Mendocino County Today: Monday, Apr 27, 2015

• Naomi's Statement
• FB City Council
• Radio Shack
• Public Defenders
• California Novels
• Galletti Memorial
• Dry Farming
• Tanoak Radio
• Pay Raises
• Ukiah Artwalk
• Tanoak Snags
• Catch of the Day
• Life During Wartime
• Targeting Hobos
• Religion's Purpose
• Policing Baltimore
• Almonds Resnick

WE TAKE IT ALL BACK, NAOMI.

WATCHING last week's Supervisor's meeting as it was getting Bosked near the end, a big guy in plainclothes, presumably a cop, was conferring with Board chair, Carre Brown, apparently asking Ms. Brown if it was time to suppress Bosk by escorting her from the room. With a room like this one, a room full of experienced Hauled-Offs, one guy trying to haul off someone like Bosk wouldn't be worth the mini-riot certain to ensue. BTW, the statement by Naomi Wagner of Willits, not among our fave Mendo personalities, was right on the money, and we reprint it here:

Naomi Wagner: “I would like to acknowledge the fear and anger and tension and frustration in this room. I would like to attribute that to the way the meeting is being run. And to the bias that is being shown in favor of the timber company, in favor of those who are testifying either off-topic or around the subject and just not really getting to the heart of the matter. The way we have been put off is to the point where we really are angry. I don't appreciate being threatened with being thrown out and I don't appreciate being goaded into bullying, okay? I'd like to set that record straight and try to address the topic. We can't trust MRC. We cannot trust their judgment because of their self-interest. It's very obvious. This is not a very complicated matter. Forestry and forest management is complicated, but the fire danger and public safety issue is not complicated. It's about money versus health versus public safety. I wonder why my representative supervisor apparently seems to think that corporate profits are more important than the safety and health of his constituents? I don't get that. Especially since he has property in Spring Creek where I live. And by the way Anne McGlinty is president of my road association and she did have to leave and she did ask me if I could comment for her. That's why I wanted to do that. I refer you to my letter of April 7 that was published in the local Willits paper. It's in your package. I talk about how unfair and outrageous it is for Calfire to — I'm not down on Calfire except that when they come out and tell us small rural landowners to do all these things for the safety of firefighters when we can look out there and see the ridges covered with these incredible flammable torches, these aerial fuel accelerants and yet they are telling us to remove them from our property and then not even providing adequate funding. So it again comes down to the money. For the public, no money, no public health, no public safety. For the corporations, bottom lines. They get to profit at our expense. That's what it boils down to. So I hope that you will overcome that bias if you have it. I don't support this measure because it is so woefully inadequate. When have we seen corporations voluntarily cease and desist from a practice that makes them money? It's against their nature. (Laughs.) So you need to substantially strengthen this proposed resolution and make it into an ordinance, ban the practice, and show some spine, show some commitment to your constituents. Thank you very much."

ALSO, this brief comment from Kirk Van Patten of Comptche:

“I come to you as a landowner and also as a 35 year veteran from Calfire, retired a few years ago. I am in favor of the resolution. I think this discussion is long overdue. My family has owned timberland in a partnership in Comptche for over 47 years. We are bordered on three sides by what used to be Masonite, then Timber Realization Company, then Louisiana-Pacific, now MRC. MRC has actually done a pretty good job. But I do not like the Hack and Squirt. For the last 10 years of my career I was an Air Attack Captain out of the Ukiah air attack base. I managed the air operations on thousands of hours of fires all over California, mostly here in Mendocino County. Next to pot, Hack and Squirt stood out as one of the biggest changes I ever saw in Mendocino County. It scares the heck out of me as a firefighter. I really hope you enact this resolution. This resolution is long overdue. I don't know how far you should carry it, but as a firefighter I think it's extremely dangerous. I saw this county for almost 10 years on a daily basis going to fires and it is — if you haven't seen it from the air you should do that.”

HOSPITALITY HOUSE & THE OLD COAST HOTEL

"In the end we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends." --Martin Luther King, Jr.

