Mendocino County Today: Tuesday, June 9, 2015

• Hot Thunderstorms
• Two Fires
• Good News
• River Notes
• Inn Celebration
• Sun Bow
• Delinquent Notices
• Mirkarimi Fiasco
• Goodbye Paul
• Email Privacy
• Caitlyn Somebody
• Hash Burners
• Gender Issues
• Catch of the Day
• Summertime
• Pledge Drive
• Self Absorption
• FB Library
• Digging Deeper
• Friday Anniversary

WEATHER OUTLOOK FOR MENDOCINO INTERIOR:

Isolated thunderstorms are expected Tuesday with the greatest coverage
during the afternoon and evening hours. A few storms may become strong
Tuesday afternoon and evening with gusty winds and hail along with locally
heavy rainfall. After a slight cool down on Wednesday, hot afternoon
temperatures will return late in the week and into the weekend. (National Weather Service)

MENDOCINO WILDLAND FIRE UPDATE

There were two wildland fires in Mendocino County yesterday afternoon.

The first fire (Spy Incident) started at 3:27pm and was located at mile post 77 along Hwy 101, Laytonville. The Spy was contained at 5:21pm and burned ½ acre of grass and brush.

The second fire (Tan Incident) started at 3:45pm and was located at the Tan Oak Park, Leggett. The Tan was contained at 5:45pm and burned 4.5 acres of grass and heavy timber with difficult access. Power lines were down. Initial response included 1 copter, 2 tankers and multiple engines and crews. Today three engines and two crews will be assigned to the incident.

The Incident Commander stated the grass and timber were very dry and burned like late July conditions.

The hot temperatures, dry conditions and winds are perfect conditions for a catastrophic wildfire. Approximately 95% of all wildfires CAL FIRE responds to are caused by people. We are staffing up and are ready to respond but we need the public to do their part...One Less Spark, means One Less Wildfire.

For more information on how to be ready for wildfire visit www.ReadyForWildfire.org

--Julie Cooley Fire Prevention Specialist II CAL FIRE Mendocino Unit (707) 459-7425

LORETTA, THE GOOD NEWS

Loretta Houck suffered a terrible head injury in an accident last month. She has been hospitalized ever since. Loretta's husband, W. Dan Houck writes Sunday, "I saw my wife today. And even more importantly she saw me! We saw each other for the first time in thirty six days yesterday morning at 8:05. Not sure if anyone else has been counting but just so you know that was 854 hours and 25 minutes give or take since last we laid eyes on each other like that. She saw me and broke into a smile that was so beautiful I immediately dissolved in heaving sobs and collapsed into her neck. She reached up with her right hand, put it on the back of my head and pulled me closer. Over the last two days we have seen a lot of each other. Not only that but we have talked. I with questions and she with nods and shakes of her head. I asked if she knew what happened and she shook her head "no". So I told her and when I said "That was five weeks ago." her eyes got very wide. While eating my morning nectarine I asked if she wanted a taste and she nodded and stuck out her tongue and licked it when I held it out to her. Several time I asked if she wanted a kiss and she puckered up, often putting her hand on the back of my head like before.

Today she was awake more often and for longer periods. She moves primarily with the right hand; scratching her face, feeling the spot where part of her skull was removed, cracking her knuckles one handed. She moves the left hand and leg, just not as dexterously or as purposefully. The physical therapists say this is perfectly normal and are confident of a substantial recovery. At one point Lo was looking at the generic visitors badge all of us non-professionals wear. I asked if she could read it? There was a pause and then she nodded. "I asked does it say W.Dan?" she shook her head. I asked "Does it say visitor?" she nodded.

There are lots of other things, like turning her head and shoulders slightly to look up at the t.v. The polite smile I recognize from when she meets new people that she gives the constant stream of nurses, therapists and doctors she is meeting. The warm knowing smile and raised eyebrows for people she recognizes.

The road ahead is still very long, hard and scary; but I saw my wife today, and she saw me. Our path is much less dark and far less scary."

