Mendocino County Today: Wednesday, Jun 10, 2015

• Exciting Evening
• PV Tragedy
• Bad Bid
• Police Reports
• Dead Fish
• Dateline Ukiah
• Ironic Tyranny
• Venditte
• Monday Fires
• Embracing Digital
• 1975 Basketball
• Bruce Gender
• Raiding Oakland
• Catch of the Day
• Good Lookin'
• TPP Bad
• Dark Ages
• Written Words
• Cancer Symptoms
• KZYX Inspection

VIOLENTLY BEAUTIFUL in Mendocino County Tuesday night. Thunder and lightning, rain bursts, brilliant red sunset, and a no hitter from the Giant's Heston to offset the Warrior loss (due in part to recently disclosed key player injuries). No reports of fires but the lightning seemed to strike everywhere to the north and east.

“Isolated thunderstorms” according to the National Weather Service -- the weather radar showed a series of good sized storm cells swept right up the Navarro from Albion to Yorkville and Hopland Tuesday night.

THAT POTTER VALLEY DOUBLE SUICIDE? Turns out to be beyond awful, Shakespearean even. The troubled son committed suicide, the father discovered the son's body and, without pausing, also killed himself with a gun shot to the head.

BAD BID

Dear MCLA Member

Every year around this time the Mendocino County Board of Supervisors has to vote on renewing the Business Improvement District (BID). Usually there are no protests because it is not publicized to any extent and nobody even knows it is happening. This year when it was announced that the renewal vote would be held on May 19 we had insufficient time to go out to all the members and present them with the opportunity to submit a protest vote. We did have time to canvass the incorporated cities of Point Arena and Fort Bragg. When the protest votes from Point Arena and Fort Bragg were presented to the Board of Supervisors on May 19 they accounted for over 50% of the total Transient Occupancy Tax for each of those cities. This meant that if the Board of Supervisors had held their vote and voted to renew the BID the incorporated cities of Point Arena and Fort Bragg would no longer be a part of the BID. With the development of such a huge protest vote, the Board of Supervisors decided to postpone the vote until June 9 (Tuesday) to reassess the situation. With that postponement we had time to give people an opportunity to submit protests and opposition votes against renewing the BID.

I imagine you have heard about and are aware of all the reorganization efforts that are going on in regards to the governance of the BID money and the intent to raise the BID fee to 2%. Here are three of the main points out of 17 from the Board of Supervisors, the Lodging Association and the Proportional Alliance announcement of their intentions that will affect you as a Lodging member:

Elimination of the tiered BID proposal in favor of an across-the-board 2% assessment with a continuation of the 50% County match to be applied to all funds.

The Lodging Association and Promotional Alliance may continue as independent organizations but will have no direct authority over BID funds or administration

The governing board will be composed of 11 members — five from Lodging, two from the Chamber of Commerce, one winery or winegrowers, one arts and attractions, one food and beverage including culinary, beer and other spirits, and one at-large.

So Lodging will have a minority of the five members of an 11 member board. Do you know what the other six majority members have in common? None of them pay anything into the Business Improvement District. Zero, zilch, nada, Lodging will still be the only ones collecting assessments and paying them to the County-Managed Mendocino County Visitors Bureau Inc.

If you are tired of being assessment collectors for the BID, having to submit monthly reports (even if you have nothing to report), seeing no tangible results for your efforts and having no direct authority over Business Improvement District funds or administration, now is the time to let the Board of Supervisors know by submitting a protest vote. To be perfectly clear this applies to the current 1% Business Improvement District and if the protest is successful compiling over 50% of total Transient Occupancy Tax protest would cause disestablishment of the Business Improvement District. (— Norm Fluhrer, Mendocino, June 2, 2015)

ED NOTE: And Mendo taxpayers will have to fork over an additional $200k to cover the increase in the 50% match — with, as Fluhrer notes, “no tangible results.”

ON JUNE 6, 2015 at approximately 12:11 AM, Mendocino County Sheriff’s Deputies were dispatched to the 22000 block of Branscomb Road in Westport, California to the report of a vehicle theft. Deputies responded to the location and contacted the 26-year old victim, a Westport resident, who related that he had picked up a female hitchhiker earlier in the afternoon. The victim provided a ride to the 22000 block of Branscomb Road, letting her out of the vehicle near his residence. The female stayed in the area the remainder of the day. To remove the hitchhiker from the area of his residence, the victim then provided the female a ride into the town of Westport and returned home. At about midnight, the victim heard a vehicle in his driveway. The victim looked out his window and observed his vehicle backing down his driveway and then turn west on Branscomb Road. The victim and his friends pursued the vehicle and stopped it near the end of his driveway. The victim removed from the female hitchhiker from the vehicle and contacted law enforcement. The hitchhiker, later identified as Ana Fee, 36, of Fort Bragg, was arrested at the scene by Sheriff’s Deputies. Fee provided false identification to the Deputies and was ultimately charged with vehicle theft and for providing false identification. Fee was booked into the Mendocino County Jail where she was to be held in lieu of $15,000 bail.

