Mendocino County Today: Friday, May 1, 2015

ANNE LILJENGREN, 41, has died. Well-known in the Anderson Valley where she attended school and later taught, Miss Liljengren was found dead of natural causes in her South Lake Tahoe home. A memorial gathering will be held in the Apple Hall, Boonville, Saturday afternoon, May 9th, with a barbecue following.

DARRELL ‘BIG DEE’ PINOLA, age 50 passed away on April 21, 2015. He is survived by his parents Darlene and Leonard Pinola of Point Arena; brother Nelson Pinola and his wife Sandy of Windsor; sisters Sharon Pinola, Trisha Pinola and Bobbie Pinola-Garcia of Santa Rosa; his special "aunts" Mary Lawson of Santa Rosa and Dorrie Timmons of Upper Lake; aunt Diane Taylor of Corning; aunt and uncle Susan and David Maxwell of Phoenix, AZ. Preceding Darrell in death were his paternal grandparents Harry and Lena Pinola; maternal grandparents Marcel McCombs and Mandy Tuttle, brothers Robert and Leonard Pinola and sister Penny Sutton. A Memorial Service will be held at 4pm, May 1st at the Victory Outreach Church, 4042 Sebastopol Road, Santa Rosa. Graveside services will be at 1pm, May 2nd at the Manchester-Point Arena Rancheria Cemetery with reception to follow.

MENDOCINO COUNTY REACHES TENTATIVE AGREEMENT WITH MENDOCINO COUNTY DEPUTY SHERIFF’S ASSOCIATION (DSA)

Mendocino County and the Mendocino County Deputy Sheriff’s Association (DSA) announced today that they have reached a tentative agreement for a three year labor contract. Mendocino County Board of Supervisors Chair, Carre Brown, stated “the Board is extremely happy that we have reached an agreement with DSA. We value public safety and believe this is another big step toward our commitment to investing in our most valued asset, the dedicated employees of the County of Mendocino.”

Craig Walker, DSA President, stated, “a component of the contract involves a retirement swap agreed upon by the County and DSA. The association feels it is important to help get ahead of any future retirement shortfalls the County and DSA may encounter.” DSA employees agreed to pay their full share of retirement costs. This amounts to around 9% of each member’s gross base pay. In return, the County has agreed to increase all base pay to the members by 6%.

“It’s a step in the right direction,” Walker said Tuesday. “Our hope is the County will continue to make significant efforts to restore lost wages to the men and women who daily risk their lives for County residents.” Walker stated competitive wages would bring stability to the Sheriff’s Office, referring to higher wages paid by other agencies, some within Mendocino County.

The details of the tentative agreement will be posted online and made available with the publication of the May 5, 2015 Board of Supervisors agenda.

RE BERNIE SANDERS, has announced he'll try to wrest the nomination for President from the Hillary-Obama One Percent War Forever Democratic Party.

Ron Jacobs comments: "The question I have for Mr. Sanders is this: How does he expect to create radical change in the US if this radical grassroots activism he correctly states is needed is hijacked by the Democratic Party — a political entity that is owned lock, stock and barrel by the very same banks and corporations he claims to oppose. After all, it’s been many years since the progressive George McGovern was the Democratic candidate for President. It’s been almost as long since the conservative wing of that party formed the Democratic Leadership Council and changed their rules so that no one with politics like McGovern’s would ever be their nominee again. Ask Bill Clinton about that. After all, he was the first candidate chosen by that council to win the White House. His wife may be the next. There are those who say Sanders will “at least move the discussion leftward.” That is not enough. Conversations are meaningless without bold, concrete action. The Democratic Party has proven over the past six and a half years that not only is it incapable of bold action in favor of the vast majority of working people in this country, it is barely capable of concrete action. How else does one explain the disastrous austerity policies taking place in the United States?

THE LOCAL ANGLE: In 1972, my Boonville house functioned as McGovern headquarters for much of Mendocino County. We worked the phones hard for George, got out signs to the few people who would even accept them let alone post one on their property, and Nixon took Mendo with well over 80 percent of the vote.

STEVEN ALLEN LEARD, Jr.,

in custody at the Mendocino County Jail

but working with a Caltrans crew

on Talmage Road,

enjoyed about an hour's freedom Thursday

when he briefly disappeared at 2:40pm

but was back in custody by 4pm.

TIM DEL FIORENTINO was sworn in Monday as a deputy with the Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office 13 months after his father, Mendocino County sheriff’s Deputy Ricky Del Fiorentino, was killed in the line of duty in Fort Bragg.