THE STATE OF THE NAVARRO

In last week's account about Balo and Roederer pumping out of Indian Creek I reported a record low flow rate for the Navarro River of 4.1 cfs. One day after I wrote the article the flow rate reported by USGS plummeted to .64 cfs and I emailed them to find out what was going on. They said the river mouth closing (that had been in effect for weeks if not months) was disrupting the gauge. A maintenance person went out to recalibrate or whatever it was that they had to do and the USGS website revised figures rose to 10.5 cfs or so. Today Monday the USGS reported flow rate is again at record lows at 4.5 cfs. The previous low having been 5.7 cfs in 1977.

Given the status of USGS equipment function I don't know if that's actual or not. Certainly those winegrowers taking water out of the River don't have any idea either. While Roederer has pulled their pump, Balo padrone Timothy Mullins has continued to pump off and on. My estimation is that he has taken over an acre foot of water in the last five days. If he keeps it up I'll probably make a sign and stand by the driveway to his tasting room to let his wine schmoozers know what's happening to Anderson Valley's drought challenged river ecology.

While you can still find nice deep and cool pools to dip in, the shallower water is warming up to the point my granddaughter reported finding pools that she called "hot tub pools." "When you walk into them" she said, "they feel like a bath." So early in the summer that's not a good sign and neither is the amount of algae that is growing. Along our stretch of the stream just below where Anderson, Indian and Rancheria Creeks combine to create the Navarro River it is impressive and quite colorful. The faster flows are carpeted with a deep green algae growth which turns into lighter colored, billowing cottony forests in some of the deeper water. Bright lime green algae lines the shallower slow flowing and eddying edges and where the flow is almost non-existent the layers on top dry out and turn yellow.

I haven't noticed any bigger fish and not many 3 and 4 inch Roach, Stickleback or young trout that are usually so common. There is, though, a number of the tiny guys 3/4 up to an inch in size. These guys are so small I can't imagine the fish screens the water grabbers are required to use can keep them all out of the water-sucking machinery.

Yesterday as I stood in watchful reverie on the Shenoa bridge a Merganser momma with 11 little ducklings swimming close behind slowly made their way upstream. That they tolerated my nearby presence was unusual as they can be quite timid but just as they started under the bridge Momma turned and rapidly scooted back downstream. My first thought was that she had finally seen me but after about 40-50 yards here comes a scurrying 12th little duckling that had somehow gotten left behind. There was much flapping and excitement as the group briefly expressed their joy at being reunited. Momma had heard what I couldn't (the peep or quack of her baby) and shortly the now complete troupe returned to leisurely making their way upstream. (— David Severn)

LOOKS LIKE ROADBLOCK 'BREACHED' FOR CAPTAIN FLETCHER CELEBRATION

The sandbar at the mouth of the Navarro still has refused to "breach" (despite a manmade effort open it with a trencher) and State Parks has blocked vehicle access to the parking lot at the mouth for more than a month. But it looked like the roadblock was “breached” Saturday night for the 150th “Birthday Celebration” at Navarro-by-the-Sea. Lots of people were at the Captain Fletcher house as seen from our observation spot in a Highway 1 turnout on the Navarro grade. Once again, while the coast elite meet inside, MSP was out standing…

(Courtesy, MendocinoSportsPlus)

HERE’S A SHOT of last week's lovely sun bow which lasted for quite some time.

Curious as to how they form, I did a quick online search and found an entry on Wikipedia, apparently it is more accurately called a "22° halo" -- A halo (also known as a nimbus, icebow or gloriole) is an optical phenomenon produced by light interacting with ice crystals suspended in the atmosphere, resulting in a wide variety of colored or white rings, arcs and spots in the sky. Many halos are near the Sun or Moon, but others occur elsewhere or even in the opposite part of the sky. Among the most well known halo types are the circular halo (properly called the 22° halo), light pillars and sun dogs, but there are many more; some of them fairly common, others (extremely) rare. The ice crystals responsible for halos are typically suspended in cirrus or cirrostratus clouds high (5–10 km, or 3–6 miles) in the upper troposphere, but in cold weather they can also float near the ground, in which case they are referred to as diamond dust. The particular shape and orientation of the crystals is responsible for the type of halo observed. Light is reflected and refracted by the ice crystals and may split up into colors because of dispersion. The crystals behave like prisms and mirrors, refracting and reflecting light between their faces, sending shafts of light in particular directions. Atmospheric phenomena such as halos were used as part of weather lore as an empirical means of weather forecasting before meteorology was developed. They often do mean that rain is going to fall within the next 24 hours as the cirrostratus clouds that cause them can signify an approaching frontal system. (— Elaine Kalantarian)

