In 2003 Carlson served as Northern Regional Aquatic Ecologist in Missoula, Mont., a position she held until her selection as Eagle Lake District Ranger in 2011. Carlson completed temporary assignments as a District Ranger in South Dakota and as a Deputy Forest Supervisor on the Boise National Forest in Idaho before starting on the Lassen National Forest. "I have spent the past four years learning the ropes of being a District Ranger and preparing to be a Forest Supervisor. I couldn't be happier starting this new adventure," Carlson said. Carlson is very active and enjoys traveling and outdoor activities including biking, running, cross-country skiing, fly fishing and hiking. "I'm looking forward to exploring not only the Mendocino National Forest, but also the surrounding communities and learning more about the area," Carlson said. She is also excited about the move to the area with her fiancé and local adventures. Carlson's daughter Tess shares her love of the outdoors and travel and is currently living in Wyoming.

RESPONSE TO NETANYAHU SPEECH: ISRAEL DESTABILIZES THE NUCLEAR BALANCE, NOT IRAN

On March 2, on the program “Democracy Now,” Noam Chomsky said in reply to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s claims regarding Iran’s nuclear program: “The striking aspect of this is the chutzpah involved. Israel has had nuclear weapons for probably 50 years, 40 years — estimates are 100, 200 weapons. They are an aggressive state — Israel’s invaded Lebanon five times, it’s carrying out an illegal occupation, carries out brutal attacks, like on Gaza last summer.”

Chomsky added that a crucial fact is that “even if Iran” were developing a nuclear weapon, “it would be part of deterrent,” given Israel’s nuclear weapons arsenal. See video beginning at 31:30. Link to video: http://www.democracynow.org/shows/2015/3/2

While the U.S. government has continued a policy with Israel of neither confirming nor denying the existence of Israel’s nuclear weapons arsenal since the Nixon administration, researchers have just obtained release of U.S. government documents “detailing the U.S. government’s extensive help to Israel in that nation’s development of a nuclear bomb,” reports Courthouse News.

Courthouse News continues: “The government fought to delay release of the 386-page report in hearings before Judge Tanya Chutkan in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, who expressed skepticism with the government’s reasons for refusing to provide a single unclassified document.

See: http://rt.com/usa/232203-us-israel-nuclear-weapon/

See: http://www.courthousenews.com/2015/02/12/nuc%20report.pdf

On Monday, March 9, John Sakowicz and Sid Cooperrider at KMEC Radio explore Israel's secret nuclear weapons program, and the consequences for peace in the Middle East, with guests Mark Gaffney and Jennifer Loewenstein.

Our broadcasts at KMEC Radio are heard at 105.1 FM in Ukiah, CA. We also stream live from the web at www.kmecradio.org

Shows are archived and available as podcasts. We're also creating a Youtube channel for shows.

You can support all-volunteer, KMEC Radio, and the Mendocino Environmental Center, at the following:

https://www.paypal.com/us/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_flow&SESSION=CQlsNd18Ne9IKlouZsIgOR-8Baw4AJFZx59JaYPN5d5hpVgeGTAn0xxFytq&dispatch=5885d80a13c0db1f8e263663d3faee8de62a88b92df045c56447d40d60b23a7c

MARK GAFFNEY

Gaffney is the author of Dimona: the Third Temple, a pioneering study of Israel’s nuclear weapons program. He recently wrote: "After many years of official hypocrisy, a U.S. president appears to be playing hardball with Israel. The other day, the U.S. government declassified a 1987 report documenting Israel’s secret nuclear weapons program."

See: http://www.gnosticsecrets.com/pages/dimona.htm

JENNIFER LOEWENSTEIN

Associate Director of the Middle East Studies Program at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Loewenstein just wrote the piece "Netanyahu in Congress," which states: "Either Netanyahu doesn’t read the news, [or] he is hoping that nobody else notices Israel’s de facto alliance with ISIS, or he is more concerned with poking Obama in the eye publicly than in the future of his country, a fact that would not surprise me. Focusing on the dangerous forces lurking in his “neighborhood”, Netanyahu singles out Iran, Lebanon (by which he presumably means Hezbollah), Syria, and Hamas. Unlike most Americans, Netanyahu views the potential of a nuclear capable Iran as a greater threat to regional stability than the spread of ISIS and extremist groups, such as al-Qaida."