BEST THINGS

Best Thing I Heard All Week:

James McMurtry, Complicated Game.

Hear them crabbers cuss the weather

And they cuss the government too

Nowadays crabbin' and fishin'

hangin' on to a pot to piss in

Is just about the best a man can do, sings Larry's son and that about sums up his politics and his songwriting. There are a few very good relationship songs but the majority deal with twenty-first century dislocation - economic, physical, personal - and you might ask what there is left to say on the subject at this late date. McMurtry would answer you 'plenty.' Some of them sound like Depression-era songs;

I ain't got a place

I ain't got a place in this world

I ain't got a place

I ain't got a place in this world

I know could as easily have been written by Henry Thomas or Jimmy Rogers as McMurtry. The sound is as spare and unobtrusive as on a 'thirties 78, just enough to pin a few scraps of meat onto the bones from which these songs are constructed. In an unaffected voice he sings about characters who refuse to be anything but themselves in the face of the demise of their futures with nothing as fancy as redemption to be found in that refusal. The lyrics ramble from the Southwest to Long Island to North Dakota and back, encountering Townes Van Zandt and Guy Clark along the way. They lead all the way back to Woody Guthrie, who would also answer you 'plenty.'

* * *

Best Thing I Read All Week:

Punk Rock Blitzkrieg: My Life as a Ramone by Marky Ramone (with Rick Herschlag).

Even with help, this is not the best-written book even as punk autobios go (see: Patti Smith or Richard Hell, Marky's former employer), but it is all of what you expect - full of funny stories, and road tales (often the same thing) childhood recollections and (minor) celebrity anecdotes. The pre-Ramones years the author spent in bands led by Hell and Wayne (nee Jayne) County, until now largely undocumented, are valuable mostly to the obsessed (like me). Marky (nee Marc Bell) was not a founding member of the band which, without a central creation myth, gives this a faintly incomplete feel. For example, once original drummer Tommy quits, to be replaced by Marky, he disappears entirely from the narrative despite the fact that he continued to work as a producer/svengali for years after. One wonders. Instead the abiding myth is futility-no money, no hits, endless touring, substance abuse, bad food (a favorite stop was Cracker Barrel), mental problems, bad health, age-futility borne of being ahead of your time. Not surprisingly, given the excess of the first three hundred pages, the final hundred pages of the book is partly a recovery story that for once doesn't hammer things into ground.

— Byron Spooner, Literary Director, Friends of the San Francisco Public Library

RECOMMENDED READING: “Trollope Trending” by Adam Gopnik in the current edition of The New Yorker. Gopnik is consistently good on literary subjects — Oscar Wilde, Beckett etc., the big guns of world lit. I've always preferred Trollope over Dickens, who was more or less Trollope's contemporary, but Dickens is the much more celebrated of the two, maybe because he's funnier. Listen to me here! The sage of Boonville says Trollope is not quite up to Dickens in comic touch but if you read, say, Trollope's “The Way We Live Now” you'll come away saying to yourself, “Hey, this is the Way We Live Now.” And nobody has even come close to Trollope's chilling novel about jealously, “He Knew He Was Right.”

YOU KNOW HOW in many parts of our troubled world they are yelling “revolution! revolution!”? In Tennessee they are yelling “evolution...we want our thumbs!” The thing is they see people with thumbs on TV all day, boy that's got to drive them hog-wild huh? [mimics monkey] Trailers are shaking. They're nice people, they're just, what would you call 'em — rural? Backwoods, country? They're real nice, after a show, one of these guys came up to me and said “hey, you're great, you cracked me up, I was about to spit!”… Sorry? He said “no I loved it, I'd like you to meet my wife and sister.” And there was one girl standing there… not a thumb between 'em. Goddamnit, now what are the odds of that? Okay the girl had a little nub growin' in, but girls evolve quicker than guys.

— Bill Hicks

GILMAN ORDWAY owns seven parcels in the Anderson Valley surrounding Lazy Creek Vineyard totaling somewhere between 750 and 1150 acres. He has three different Highway 128 addresses and a PO Box in Wilson, Wyoming. The parcels on the Highway are in grapes.