A READER WRITES: "Last week I received two DELINQUENT NOTICES from the County Treasurer and Tax Collector for a mere $1,434.18. This morning they told me they were Supplemental Tax bills (?????) which I questioned, then learned that they lost control of the computer which had printed out the Notices in error. Why did they mail them? Because they weren't double checked, got mailed and only discovered the blunder this morning. I asked if I was the only one who had phoned, and received a long pause and then a "No".

UPDATING THE MIRKARIMI "FIASCO"

(From the Chronicle's letters to the editor):

Resolved issue

Regarding “Scandal scores personal victory” (Datebook, May 30): When reading the theater review of “What Is the Scandal?” I was reminded of the whole 2012 San Francisco Sheriff Ross Mirkarimi fiasco. I remember thinking at the time that I could not believe that our sheriff’s entire life and career were being destroyed because he grabbed his wife’s arm too hard and left a bruise.

I also recall thinking that it was an abuse of power and a power grab by Mayor Ed Lee. I am happy to hear that Mirkarimi’s wife, the supposed victim of the domestic abuse, finally has a voice in the matter. I will definitely attend her solo performance at the Mission Cultural Center.

Gloria Judd, San Francisco

* * *

Judd has it right. The quarrel Mirkarimi and his wife had never rose anywhere near the level claimed by the domestic abuse furies and the local media. It was an isolated incident, an argument that got out of control. And there was never any evidence that Mirkarimi was a chronic abuser of women. The opinion of a woman who had lived with Mirkarimi for eight years was ignored by the political lynch mob.

The Chronicle's C.W. Nevius was the worst. He must have written a dozen columns hounding Mirkarimi. In his first, he quoted with approval a local professor:

"Over the last 20 years, we have taken these things much more seriously," said Rory Little, a law professor at UC Hastings and former federal prosecutor. "We have a system of public prosecution where we look into the crime even if the victim does not want to testify."

That there had been a "crime" and that Lopez was a "victim" was Nevius's assumption — and the mob's assumption — all along. It was simply false, as he seems to concede in his recent column on Lopez's recent performance:

Lopez is still bitter — “These people said I am going to protect you, woman, so I am going to destroy your family.” But it is a relief to see this seems more about closure than anger. “We didn’t want this to be propaganda,” she said after the play. “We’re trying to be honest. We didn’t want to blame anybody.” Good. There’s already been enough blame.

She would have been justified in blaming Nevius.

Nevius's conservative colleague Debra Saunders got it right.

In his review of Lopez's performance, Robert Hurwitt gets it:

There’s nothing in “Scandal” that minimizes the seriousness of spousal abuse. But the gist of the piece should make us look more carefully before we jump to conclusions or intervene. Sometimes a spat is just a spat. Sometimes we need to check our perceptions against our preconceived notions of cultures we presume are less enlightened or more macho than our own. Always, Lopez is saying, we should pay attention to what the presumed victim has to say.

Randy Shaw, DA Gascon, and Tim Redmond — who, like Nevius, is singing a different song now — all got it completely wrong.

Mayor Lee should have followed my advice in the first place.

See my post-mortem on the whole, completely unnecessary fiasco.

(— Rob Anderson, District 5 Diary)

HERE’S YOUR HAT, WHAT’S YOUR HURRY, PAUL?

To the Editor:

I read Paul Lambert’s long pompous farewell in last week’s issue. It is good news that “family matters call me and my wife back to Southern California.” Oh dear, really, “Paul”?