See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jennifer_Loewenstein

YOUTH OF TODAY

Maybe if you were some spearheaded guy

I would listen to what you have to say

But you're just some incapable figure

Thinking you're bigger than me but you're not

Yet you don't know a thing

About the youth of today

Stating your opinion

Making it ring in my head all day

And you say, "My children weren't the same

My children's children they're the ones to blame"

And you say, "In my day we were better behaved"

But it's not your day no more

And we are the youth of today

Change your hair in every way

And we are the youth of today

We'll say what we wanna say

And we are the youth of today

Don't care what you have to say at all

And maybe if you had a true point of view

I would listen to you

But it's just your one sided feelings

They keep getting in my way

And you don't know a single thing

about the youth of today

Stating your opinion making it ring in my head all day.

--Amy Macdonald

THE ONLINE PERSONALS

by Paul Modic

And so ends my experience with the online personals: I must've contacted at least 150 women from all over the West Coast in their 40's and I don't know if its my location, age, looks, attitude, aptitude or my profile in general but they're not buying and I can't give it away. (How about trying women your own age you might ask and scary as that thought seems you might have a good point.) So here's the story from the first match.com date in September when she smacked me in the face midway through the second bottle of wine to the last greensingles date a few weeks ago when I inexplicably let a woman I had no chemistry with into my house at 11pm one night.

It all started last September when my neighbor was talking about putting a personal ad on match.com; he couldn't muster up a positive attitude through his slightly depressive fog and no matter how much I encouraged him, and told him I would help him write it, he demurred. Finally I beat him to it and put one in myself although I was hopelessly innocent, getting right to the core of things with my first profile that started out by saying, "I need an heir."

I connected with three women those first few days, emailed them and talked on the phone, and adjusted my schedule slightly to go up to Ukiah on a Saturday afternoon to meet them. One was a very friendly woman of 44 from Willits who had a children's clothing store in Ukiah, another was a 50 year old food stamp intake worker for the county, and the third was a 43 year old physical therapist with an extreme Texas drawl. (On the phone it took me an hour to get the food stamp worker to finally admit that she DID want sex, and that's why she put in the ad — my best friend once told me that my "evil side" is badgering people in denial to admit the obvious).

So off I went down highway 101, the winding wooded road along the Eel river toward Ukiah; I stopped in the clothing store and hung out with the proprietor for 45 minutes while all manner of mostly young mothers came by to buy and trade things for their children. At 5:30 I called the physical therapist to arrange our dinner or coffee or whatever she had in mind; I was wondering, as I sat in my car in her neighborhood, if we would meet in a neutral location or if she would invite me to her house (I seem to have a way of disarming women over the phone and email with my effusive openness and confessional style) which would be much more interesting. She called and invited me over for dinner and soon the first bottle of wine was opened. She didn't look as nice as her alluring picture but I am usually in some odd denial when first meeting so it didn't faze me or I didn't really notice. We sat in her backyard and after a glass or two of wine and conversation we took her dog for a walk around the neighborhood.

As we window shopped I took her hand and off we went down the street then back to her house. Behind her rental were two brand new vehicles in her garage, one a big purple jeep with actual longhorns attached to the front, but I wasn't impressed — I saw them as symbols of our consumer religion where people go way into debt over things they don't really need and can't afford. I knew right away she wasn't really a match but I was lonely and enjoy meeting people. She was getting some pre-packaged processed food ready to put into the convection oven, white flour products and fish from Costco, while I set to chopping up the cucumbers for salad. At one point I walked by her in the narrow foyer and briefly put my hands on her shoulders in a quasi-massage fashion.

She erupted. "Don't be humpin' my leg now!" We went back to making dinner, then ate it with me downing most of the fried negative value calories — she said she didn't want to eat till midnight. We went back out to the backyard I called a patio and opened another bottle of wine while she smoked another cigaret. We talked some more then smoked bowl in the kitchen. She started brushing my hair and put her hands on my chest a few times. I thought about saying something like, "Oh, so it's okay for you to touch me whenever you want?" but I figured, well, maybe it really is a woman's prerogative in polite society?

She made a comment about how I would have to drive later and I told her I wasn't driving anywhere, I'd take a taxi to a motel if I had to.

"Well, you can sleep in my spare bedroom then," she said. "You know I'm partial to ya."

I told her about my supposedly unique pubic hair, that no less than two girlfriends had taken samples of, souvenirs, and she wanted to see it.

"C'mon," she said. "If you show me yours I'll show you mine!"

I'm still not quite sure why I turned that one down.

Back out on the patio we had another glass of wine and she leaned over and gave me a little closed-mouth kiss, as cigarette smokers are wont to do.

