Mendocino County Today: Tuesday, Mar 31, 2015

• Sheriff Stories
• Spring
• Bumpersticker
• Navarro River
• History Roundtable
• Grange Month
• Mendo Book
• Asset Seizures
• Catch of the Day
• Wine Giveaway
• The Future
• Meth Dispensary
• Mendo Airspace
• Nicolini Show
• MacDonald Sisters
• Renoir
• First Jailbirds
• Easter Mythology
• Banker Flogging
• Fire Prevention Fee
• Peeping Todd
• DAR
• Water History
• Brush Up Your Shakespeare
• Flow Reduction

SHERIFF TOM ALLMAN speaks to the Unity Club tomorrow, 1pm, (Thursday the 26th), Apple Hall, Boonville. After he runs warrant checks on all the ladies, the Sheriff's true crime stories commence. Coffee and dessert will fuel the event.

YES, we're in the fourth year of a drought, but the hills are still green, the trees are leafing, the wild iris are up and blooming at Scharffenberger's Winery, and out at the Hill Ranch in Yorkville travelers are greeted by a full field of giant Easter eggs. We count our blessings.

BUMPERSTICKER spotted Sunday in Boonville: “Fight Organized Crime. Elect No One.”

THE NAVARRO RIVER is flowing at a lower rate than it has since 1950, the year recording keeping by the USGS began. As of this writing (Monday morning) it is down to 37 cubic feet per second (cfs). The previous record low for this day of the year was in 1988 when it got down to 45. On March 30 in 1974 the Navarro was flowing at 20,900 cfs - the maximum recorded. Two other figures given by USGS are Median at 356 cfs and Mean at 1080 cfs. Somebody out there help me out. I think "Mean" means average and "Median" means midpoint but 356 certainly isn't midpoint between 36 and 20900. Two other statistics given by USGS are "25th and 75 percentiles". I'll probably have to contact them to find out what those are. Even as low as it is, the river is a beautiful place. The water is cold and clear with no algae or scum. I am seeing a fish or two here and there, smaller now at 10 to maybe 14 inches than the 18 steelhead about 20 inches long I saw a couple of weeks ago. The small fry must be there (I hope) but I'm missing seeing them. The occasional turtle is always fun to watch through the clear water as it scurries around searching for those tasty morsels. The ducks are back too, mostly mallards and mergansers, pairing up and probably sitting on eggs or getting ready to. The downer to any enjoyable walk along the river's edge is when you stumble across another vineyard pump set up and positioned to start pumping at any time. Whether they pump or not we'll never know unless we happen to be there when their pumps are going. Though they claim otherwise vineyards do have a history of pumping at will. This week's mention will be of the pump for the Corby vineyards (I'm told that maybe Corby doesn't own the place any more) downstream from the Philo/Greenwood bridge. The 40 horsepower pump that sucks water through a 6 inch flexible rubber pipe is mounted on a metal track with a hand crank to raise and lower it depending on river height. It is at this time in the lower position with suction pipe completely submerged in the water. One flick of the switch for a few hours in the middle of the night and who but the fish and their friends would ever know? (David Severn reporting)

THE AV HISTORICAL SOCIETY tells us they are hosting their third History Roundtable on Sunday, April 12th at 1:30pm at the Anderson Valley Grange, Philo. "A panel of speakers has been invited to share their memories of life in the valley during the 1970’s. The panel will consist of those who came to the valley during those years and those who were here to 'welcome' them. What fun it will be to hear the stories from these years when the valley 'welcomed' many newcomers, often called 'Back-To-The-Landers'. A $5 donation is requested. Refreshments provided. Several authors and/or “Book Experts” from our library of books will be on hand following the Roundtable. This is an opportunity to get a signed book and/or hear the stories first hand."

THE FORUM will be moderated by Mary O'Brien. Panelists include a group of people already resident in the Anderson Valley when the counterculture arrived: Ernie Pardini; Gary Johnson; Beryl Thomasson; Carolyn and Jimmy Short; Dan Kuny. The then-newcomers will include JR Collins; Morgan Baynham; Karen Ottoboni; Dave Severn; Captain Rainbow.