Dear Not-Silent Friends,

The Matter of Hospitality House and The Old Coast Hotel comes up before the City Council tomorrow night for (I believe) the final vote:

Receive Report and Consider Adopting City Council Resolution Approving a Forgivable Loan Agreement with Mendocino Coast Hospitality Center to Use Funds from Community Development Block Grant #14-CDBG-9881 to Acquire and Rehabilitate the Old Coast Hotel and Authorizing City Manager to Execute Same (Amount NTE: $1,162,791; Account No. 315-5014-0630 and 315-5014-0632)

Come and say a few words in support.

Norma Watkins

RETAIL SALES. I'd read somewhere that Radio Shack is bankrupt, but it didn't occur to me until I went looking for a ball game transistor radio the other day what the company's demise looked like. A ball game transistor is a tiny pocket radio you can listen to the ball game on without disrupting a room full of non sports fans. A radio play-by-play, whatever the sport is radically superior to the tv boys. Anyway, I won't name the store because I admire how the two guys running the place were handling their last days of employment. The internet has a way of getting people in trouble, and I don't want to risk my comments following them around.

AS I ENTERED this Radio Shack, and walked up to the counter, a guy was on the floor under the register. He yelled, "goddammit!" as he threw what looked like a cabinet drawer onto the floor."Shit!" Another drawer hit the floor. I couldn't see anybody else in the store, so I just stood there listening to the guy swear and throw pieces of cabinet around until a huge guy emerged from the back. Really huge. Like 500 pounds huge. He lumbered towards me, breathing hard with every step. "Can I help you," the big guy wheezed. I told him what I was looking for. "Over there somewhere," he said, throwing a thigh-sized arm vaguely east of where we were standing. I thought he might walk me where the radio was, but he didn't move. And he was so big, and movement so difficult for him, I tracked down the radio unaided. The other guy continued to fight the cabinetry, rolling around on the floor with pieces of it and cursing..

THE RADIO I sought was locked to the shelf. "I guess we need a key here," I said tentatively, by now fully aware I was in a unique sales venue with two clerks who were way beyond the usual protocols of customer service. "Fuken-A we need a key," the big guy muttered. "What the fuck do you think I'm getting over here?" He was mumbling these sarcasms so I didn't take them personally. "Shoplifters pretty bad around here?" I asked. "I wish they were worse," the big guy grunted as he began his giant-guy Franken-walk back to the register, one leg at a time, clump-clonk. The other guy was still on the floor in mortal combat with a cabinet door. "You need batteries?" the big guy asked as he rang me up.

AT A TIME our county's prosecutors, sheriff's deputies and law enforcement types are trying to win back from the county Board of Supervisors a long standing 10% pay cutback, it seems the Public Defender’s office still finds money to play at the Mandalay Resort in Las Vegas at taxpayers' expense. Linda Thompson and Co. seem to have retreated from reality altogether, not to be too judgmental about it.

http://publicdefenderretreat.com/lvhome.html

OVERLOOKED NOVELS

Editor,

I am so happy to have re-subscribed to the AVA. I was reading some things online, but I still read best from paper. And yes, I feel like a part of the last generation that will ever say that. Finances were a little tight for awhile, but I decided that the AVA was higher on the priority list than a lot of other things, so I'm back.

I saw the list of California novels in the last issue and I have a few I would add myself, as an almost-life-long Californian.

1947 Lonely Crusade, Chester Himes

2003 Southland, Nina Revoyr

2010 I Hotel, Karen Tei Yamashita

I don't know if you have read any of these, but I think they are worthy of mention with most of the others on that list. I think Lonely Crusade is Himes's under-appreciated masterpiece: deeper, more political, and more nuanced than If He Hollers.

Southland took me by surprise because I just picked it up at a library one day knowing nothing about it. I thought it would be just a good mystery but instead it adds a whole layer of understanding to the Watts riots.

The I Hotel protests were one of the first things I remember reading about in the Chron growing up, and I Hotel really made those events come to life in realistic -- rather than just the "revolutionary" positive ways -- I took them in as a kid.