My memory of “Paul” will be his KZYX programmic simper, “What’s your first name and where are you from?,” as though these were essential information for human expression and he had the privilege to know.

I recall his playing an extremely heavy devil’s advocate in the freeway controversy, openly broadcasting, though supposedly a journalist, that he could not understand why people here continued to protest (i.e., object to an unnecessary intrusion upon our beautiful little valley, including poisonous and invasive measures in perpetuity).

Caltrans owns a quarter of the valley. Does anyone think they just want to fit in? Lambert won’t care either way. He is gone and leaves his verbal refuse behind.

His farewell advice to us, again via the simper delivery, is “try tolerance and working together.” Tolerance means nothing to power. The governmental bodies were conditioned, intimidated and deceived by the Caltrans approach, and reversing course was never considered for reasons of pride. Enter unofficial citizenry.

The extensive measured efforts we in the freeway study group attempted were dismissed as “discussion on issues previously considered.” In other words, fulfill a shell of formalist democracy and then proceed with said devastation.

I think what Lambert is really orating is: “Be nice, like I am.” To which I must reply, thank God fake-liberals have no power, but only citizens willing to place themselves in jeopardy against institutional force, so that their convictions cannot be ignored. We all remember when Willits was under near military occupation.

That the initial stages of the Caltrans invasion have proceeded despite citizen action is no indication of honor. The meager pro-bypass contingent was no more than identifying with daddy, no honor in that. The state monolith has no human honor or morality, no honor there. Nor really the passive citizens who think obeisance is superior adult behavior. The authorities always define social success and stature for us as politely going along with their interests and desires. (Sound familiar?)

Protesting wrong is honorable in a free society. Nor does conformity to superior institutional force achieve justice or any other kind of honorable conclusion – Lambert’s pallid cliches about “tolerance” notwithstanding.

As far as the KZYX problems, at least he is improving matters by getting out. No organization with paid and beleaguered staff trying to fit volunteers into their scheme is going to escape conflict. The conflict can be resolved – if there is a shared will. Preachments from departing twits make no difference.

Goodbye Paul Lambert, and please get lost on the way.

William Ray, Willits

PASS THE HANKY

Editor,

I don’t think it is right to leave the misuse of private email exchanges RE Frost Fans in your paper unresponded to. There is no doubt that email stuff is not necessarily private but it is also not necessary open to word for word printing and sadly, damaged an important communication process that was for at least one AVA writer’s benefit. If we had planned to air this material in a very public way, we would have sent it to you. What you do by publishing this is destroy any personal process of strategy per your ‘journalistic’ notion of ‘disclosure.’ It is a bad precedence and I think you should avoid it. Also others should check carefully what is in the CC column but sadly the BCC column shares nothing and leaves us vulnerable. I for one will avoid using email this way in the future. I personally do not see any strength in it, nor do I value the paper for this. Frankly just made me angry. Here is what is missing guys. If you saw something you wanted to discuss, you had our names and could have asked if you comment on it with a direct exchange. Good journalism. I don’t know what the other version is, but it left a very sour taste in my mouth.

The only similar stupid use of private email I have seen was when the CPUC published the breech of the Smartmeter group by the head of the Smartmeter program whereupon that individual was attempting to manipulate change. He was fired by PG&E who were clearly embarrassed and worried. But here is where stupid gets big, the public oriented CPUC redacted any PG members name and left the names of those of us who had written in their very public record. Instead of protecting the victims, they victimized us more. Some Public Utility Commission eh? In my opinion the commission could drop Public from their name, it is the least of their focus.

Greg Krouse

Philo

SPIKE TV didn’t find Clint Eastwood’s joke about Caitlyn Jenner during the Guys’ Choice Awards taping on Saturday very funny. “We will remove the reference in the version that will air,” David Schwarz, Spike TV senior vice president of communications, said in a statement. During the taping, while presenting “San Andreas” star Dwayne Johnson with a special award, Eastwood compared Johnson to other athletes-turned-actors like “Jim Brown and Caitlyn Somebody.” Which is absolutely innocuous even if it isn't funny.