QUIET WEEK, these past seven days in the neo-sedate precincts of the Anderson Valley as our Historical Society gears up for a roundtable discussion of the local culture clashes of the 1970s when our county's ruling circles — lawyers, judges, school teachers and bureaucrats and, of course, our “helping professionals” — were running around naked in the hills. Never having been a great respecter of authority myself, but having been as annoyed by hippies as severely as the so-called rednecks, I much enjoyed the mutual hostility rending the community of those times, and, to me anyway, The Valley was a much more interesting place than it is now, now that it has been blanded down by the influx of big money. As silly and as pretentious as the hippies were, at least they were funny, and the animosities they aroused in so-called straight people were downright hilarious. The true history of the Anderson Valley in the 1970s was written in the Boonville Lodge. The stuff that went on there was, was, was… Well, you had to have been there. Or talked to the survivors the next day. Sunday's roundtable won't be boring. The 1970s in the Anderson Valley never were.

GREG KROUSE WRITES: "Yes It is true. You can join the Grange for a free month. Aside from secret handshakes and passwords, they actually have a pretty cool fraternal order that has always recognized women as equal, valued the land and one another. It is also the first piano series month. Watch for ads here, for Dancing on Ivories featuring April 18th at 7 Pm, the incredible Elena Casanova. Aside from being an incredible pianist and playing impassioned classics, Elena brings us music from her homeland of Cuban masters. Her Cuban music is very moving and her passion for playing is exciting to watch. Presales will be announced shortly at local stores. $15 for adults and $12 for grangers and children.  This is the best way to keep culture in the valley. You don’t have to drive over the hill to see great performances and can eat local too."

THE EMINENT NOVELIST, T.C. Boyle, has a new book about to be released which appears to be based on life in contemporary Mendocino County. It's called “The Harder They Come” and “takes place about as far west as you can get in the continental United States, on the coast of Northern California and in the rugged mountains and forests that rise from the sea… Adam (one of the central characters) also has a lover, a woman twice his age who shares both her bed and a loathing of the establishment with him.” Uh oh. That could be about a third of all the counterculture couples between Gualala and Covelo. Boyle seems to spend a lot of time in this area, an area as rich in vivid characters as any place in the country, probably because so many different kinds of people rub up against each other with unpredictable and often violent results. Boyle's “Budding Prospects” is the best fiction I've read on the early days of the pot business before it became Mendocino County's primary export crop. It was centered on young men busy in the hills of Willits. Your reviewer thought “The Tortilla Curtain” was the most affecting of Boyle's fiction I've read, and I'd recommend it as a realistic look at the awful experiences suffered by unskilled, illegal and non-English-speaking immigrant labor.

THANKS FOR THE DONATION, BOYS. The press release begins: “A Mendocino County Sheriff's Deputy was driving behind a pickup truck on Highway 101, near the Gobbi Street exit, when he saw an occupant of the vehicle violate the Paul Buzzo Act…” Like everyone else we had to look up the Paul Buzzo Act, which turned out to be laws against littering. The two yobbos pulled over in deference to Paul Buzzo had significant quantities of dope and $142,000 in cash, money that now belongs to law enforcement, Mendocino County. This bust occurred last week about 11:30pm. If it were atypical it wouldn't be worth noting, but versions of it happen all the time, and wouldn't you think people engaged in illegal activity would be just a little more careful than to toss their Big Mac wrappers out the window when they're driving around with large amounts of dope and cash? Every week, somewhere in Mendocino County, a mentally challenged someone is driving around in the middle of the night with a taillight out or an expired registration, etc. The guy (and it's inevitably a guy) is pulled over, often because he's the only person on the road late at night and discovered to be in possession of startling amounts of dope and cash.

ACCORDING TO THE DA's office, in 2014, the total value of assets seized in Mendocino County was a whopping $5,281,306. Of that, $3,933,766 was cash. In 2013, a cool $1,870,648 in cash was confiscated by the forces of law and order out of a total amount of $2,357,511.

CATCH OF THE DAY, March 30, 2015

JUAN ALVAREZ, Ukiah. Pot possession for sale.

KEVIN BODJACK, Ukiah. Probation revocation.

DAVID BOWERS, Fort Bragg. Suspended license, pot sale, probation revocation.

KHADIJAH BRITTON, Possession of meth, probation revocation.

ANARBOL GALVEZ, Calpella. Pot cultivation and possession for sale.