Anyway, just my two cents along with a thank you for keeping the AVA going,

Gordon Edgar, San Francisco

A FEW MORE California titles belatedly occurring to me include "Western Shore" by Clarkson Crane, a Cal grad, class of 1916, whose novel paints a fascinating portrait of the East Bay and the sexual politics of academe in the 1920s. I've always thought "Trance" by Christopher Sorrentino was such a close rendering of the SLA it's just like being there, not that any sane person would care to have been there. "Budding Prospects" by TC Boyle, set in Willits, is the best fiction I've read on the pioneers of the marijuana business. It's non-fiction, but "Shallow Grave in Trinity County" by Harry Farrell is not only a riveting crime story, it re-captures the psycho-social period of the Bay Area in the middle 1950s. Shallow Grave recounts the 1955 abduction of Stephanie Bryan, 14, as she walked home from school. Her kidnapping and murder by an odd, amateur actor named Burton Abbot, executed at San Quentin, was headline news for months. Of course this crime was committed in the days before mayhem became the daily occurrence it is now.

TED GALLETTI MEMORIAL CELEBRATION

A celebration of life will be held Saturday, May 2, in Point Arena for Theodore Alexander (Ted) Galletti of Elk, who died in Windsor on December 11, 2014.

Born March 30, 1919 in Point Arena to Charles and Carrie Galletti, he was one of eight brothers. He was a farmer in Elk and served two terms as Mendocino County Fifth District Supervisor between 1971 and 1979.

He was predeceased by his wife Anita, and brothers Henry, Clarence, Charles, Leo, Chester, Elmer and Warren. He is survived by his son Terry (Christie) Galletti, daughter Barbara Galletti and six grandchildren. The celebration of life will be held at Trinity Hall in Point Arena from 11am to 2pm.

DRY FARMING DEBATE ‘DIVIDES’ WINE COUNTRY

http://www.pressdemocrat.com/business/3831976-181/debate-over-dry-farming-divides

As the drought continues, some North Coast growers are advocating the expansion of “dry farming,” which uses natural rainfall — not irrigation — to produce grapes.

CORPORATIONS & DEMOCRACY; Tuesday @ 1:00 PM; KZYX

Join Toni Rizzo & Lynda McClure for a discussion about the elimination of tan oaks through chemical injection. The last Board of Supervisors meeting had attendance overflowing the chambers and gave five hours to this and related issues. Their guests are Linda Perkins, an experienced forest steward; Albion-Little River Fire Chief Ted Williams; Mendocino Environmental Center Coordinator Ed Nieves; and Mendocino Redwood Company General Manager Mike Jani.

LAST TUESDAY, before the hoopla associated with Hack & Squirt, etc., Supervisor John McCowen made a decent attempt to clarify the pay raise the County just gave to the eight or ten (numbers differ) top brass in local law enforcement.

McCowen: “Simply reading this information in the agreement it appears that there is a 6.5% salary increase as well as a 3.5% salary increase in year two with an additional 2% salary increase in year three. What isn't clearly understood perhaps by everyone simply looking at this statement is that the 6.5% salary increase is largely offset by a change in the current public safety subsidy for MCLEMA (Mendocino County Law Enforcement Management Association) members.

Heidi Dunham, Mendocino County Human Resources Manager: Correct. As of July 2015, the county is eliminating the employer paid subsidy for retirement for this bargaining unit. At the same time we are giving them a 6.5% salary increase to help with that. And then effective also July 1 of 2015 they will get a 3% general salary adjustment increase and that's Year 2. And then in year three beginning on July 1 of 2016 they will receive a 2% general adjustment salary increase.

McCowen: So that the net salary increase over the three-year term of the agreement is approximately 5%.

Dunham: Correct.

McCowen: Because the 6.5% salary increase is offset by the employees now having to pick up what had been the retirement subsidy.

Dunham: That's correct.