* * *

ON JUNE 8, 2015, at approximately 1:05pm, Thomas P. Kovalsky, 57, of Crystal River, Florida, was driving a 2014 Jeep Latitude southbound on Highway 1, north of Elk. For unknown reasons, Kovalsky allowed the Latitude to turn unsafely to the right, traveling off the roadway in a south westerly direction, colliding with a wooden power line pole. Due to its momentum, the Latitude overturned and collided with the roadway. Kovalsky sustained moderate injuries and was transported by air ambulance to Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital. Kovalsky’s passenger, Hank Martin, 55, of Naples, Florida, also sustained moderate injuries and was transported by ground ambulance to Coast Hospital in Fort Bragg. No arrests were made. (CHP Press Release)

HUNDREDS OF DEAD FISH IN CLEARLAKE

http://www.pressdemocrat.com/news/4045674-181/hundreds-of-fish-dying-in

DATELINE UKIAH. A young woman is in town looking for marijuana work. She spots an ad that looks promising. She calls the number and leaves her name and contact information. That evening, while eating dinner with her boyfriend she receives a text message that says, "I don't have any trim work at this time, but if you want to meet me at Motel 6 I'll give you a hundred dollars for an hour of your time. I'm sure we'll both be happy after it's over."

IRONY'S DEAD END

And make no mistake: irony tyrannizes us. The reason our pervasive cultural irony is at once so powerful and so unsatisfying is that an ironist is impossible to pin down. All US irony is based on an implicit “I don’t really mean what I’m saying.” So what does irony as a cultural norm mean to say? That it’s impossible to mean what you say? That maybe it’s too bad it’s impossible, but wake up and smell the coffee already? Most likely, I think, today’s irony ends up saying, “How totally banal of you to ask what I really mean.” Anyone with the heretical gall to ask an ironist what he actually stands for ends up looking like an hysteric or a prig. And herein lies the oppressiveness of institutionalized irony, the too-successful rebel: the ability to interdict the question without attending to its subject is, when exercised, tyranny. It is the new junta, using the very tool that exposed its enemy to insulate itself.

This is why our educated teleholic friends’ use of weary cynicism to try to seem superior to TV is so pathetic. And this is why the fiction-writing citizen of our televisual culture is in such very deep shit. What do you do when postmodern rebellion becomes a pop-cultural institution? For this of course is the second answer to why avant-garde irony and rebellion have become dilute and malign. They have been absorbed, emptied, and redeployed by the very televisual establishment they had originally set themselves athwart.

Not that television is culpable for any evil here. Just for immoderate success. This is, after all, what TV does: it discerns, decocts, and re-presents what it thinks US culture wants to see and hear about itself. No one and everyone is at fault for the fact that television started gleaning rebellion and cynicism as the hip upscale Baby-Boomer imago populi. But the harvest has been dark: the forms of our best rebellious art have become mere gestures, schticks, not only sterile but perversely enslaving.

How can even the idea of rebellion against corporate culture stay meaningful when Chrysler Inc. advertises trucks by invoking “The Dodge Rebellion”? How is one to be a bona fide iconoclast when Burger King sells onion rings with “Sometimes You Gotta Break the Rules”? How can an Image-Fiction writer hope to make people more critical of televisual culture by parodying television as a self-serving commercial enterprise when Pepsi and Subaru and FedEx parodies of self serving commercials are already doing big business? It’s almost a history lesson: I’m starting to see just why turn-of-the-last-century Americans’ biggest fear was of anarchists and anarchy. For if anarchy actually wins, if rulenessless becomes the rule, then protest and change become not just impossible but incoherent. It’d be like casting a ballot for Stalin: you are voting for an end to all voting.

So here’s the stumper for the US writer who both breathes our cultural atmosphere and sees himself heir to whatever was neat and valuable in avant-garde literature: how to rebel against TV’s aesthetic of rebellion, how to snap readers awake to the fact that our televisual culture has become a cynical, narcissistic, essentially empty phenomenon, when television regularly celebrates just these features in itself and its viewers? These are the very questions DeLillo’s poor schmuck of a popologist was asking back in ’85 about America, that most photographed of barns:

“What was the barn like before it was photographed?” he said. “What did it look like, how was it different from other barns, how was it similar to other barns? We can’t answer these questions because we’ve read the signs, seen the people snapping pictures. We can’t get outside the aura. We’re part of the aura. We’re here, we’re now.”

He seemed immensely pleased by this.