AHAMED HERNANDEZ, Willits. Rape.

AARON KOSKI, Fort Bragg. Under influence of controlled substance, probation revocation. (Frequent flyer.)

JONATHAN MIRAVALLE, Ukiah. Court order violation, violation of county parole, probation revocation.

PATRISHA MOODY, Ukiah. Probation revocation.

STEVEN MOSES, Ukiah. DUI-Drugs.

THERON NELSON, Fort Bragg. Domestic battery, suspended license, probation revocation.

ANALICIA SUTHERLAND, Ukiah. Under influence of controlled substance.

TASHINA TILLMAN, Willits. Failure to appear.

DOUGLAS WATERHOUSE, Novato/Hopland. DUI, no license or suspended license, child abuse, failure to appear, unlawful evidence of registration.

PUBLIC NOTICE

Bulk Wine Distribution

As a result of recent tax-lien settlements with several bulk wine distributors, Mendocino County has received a large quantity of wine which by law, cannot be sold. This wine will be given away to the residents of Mendocino County on first-come, first-served basis. Each resident over 21 years of age may receive three (3) gallons of wine, either red or white. This wine will be pumped directly from oak aging barrels into individual glass or plastic containers which you must provide.

Distribution for Anderson Valley will take place on Wednesday, April 1, 2015 at the Mendocino County Fairgrounds in Boonville starting at noon and will continue until all wine has been given away.

Jay Eldee

California Distribution Coordinator

THE WAY OUT is to get with the program, shed the dead-weight and go where reality wants to take you. In the USA that means do everything possible to quit supporting giant failing systems — Big Box shopping, mass motoring, GMO agribiz, TBTF banks — and get behind local Main Street integrated economies, walkable towns, regular railroads, smaller and more numerous farms, local medical clinic health care, artistry in public works, and community caretaking of the unfit. All this surely implies a reduced role for the national government, and maybe the states, too. You could call it a lower standard of living, or just a different way to live.

— James Kunstler

ON-LINE COMMENT OF THE DAY

I think we could save a lot of resources, and possibly help slow global warming, by putting a meth dispenser across the street from the county jail. To avoid claims of entrapment, it could have a big sign over it that says, "Free meth, but taking any will get you arrested." Like moths to the flame, the tweakers will walk out of the door of the jail, see the sign, and go grab some. Then they can be arrested and sent back to the pokey without all this driving around and chasing them. Heck, you could even hook bungee cords onto their belts, and as soon as they grab the dope... SPROING! Right back to the booking desk they go.

MENDO AIRSPACE, NOT NORCAL

Dear Editor,

In my last letter printed in the 3-11-15 paper, I made a mistake in the facts I was so emphatically stating. I had said there're no commercial flights over Northern California, but meant to say over Mendocino county. That is the fact that the FAA map I saw is backing up.

Thanks,

Marvin Blake, Elk

THIS KID HAS REAL TALENT

Dear Faithful Readers and Enthusiasts of My Art and Writing,

Thank you so much for being loyal readers over the years. I know I am not as responsive as I would like to be, but I am a working full-time at a day job while taking care of my daughter and trying to squeeze art and writing in the little windows of time that I have. I very much appreciate your enthusiasm for my work.

I am very excited to announce that I will be having a solo art show featuring my new Dead Rock Stars series at Beyond Baroque in Venice, CA Jan 9 - Feb 6, 2016.

I am calling for help to generate the funds necessary to frame and mat the art, put together the book (which will include my art and writing) and travel for me and my daughter to go to the show.

I have launched a kickstart campaign on Indigogo. Every little bit will help this dream come true. I grew up on the streets, am a self-taught artist, and this is a once in a lifetime opportunity for me.

Please check out my video about the Dead Rock Star series and ways that you can help here:

https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/dead-rock-star-pen-noise-show-at-beyond-baroque/x/10251560

Also please help me spread the word! I need to raise $3,000 in 60 days. Everyone who contributes will receive something.

Thank You For Helping Me!