* * *

Gilman Ordway is owner and operator of Fish Creek Ranch, a tourist resort and ranch in Jackson Hole. Ordway moved to Jackson Hole in 1954. He was one of the first Jackson Hole landowners to donate a conservation easement on his property to The Nature Conservancy to ensure its preservation as open space. He has served on the board of the Woods Hole Research Center, the Jackson Hole Alliance, the Wyoming field office of The Nature Conservancy, the Teton Science School, The Wilderness Society, and American Farmland Trust. Mr. Ordway is a former board member of WWF. He is interested in environmental education and has endowed several scholarships at the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies. He graduated from Yale University, class of 1947, and received a law degree from the University of Colorado. He and his wife, Margaret, have been on a number of trips with the WWF travel program over the years. (Courtesy, World Wildlife Fund)

* * *

Wilson, Wyo., is a small, unincorporated community south of Grand Teton National Park. By the Census Bureau’s count, the population is just 1,482.  It’s also a popular resort area for wealthy Republicans who made their fortunes elsewhere.  Locals have contributed almost $1.8 million this election cycle to federal campaigns and committees. That’s $1,509 per adult resident, one of whom is former Vice President Richard B. Cheney.  Nearly all of the money went to the GOP.  One of the biggest donors is Lawrence Finch, managing director of Sigma + Partners, who gave $850,000 in June to Restore Our Future, the super PAC supporting Mitt Romney.  Big Romney backers in town also include David Dominik, a former managing director at Romney’s old firm, Bain Capital, now with Golden Gate Capital; and Carl W. Knobloch Jr., former chairman of Automated Logic Corporation and Production Operators Corp.  Another well-known resident and campaign contributor is David L. Sokol, who chaired several subsidiaries of Berkshire Hathaway before resigning last year after controversial stock purchases.  Unlike his former boss at Berkshire, Sokol gives to Republicans. Of the $83,000 he and his wife reported donating this cycle, $57,500 went to the Romney campaign.  Not every local donor is a Republican. 3M heir Gilman Ordway is an Obama supporter.  “I’ve always been Democratic-leaning,” said Ordway, who has lived in Wilson long enough to see the area evolve from open ranch land to upscale resort developments.  Cheney owns a home in the gated Teton Pines golf community. His only reported contribution to the presidential campaign, $2,500 to Romney in May, pales in comparison with some of his neighbors.  However, in a move that surprised many because of the political distance between the two men, he opened his home to Romney last month for a $30,000-a-head dinner.  Daughter Liz Cheney recently moved from Virginia to Wilson, saying she and her family were eager to live near her parents. The Casper Star-Tribune, calling her “Wyoming’s most speculated-about noncandidate,” asked whether she was planning a run for office.  “Right now I’m very focused on 2012,” Cheney answered. “I am really excited about being in Wyoming. It’s where I plan to be.”  (Courtesy, Forbes.com)

CATCH OF THE DAY, April 30, 2015

CURTIS BETTENCOURT, Fort Bragg. Drunk in public. (Frequent flyer.)

LEON GIBSON, Fort Bragg. Criminal threats of death or great bodily injury, refusing to leave. (Frequent flyer.)

Gielow, Giumelli, Langton, Maldonado-Mata

CHARLES GIELOW III, Willits. Community supervision violation.

ERICK GIUMELLI, Redwood Valley. Court order violation.

JAMES LANGTON, Ukiah. Failure to appear, probation revocation.

RAFAEL MALDONADO-MATA, Ukiah. Possession of drug paraphernalia, resisting arrest, probation revocation.

MICHAEL MILLER, Fort Bragg. Drunk in public, resisting arrest, probation revocation.

JOSHUA PERDUE, Ukiah. DUI.

JAMES PERKINS, Ukiah. Assault with deadly weapon with great bodily injury.

TRINIDAD PULIDO, Ukiah. Drunk in public.

EVERETT REEP, Ukiah. Resisting arrest.

FRANCIS ROCANELLA, Talmage. Resisting arrest.

SAMUEL SANCHEZ, Ukiah. Court order violation. (Frequent flyer.)

JOSE TAMAYO, Fort Bragg. Probation revocation.

ORLANDO VILLAPANDO, Fort Bragg. Probation revocation.

GARY WYATT, Ukiah. Under influence of controlled substance.

RODRIGO ZUNIGA, Ukiah. Probation revocation.

MARCELINO ZURITA, Ukiah. Drunk in public, probation revocation.