IDIOTS BURNED WHILE USING BUTANE TO MAKE HASH OIL BECOMING HOSPITAL PROBLEM

http://www.pressdemocrat.com/news/4040587-181/hash-oil-burns-a-growing

COVER GIRL

by James Kunstler

This shoot was about my life and who I am as a person. It’s not about the fanfare….”

— Caitlyn (formerly Bruce) Jenner

It was, perhaps, only coincidental that the shy, elderly, Olympic decathlon champion and Wheaties box icon ended up on the cover of America’s glossiest glossy magazine attended by a squadron of make-up artists, costumers, publicists, drapers, lighting designers, endocrinologists, agents, and managers under the direction of supreme photographic commander Annie Liebowitz. And, perhaps, another coincidence that the E! Network is producing an eight-part reality show (“docu-series”) on the journey of America’s new transgender sweetheart from sweaty, hairy, testosterone-jacked athlete to air-brushed pin-up “girl.” I guess fanfare is sometimes just the unexpected cherry-on-top of life’s big creamy cake.

But doesn’t it all raise the question: why is it so important for the nation’s cultural stage managers to make the case that a life of sexual confusion is the highest-and-best way of being in this world? It’s everywhere. A day does not pass lately when The New York Times fails to run a front-page story about the triumph of transgender life. One easy theory might be that old chestnut about folks out on the “cutting edge” always needing a new way to épater le bourgeois, shock and horrify the middle class (into the recognition of their pathetic, mind-numbing dullness.) Maybe the middle class doesn’t have enough to think about with keeping a step ahead of the re-po man, or being billed $30,000 to give birth in a hospital, or working 70 hours a week.

The best explanation (not mine originally), may be that in a “liminal” moment of history, when great scary trends and events trigger society’s existential dread, all kinds of boundaries dissolve. And sex, being among the humanity’s most compelling drives, fraught with heavy cultural regulation, ends up being the means of expression for our collective anxiety over the dissolution of things. It also happens that America today is at once an exceptionally pornified society and an exceptionally puritanical one. Rome under Caligula did not have the internet, enabling 12-year-olds to spectate on every imaginable sex act. But neither did the witch-obsessed settlers of the Massachusetts Bay Colony have the equivalent of the young woman (Emma Sulkowicz by name) who idiotically lugged a mattress around the Columbia University campus as a combination political protest / senior art project to draw attention to her dubious rape case (which was dismissed by Columbia’s own administrative kangaroo court).

The tension between these forces of extreme prurience and extreme Puritanism must be immense, probably intolerable, especially for the young who, even in the most settled times, are beset by insecurity over their sexual development — of how to grow into a man or a woman in the world. It’s also interesting that we want to talk about “sexuality” all the time — if media chatter can be taken for public “conversation” — but only in highly circumscribed ways. Overstep the conventional thinking du jour, and you invite a tsunami of censorious opprobrium… which I will now proceed to do.

For instance, I would propose the theory that homosexuality is lately promoted as a desirable way of being in the world because it allows those who behave that way to avoid and escape a primary source of tension in human life: the difficult relations between men and women. These tensions inevitably fluoresce in adolescence, and so now the choice is offered to opt out. I’d expect gay opinion to argue that opting into that way of being in the world actually generates greater tensions and torments, and that may indeed be so — but it is often the case with avoidance behavior that it invites unhappy complications.

I would also propose that the Caitlyn (Bruce) Jenner spectacle represents “peak transgender.” Now that the culture stage managers have made the point that the paragon of maleness — a five-sport Olympic champion — can opt late in life to become a simulacrum of femaleness (with strange overtones of sexual availability, but to whom, or to what?), there’s nowhere further to go… we finally come to the actual long-sought edge of the cutting edge and drop off into an abyss.

Or maybe this is all just the result of life’s supreme test: keeping up with the Kardashians. After all those years of slip-sliding in Clinique Anti-blemish solution and L’Oreal True Match, poor Bruce just caved, surrendered, resorted to the tactic that could tempt even the most driven competitor: if you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em.