With much gratitude,

Kim Nicolini

CONCERT IN POINT CABRILLO LIGHTHOUSE

April 23rd, a Thursday - Doors open at 7:00, Starts at 7:30

CASSIE & MAGGIE MacDonald, dynamic Celtic sister duo from Antigonish, Nova Scotia. The rich heritage of their Scottish roots is evident as they fiddle and dance, sing and strum while charming audiences. Tickets $20 in advance through April 19th , $25 after April 19 and at the door if available. Leave a message online at concerts@PointCabrillo.org or via phone 707 937-6123 Cassie and Maggie MacDonald encompass everything you could ask for in a musical act, their talent is only surpassed by the joy with which they so generously share it. Exciting and innovative, they’ve found the perfect balance between musical integrity and sheer entertainment. While still staying true to their Celtic roots, they explore and test the boundaries of traditional music, bringing a breath of fresh air to the genre with their original compositions and arrangements. Sisters, cohorts and collaborators, Cassie and Maggie have been enchanting audiences far and wide with their infectious energy, driving rhythms and lilting melodies.

http://www.cassieandmaggie.com/home

FIRST JAILBIRD'S CLUB:

Dear Charter Member,

Everything is advancing very well toward our June 1 symposium in Washington D.C. We now have more than dozen of us committed to the event.

I have attached a rough draft of the news release which will go out in the next two weeks. If you have changes (other than grammar - I'll have the copy editor tackle that one) then please let me know.

Please forward to me anyone you wish to invite and I will make sure my assistant gets those invitations out via email at the same time.

A couple of things worth noting:

We are attempting to get a keynote speaker to draw additional attention to the event. We have extended an invitation to Aaron Sorkin, but if there is someone else you would like, then please let me know ASAP.

A couple of members of Congress have approached us about a National Shield Law. If they sign on with us, then they may well be part of the event on June 1.

C-Span is covering the event. We will also live-stream the event to selected websites and I will provide links for that once the deal is done.

You can see we've picked up quite a few sponsors who will help supply the audience and there is a lot of buzz regarding the fact that we've never been together as a group before - and a great deal of excitement about what we can actually accomplish.

Personally, first things first. Let's all get together and shine a light!

Thanks for everyone's kind words. I'll be in touch during the next few weeks as we finalize the program.

I look forward to seeing some of you again and definitely look forward to meeting many of you for the first time.

Any questions? Just give me a call on my cell 301-442-1622 or pick a variety of emails:

• bkarem@aol.com
• Karem@mocovox.com
• Editor-mc@thesentinel.com

Yours,

Brian Karem

PS. Black t-shirts with white lettering "The first jail birds Club"?

* * *

THE FIRST JAIL BIRDS CLUB June 1 Symposium From:

Washington D.C. – For the first time in history, nearly all of the living members of the media who’ve been jailed defending the First Amendment will gather for a symposium in support of International Whistle Blowers week at the National Press Club, Monday, June 1.

“The men and women who’ve defended the First Amendment with their sacrifices represent newspapers, television stations, bloggers, film makers, and editors. They’ve never got together before. It is truly a historic occasion,” Said John Donnelly of The National Press Club.

Sponsored by The National Press Club, The Reporters Committee for the Freedom of the Press, The First Amendment Coalition, Expose Facts.Org, The Maryland Delaware District of Columbia Press Association, and the Institute for Public Accuracy, the symposium will feature more than a dozen of the living members of the media who’ve been fined, detained or jailed in their support of First Amendment liberties.

“The freedoms offered to us and guaranteed by the First Amendment should be defended vigorously. It is those freedoms which enable us to be independent gatherers of facts and help us play a vital role in the Republic,” said Donnelly.

The event, moderated by 1991 National Press Club’s National Freedom of the Press Award recipient Brian Karem features Judy Miller, Vanessa Leggett, Libby Averyt, Jim Taricani, Josh Wolf, Lisa Abraham, David Kidwell, Sid Gaulden, Andrew Shain, Brad Stone, Timothy Crews and Bruce Anderson.

(I will add as many as three others who are also trying to be with us that day. And will mention a keynote speaker if I get confirmation prior to April 15. ? or will update this if we get it afterward.)

The group will honor those reporters who are no longer with us who made the sacrifice of being detained or fined and will also honor the current efforts of reporters struggling to support the First Amendment.

In addition, during the symposium the group will discuss problems the media have in covering these issues, the problems prosecutors face when confronted by reporters supporting these issues, and will take up the issue of a national shield law to protect reporters from prosecution.