CEO Carmel Angelo: I wasn't certain if I wanted to clarify this. I actually think Supervisor McCowen clarified it nicely. The $167,000 (for the first year) is the full amount from year two and three and that's the difference as to the increase in cost so I think Ms. Dunham and Superviser McCowen clarified it unless there are any other questions about the finances.

Supervisor Dan Hamburg: I don't understand how we get to 5% when we had 3% in 2015 and $1200. Why isn't that more like 7%? I'm confused. The $1200 in the first year and 3% and 2%.

Angelo: The $1200 is the one time stipend that was agreed upon with this budget that all county employees would get the one time $1200 payment. So I don't believe, other than including the amount in the MOU, we have not included it in year 2 or 3 because years 2 and 3 are ongoing costs. The $1200 is a one-time, not an ongoing cost.

Hamburg: So that does not establish a new salary base.

Angelo: No.

Hamburg: On top of the—

Angelo: No.

Hamburg: It's just a one-time $1200. Okay I just wanted to clarify that.

Angelo: No, that's just a one time.

Lt. Kirk Mason, MCLEMA negotiator: We are kind of quasi members of DSA (Deputy Sheriff’s Association) so that we can receive certain benefits such as legal defense fund and stuff like that. It's a cheaper way for us to do business. Eight of us, versus 200-plus that DSA has.

McCowen: This is a balance between what we would like to do in restoring wages and the financial condition of the county trying to look into the future and still protect the financial stability of the county and yet begin to restore the wages to what they previously were. I think it's a reasonable balance between those very important interests. So I move approval of this agreement.

Approved unanimously.

MAY FIRST FRIDAY ARTWALK

May 1, from 5-8 pm in Ukiah

Enjoy one or all of the venues, art, music, and refreshments!

Ukiah Valley Artist Cooperative Gallery

Jim Colling is the featured artist for May at the UVAC Gallery in the Pear Tree Center. Jim is best known for his vivid and detailed harbor scenes. The May show at the Ukiah Valley Artists Gallery will feature a birds eye view of the Oregon coast as well as other current work.

The Ukiah Valley Artists Gallery is located at 518 E. Perkins, in the Pear Tree Center.

Art Center Ukiah

"A Photo a Day", the 6th Annual Student Photography Show will open on

May 1, 2015 at the Art Center Ukiah. This year, hundreds of photographs from students from Ukiah High School, Ft. Bragg High School, Anderson Valley High School, Potter Valley High School, South Valley High School will be on display throughout the month of May. The show will also feature images created by Ukiah High School photo class alumni. Reception will be held on May 1, 5-8 pm at the Corner Gallery in Ukiah.

Art Center Ukiah, 201 S. State St. 462-1400 www.artcenterukiah.org <http://www.artcenterukiah.org/>

Corner Gallery

This First Friday’s featured artists in May is the High School Photography Program’s show “A Photo a Day”.

The Corner Gallery is located at 201 S. State Street Ukiah, 462-1400 www.cornergalleryukiah.com

Grace Hudson Museum

"Ignite! The Art of Sustainability," featuring artwork illuminating the natural and human forces that have shaped the current landscape of California.

The Grace Hudson Museum is located at 431 South Main Street, Ukiah. 467-2836 www.gracehudsonmuseum.org

Kit Elliott Gallery

Richcolors 2015: new and existing work by Leslie Rich. Original watercolors covering a variety of themes including landscapes, florals, and portraits. Prints and notecards also available.

The Kit Elliot Gallery is located at 116 S. State Street, Ukiah.

Paradigm

New creative visions of Paradigm’s jewelry line and art with guest artist Lillian Rubie’s paintings.

312 N. School St.

T.A.P.S. The Arts And Performance Studio

May Day and Gardening are our themes for this month at The Arts and Performance Studio. Kokedama, a Japanese moss ball, is one of our most interesting projects and we have several hanging in our window already. We invite you to join us for the upcoming First Friday, on May 1st, and maybe take something home for your own garden or for Mothers Day.

T.A.P.S. is located at 203 S. State Street, Ukiah.