TANGLED UP IN BLUE

Early one mornin’ the sun was shinin’

I was layin’ in bed

Wond’rin’ if she’d changed at all

If her hair was still red

Her folks they said our lives together

Sure was gonna be rough

They never did like Mama’s homemade dress

Papa’s bankbook wasn’t big enough

And I was standin’ on the side of the road

Rain fallin’ on my shoes

Heading out for the East Coast

Lord knows I’ve paid some dues gettin’ through

Tangled up in blue

She was married when we first met

Soon to be divorced

I helped her out of a jam, I guess

But I used a little too much force

We drove that car as far as we could

Abandoned it out West

Split up on a dark sad night

Both agreeing it was best

She turned around to look at me

As I was walkin’ away

I heard her say over my shoulder

“We’ll meet again someday on the avenue”

Tangled up in blue

I had a job in the great north woods

Working as a cook for a spell

But I never did like it all that much

And one day the ax just fell

So I drifted down to New Orleans

Where I happened to be employed

Workin’ for a while on a fishin’ boat

Right outside of Delacroix

But all the while I was alone

The past was close behind

I seen a lot of women

But she never escaped my mind, and I just grew

Tangled up in blue

She was workin’ in a topless place

And I stopped in for a beer

I just kept lookin’ at the side of her face

In the spotlight so clear

And later on as the crowd thinned out

I’s just about to do the same

She was standing there in back of my chair

Said to me, “Don’t I know your name?”

I muttered somethin’ underneath my breath

She studied the lines on my face

I must admit I felt a little uneasy

When she bent down to tie the laces of my shoe

Tangled up in blue

She lit a burner on the stove

And offered me a pipe

“I thought you’d never say hello,” she said

“You look like the silent type”

Then she opened up a book of poems

And handed it to me

Written by an Italian poet

From the thirteenth century

And every one of them words rang true

And glowed like burnin’ coal

Pourin’ off of every page

Like it was written in my soul from me to you

Tangled up in blue

I lived with them on Montague Street

In a basement down the stairs

There was music in the cafés at night

And revolution in the air

Then he started into dealing with slaves

And something inside of him died

She had to sell everything she owned

And froze up inside

And when finally the bottom fell out

I became withdrawn

The only thing I knew how to do

Was to keep on keepin’ on like a bird that flew

Tangled up in blue

So now I’m goin’ back again

I got to get to her somehow

All the people we used to know

They’re an illusion to me now

Some are mathematicians

Some are carpenters’ wives

Don’t know how it all got started

I don’t know what they’re doin’ with their lives

But me, I’m still on the road

Headin’ for another joint

We always did feel the same

We just saw it from a different point of view

Tangled up in blue

— Robert Zimmerman (Bob Dylan)

NORTH COAST FILM NIGHT TO EXPOSE THREATS TO RIVERS

The Shasta Dam raise proposed by the federal government threatens over 40 of the Winnemem Wintu Tribe's sacred sites and would harm salmon, steelhead and other imperiled fish populations on the Sacramento River.

At the same time, water from the Trinity Reservoir on the Trinity River and Shasta Reservoir on the Sacramento is exported hundreds of miles to benefit California’s agriculture industry, which continues to use 80% of California’s water on water intensive crops such as almonds during the record drought.

Want to find out more about this water grab and how you can help stop it in order to restore the Klamath/Trinity and Sacramento River systems? Then check out a film night hosted by North Coast activists on Friday, May 8th to discuss the threats to Northern California's rivers.

The film night will focus on impacts to rivers from water diversions and how politicians and corporate agriculture interests are using the drought to push through new harmful water projects, such as the Bay Delta Conservation Plan, Shasta dam raise, and drought legislation, according to organizer Regina Chichizola.

The event will start with a dinner at 6:30 at Arcata’s D street Community Center, which is located at 1301 D street, and will be followed by several short films along with speakers that are members of the Winnemem Wintu, Yurok, Karuk, and Hoopa Valley Tribes, along with featured filmmakers.

Caleen Sisk, Chief and Spiritual Leader of the Winnemem Wintu Tribe, will speak about the Tribe's campaign to restore winter run Chinook salmon to the McCloud River and to fight the "Brown Water Plan" and Shasta Dam raise.

Governor Jerry Brown and Department of Interior officials are expected to announce the latest version of Brown's plan to build the twin tunnels under the Delta as early as Thursday, April 30. Brown has decided to remove all pretense of "habitat restoration" from the plan by making it a tunnels-only project.

The tunnels will hasten the extinction of Central Valley Chinook salmon and steelhead, Delta and longfin smelt, green sturgeon and other fish species, as well as imperiling the salmon and steelhead populations on the Trinity and Klamath rivers.

Donations will be taken but no one will be turned away for lack of funds. More information is available at SavetheKlamath-Trinity on facebook or through contacting Regina Chichizola at klamathrights@gmail.com or 541 951-0126.

Volunteers are needed to help out with the event.