(We may move this up if we get a sponsor for the proposed legislation. Two congressmen and one senator are currently considering signing on with us in this measure.)

“Every state in the union has a shield law to protect reporters and there is every reason for the federal government to supply the same support for reporters doing their job,” said Donnelly.

The event will occur 6 p.m. on June 1, at the National Press Club.

EASTER MYTHOLOGY

by William Edelen

The image of a god, buried in a tomb, being withdrawn and said to live again, is thousands of years older than the Jesus stories.

Of all the resurrected savior gods that were worshipped before — and at the beginning of the Christian story — none contributed so much to the mythology developing around Jesus as the Egyptian, Osiris. Osiris was called "Lord of Lords," "King of Kings" and "God of Gods." He was called "the good shepherd," "the resurrection and the life," the god who made "men and women to be born again." He was the Egyptians' "god man" who suffered, died, rose again and lived eternally in heaven.

The Egyptians thought that by believing in Osiris and participating in various rituals they would share eternal life with Osiris. Egyptian scripture says: "As true as Osiris lives, so truly shall his followers live."

The coming of Osiris was announced by Three Wise Men. His flesh was eaten in the form of communion cakes of wheat. And finally, Egyptians came to believe that only through Osiris could one obtain eternal life.

The much loved 23rd Psalm of the Bible is a modified version of an Egyptian text appealing to Osiris, "the good shepherd," to lead the dead to the "green pastures, and still waters," to "restore the soul" to the body and give protection in "the valley of the shadow of death."

A number of years ago, there was an outstanding television series of 13 shows called "The Long Search," which documented human religious experience. It was produced for the BBC and shown later in the United States on educational channels.

The section on the ancient Near East was written by Dr. Grace Cairns, who holds a doctorate in religion from the University of Chicago. She wrote: "Because Osiris was human as well as divine, his resurrection signified that every righteous person could likewise rise from the dead and have eternal life if he observed the proper procedures."

She went on to write of the continuity between Osiris and the mythology that accumulated around Jesus. Like the followers of Osiris, the followers of Jesus made him a part of themselves by eating him symbolically so as to participate in his resurrection.

The Bible says: "He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, dwelt in me and I in him." (John 6:56).

Gods of that period who were eaten in the form of bread included Adonis and Dionysus, among many others. Other resurrected gods of that period, before Jesus, were Attis and Mithra. Like Jesus, Attis was sacrificed at the spring equinox, rose again from the dead on the third day and ascended to heaven. Like Mithra and the other solar gods, he celebrated his birthday nine months later at the winter solstice.

We are all going to have a joyful time, hiding and looking for Easter eggs with the children. The Easter bunny goes back centuries before Christianity. He was the Moon Hare and sacred to the goddess in many religions.

I like knowing how our rituals fit into the larger picture of our human family. Knowing the origin of our celebrations enriches their dimensions and places us — and our time — within a historical perspective, religiously.

Once again, it relates us to "time past and time future... where past and future are gathered... pointing to one end... which is always present." (T.S. Eliot).
~~

ALBION FIRE TO DISCUSS CALFIRE FEE USAGE

The Woods Clubhouse

43300 Little River Airport Road, Little River

Sunday, April 12, 3:00

Albion Little River Fire Protection District will be hosting a community meeting to gather public input on how we want the State Responsibility Area (SRA) Fire Prevention “fee” utilized. Please bring your ideas and help collaborate on prioritization. Coast residents beyond our district are encouraged to participate. The “fee” of $117 ($152.33 minus $35 for those within boundaries of a local fire protection agency) per habitable structure has been collected by the state for a number of years and can be used to support prevention: "Such activities include fuel reduction activities that lessen the risk of wildland fire to communities and evacuation routes, defensible space inspections, fire prevention engineering, emergency evacuation planning, fire prevention education, fire hazard severity mapping, implementation of the State and local Fire Plans and fire-related law enforcement activities such as arson investigation.” Evacuation routes, distributed water storage, brush chipping and fire hazard analysis are high on my list, but I intend to champion your ideas to ensure we have a strong community voice. I’ve touched on some of these areas in a recent letter to Mendocino County Board of Supervisors ( http://ted.net/fire ), but this meeting will have a much broader scope. The SRA “fee” has been controversial since inception. Let’s make sure we have a voice in its application.

http://firepreventionfee.org/sra_faqs.php

Ted Williams

Chief, Albion Little River Fire Protection District

EX-MENDO FIRE CAMP PRISON GUARD gets year for recording girl

http://www.pressdemocrat.com/news/3734161-181/ex-mendocino-county-prison-guard-gets

DAR LIVES

The Daughters of the American Revolution is non-profit org.: a service and historical group. You can find more info at dar.org.