All right, now I will step aside and endure all the punishment I have invited for venturing to have some opinions on these matters.

(Kunstler’s new World Made By Hand novel is now available! “Kunstler skewers everything from kitsch to greed, prejudice, bloodshed, and brainwashing in this wily, funny, rip-roaring, and profoundly provocative page- turner, leaving no doubt that the prescriptive yet devilishly satiric A World Made by Hand series will continue.” — Booklist

CATCH OF THE DAY, June 8, 2015

WILLIAM BARRY, Ukiah. Drunk in public. (Frequent flyer.)

CHARLES BRASIER, Yuba/Fort Bragg. Domestic battery.

DANIEL BUTLER, Ukiah. Probation revocation.

JOSE CARMONA, Santa Nella/Ukiah. Lewd-lascivious with child under 14.

JAVIER CEJA, Ukiah. DUI.

ROBERT FACKWELL, Redwood Valley. Possession of controlled substance and paraphernalia, suspended license, probation revocation.

KENDALL FOORD, Ukiah. Drunk in public, resisting, battery on peace officer.

JULIE HARLOW, Willits. Drunk in public.

DEAN HICKAM, Poyallup, Washington/Willits. Criminal threats of death or great bodily harm, false report of bomb emplacement.

JARED HUNDLEY, Willits. Possession of hash oil.

KEVIN LITZIN, Ukiah. Drunk in public, probation revocation. (Frequent flyer.)

CHRISTIAN MENDEZ, Ukiah. Parole violation.

BRIAN MILLER, Redwood Valley. Drunk in public.

SERAFIN MORA, Ukiah. Battery, resisting, drunk in public.

RONALD ROMERO, Willits. Domestic assault, assault with deadly weapon not a gun, false imprisonment, criminal threats of death or great bodily harm.

RYAN SEES, Lakeport. Domestic battery, probation revocation.

ORION STRONG, Willits. Domestic battery.

KAWLIGA THOMPSON, Willits. Domestic assault.

JUAN VIEYRA-MORENO, Calpella. Domestic assault.

SUMMERTIME

Summertime,

And the livin' is easy

Fish are jumpin'

And the cotton is high

 

Oh, Your daddy's rich

And your mamma's good lookin'

So hush little baby

Don't you cry

 

One of these mornings

You're going to rise up singing

Then you'll spread your wings

And you'll take to the sky

 

But until that morning

There's nothing can harm you

With your daddy and mammy standing by

— DuBose Heyward

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E5iXlYwJ-Y0

ANOTHER BOMB

Editor,

KZYX wrapped up yet another pledge drive, and this pledge drive bombed just like the pledge drive before it. This most recent pledge drive goal was $85,000. KZYX raised only $65,000.

The last pledge drive failed by a similar margin.

Clearly, the people of Mendocino County are questioning "business as usual" at KZYX. They're beginning to see KZYX for what it really is. KZYX is not a true community radio station. It is a closed clubhouse... a closed clubhouse that purges its critics, and a jobs program for the otherwise unemployable people who work there.

KZYX programming is mediocre, at best, and the station's broadcasts are frequently plagued by dead air, scratchy irritating signals, and fuzzouts. Its webstream drops a lot. And shows are not permanently archived. The FCC has failed to renew both of the station's licenses -- even after a year of legal wrangling -- and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting slashed funding by more than $50,000 this year.

Meanwhile, KMEC, a low power station in Ukiah, has national guests on its public affairs show, archives its shows, and it keeps the station humming without technical problems for less than less than $20,000 a year and nothing in salaries. Compare this to a budget of $570,000 a year and $236,000 in salaries and benefits at KZYX.

Thank you Mendocino County for supporting KMEC and KNYO until meaningful change comes to KZYX.

John Sakowicz, Ukiah

ON-LINE COMMENT OF THE DAY

Our freak shows became the main attraction when attention to self became the supreme focus of our culture.

We see it in our politics, the way our homes are built & decorated, where we live, our dominant form of transportation, how we save for the future (401k vs. the defined pension), consumer technology and on and on.