— David Foster Wallace

WILDLAND FIRE UPDATE

There were two wildland fires in Mendocino County Monday 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 Calfire Mendocino Unit (707) 459-7425

A HALF CENTURY BEYOND THE SIXTIES, when the self-actualizing plea to be "a name and not a number" first attained urgency, Everyman, with each click of the keyboard, now embraces his digitization, sells his privacy for a mess of algorithms used to orchestrate a world neither libertarian nor socialist, an app-happy Cloud of anesthetized convenience.

— Thomas Mallon

KEITH BRAMSTEDT REMEMBERS: I was ten years old when the Warriors won the championship in 1975. I remember listening to the championship-clinching Game 4 on a transistor radio on my way to a Memorial Day picnic, to show how unbearably long the NBA season is now. Bill King, of course, was the Warriors' radio announcer. I thought he was a better basketball announcer than football or baseball. He had a rapid-fire delivery that suited the fast pace of basketball. The Warriors had to play their two home games in the Finals at the Cow Palace because the Oakland Colisseum Arena had scheduled an ice show there ahead of the Finals!

ON LINE COMMENT OF THE DAY

Do we really know what causes people to be born into a physical gender that never fits? Reports from white men encountering some American Indian tribes described what we would now call transgender people – and the Indians revered them as being from both worlds. Whatever it is that causes it, research with small children who insist that they’re the other gender shows that the gender mismatch is realized early, deeply, and can be incredibly painful if left unacknowledged.

Bruce Jenner has lived his life in the public eye as the physical ideal of a man (and a decathlon is 10 sports, not 5) even though privately he always felt female. If he were just a regular zhlub who believed himself a woman, it wouldn’t be much of a story. But that a consummate male athlete-now-reality-star is so emotionally at odds with his body brings the issue into an unavoidable focus.

I don’t believe someone who’s led a private life can judge how he (and now she) went about revealing and accomplishing this change. She has said she feels that her position as a public figure could offer some good for those in similar conflicts. You can question Jenner’s taste or boundaries, but I can’t question her decision (I’d more strongly question why someone would marry into that family). I doubt anyone would go through this physical process casually; in Jenner’s case, her change is certainly stirring up hate as well.

I knew a highly respected (originally male) academic who waited to transition until her children were grown; they abandoned her, and her academic reputation suffered for no justifiable reason. Yet she felt it was something she had to do to be true to herself and was finally satisfied in having taken those many steps.

If Jenner can help others understand transgender issues, more power to her.

THE PEOPLE OF OAKLAND NEED TO OCCUPY THEIR SPORTS TEAMS

by Dave Zirin

I had the thrill to spend this past weekend in Oakland, and the the sheer wide-eyed joy over the long-awaited arrival of the Golden State Warriors in the NBA Finals was everywhere. T-shirts, buttons, baseball caps, even flashing messages on the city buses: It was a “Dubs Nation” festival of awesomeness.

There was also a rumbling sense of unease beneath the joy. The Warriors have called Oakland home since 1971, yet the team will almost certainly move to San Francisco by 2018, for a new stadium and a massive parcel of land. Yes, San Francisco is just across a bridge, but if you know the history of the SF and Oakland divide — and how deeply that divide has been symbolized by the cities’ sports rivalry — then you know that bridge crosses a moat more than a bay. Joe Lacob, the venture capitalist who has owned the Dubs for less than five years, sees that sweet stadium land and any sense of history flies out the window. Real estate in San Francisco is the new gold rush. It’s 1849 on BALCO steroids, and Joe Lacob is a crusty old prospector in a nicer suit.

If only it were just the Dubs. This seminal sports town is having its franchises bled out by owners who seem to care little about the deep, near-religious connections between teams and city residents.

Few franchises are more iconic than the Oakland Raiders, the legendary silver and black. When late owner Al Davis absconded with the team to Los Angeles in 1981, no one foresaw that he would return the Raiders in 1995 with a vengeance. Davis and city leaders delivered a notoriously awful deal for the people, even by sports-standards. The Raiders have soaked $400 million out of the city amidst deep cuts to social services and the treasury continues to pay $12 million a year until 2026 for stadium upkeep according to USA Today. Now his son, Mark Davis, wants to relive this history. He is salivating over moving the team to a $1.7 billion stadium in Carson, California outside of LA. The best hope for keeping the Raiders in Oakland rests not in a stadium deal but in that the greed of NFL owners collectively may overpower the rapaciousness of the Davis clan. NFL owners love a Los Angeles without pro football. The LA Market has boundless value for the league as a stalking horse, a living threat for other cities that if they don’t pony up, their team will go to La La Land. People in the Twin Cities can attest how that very threat was used by Vikings owner Zygi Wilf to secure his status as the Welfare King of Minnesota.