Connect Insurance

Proud to present: Jennifer McCutcheon specializes in acrylic and mixed-media “Paw-traits” of animals. Her vibrant paintings are full of character and personality. Artist will be on-site for the art walk and available to discuss commissioned one-of-a-kind pieces!

304 N State Street

Bona Marketplace

Bona Marketplace, 116 W. Standley St. Ukiah 468-1113

Arts Council Of Mendocino County

Arts Council gallery is located at the Ukiah Depot 309 E. Perkins St. Ukiah

Main Branch Library

105 N. Main St. Ukiah CA Contact us for more info: 463-4493

Manzanita And Friends

270 N. Pine St

PROPORTION

Letter To The Editor

The Supes Did The Right Thing.

I have been using herbicides to control hardwoods in my redwood forest in Comptche since 1985. Listening to the concerns about herbicide killed tan oaks I have to ask; is this a fire hazard issue, or a political issue involving Mendocino Redwood Company, it’s owners, and herbicides? It is hard to conclude this is a fire hazard issue. Why? Because in a drive through Comptche, Albion, and Anderson Valley, one can readily see known fire hazard threats, some, an ignition on a bad fire day away from a catastrophe. If these known fire hazards are ignored, while an imagined tan oak snag threat is emphasized, what conclusion should one make other than the snag issue is a political issue?

We have been creating tan oaks snags with herbicides in Mendocino County for the last 45+ years. In that 45 years, I have never heard of a forest fire that was caused by a tan oak snag, or heard of or seen a forest fire that was made significantly more intense by the presence of tan oaks snags.

Is the presence of tan oak snags in the forest a fire hazard?

The best answer to that is, our rural landscape is a fire hazard whether there are tan oak snags or not. In rural Mendocino County all native landscapes burn. For most of us, that native landscape starts in our backyard. Common sense tells us the needed focus of concern is with nearby dry grass, thick brush, and forests with ladder fuels. That is why it is important to prevent fire starts, and to maintain a 100 foot plus defensible space around our homes. If you live, in rural Mendocino County, it is as fundamental as it gets. Of course political activism is pretty fundamental as well. Right?

George Hollister, Comptche

CATCH OF THE DAY, April 26, 2015

MARIC ARRIAGA, Ukiah. Court order violation.

KELLY CASEY, Potter Valley. DUI.

SHANNON CULBRETH, Willits. Drunk in public. (Frequent flyer.)

JUDITH DUCHARME, Ukiah. Drunk in public.

JOSHUA FREEMAN, Potter Valley. DUI, drunk in public.

DENNIS HOAG, Ukiah. Possession of drug paraphernalia, probation revocation.

AUTUMN MASKER, Ukiah. Drunk in public.

SHANE NELSON, Ukiah. Petty theft, trespassing.

DERRICK RIDENOUR, Ukiah. Probation revocation.

SAMUEL SANCHEZ, Ukiah. Drunk in public, probation revocation. (Frequent flyer.)

THOMAS SANDERS, Willits. Drunk in public. (Frequent flyer.)

WILLIAM VANTREESE, Ukiah. Petty theft. (Note: 11550 is the paragraph in the Health & Safety Code for “Under the influence of controlled substance.)

LYDELL WILLIAMS, Ukiah. Probation revocation.

DIANE ZACCARIA, Ukiah. Under influence of controlled substance, probation revocation.

LIFE DURING WARTIME

Heard of a van that is loaded with weapons,

Packed up and ready to go

Heard of some grave sites, out by the highway,

A place where nobody knows

 

The sound of gunfire, off in the distance,

I'm getting used to it now

Lived in a brownstone, lived in a ghetto,

I've lived all over this town

 

This ain't no party, this ain't no disco,

This ain't no fooling around

No time for dancing, or lovey dovey,

I ain't got time for that now

 

Transmit the message, to the receiver,

Hope for an answer some day

I got three passports, a couple of visas,

You don't even know my real name

 

High on a hillside, the trucks are loading,

Everything's ready to roll

I sleep in the daytime, I work in the nighttime,

I might not ever get home

 

This ain't no party, this ain't no disco,

This ain't no fooling around

This ain't no Mudd Club, or C. B. G. B.,

I ain't got time for that now

 

Heard about Houston? Heard about Detroit?