Interested in joining the Daughters of the American Revolution. An informational meeting is planned for any woman 18 years or older.

May 2, 2015, 10 a.m.
293 SEMINARY AVE
UKIAH, CA 95482

For more information please e-mail: darmendocino@gmail.com

Thank you

Denise Houx

DROWNING CALIFORNIA'S HISTORY

By Will Parrish

The state's Water Resources Center and Archive has played a crucial role in documenting — and shaping — California water history. Longtime users say it has greatly declined since leaving Berkeley.

One of the defining issues of California's turbulent water history has been the draining of the creeks that feed into Mono Lake — a unique saline soda lake that is historically home to an enormous abundance of wildlife — by the City of Los Angeles. In 1983, the California Supreme Court took up the landmark case National Audubon Society v. Superior Court, which was to determine the fate of the creekwater diversions in light of new environmental laws.

Years prior, the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power had unceremoniously thrown away consultant reports from the 1920s that measured water flow in the Mono Lake creeks prior to the diversions. The lone place where these crucial documents were preserved was the California Water Resources Collection and Archives (WRCA), which for decades was located on the fourth floor of UC Berkeley's O'Brien Hall. Longtime users of the archive fondly recall the ramshackle feel of the WRCA, including the paint peeling off the walls and the dilapidated red couches that humorously recalled 1950s Soviet Russia. They were markers of a facility doing a lot with a little.

In preparation for the Supreme Court case, lawyers from both sides hunkered down in the archives. Partially on the strength of information found by attorneys, the high court ruled that Los Angeles had to restore Mono Lake. The judge also ruled that state regulators have the power to protect "public trust" values, including environmental, recreation, and aesthetic ones.

"That story really shows the importance of the archive, but it's only one of many of those stories," said Linda Vida, who served as director of the WRCA from 1993 to 2013. "It's had a key role in preserving the historical memory about water."

But longtime users of the facility say it's only a shell of its former self, and they worry about its longterm viability. In 2010, the University of California's Division of Agricultural and Natural Resources (ANR) moved the archive from O'Brien Hall to the university system's most remote campus, UC Riverside. Staffing at the archive has since declined from four full-time employees to just one. Its digital archives have not been updated in four years. And its declining support from the University of California is all the more stark, critics say, given the urgency of California's multi-year drought.

Since the state legislature authorized the creation of the WRCA in 1956, it has been the most comprehensive and renowned facility in its field, a repository for most major papers and publications concerning water in the American West. Nowhere else would one likely find under one roof promotional materials for the "Reber Plan" to build two giant dams across San Francisco Bay, old peripheral canal presentations, and original photos of the construction of the Los Angeles aqueduct and of the aftermath of the deadly 1928 collapse of St. Francis Dam near LA — along with current material from all of the state's eight hundred or so water districts. While located in Berkeley, the facility was also an important gathering place for California's self-identified "water research community."

"There was a community that grew up around the archives, and Linda Vida was the contemporary fulcrum of that community," said renowned land use attorney Tony Rossmann, a UC Berkeley law school instructor who has served as counsel in some of California's and the West's leading water and land-use proceedings. Rossmann originally intended to donate his own papers to the WRCA, but he will now donate them to Harvard instead, as a result of the archive's recent travails.

The WRCA's removal from Berkeley was initiated by UC ANR Director Dan Dooley, who is also a longtime farm owner and water attorney. Unlike Rossmann, Dooley had been counsel for some of the San Joaquin Valley's largest agribusinesses. In justifying the decision to move the WRCA, Dooley cited a budget shortfall. The facility, though, required a comparatively paltry $350,000 a year to maintain — roughly equivalent to Dooley's annual salary.