And then there are the A’s. The Oakland Athletics, the team of Moneyball, the Bash Brothers, and the greatest mustaches of the 1970s, has been attempting to escape Oakland for years. They are owned by 80-year-old real estate tycoon Lew Wolff, whose love for Oakland is so deep, he lives in Los Angeles. Wolff could not be more appropriately named. Six years ago, he attempted to take the team out of Oakland to Fremont. More recently, he tried to get them to San Jose, where Wolff effectively owns much of the city. Now the discussion is for, altogether now, public subsidies to refurbish the stadium they currently share with the Raiders.

What is so particularly noxious about all of this is that sports franchises don’t even pretend anymore to make the 1990s-era argument that public subsidies are necessarily for their survival. We all see it in the skyrocketing salaries, the multibillion-dollar television deals, and the ballooning costs for franchises: The money is there. The NFL, Major League Baseball, and the NBA could build new stadiums for all of these Oakland institutions and not even blink at the costs. But it’s not about giving back for Lacob, Davis, Wolff or the leagues. The entire state of affairs direly reflects a country where the desires of the “haves” violently out-prioritize the needs of the “have-nots”.

The people of Oakland with whom I spoke are anxious but are also adamant about not being screwed over again. They love their teams, but won’t sacrifice their city for the privilege. It’s admirable, and in this climate it’s a recipe for merciless defeat. Lacob, Davis, and Wolf are simply absent of shame. The great people of Oakland deserve better. They also, not unlike their basketball team at the moment, need to get out of their defensive stance and start lighting it up on offense.

This is Oakland: the city of the Black Panthers, Berkeley, the Brown Berets, and Boots Riley. It is almost shocking that there is not a public campaign to demand at least a partial public seizure of these teams, given the public expenditure already invested. I asked a slew of people this past weekend why this campaign has yet to cohere, and the answers ranged from it’s being unrealistic to there being “more pressing campaigns” than trying to untangle sports-league bylaws. But the mega-profits being produced by today’s leagues could actually aid those campaigns, providing new revenue streams for cash-strapped schools and hospitals. Here is where the city could take something from the history of the once-fearsome Raiders: Sometimes scaring the piss out of an opponent can be a very effective tactic. Occupy these Oakland franchises and demand that these owners acknowledge that the teams of the East Bay were yours long before these owners arrived for the great plunder. They can share the wealth or they can spend their own money or they can sell out. But the teams remain. As a T-shirt I saw this weekend said, “Oakland: the people that lead the world.” When it comes to turning the table on sports owners, it’s time for Oakland to lead.

CATCH OF THE DAY, June 9, 2015

JOE ARIAS, Leggett. DUI, suspended license, false ID.

CURTIS BERRY, Mendocino. Domestic assault.

KEVIN BURROUGHS, Dublin/Redwood Valley. DUI.

ANDREW CANN, Branscomb. DUI-Drugs & alcohol.

EDWARD ESQUIVEL, Willits. Probation revocation.

DAWN MCKNIGHT, Ukiah. Possession and under influence of controlled substance, possession of paraphernalia, suspended license, probation revocation.

TASHA ORNELAS, Ukiah. Drunk in public, probation revocation.

THOMAS SANDERS, Willits. Fighting, resisting, probation revocation.

CAMEO SMITH-ARJO, Ukiah. Burglary.

REBECCA STILES, Laytonville. Drunk in public.

ASHLEY SVENDSEN, Willits. Domestic assault, child endangerment.

JEREMIAH WALKER, Ukiah. Dui, suspended license.

ERIC WRIGHT, Ukiah. Drunk in public, resisting, false ID, probation revocation.

HEY, GOOD LOOKIN'

Hey, hey, good lookin'

Whatcha got cookin'?

How's about cookin' somethin' up with me?

 

Hey, sweet baby,

Don't you think maybe

We could find us a brand new recipe?

 

I got a hot-rod Ford and a two-dollar bill

And I know a spot right over the hill

There's soda pop and the dancin's free

So if you wanna have fun come along with me

 

Say, hey, good lookin'

Whatcha got cookin'?

How's about cookin' somethin' up with me?

 

I'm free and ready

So we can go steady

How's about savin' all your time for me?

 

No more lookin'

I know I've been tooken

How's about keepin' steady company?

 

I'm gonna throw my date-book over the fence

And find me one for five or ten cents

I'll keep it 'til it's covered with age

'Cause I'm writin' your name down on every page

 

Say hey, good lookin'

Whatcha got cookin'?

How's about cookin' somethin' up with me?

— Hank Williams

MORE LIES FOR CAPITAL

10 Reasons the TPP Is Not a ‘Progressive’ Trade Agreement

by Ralph Nader

“We have an opportunity to set the most progressive trade agreement in our nation’s history,” it states on BarackObama.com, the website of the president’s “Organizing for Action” campaign.

One must seriously question what President Obama and his corporate allies believe to be the definition of “progressive” when it comes to this grandiose statement. History shows the very opposite of progress when it comes to these democratic sovereignty-shredding and job-exporting corporate-driven trade treaties — unless progress is referring to fulfilling the deepest wishes of runaway global corporations.