Heard about Pittsburgh, P. A.?

You oughta know not to stand by the window

Somebody see you up there

 

I got some groceries, some peanut butter,

To last a couple of days

But I ain't got no speakers, ain't got no headphones,

Ain't got no records to play

 

Why stay in college? Why go to night school?

Gonna be different this time

Can't write a letter, can't send no postcard,

I ain't got time for that now

 

Trouble in transit, got through the roadblock,

We blended in with the crowd

We got computers, we're tapping phone lines,

I know that that ain't allowed

 

We dress like students, we dress like housewives,

Or in a suit and a tie

I changed my hairstyle, so many times now,

I don't know what I look like

 

You make me shiver, I feel so tender,

We make a pretty good team

Don't get exhausted, I'll do some driving,

You ought to get you some sleep

 

Burned all my notebooks, what good are notebooks?

They won't help me survive

My chest is aching, burns like a furnace,

The burning keeps me alive

— David Byrne

BROS VS 'BOS

“…because he had no place he could stay in without getting tired of it and because there was nowhere to go but everywhere, keep rolling under the stars…” — Jack Kerouac <http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/1742.Jack_Kerouac>, On the Road <http://www.goodreads.com/work/quotes/1701188>

The terms “homeless” and “transient” are misnomers at best and disrespectful to the history and culture of those who don’t share the same values as the establishment.

Long before Ronald Reagan signed into law Jimmy Carter’s, Mental Health Act, in 1981, there were migratory workers known as, “hobos”, not to be confused with vagabonds, who were penniless, or the tramps, who only worked when forced, or the bums, who refused to work at all. Least we forget the tens of thousands of deadheads who followed the Grateful Dead (and Phish), where the parking lot became a stage for genius. It is probable that the death of Jerry Garcia stranded more heads on the streets than any defunding of the states’ hospitals. A few names from the free community include Jack Dempsey, Woody Guthrie, Jack Kerouac, Louis L’Amour, Jack London, Robert Mitchum, George Orwell, Carl Sandburg, and Neil Cassidy,

If anyone has ever been homeless by choice, as I chose to be in the form of a run away teen, you may recall that one comes to learn and respect a new language and code of ethics. The establishment is something that is tolerated, as a separate reality, as in coexistence.

Many artists and spiritual leaders have a need to leave the confines of the establishment, to commune with nature not as a paying camper but rather to sharpen their wits, connect with a merciful God (natural or man made), get in touch with themselves, free their souls from those in their lives with whom they don’t agree or have much in common with any longer. Maybe there’s a tribal DNA gene that motivates a soul to roam? The fact is for many people, freedom from the establishment is a choice. The problem isn’t the 'bo’s, it’s the establishment going after them. And let’s be honest, with all the laws and social services, government does a poor job in helping those who want help. If one wants help they ignore you, but if one doesn’t want help they become a target.

I have no doubt the pharmaceutical corporations are funneling the money for the war on the 'bos under the banner of “compassion” and “fighting stigma” because 'bos, vagabonds, tramps, bums and heads are being labeled, “mentally ill”. Pharmies have got thousands of diagnoses to apply and a pill for every one. Even when the pills don’t work, the Pharmies and grant-seeking Big Brother (and Big Sister) profit. Honestly, I don’t know which is worse, corporate greed and corruption or Big Bro’s greed and corruption.