Some observers speculate that UC Berkeley's internal politics had a strong hand in the decision. For several years, leaders of the campus' prestigious engineering school had made it known that they coveted the space occupied by the WRCA. Top officials at the engineering school are also well connected. For example, Cal's current engineering dean, S. Shankar Sastry, serves as faculty chair of UC Regent Richard Blum's $15 million institute, the Blum Center for Developing Economies (Blum is an investment banker and the husband of US Senator Dianne Feinstein). Blum oversaw the selection of Mark Yudof as UC president. Yudof, in turn, hired Dooley.

By December 2010, only six months after Dooley first announced his decision to move the archive, it had already landed in Riverside. "They could have slowed down the whole process so we could have had time to investigate another funding and space option," Vida said. "But they couldn't wait to get it off the books. It was all done top-down, hush-hush."

In a letter I obtained via a Public Records Act request, former ANR Associate Vice President Barbara Allen-Diaz, who worked directly under Dooley, declined a suggestion from a member of an advisory panel to make individual campuses' proposals to house the archives available for public review by faculty members and longtime users. Dooley's office did not respond to a request for comment on this story.

Some critics say UC Berkeley administrators are at least partially to blame for the archive's demise. Rossmann called former Chancellor Robert Birgeneu's failure to fight to retain the archives at Berkeley while at the same time spearheading an expensive retrofit of Memorial Stadium, "a tragedy of Alexandrian proportions."

While in Berkeley, the WRCA put out a newsletter and sponsored a well-attended colloquium, featuring several presentations annually by water policy experts and ecologists. None of these efforts to tailor the facility to water researchers has survived the transition to Riverside. UCR administrators insist, though, that they remain committed to the archive's well being. They cite a recent agreement to expand collaboration with the California State University San Bernardino, which co-manages the archives.

"One thing I would say is that we have been doing a lot of work behind the scenes that isn't evident quite yet," said UC Riverside University Librarian Steve Mandeville-Gamble. He noted an effort by UCR library staff to develop new online aids for easier digital browsing of many collections.

But before arriving in Riverside, the WRCA already had an impressive online presence. It operated the biggest and most-visited website on the UC Berkeley library server. The high-profile Online Computer Library Center (OCLC) rated it highly on a listing of libraries — including the US Library of Congress — with the largest collections of unique materials available online.

Current WRCA librarian Jessica Green estimates that the facility directly supports research by eight to ten UC Riverside faculty. But the facility is no longer the hub it was in Berkeley. And its remoteness from Sacramento has diminished its accessibility by those who shape public policy.

One of the most significant public intellectuals who specializes in global water policy is Peter Gleick, co-founder of the Pacific Institute in Oakland. One of the Institute's signature endeavors is the bi-annual book The World's Water. "When I was pulling together data for the early editions, I got California water data in the archive that I could find nowhere else," Gleick said. "Clearly, the costs of maintaining these kinds of archives are miniscule compared to their value to society."

(This article first appear in the East Bay Express.)

BRUSH UP YOUR SHAKESPEARE

The girls today in society go for classical poetry

So to win their hearts one must quote with ease

Aeschylus and Euripides

 

One must know Homer, and believe me, Beau

Sophocles, also Sappho-ho

Unless you know Shelley and Keats and Pope

Dainty Debbies will call you a dope

 

But the poet of them all

Who will start 'em simply ravin'

Is the poet people call

The Bard of Stratford on Avon

 

Brush up your Shakespeare

Start quoting him now

Brush up your Shakespeare

And the women you will wow

 

Just declaim a few lines from Othella

And they'll think you're a hell of a fella

If your blonde won't respond when you flatter 'er

Tell her what Tony told Cleopatterer

 

If she fights when her clothes you are mussing

What are clothes? Much ado about nussing

Brush up your Shakespeare

And they'll all kow-tow

 

With the wife of the British ambessida

Try a crack out of Troilus and Cressida

If she says she won't buy it or tike it

Make her tike it, what's more As You Like It

 

If she says your behavior is heinous

Kick her right in the Coriolanus

Brush up your Shakespeare

And they'll all kow-tow

 

If you can't be a ham and do Hamlet

They will not give a damn or a damlet

Just recite an occasional sonnet

And your lap'll have honey upon it

 

When your baby is pleading for pleasure

Let her sample your Measure for Measure

Brush up your Shakespeare

And they'll all kow-tow - Forsooth

And they'll all kow-tow - I' faith

And they'll all kow-tow

 

Better mention "The Merchant Of Venice"

When her sweet pound o' flesh you would menace

If her virtue, at first, she defends -- well

Just remind her that "All's Well That Ends Well"

 

And if still she won't give you a bonus

You know what Venus got from Adonis

Brush up your Shakespeare

And they'll all kow-tow - Thinkst thou?