MENDOCINO STORIES & EVENTS

Singer/Songwriter Showcase

In collaboration with FLOCKworks, Mendocino Stories presents an acoustic concert upstairs at Odd Fellows Hall at the corner of Kasten and Ukiah Streets, in Mendocino on Saturday, May 16. The event features singer/songwriters Marcus McCallen and Richard Fienburgh. The concert will start at 7PM in this unique and historic setting.

Marcus brings in his "Folk-rock with soul, original songs and select covers to delight and inspire". Richard Fienbop's "Acoustic rockin" shows his softer tones. Both musicians will be accompanied by the ever-awesome Johnny Bush on bass and harmonies.

The monthly Flockworks exhibit, "The Art of Letter, Word & Books", opens May 1 and runs through May 25. For more info about FLOCKworks go to their Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/pages/FLOCKworks/130296637043101?fref=ts

All Ages Welcome! Doors open at 6:30 PM for beverages and refreshments to benefit FLOCKworks. General admission is $12 at the door. For more information call Pattie at 707-937-1732

Three Still Standing: Live on Stage

A special live performance by three San Francisco comedians who are also featured in a documentary film is happening at the Mendocino Film Festival tent on Saturday, May 30 at 8PM. Join Will Durst, Larry “Bubbles” Brown, and Johnny Steele for a night of laughter, as the legendary comedians take to the stage. See the comedians perform live as they riff on clips from 3 Still Standing, weaving together film and stand-up comedy for a hilarious and memorable journey into the lives of three gifted comedians. Local comedian Doug Nunn of Hit and Run Theater hosts this one-night-only event.

The film, “Three Still Standing” will be shown during the Mendocino Film Festival. Friday’s screening is at 8PM in the festival tent in Mendocino and Saturday’s screening is Saturday morning at 10AM at Coast Cinema in Fort Bragg. Tickets are available for all film festival events on May 1 at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/2015-mendocino-film-festival-tickets-16288970750 — Pattie DeMatteo

GENOCIDE OF CHRISTIANS 1914-1923

Dear Editor:

One needs to remember on the 100th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide there were also genocides of other Christians in the Ottoman Empire. In 1913 the Young Turks of Ataturk had established a military dictatorship with a policy of Turkey for Turks. This policy was directed toward the Armenian, Assyrian and Pontic and Anatolian Greek Christians. These Genocides begin in 1913 and continued until 1923.

The Turks were assisted in the massacres by other Muslims including Kurds, Chechens and Circassians. There were also massacres of Assyrian Christians in northern Persia. Christians included smaller groups of Chaldeans, Jacobites, and Greek Catholics and Orthodox. Estimates of the total number killed vary but it probably was more than 3.5 million Christians.

It is not a surprise that today’s Turkish government denies there was a genocide of Christians. No one likes to think their ancestors could engage in such a horrific action. But then there is the same type of denial that the early settlers of Mendocino County engaged in genocide of the Native American population. I would suggest that the deniers read Bruce Anderson's book about the killing of Native Americans as if they were vermin.

In peace and love,

Jim Updegraff, Sacramento

BALTIMORE ORIOLE ADAM JONES & THE POWER OF SEEING PAIN

by Dave Zirin

On Wednesday, I gave a lecture at the Community College of Baltimore County on the topic of sports and social change. It had been planned for months but this morning, with encouragement from the terrific professors on campus, I changed all remarks from being one about the history of sports to the history being made a short ride from campus. Instead of being a talk about Muhammad Ali, Billie Jean King and the movements that shaped their desire to use sports as a political platform, we talked about the police killing of Freddie Gray. Instead of a “lecture,” we had a conversation.

We talked about the marches and curfews in Baltimore City. We talked about why demonstrators took their anger to Camden Yards and why police seem to see the protecting of sports arenas — and protecting each other — as more important than finding justice for Freddie Gray. We talked about the Baltimore athletes who have been in the streets helping the struggle and the ones who have been silent. My one regret from the day is that I spoke with sadness that Baltimore Orioles COO John Angelos has made more important and more relevant comments about the city’s upheaval than any current Oriole players. It wasn't a knock against Angelos's words, but a statement that it should be the players, not the owners stepping up at this moment in time. That dynamic however changed later in the day when Adam Jones, one of just two African American starters on the team, took the time in a press conference to speak with love, support, and concern for the black youth in Baltimore and the future of the city. Unfortunately, the "shareline" sent out by The Baltimore Sun about his remarks bleated, “Adam Jones can relate to frustration of Baltimore's youth, but says the actions are unacceptable.” This is damn near a satirical microcosm of everything the media gets wrong about everything. Jones’s comments were not at all centered around youth actions being “unacceptable.” They were an aside in what was a beautiful statement. Here is an excerpt of his remarks (transcription by me):

"There's been a lot of good protesting, there have been a lot of people standing up for the rights that they have . . . The youth are hurting . . . It can look like no one’s fighting for you but there are people like myself. I say to the youth, your frustration is warranted. It’s understandable, understood. The actions I don't think are acceptable but if you come from where they come from, you understand . . . This is their cry . . . They need hugs. They need love. They need support."