The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and the World Trade Organization (WTO) set our country’s progress back through large job-draining trade deficits, downward pressure on wages, extending Big Pharma’s patent monopolies to raise consumers’ medicine prices, floods of unsafe imported food, and undermining or freezing consumer and environmental rules.

The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) is formally described as a trade and foreign investment agreement between 12 nations — Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, the United States and Vietnam. The White House is now pressuring Congress to Fast Track through the TPP. Fast Track authority, a Congressional procedure to limit time for debate and prohibit amendments to proposed legislation, has already passed in the Senate, although only after an unexpectedly rough ride.

Here are 10 reasons why the TPP is explicitly not a “progressive” trade agreement:

1. Over 2000 progressive groups recently sent a letter to members of Congress opposing fast track. “Fast Track is an abrogation of not only Congress’ constitutional authority, but of its responsibility to the American people. We oppose this bill, and urge you to do so as well,” the letter reads. See it in full here. On the other hand, supporters of the TPP and its autocratic, secret transnational governance, include Wall Street, Big Pharma, Big Ag, oil/gas and mining firms, and the Chamber of Commerce–in short the plutocracy does not tolerate voices and participation by the people adversely affected.
2. Only six out of the 30 total chapters in the TPP have anything to do with trade. So what makes up the bulk of this agreement, which was shaped by 500 U.S. corporate advisors? Jim Hightower writes: “The other two dozen chapters amount to a devilish ‘partnership’ for corporate protectionism. They create sweeping new ‘rights’ and escape hatches to protect multinational corporations from accountability to our governments… and to us.”
3. After six years of secret negotiations, Fast Track legislation would allow President Obama to sign and enter into the TPP before Congress approves its terms. It then requires a vote 90 days after submission of this Fast Track legislation on the TPP itself and changes in existing U.S. laws to comply with its terms. No amendments would be allowed and debate would be limited to a total of only 20 hours in each chamber of Congress. By limiting debate and preventing any amendments to the agreement, Fast Track prevents challenges to any issues about how America conducts business with the countries included in the TPP. Some of the countries in the TPP — Brunei, Malaysia, Mexico and Vietnam, for example — have terrible human and labor rights records. Those conditions attract big companies looking for serf labor and their accommodating governments.
4. Millions of U.S. manufacturing jobs have been lost due to NAFTA and WTO being railroaded through Congress. The TPP would only expand these offshoring incentives. These types of deals ultimately increase the income inequality gap by displacing well-paid middle-class workers, negating any benefit to lower prices of goods. According toa report for the Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR), the TPP would result in wage cuts for all but the wealthiest Americans.
5. The American people have yet to see the full text of the TPP — it has been negotiated in secret and shown to members of Congress under demeaningly strict secrecy. We only know about some of its terms because of leaks. But Wall Street and industry operatives, who seek to benefit enormously from the TPP, do have access to the text. Why so selectively secretive? Supporters of the deal outright told Senator Elizabeth Warren, “[trade talks] have to be secret, because if the American people knew what was actually in them, they would be opposed.”
6. The TPP allows corporations to directly sue our country if federal, state or local laws, government actions or court rulings are claimed to violate new rights and privileges the TPP would grant to foreign firms. Firms from TPP nations operating here could attack U.S. regulations over cancer-causing chemicals or environmental concerns before tribunals comprised of corporate lawyers that rotate by day and night between acting as “judges” and representing corporations attacking governments. These decisions then cannot be challenged in U.S. courts — and U.S. taxpayers will get stuck with the bill. So much for our precious sovereignty!
7. The proponents of the TPP claim that it will raise labor and environmental standards. However, the labor and environmental standards included in the TPP are equivalent (or less stringent) to modest ones agreed upon by House Democrats and President Bush in May 2007 in trade agreements with Peru, Panama and Colombia. These provisions have not been effective — Peru has since undermined these laws, and the Obama Administration has done nothing to enforce them. Nothing in the TPP suggests the unenforceable rhetoric– cited by President Obama — will be any different now.
8. TPP will further weaken America’s regulatory watchdogs — we can’t use our own government to over-rule TPP tribunal decisions that over-rule our health, safety and economic protections as non-tariff trade barriers. Senator Elizabeth Warren told POLITICO: “This deal would give protections to international corporations that are not available to United States environmental and labor groups. Multinational corporations are increasingly realizing this is an opportunity to gut U.S. regulations they don’t like.” Keeping the United States from being first in health and safety protections is un-American.
9. Prescription drug costs will increase. The TPP includes terms that would limit access to generic drugs and curtail government power to limit the price of drugs. SeePublic Citizen’s report “The Trans Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPP) threatens access to affordable medicines.”
10. The TPP could potentially undermine reforms of Wall Street and threaten U.S. financial stability by providing the institutions that caused the 2008-2009 financial crisis a path to circumvent U.S. regulations, such as limiting capital controls and prohibiting any taxes on Wall Street speculation. See the letter sent by Senators Warren, Markey and Baldwin last year to U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman.