And they'll all kow-tow - Odds bodkins

And they'll all kow-tow

 

If your goil is a Washington Heights dream

Treat the kid to "A Midsummer Night's Dream"

If she then wants an all-by-herself night

Let her rest ev'ry 'leventh or "Twelfth Night"

 

If because of your heat she gets huffy

Simply play on and "Lay on, Macduffy!"

Brush up your Shakespeare

And they'll all kow-tow - Forsooth

And they'll all kow-tow - Thinkst thou?

And they'll all kow-tow - We trou'

And they'll all kow-tow

— Cole Porter

RECLAMATION SLASHES AMERICAN RIVER FLOWS TO 500 CFS!

by Dan Bacher

(Sacramento) This year was the worst ever for steelhead returns to the Nimbus Fish Hatchery on the American River – and things aren’t getting any better with a scheduled drop in flows on the river to 500 cubic feet per second. That means low, warm flows for steelhead and king salmon through the spring and summer unless we receive some late March or April storms to fill the reservoirs in the watershed.

The Bureau of Reclamation will ramp down flows on the American below Nimbus Dam from 800 cfs on March 24 to 500 cfs on March 26. Randi Field of the Bureau said the reason for the reduction in flows is “storage conservation.”

Wilbert Louis Moore, Deputy Public Affairs Officer of the Bureau of Reclamation, on Monday released the following statement, in response to a request by Felix Smith, retired US Fish and Wildlife Service biologist and Save the American River Association board member, and myself for more information about the rationale behind the Bureau's cut in releases:

"On Thursday, March 19, The Bureau of Reclamation held its monthly American River Group meeting. This group includes stakeholder members from federal, state and local government and environmental agencies who discuss information on the operations of the American River. The group provides updates from the various stakeholder perspectives and offer operational alternatives for flows and temperature management in the river.

This month's talk covered flow changes, temperature management and shutter management. Reclamation considers the information provided and uses it to make informed decisions on which options to implement. Due to the persistent drought conditions, conservation of water is a must.

This flow reduction is also being complemented with real-time temperature management to protect fish habitat. Should conditions improve, Reclamation will make the appropriate adjustments to provide as much water as possible while at the same time working to manage for all other important requirements related to water use, including human health and Safety and Delta Salinity requirements."

The fish hatchery staff has trapped only 143 adult steelhead, including 93 females and 45 males, to date, according to Gary Novak, hatchery manager. That compares to a total of 546 adult steelhead, including 527 adults and 19 half pounders, last season.

The hatchery has taken a total of 186,488 eggs so far. With some additional eggs that they received from Coleman Fish Hatchery, they plan to release 144,000 steelhead yearlings next February on the American.

Novak plans to keep the fish ladder open until the end of March, hoping that some additional fish come into the facility.

The poor steelhead returns this year are believed to be the result of the poor management of Folsom Reservoir by the Bureau of Reclamation during the drought. By January 2014, the Bureau emptied Folsom Reservoir on the American River to only 17 percent of capacity, the lowest level in history. The federal water agency shipped the water to corporate agribusiness on the west side of the San Joaquin Valley, Southern California water agencies and oil companies conducting fracking and steam injection operations, in spite of 2013 being a record drought year.

The result was low, warm conditions in the American, inevitably leading to poor survival of adult and juvenile steelhead as the cold water pool in Folsom was drawn down.

As Billl Jennings, executive director of the California Sportfishing Protection Alliance (CSPA), said, “The steelhead died for a noble cause — almonds. The reason why American River steelhead are in collapse is the same reason why Delta smelt, longfin smelt, striped bass and other fish are down to less that 1 percent of their historic levels – overpumping of Delta water." (https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2015/02/19/18768785.php)

For more information on the temperature and water flow requirements for steelhead and salmon on the American River, go to: http://www.fishsniffer.com/reports/details/unraveling-the-mysteries-of-american-river-