"I feel the pain of these kids. Let's remember I grew up on similar tracks as them . . . It’s just not easy seeing a community [where] you are trying to affect change in, seeing these kind of things, but it’s understandable because these kids are hurt. And these kids have seen the pain in their parents’ eyes, the pain in their grandparents’ eyes over decades and this is their way of speaking on behalf of their parents and behalf of their grandparents and people who have been hurt.”

As the porcine know-nothings on cable news exploit this moment to stoke and stroke the fears of their audience, the words of Adam Jones have the power to not only resonate with Baltimore protestors but to reach those Oriole fans who are hardwired to hate them. The power of his words is rooted in the fact that Adam Jones actually “sees” the young people who are self-organizing against police violence and poverty. In this climate, just “seeing” them and granting them their inalienable humanity is in itself a radical act.

Adam Jones’s comments reminded me of an exchange at the Community College of Baltimore County when a student asked if we should be concerned that people would now identify Baltimore with riots and fire. We responded by saying that the problem is not what people are seeing in Baltimore right now. The problem is that before the last week, people didn’t “see” the whole of Baltimore at all. The problem is that people thought of Baltimore and saw the Inner Harbor, Camden Yards, the Ravens, and perhaps Little Italy, leaving the rest of the city, the rest of the people, and the entirety of their pain, in a state of invisibility. Getting all hot and bothered by binge watching The Wire and quoting Stringer Bell in your corporate mission statements is not the same thing as "seeing" Baltimore.

Many this past week have quoted Dr. King’s famous phrase that rioting is the language of the unheard. It’s quoted so much because it’s so true. So many of people who live, work, and die in Baltimore have been unheard, unseen, and unacknowledged . . . until now. The way our current system operates, no one sees and hears the pain of the poor until they fight to make themselves seen and heard. Adam Jones sees them. Adam Jones hears them. At the very least, we all have to meet that standard.

(Dave Zirin is the author of Brazil’s Dance with the Devil. Contact him at edgeofsports@gmail.com)

VIETNAM, AFTER 40 YRS—

Editor,

As I write this missive, Saigon fell 40 years ago today on April 30, 1975. The Vietnam War ended when I was 9 months old but it certainly defined my life. I even felt like the time I did in jail when I was 19 was my penitence for Vietnam, for all of the Vietnamese and Southeast Asia and for the US soldiers who died and were injured and harmed.

I have been talking to older people I know today about where they were on this day 40 years ago. The subject really animates some people. My friend John told me that he and his best friend were set to enlist in the USMC under the "buddy program," something about sign up with a friend, but he was saved by an accident. He kicked out a plate glass window which nearly severed his leg, sending him to college instead of the jungles of Vietnam. Well, John said he soon learned that the War was completely wrong and his friend survived the war but was never the same again.

People said they remembered when Spiro Agnew sent the National Guard to Baltimore upon the death of MLK in 1968. Kind of crazy that the Panthers and other radical black nationalist groups were formed as a response to Police brutalization and murder of black people and the exact same shit is happening today, except now everyone has a camera ready.

Who will be radicalized next? It is kind of odd for me to see young black kids even in the ghetto, dressed like black block. Black kids emulating white youth culture, strange indeed. Barriers go up in some settings, barriers are breaking down in others. This society may seem pretty sedentary at times, but indications are that shit is gearing up as we speak.

What happened to the public discourse on substantive issues is the real shame in this dumbed down screen time dominated society. Have we all forgotten that President Johnson formed the Kerner Commission in 1967, nearly 50 years ago as a response to widespread unrest and rioting in the black communities of major US cities. The Kerner Commission stated among other things… "Our nation is moving toward two societies, one black, one white — separate and unequal." And "Its finding was that the riots resulted from black frustration at lack of economic opportunity.”

It seems like we're under the same patterns, separate societies, rich/poor, black/white, lack of opportunity, and a whole Generation of black frustration (I can hear Malcolm X in my head warning people about the dangers of ignoring black frustrations in this country). People say that if we still had a military draft these new wars would not be lasting longer than World War I and II, and I tend to agree.