(For further comprehensive analysis of the TPP, see Global Trade Watch. Ralph Nader’s latest book is: Unstoppable: the Emerging Left-Right Alliance to Dismantle the Corporate State.)

GRATITUDE

by Bernadette Restuccia

The following song is an offering from Nick, who visits his uncle Mitcho from time to time in those far out hills of Yorkville. Two years ago they performed a few songs at the Anderson Valley Variety Show. They stood out to me, rocking' out with their wild selves. The gratitude Nick has for the valley in this song is evident.

Oh my little darlin won't you come see me….

I've got a live mini-model micro-graft tree

like a parapet it has no front or back door

from it you can see from the forest to the shore

windows all around and perched out on a limb

it's a conical, barnacle, caterpillar den.

 

Usnea is the lichen and it’s growing from the tree

It's a fungus and an algae just as plain as you can see

Coyote bush howling from the midges makin' galls

it's an acorn granary hear the pileated calls

 

Manzanita berries and an orange bellied newt

California King snake in her black n' white suit

there's a wild boar family rooting grubs on the hill

and we'll be hunting matzatakis just to put em' on the grill

 

When the sun comes up I'm going down to the creek

there's a hawk on the ridge and a beetle at my feet

the hawk wants a rat and he's looking for a treat

but I haven't got a clue at what that little beetle eats.

* * *

Creative outlets are so important to my health! Here's my offering this month: a simple thanks to the written word and my journey with it.

Creative writing first endeared itself to me as a child in the form of rhyming poetry. Writing comforted me and clarified my ideals when I was a teenager in the throes of classic rebellion. In my twenties I was a traveller, documenting with vivid stories moments and places that inspired me. When I was in love, poetry was all over my journal. Writing has been there — supporting me, in council with me, making up for a flawed memory, an anxious mind, a sensitive heart. When my son Jaden was born, writing seemed to step back and only performed a minor role as a recorder of Jaden's firsts and other stories about him. It was hard for me to muster up any creative energy over dirty diapers and sleepless nights. I'm sure many parents can empathize with this. When Jaden entered preschool, I felt the creative energy drip back into my daily existence. The process has truly been an epiphany, my reawakening to the dawn after many seasons in hibernation. I have such an extreme affection for this part of me, it was a tearful reunion. "I'm back," I thought. All of a sudden, I was tuned back into my creative flow and tears beautifully brightened and smeared the pen marks in my journal. Writing is part of what makes me feel whole, spurring me on, lifting me up, helping me understand, being the magic. When I was overflowing with inspiration, writing let me release and tell the story. When I had conflict in my life, writing helped me build bridges in relationships. When I speak my poetry on stage, I find a voice inside me that feels ages old but ironically is just beginning to speak. Thank you creative flow, thank you to pen, paper and computer. Thank you most to the words that are here, giving completion to my thoughts.

Please send your own poem, story or song of gratitude to Bernadette at tobegratefulava@gmail.com

MEN: POTENTIAL CANCER SYMPTOMS

Knowing early warning signs for cancer, noticing changes in your body, and communicating openly with your health care provider can save your life. Common symptoms associated with cancer are outlined below. If any of the symptoms on the list apply to you, don’t wait, make an appointment with your doctor and thoroughly discuss your situation.

Changes in Urination - As men age, many notice changes in their urinary habits (like the need to pee more frequently, leaking, urgency, or trouble starting to pee), which can be symptoms of an enlarged prostate gland or prostate cancer. Speak with your healthcare provider if you experience changes in urination. Your provider will examine your prostate and recommend a PSA blood test to check for prostate cancer.

Changes in Your Testicles - If you notice a lump, heaviness, or any changes in your testicles, see your healthcare provider. Testicular cancer can grow quickly. Your provider will check for testicular cancer with a physical exam, blood tests, and an ultrasound of your scrotum.

Blood in Your Pee or Stool - Contact your healthcare provider if you have any type of unusual bleeding. Blood in the pee or stool can be one of the first signs of bladder, kidney, or colon cancer, (although you are more likely to have a problem that’s not cancer, like hemorrhoids or a urinary tract infection.)

Skin Changes - A change in the size, shape, or color of a mole or other spot on your skin can be a sign of skin cancer. Make an appointment with a dermatologist to have a full body skin examination. If a spot on your skin looks like cancer, your provider will need to do a biopsy to examine the tissue. Skin cancer can travel quickly, but it responds well to early intervention.

Changes in Lymph Nodes - Lymph nodes are bean-shaped glands that can be found in your neck, armpits, groin, and throughout the body. Swollen lymph nodes can be a sign of cancer. Have your healthcare provider check any swelling that doesn’t shrink within two to four weeks.