From wikipedia, Hobo Ethical Code:

Ethical code

An ethical code was created by Tourist Union #63 during its 1889 National Hobo Convention in St. Louis Missouri.[16] <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/#cite_note-16> This code was voted upon as a concrete set of laws to govern the Nation-wide Hobo Body; it reads this way: Decide your own life, don't let another person run or rule you. When in town, always respect the local law and officials, and try to be a gentleman at all times. Don't take advantage of someone who is in a vulnerable situation, locals or other hobos. Always try to find work, even if temporary, and always seek out jobs nobody wants. By doing so you not only help a business along, but ensure employment should you return to that town again. When no employment is available, make your own work by using your added talents at crafts. Do not allow yourself to become a stupid drunk and set a bad example for locals' treatment of other hobos. When jungling in town, respect handouts, do not wear them out, another hobo will be coming along who will need them as badly, if not worse than you. Always respect nature, do not leave garbage where you are jungling. If in a community jungle, always pitch in and help. Try to stay clean, and boil up wherever possible. When traveling, ride your train respectfully, take no personal chances, cause no problems with the operating crew or host railroad, act like an extra crew member. Do not cause problems in a train yard, another hobo will be coming along who will need passage through that yard. Do not allow other hobos to molest children, expose all molesters to authorities, they are the worst garbage to infest any society. Help all runaway children, and try to induce them to return home. Help your fellow hobos whenever and wherever needed, you may need their help someday. If present at a hobo court and you have testimony, give it. Whether for or against the accused, your voice counts!

— B.B. Grace, Fort Bragg

JOHN & SID return to KMEC Radio, your community radio station, on Monday, April 27, at 1 p.m., Pacific Time, with another show about law enforcement and racism. We're calling the show, "Baltimore: Policing and the Pathology of Murder".

Our guests are U.S. Chief Deputy Marshall, Matthew Fogg (retired) and U.S. Deputy Marshall Stephen Zanowic (retired).

Fogg, who is black, and Zanowic, who is white, were respectively derided as the "black rat" and the "white rat" by some in law enforcement while courageously serving as whistleblowers about racism in the U.S. Department of Justice. Their efforts lead to a landmark court case.

KMEC RADIO

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

Our shows are archived. Shows may also posted to Public Radio Exchange or Radio4All.

BACKGROUND

After a weekend of unrest in Baltimore, CNN is reporting plans for more protests.

Protesters decrying Freddie Gray's death plan more rallies in Baltimore this week. Anger and outrage are mounting over a predominately white police union's ill-advised comparison of the predominantly black protests to a "lynch mob".

Gray died last Sunday. Protesters have every marched since that time, outraged by the arrest, which was recorded on a bystander's cell phone and the nature of Gray's death. The witness said Gray was yelling and indicated he was having difficulty breathing.

At some point after he was detained, he suffered a severe spinal cord injury. His family said his voice box was crushed and his neck snapped in three places before he slipped into a coma and died.

On Friday, police officials said that Gray should have received medical care at the site of his arrest and at other times as he was transported to a police station. The van carrying him stopped three times on its way to the station where he was to be booked, but when it arrived at the Western District officers called for an ambulance, which took him to a hospital.

Police say five of the six officers involved in the arrest have provided statements to investigators. The sixth officer has invoked his right to refuse to answer questions.

How Gray was killed remains unknown. It's even more difficult to understand why Baltimore City police officers arrested Gray in the first place.

Authorities can't say if there was a particularly good reason why police arrested Gray. According to the city, an officer made eye contact with Gray, and he took off running, so they pursued him. Though he'd had scrapes with the law before, there's no indication he was wanted at the time. And though he was found with a switchblade, Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake said, “We know that having a knife is not necessarily a crime.”

The police say Gray didn't resist arrest.

MATTHEW FOGG

See link to Fogg's homepage: http://www.bwbadge.com/fogg.htm

In 1998, retired Chief Deputy U.S. Marshal Matthew Fogg won a landmark EEO and Title VII racial discrimination and retaliation lawsuit against the Justice Department, for which he was awarded $4 million. The jury found the entire Marshals Service to be a "racially hostile environment" which discriminates against blacks in its promotion practices. U.S. District Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson summarized the jurors' decision by stating that they felt there was an "atmosphere of racial disharmony and mistrust within the United States Marshal Service".