I saw Obama on TV the other day and he acted like he had amnesia and he was saying how rioters are not protesters and he was all tsking and incredulous at the rioters, and carrying on with all this other Uncle Tom shit. What a dick!!!!! His wife should dump his ass like Tiger Woods. He was once a community organizer in the city of Chicago for Christ's sake.

For the US Federal Government to pretend some sort of historical amnesia as an institution at this time. For the US Government as an institution of such great power, "respect" and means. For such an institution to forget itself can only take place under the reverse alchemy of neoliberalism where our "Great" leaders are transformed into clowns at the altar of Big Capital.

Legacy? Barnum & Bailey...

Nate Collins, Under the Sun, Berkeley

EDIBLE & MEDICINAL PLANT WALK

Please join Sanctuary Forest on Saturday, May 9^th for the Edible and Medicinal Plant Walk in the Mattole River headwaters. Beginning at the edge of the forest, local herbalist and naturalist Michele Palazzo will lead hikers along the Mattole River and up over the ridge, stopping to point out and discuss native plants and their medicinal properties. By hikes end, participants will have picked and eaten various local herbs and learned the names and characteristics of many more. Bring a paper and pen to take notes, or simply come and enjoy a spring-time stroll in the temperate-rainforest of the Whitethorn valley. This hike is considered Easy to Moderate, covers a mile and a half of even terrain, and includes a stop for lunch at a beautiful waterfall on the Mattole River. Please meet at 10 a.m. at the Restoration Forestry gate (the first right after Whitethorn Elementary School). Bring a lunch and water, wear sturdy shoes, and dress in layers. This hike is free of charge, though donations are gladly accepted and help Sanctuary Forest to offer this program year after year. For questions or clarifications, visit www.sanctuaryforest.org or email marisa@sanctuaryforest.org. Hope to see you there!

Support from volunteers and local businesses have made this program possible for Sanctuary Forest. Local businesses that have made generous contributions are James Holland, MSW Counseling Services, J.Angus Publishing Group, Southern Humboldt Fitness, Sylvandale Gardens, The Security Store, Blue Star Gas, Caffe Dolce, Charlotte’s Perennial Gardens, Coffee Break, Mattole River Studios, Monica Coyne Artist Blacksmith, Randall Sand & Gravel, Whitethorn Construction, Ned Hardwood Construction, Pierson Building Center, Chautauqua Natural Foods, Dazey’s Supply, Madrone Realty, First Fig Gallery, Hohstadt’s Garden Center, Humboldt Bar & Grill, Roy Baker, O.D., Redwood Properties, Vella Wood Flooring, Wildberries Marketplace, Whitethorn Winery and Mattole Meadows

Sanctuary Forest is a land trust whose mission is to conserve the Mattole River watershed and surrounding areas for wildlife habitat and aesthetic, spiritual, and intrinsic values in cooperation with our diverse community.

A PLETHORA OF RHODODENDRONS

and Great News from Our Vegetable Garden

Rhododendrons in Bloom; Kudos to our Vegetable Gardeners

The largest Rhododendron show in California, co-sponsored by the Noyo Chapter of the American Rhododendron Society and Mendocino Coast Botanical Gardens, will be held this weekend, Saturday, May 2 and Sunday, May 3 from 9:00am to 5:00pm each day.

Visitors to the free show, held in the tent in the Gardens' Courtyard and featuring more than 700 entries, will receive a coupon for $1 off their admission to the Botanical Gardens, where hundreds of live rhododendrons will be in bloom. Gardens memberships will be sold for 10% off during Show weekend (new or renewals). Membership has great benefits, including access to almost 300 gardens nationwide, through the American Horticultural Society's Reciprocal Admissions Program.

For a great weekend, pair the Rhododendron Show and your visit to the Gardens with the Fort Bragg Downtown Merchants 2nd annual Rhododendron Walk. Details at fortbragg.com).

For more information about the show, visit our website), or for information and entry form to show off your best blooms, go to noyochapterars.com).

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News from the Vegetable Garden

Gardener Jaime Jensen shows off a harvest of salad greens and edible flowers. Only four months into 2015, our Vegetable Garden has supplied the Fort Bragg Food Bank with nearly 1,000 pounds of fresh, organic produce for its clients. When you realize that most of this is greens (the major crop early in the season), this is a tremendous accomplishment for gardener Jaime Jensen and her dedicated volunteers. We cannot thank Jaime and crew enough! Additionally, this working demonstration garden provides edible flowers and greens, plus other produce, to our own Rhody's Garden CafÉ to use in our fresh-daily salads, house-made soups and dressings, and garnishes for made-to-order sandwiches which we proudly serve café patrons.