Difficulty Swallowing - If you have ongoing difficulty swallowing and you’re also losing weight or vomiting, your healthcare provider might want to check you for throat or stomach cancer. Diagnostic tests will include a throat examination and barium X-ray.

Heartburn - Notify your healthcare provider if you have ongoing heartburn that is not related to your diet, drinking habits, or stress level. Persistent heartburn can be a sign of stomach or throat cancer.

Mouth Changes - Tobacco use increases your risk of developing mouth cancer. If you notice white or red patches inside your mouth or on your lips, talk with your health care provider about tests and treatment.

Unexplained Weight Loss - Losing ten pounds without trying to do so is abnormal. Although unexpected weight loss is attributable to several health conditions, it can be a sign of pancreatic, stomach, or lung cancer. Diagnostic tests include blood tests and a CT or PET scan.

Fever - An unexplainable fever that does not go away can be a symptom of leukemia or a blood cancer. Schedule a physical exam with your health care provider.

Breast Changes - 1% of breast cancer occurs in men. If you notice a breast lump, don’t wait. Speak with your healthcare provider about the possibility of breast cancer.

Fatigue - Many types of cancer cause a bone-deep tiredness that is not relieved by sleep. It’s different than the exhaustion you feel after a hectic week or a lot of activity. Talk with your healthcare provider if fatigue is affecting your daily life.

Cough - Make an appointment with your healthcare provider if you have an ongoing cough that does not go away after three to four weeks. If you are short of breath or coughing up blood, don’t delay a visit to your provider, especially if you smoke. A cough is the most common sign of lung cancer. Your provider will test mucus from your lungs to see if you have an infection and recommend a chest X-ray.

Pain - Ongoing pain can be the sign of many types of metastatic cancer.

OPEN UP, BOYS

Demand For Inspection Of Records By Kzyx/Z Board Director And Members

The following letter has been sent certified mail to Stuart Campbell, Board President, KZYX and John Coate, General Manager. The letter is self evident, but it is worth noting that a sitting Board Member, John Sakowicz and other members are the authors of the letter.

Should you have follow up questions, please contact me: mkathrynmassey@gmail.com

Thank you.

M Kathryn Massey

***

Stuart Campbell, President June 9, 2015

Mendocino County Public Broadcasting

P.O. Box 1 Via Registered Mail

Philo, CA 95466

John Coate, General Manager

KZYX&Z

P.O. Box 1

Philo, CA 95466

Re: Demand for Inspection and Copying of Records by Director and Members

Messrs. Campbell and Coate:

This letter is addressed to you in your official capacities with Mendocino County Public Broadcasting, aka KZYX&Z, a membership nonprofit corporation headquartered in Philo, California. It is a demand for inspection and possible copying of all records from 2007 through the present by Director John Sakowicz and other current members of the corporation.

Inspection and copying of corporate records is authorized by the California Corporations Code, including the following sections:

6330. (a) Subject to Sections 6331 and 6332, and unless the corporation provides a reasonable alternative pursuant to subdivision ©, a member may do either or both of the following as permitted by subdivision (b):

(1) Inspect and copy the record of all the members' names, addresses and voting rights, at reasonable times, upon five business days' prior written demand upon the corporation which demand shall state the purpose for which the inspection rights are requested;

(2) Obtain from the secretary of the corporation, upon written demand and tender of a reasonable charge, an alphabetized list of the names, addresses, and voting rights of those members entitled to vote for the election of directors, as of the most recent record date for which it has been compiled or as of a date specified by the member subsequent to the date of demand. The demand shall state the purpose for which the list is requested. The membership list shall be made available on or before the later of 10 business days after the

demand is received or after the date specified therein as the date as of which the list is to be compiled.

6333. The accounting books and records and minutes of proceedings of the members and the board and committees of the board shall be open to inspection upon the written demand on the corporation of any member at any reasonable time, for a purpose reasonably related to such person's interests as a member.
6334. Every director shall have the absolute right at any reasonable time to inspect and copy all books, records and documents of every kind and to inspect the physical properties of the corporation of which such person is a director.
6335. If any record subject to inspection pursuant to this chapter is not maintained in written form, a request for inspection is not complied with unless and until the corporation at its expense makes such record available in written form. For the purposes of this chapter "written" or "in writing" also includes cathode ray tube and similar electronic communications methods.
6336. Any inspection under this chapter may be made in person or by agent or attorney and the right of inspection includes the right to copy and make extracts.
6337. Any right of inspection created by this chapter extends to the records of each subsidiary of a corporation.
6338. The rights of members provided in this chapter may not be limited by contract or the articles or bylaws.