As of 2011, Fogg is president of "Bigots with Badges", and executive director of CARCLE (Congress Against Racism and Corruption in Law Enforcement), and is also associated with Law Enforcement Against Prohibition (LEAP), a drug law reform organization of law enforcement officers.

STEPHEN ZANOWIC — Y Times article about Zanowic: http://www.nytimes.com/1997/10/05/nyregion/whistle-blowing-marshal-tells-of-long-harassment.html

Link to Zanowic's bio: http://www.bwbadge.com/steve.htm

WELL-CONNECTED BILLIONAIRE EXPANDS ALMOND ACREAGE AS CITIES FORCED TO SLASH WATER USE

by Dan Bacher

A coalition of environmentalists blasted Beverly Hills billionaire Stewart Resnick and other corporate agribusiness interests this week for continuing to plant thousands of acres of new almond trees during the drought while Governor Jerry Brown is mandating that urban families slash water usage by 25 percent.

Barbara Barrigan-Parrilla, executive director of Restore the Delta, said Resnick, the owner of Paramount Farms in Kern County, uses as much water for his almonds as the amount of water 38 million Californians are now required to conserve.

“While farmers make their own decisions on what to plant, the public is paying the price for poor decisions made by greedy mega-growers, who plant permanent crops where there is no water,” Barrigan-Parrillatold reporters in a news conference about the “tunnels only” version of the Bay Delta Conservation Plan (BDCP) that Governor Jerry Brown is now pushing. “That is not sustainable and the tunnels would subsidize unsustainable agriculture.”

At this year’s annual pistachio conference hosted by Paramount Farms, Resnick revealed his current efforts to expand pistachio, almond and walnut acreage during a record drought. “Talking about the successes in recent years, Andy Anzaldo, vice president of grower relations for Wonderful Pistachios, played a clip from the movie Jerry McGuire in which Tom Cruise shouts, 'Show me the money,’” according to theWestern Farm Press.

“Resnick then did that. He said the average net return per acre on three nut crops was $3,519 for pistachios, $1,431 for almonds, and $884 for walnuts," the publication reported.

During the event, Resnick also bragged about the increase in pistachio acreage over the past ten years: 118 percent — even more than the 47 percent increase for almonds and 30 percent increase for walnuts.

Rsesnick and Anzaldo also told the Western Farm Press that their 2020 goal is “150,000 partner acres ” and “33,000 Paramount acres.”

"It appears that Stewart Resnick is making Paramount Farms into a Wall Street bank that is too big to fail," quipped Barrigan-Parrilla.

Other sources confirm the expansion of almond acreage in California. During the current drought, almond acreage has expanded by 70,000 acres, a total of 280,000 acre feet per year of new water demand,according to the "On the Public Record" blog.

"I have marked the almond acreage at the beginning and end of the 2006-2009 drought (700,000 acres at the beginning, 810,000 acres at the end). At the beginning of our current drought, almond acreage was 870,000 acres. In 2013, after two years of drought, it was up to 940,000 acres," the blogger stated.

“Let’s make this all explicit," the blogger added. "Since this drought began, almonds have expanded by 70,000 acres. That’s 280,000 acre feet a year of new water demand for a snack that will be exported. That water will come from groundwater or from other farmers. At the same time, the California EPA is literally telling urban users to take five minute cold showers."

Resnick and his wife, Lynda, have been instrumental in promoting campaigns to eviscerate Endangered Species Act protections for Central Valley Chinook salmon and delta smelt populations and to build the fish-killing peripheral tunnels. They have become known as the "Koch Brothers of California Water" for the many thousands of dollars they contribute to candidates and propositions in California every year.

For example, Stewart Resnick contributed $150,000 to Jerry Brown's Proposition 1 water bond in the 2014 election.

Lance Williams of the Center for Investigative Reporting in December 2009 described the powerful agribusiness tycoon as a "one-man environmental wrecking crew.”

While serving on the board of Conservation International, a corporate "environmental" NGO, Resnick become notorious for buying subsidized Delta water and then selling it back to the public for a big profit as delta fish and Central Valley salmon populations crashed.