With the vegetable garden expansion (more than doubling our previous space), we have worked cooperatively with Pacific Textile Arts to create a Dyer's Garden, with plants that will be used for dying wool in a variety of colors, including indigo.

If you have not been by to see the expanded garden, we encourage you to come visit and to get involved in this undertaking that benefits so many areas of our community.

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Reminder: Drip Irrigation Workshop

Saturday, May 2 Beginning at 9:30am (end time approx. 1:30pm)

Meeting Room and Vegetable Garden (please check in at front entrance) with Jaime Jensen and DripWorks

Drip tape or drip tubing? Drippers, sprayers, or sprinklers? This hands-on workshop all about drip irrigation for the home gardener will be led by our local authority, DripWorks of Willits. Bring your questions and be ready to learn by doing (physical activity is involved). This day-long workshop is open to Gardens members and Master Gardeners for $20 and the public for $30 (includes garden admission for the day). Please phone 707 964-4352 ext. 16 to reserve your space.

Our mailing address is:

Mendocino Coast Botanical Gardens
18220 N. Highway 1
Ft Bragg, Ca 95437

EXONERATING BOSK

To the Editor:

Don’t blame Beth Bosk for the chaos that ensued during the April 21, Mendocino County Board of Supervisors meeting, when the hack-n-squirt agenda item was discussed, and ultimately defeated.

The Mendocino County Board of Supervisors had set aside 90 minutes for the item at its April 21 meeting to discuss the fire danger that results from the timber industry practice of intentionally adding over a million new standing dead hardwood trees in our forests every year.

Why a fire danger? Why so many dead trees? Because a patchwork quilt of both living trees and dead trees is the result of hack-n-squirt. Trees with lucrative commercial value, like redwood, spruce, and Douglas fir, get to live. Trees like tan oak, an ancient native of the Pacific Northwest forest, perceived as "junk trees" by big timber companies, are killed.

The dead trees are left standing right next to the living trees. It's crazy. It's a forest fire waiting to happen.

Meanwhile, thousands of gallons of a non-selective broad-spectrum systemic herbicide called Imazapyr finds its way into groundwater and the forest ecosystem.

Although the County cannot regulate the use of Imazapyr — that’s the domain of the State of California — it can regulate fire danger in the name of public health and safety.

Supervisor Hamburg had introduced a measure asking Mendocino Redwood Company — the biggest, but by no means the only offender — to stop using hack’n’squirt voluntarily. It wasn't an ordinance. It wasn't a demand. It was a request. Had Hamburg's measure passed, the Board of Supervisors would have been merely asking Mendocino Redwood Company to be good neighbors. Yet, Mendocino Redwood Company was expected to refuse even this mild and reasonable request.

Environmental activists, like Ms. Bosk — and more than a hundred other concerned citizens like her in board chambers — had been assured there would have been ample time for comment.

So why the chaos on April 21?

A board chair — any board chair of any public meeting — must enable the group to transact business with speed and efficiency, must have an agenda of timed items and stick to it, must put controversial issues at the front of the agenda, must protect the rights of each and every individual to be heard at the meeting, must ensure full and free debate of each item of business brought before the board, and must preserve a spirit of harmony within the board chambers.

The problem with Mendocino County is that our Board of Supervisors meetings are a hybrid of two different types of meetings. One general type is decision or policy-making meetings. Another is information-sharing meetings, which are used to get public comments.

The purpose of the public comments-type of meeting is to hear from all concerned parties to ensure that all opinions are considered before the decision making-type of meeting.

Unfortunately for Mendocino County, the Board of Supervisors often decides how it’s going to vote long before hearing public comment. The Brown Act notwithstanding, most issues are decided long before a board meeting. The board's vote is a mere formally, and public comment is a spectacle.

Hence, the spectacle of a shouting match between Board Chair Carre Brown and Beth Bosk, with Ms. Bosk threatened with being dragged out of the meeting by law enforcement. At some point, Hamburg jumped in. The crowd started shouting. Rising to their feet. It was like Roman theater. The Colosseum or Circus Maximus. To be sure, Beth Bosk is a star performer, like Bathyllus, Pylades or Apolaustus.

Indeed, Ms. Bosk is a star. A much-respected organizer of Redwood Summer. A newspaper publisher. An eco-frontierswoman. The best friend that old-growth redwoods ever had.

The sad thing is that the spectacle of the April 21 meeting stemmed from real anger and frustration. The Supervisors had made up their minds long before public comment.

Don’t blame Beth Bosk.

John Sakowicz, Ukiah

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