The purpose of the demand by the members is to review all financial transactions and data, and all membership and voting records and data, from the year prior to the employment of the current general manager, Mr. John Coate, up to and including the date of inspection, as there has been inadequate oversight by the board of directors concerning finances, memberships, and elections during his tenure. The membership has a legitimate interest in the financial affairs of the corporation and the integrity of the voting rolls and election process.

Please note that assurances by the board that there has been adequate oversight, or the provision of summaries, will not be reasonable alternatives to inspection and copying. Please also note that the right of a director to inspect and copy records is absolute, and does not require a statement of purpose.

Mr. Sakowicz and the members signing below may be assisted by others, as is also authorized by the Code:

6311. Any inspection under this chapter may be made in person or by agent or attorney and the right of inspection includes the right to copy and make extracts.

By their signatures below, Mr. Sakowicz and the participating members hereby authorize such agency.

The records being demanded for inspection include, but are not limited to:

1) Certified Audits, 2007 through the present, along with the names, addresses, and contact information of all CPA's, listed by year, who conducted the Audits;

2) List of KZYX Audit Committee members from 2007 through present, i.e., who sat on the Audit Committee each year;

3) All Quarterly Financial Statements, January 2007 through present;

4) All underwriting revenue, both cash and in-kind, 2007 through present;

5) All Letters of Credit from 2007 to June 2015;

6) All bank statements and cancelled checks, 2007 to June 2015;

7) Contracts and total funds paid out to Independent Contractors, with Name/Address of Contractors, 2007 through 2015;

8) Total salaries paid to each employee for each year, 2007 through present;

9) Amount paid for benefits for each employee for each year, 2007 through the present;

10) All records pertaining to Restricted Funds, e.g., the Ukiah Studio Restricted Funds, including identifying how those funds have been used;

11) Valuation of the Business, Assets vs. Debts, beginning with 2007 through the present;

12) List of all Equipment Purchases by year with invoice documentation;

13) Any documentation for Individual Wills and Bequests making KZYX the beneficiary;

14) Total dollars pledged; defaulted pledges by year from all Annual On Air Fund drives; total number of Members per year to reflect the Total Dollars Pledged/or Defaulted; and any donations beyond memberships, including Anonymous Gifts, during and/or outside the on air drives, all from 2007 through 2015;

15) Actual Fund Raising dollars spent to raise money for pledge drives for 2007 through 2015;

16) Complete listing of Program Information and Promotional dollars spent, 2007 through 2015;

17) Complete listing of what is included in Programming and Production, 2007 through 2015, including the specific cost of each NPR program for each year;

18) Complete listing of what is included in Fundraising and Membership Development, 2007 through 2015;

19) Complete listing of Underwriting and Grant Solicitation expenses, 2007 through 2015;

20) Listing of all Special Events, Expense vs. Income by Event, 2007 through 2015;

21) Listing of all CPB Grant money by year, 2007 through 2015;

22) Listing of all Other grant money by year, 2007 through 2015;

23) Complete list of professional conferences attended and who attended, with total dollars spent on professional conferences, 2007 through 2015;

24) List of specific money set aside for Capital Improvements each year, 2007 through 2015;

25) List, by year, all utility costs outside of On-air Drives, meaning normal day to day costs;

26) All insurance records, including all correspondence and any payments by the insurer;

27) Total dollars spent on Board Retreat, Legal Fees, etc, for implementation of the 2002-2006 Long Range Strategic Plan;

28) The current standard contract between the station and the programmers;

29) All evaluations of the general manager, 2007 through 2015; and

30) An alphabetized list of the names, addresses, and voting rights of those members entitled to vote for the election of directors, currently and as of January 31, 2015.

Date of Inspection: The Corporations Code allows a maximum of 10 days for the collection of the records demanded. We intend to come to the corporate headquarters, aka the Philo station, on Saturday, July 11. Please have all records of MCPB/KZYX&Z available at that time, or provide copies of records (paper or electronic) beforehand. Even if certain records (e.g., personnel) are not available to the members, they are subject to inspection by the director.

Please note that the above list is for example only and does not limit the demand for all records. Please also note that a failure to present any of the requested items does not relieve you of the duty to make any and all of the other requested items available for inspection and/or copying. We are not asking you to create any summaries. But we do want access to all of the documents that are related to the above list, including any existing summaries, as part of the inspection of all records from 2007 to the date of inspection. Per Section 6310, please provide a written or electronic copy of all requested records if they are not readily accessible or impractical to review onsite.

Since this is a concurrent request from both a director and other members, please send confirmation that all the requested records will be ready for inspection to the following email addresses:

• sako4@comcast.net
• dennisobrien@sharejerusalem.com

Thank you very much for your prompt and serious attention to this matter.

Sincerely,

John Sakowicz, Director, Mendocino County Public Broadcasting

Doug McKenty, Member & Former Director

King Collins, Member & Former Director

Norman L. de Vall, Member & Former 5th District Supervisor

Dennis O'Brien, Member