America has become an “I” nation. We aren’t “We the people” anymore. We’ve become “I” the people. Look at me! And “fuck you!”

It’s all about me and I could care less about you.

We weren’t always like this. But the last 40 years have been one long plunge into epic self absorption.

FORT BRAGG LIBRARY PRESENTS:

Summer Reading Kickoff Event – 6/16/15 - 11 am to 2 pm

Come in and sign up for Summer Reading. Besides our schedule of events and your reading log, you can get personalized reading suggestions as well as information on how to use your library card to get free and discounted museum passes this summer. Kids, teens, adults, all are welcome. This year the Fort Bragg Branch Library is hosting a summer reading program for every age group. For more information, contact the Fort Bragg Branch Library, located at 499 Laurel St., Fort Bragg, California. You can reach us by phone at 707-964-2020 or online at fortbraggbranchlibrary@gmail.com

Kids Movie Series – June 17 – 2 p.m.

Join us for throughout the summer for movies starring some very different heroes. Popcorn will be provided. All films start at 2 p.m. Our first movie will be on June 17^th at 2 p.m. and is rated PG. For more information, contact the Fort Bragg Branch Library, located at 499 Laurel St., Fort Bragg, California. You can reach us by phone at 707-964-2020 or online at fortbraggbranchlibrary@gmail.com.

Create Your Own Comic – 6/20/15 – 1:30 P.M. to 3 P.M.

Interested in comics and art? Want to try your hand at creating your own comic? This workshop is for you. A combination of comics history, potential resources, and a chance to work on your own projects, this program will both share the wealth of materials that the library has as well as some helpful online resources for the beginning comic artist. Designed for ages twelve to eighteen. For more information, contact the Fort Bragg Branch Library, located at 499 Laurel St., Fort Bragg, California. You can reach us by phone at 707-964-2020 or online at fortbraggbranchlibrary@gmail.com

Camp NaNoWriMo

Teen Summer Reading Information Session & Sign Up –

6/18/15 – 1 p.m.

Love books? Write one! Join us for a summer session of novel writing. Teens interested in the program can join us at the library on June 18^th to find out more about how Camp NaNoWriMo works and sign up. If you can’t make then, you can drop by the library any time in June to find out about signing up. Due to limited space, there is only room for twenty-two participants in this program. For more information, contact the Fort Bragg Branch Library, located at 499 Laurel St., Fort Bragg, California. You can reach us by phone at 707-964-2020 or online at fortbraggywp@gmail.com.

THE GARDEN CONSERVANCY'S OPEN DAYS PROGRAM Launches New Educational Series as Part of Mendocino County Open Day June 13 Invites the Public to Visit Private Digging Dog Nursery Gardens & Learn New Skills through Digging Deeper Program

On Saturday, June 13th, the Garden Conservancy's national Open Days program comes to Digging Dog Nursery with garden tours and the first in a new national series of educational immersion events entitled "Digging Deeper." Designed to offer a closer look into the gardening and horticulture world, Digging Deeper provides small group sessions for eager participants to enter the private gardens and studios of talented gardeners, artisans, designers and craftspeople. Formats include workshops, tastings, lectures and demonstrations. Groups will be treated to authentic experiences and inspiration as influential professionals share personal insights, tips and creative influences.

Digging Deeper: A Locavore's Posy, the program's inaugural event, will be held at Digging Dog Nursery on June 13, 2015 at 3:00 pm. The session will offer DIY (Do-It-Yourself) fans insider expertise and secrets to creating tied bouquets in the European style, as well as long-lasting natural arrangements. One of the country's most influential floral designers and instructors, Dundee Butcher of the Russian River Flower School <http://www.russianriverflowerschool.com/> in Healdsburg, CA, headlines the event, offering creative and practical techniques for utilizing home-grown, locally grown, foraged and seasonal materials to create a signature style of arrangement, expressive of both time and place.