A few minutes later she said, "Oh, my Broadway dancer!"

Okay, anyone who knows me well knows I'm Mister Open, Captain Honesty and don't tolerate well any fabrication of reality, even harmless exaggerations. But earlier in our conversation I had told her I like to sing (true), that I liked to sing Broadway show tunes (also true — I know all the songs from Hair), and then I had told her I had been a Broadway dancer! Yes, I really said that!

"Look," I said. "I wasn't a Broadway dancer. I don't know why I said that, do I look like a Broadway dancer?"

Whack! She smacked me in the face. Not a slap, not a punch, but a well-placed smack.

"Wow, you're scary," I said, when my flinch subsided.

"You lied," she said.

"Do I look like a Broadway dancer?" I repeated.

"Yeah, you've got that long lanky build."

Now when you get smacked in the face on a first date that's usually considered a big, huge, no, humongous thing we like to call a Red Flag. (I must admit right after she smacked me I irrationally thought for an instant "Okay, now we are going to have sex!")

I suppose most people might have left right then but I have been known to do some impulsive things in the past so I guess I cut her some slack. (For example earlier that summer my cook/house cleaner/garden assistant had quit when during a heated discussion about my lack of happiness I had asked her what I'd been asking all my friends:

"If your life depended on my happiness what would you do?" I also told her she lied all the time, technically correct, but her little prevarications were all harmless and in reality she was the most honest and forthcoming person I know, and has always answered my most intrusive and personal questions. Supposedly bisexual, I once asked her what she liked to do with girls.

"Finger them,"she said.

I really think violence is never appropriate; she never apologized or gave me any reason to think she regretted her actions. I suppose a person with a modicum of self-respect or dignity would have left at that moment but dammit I hate motels, especially Ukiah motels, and though I can be generous and a spendthrift I hate wasting money.

After a little interlude she showed me to my bed; I slept very well and in the morning my first thought was "Now how fast can I get out of here?" Within ten minutes I was ready to go; she came down the hall in her bathrobe. "Would you like some coffee?"

God did I want coffee! "No, I gotta go." That would have opened up a can of time, an hour or more.

"Oh yeah," she said. "You have things to do, places to go."

So that was the first online date — it was weird getting smacked in the face but it did give me a story, a hook, to get you to read further.

After my match.com experience I decided to try OkCupid. I found a woman with a pleasant face who lived nearby — she was about my age which wasn't what I was looking for but I thought what the fuck, maybe I don't really know what I want. My age? Sounded scary but why not give it a try? Although I didn't have a picture posted, or much of a profile except the basics I emailed her and we did that for awhile. She asked for a photo and after I put it up there she said I was very nice-looking and gave me her phone number. We talked a few times, a couple long conversations and it was established that we were both very open and honest individuals. We arranged to meet but because she was known professionally in the area, and because her friends and clients thought she was still married, she wanted to be very discrete. I thought about that for awhile then proposed picking her up on a side street in town and whisking her up the hill to a vacant lot that I coveted and actually visited often.

At the end of our last conversation I asked, "Are you as cute in person as you are on line?"

"No," she said. "I have wrinkles."

Hmm, okay, well, what the heck? People have wrinkles, probably not a big deal.

I loaded a couple folding chairs in my truck, some water and glasses, and a blanket. (Well, a guy can dream!) I picked her up on a side street and as she exited her car I thought wow, she was really wrinkled: deep red furrows covering her face, I'd never seen a face like that before. She got in my truck, we drove up the hill, and parked near the vacant lot; there was already a homeless guy or traveler there sucking on a bottle of beer or booze.

"Oh hey, I was hoping to have a little private meet-up with my friend here," I told him.

"Oh well, I can leave," he said.

"Great," she said.

"Yeah, really, good," I said.

He trundled down the hill with his backpack and we sat on the chairs and talked. She had gotten out of the city, soon followed by her ex, or her husband, or both really as they alternately threatened each other with divorce or proposed reconciliation. He had told her he was planning to kill himself next year and she was distraught about the situation. He had begun to grow weed because there was nothing else to do but he hated the life: the five lighter, dealing with the mites and mold and electric bills, then lugging his suitcase full of pot around San Francisco trying to sell it to the dispensaries.

She had alluded to being something of a slut, having recently hooked up with a Native American in Santa Rosa, but the liaison wasn't fulfilling and she was looking for more. Toward the end of our meeting I asked her to sit on my lap but she refused. I went ahead and manhandled her onto me anyway but she soon squirmed away; we wrapped up our visit and I drove her back to her car.

I fall for the on line photo every time, and when I meet the person and she doesn't match the photo I get into a state of mini-denial and don't realize it for awhile. After this date I thought wait a minute! She didn't look like the picture. It's like that every time and I was tired of it; I took my photos down and decided to get out of the game. It's not that I have anything against a few wrinkles but in our phone conversations we had professed to being so Open and Honest! I looked again at her photo — it was blurry!

She saw I was off OkCupid and called me. "I hate to think I was the reason you got off the personals,"

"You didn't match your photo."

"Well it was taken way back in April," she said, apropos to nothing.

"The thing is," I said, "that I was getting attracted and interested in this image and voice, then when I meet you and see that you don't look the same it changes things, I lose desire."

"Well, I'm sorry you don't find me attractive," she said. "Besides, I'm going to keep exploring it with the Santa Rosa guy. I guess because I saw him with another woman the other day it made me want to have an extra on the side also, as we have an open relationship, if you can call it that." A few weeks later I checked and she still had the blurry picture up — I had never seen a woman so wrinkled.

Then it was on to GreenSingles.com; I had already written three or four profiles and then wrote a couple more in the last month when I contacted so many women between forty and fifty that I became Most Active for my age group (mid-fifties) for men on this site on the West Coast. Huzzah! Or Red Flag? Pretty much all the women in that age group were not interested in me; they mostly lived over 200 miles away or weren't jibing with my unconventional persona.

One woman, 48, did respond; she seemed very nice, her photo seemed nice enough, and we went straight to email, then talking on the phone. She was visiting her daughter in the Sierras and agreed to detour out of her way to meet me on her way home to a mountain near Redding; I offered to help with gas. She kept postponing her return North and I kept eating the big delicious and pricey fancy cupcakes I was buying to share with her. I told her a few times it was best to arrive during daylight but when she finally called me it was 10pm! When I found her in her van, crammed in like a semi-homeless person I noticed right away that she wasn't attractive, like her photos, but in the heat of the meet it didn't really register.

"Hi. Lets walk around town a little," I said, trying to buy a little time, all the coffee shops long since closed. After a block or two she was getting chilled so I thought what the fuck and took her home; she followed me up the hill in her nearly breaking down van. When we got to my house I made some tea and we sat there in my living room drinking it; we talked a little and I thought, "There is no chemistry here; this woman is dull and uninteresting."

"Well, it's getting late," I said. "I'll set you up in the guest house."

As I lead her next door and turned on the light she probably fell in love as she entered my rather lavish party barn. I set her up in the guest bed and showed her around — she was delighted by the over-sized tub.

"Mmm, I'm going to take a bath in the morning!" she said.

"Yeah," I said. "Feel free to sleep in, I know you've not been getting enough sleep on the road; don't drink all the wine!" There were two or three cases still unpacked from the last bi-annual trip to Trader Joe's.

"Do you have one open?" she asked.

"No, do you want me to open one?"

"No, I would just have a little." she said.

I left her there and went back next door to sleep; in the morning I woke up and thought, "What am I doing? I have this woman in my house and there's no chemistry! (A man's definition of chemistry: Is she hot enough that I wouldn't mind my friends seeing us together on the street? A woman's definition might be different.) Am I this desperate and lonely?"

I called some of my friends and wailed and whined my lament, "What am I doing?!"

At ten I went next door and found her still in bed; I sat on the edge and asked her how she slept. "Mmm, I'm looking forward to that hike you talked about," she said.

"Well, its cold and foggy now, that would be later," I said. She looked down at the pretty hardwood floor and said, "I could do some stretching there, some yoga!"

"Well, actually I have to go work on a project so I've gotta get you on the road."

"Oh, okay, I'll get my things together." I went back next door while she trundled her stuff through the gate and into her cluttered van. After a few trips she was loaded up and came over.

"Yeah, this is kind of strange meeting like this," she said.

"Yeah, it is," I said.

"Well, about that gas money?"

"Sure," I said, and gave her $40.

"Oh thanks," she said.

I gave her a hug and then she followed me down the dirt road and into town where I kinda stepped on it to ditch her, and drove on into the next town over. I felt so happy to be free! And then I thought wait a minute, she didn't look at all like her online photo! I fell for it again!

I called my estranged Scrabble buddy Hugo and tried to reconcile; I had impetuously dissed him at my door after he had talked to our dentist about my hesitation and fear of coming in for a root canal. After this last experience of chasing tail or love or whatever it was all I wanted was a relaxing and competitive game with old Hugh.