Dundee will share her unique philosophy, combining a Northern California sensibility with a European twist and discuss the design principles and the conditioning practices by which each varietal's individual type of stem is prepared for a bouquet. Students flock to workshops with Ms. Butcher from around the country with the vision of expertly executing personal floral arrangements and bouquets for family weddings and special events. She is considered the influence behind the new "slow flower" movement, applying the principles of locality and deliberateness found in the slow food movement to floral design.

For the Digging Deeper event, Dundee will create a bouquet drawn from the expansive gardens surrounding Digging Dog Nursery, which provides an idyllic backdrop for the day. Digging Dog Nursery owner Deborah Whigham will also be on hand to assist with plant selection and share decades of growing advice and expertise. After the session she'll offer a special treat for the intimate group - a personally escorted behind-the-scenes tour. This is a rare opportunity to see the renowned display gardens at Digging Dog Nursery, which are not generally open to the public. A plant sale will also be held onsite from 10:00 am until 5:00 pm.

Tickets for Digging Deeper: A Locavore's Posy are $25 for members of The Garden Conservancy and $35 for non-members. Price includes Open Day general admission to Digging Dog Nursery (a $7 value), session with Dundee Butcher, and a tour of the property with owner Deborah Whigham. All proceeds benefit The Garden Conservancy's Open Days Program. Ticket link: To purchase tickets <https://www.gardenconservancy.org/store/a-locavore-s-posy-european-hand-tied-bouquet-demonstration-with-dundee-butcher-at-digging-dog-nursery-nonmember-ticket>

In addition to the event, Digging Dog Nursery will be one of three regional gardens open for self-guided tours June 13th as part of The Garden Conservancy's Open Days Program for Mendocino County <https://www.gardenconservancy.org/events/all-events/mendocino-ca-open-day>. Through The Garden Conservancy's Open Days Program, property owners invite the public to view private residential ornamental gardens for one day only. Open Days take place rain or shine, and no reservation is required for self-guided tours. Admission $7 per garden; children 12 & under free. All proceeds benefit The Garden Conservancy's Open Days Program. Call 1-888-842-2442, or visit www.opendaysprogram.org <http://www.opendaysprogram.org/> for more information.

Digging Dog Nursery <diggingdog.com> is a strong supporter of The Garden Conservancy's Open Days Program. Well-known nationally, it offers unusual and hard-to-find perennials, ornamental grasses, shrubs, trees, and vines chosen to flourish in a variety of garden settings throughout the country. It enjoys a favored source status among professionals, who depend upon its product quality and expert service. Digging Dog Nursery's display gardens were inspired by old-style tradition and feature perennial borders, some more than 150-feet-long, threaded together by pathways and tree-lined trails within a natural setting. The expansive structured design layout features a diverse collection of unusual plants and mainstays.

The Garden Conservancy <https://www.gardenconservancy.org/open-days> introduced the Open Days program in 1995 as a means of introducing the public to gardening, providing easy access to outstanding examples of design and horticultural practice, and proving that exceptional American gardens are still being created. The Open Days program is America's only national private garden-visiting program, and is made possible by the work of hundreds of volunteers nationwide and the participation of thousands of visitors each year. Its new immersion program, Digging Deeper, was introduced in 2015. For information, a complete schedule of Open Days, or to suggest gardens for inclusion in the program, visit the Garden Conservancy online at

www.gardenconservancy.org

GUALALA'S STRUGGLE FOR EVERYTHING GOOD

South Coast People For Peace & Justice continue our weekly Demos for Peace & Justice every Friday in June and July. Please join us! On Friday, July 10th we will celebrate our One Year Anniversary of demonstrating for Human Rights for the Palestinian People; for Black Lives Matter and Black Spring; for an immediate end to ongoing wars; for economic and social justice for all people in our country and the world; for Immigrant Rights and a Living Wage; for an end to Fossil Fuels and switching to Renewables Now! (and so much more!) Everyone is welcome, especially young people. Please join us on Fridays in front of the Gualala Post Office, and especially on FRIDAY, JULY 10TH for our One Year Anniversary of standing for Peace and Justice in our community. Information at 884-4703 and visit our Facebook Page.

https://www.facebook.com/pages/South-Coast-People-For-Peace/1488299098076641