Mendocino County Today: Monday, Aug 10, 2015

• Jerusalem Fire
• The Beast
• Too Many Trees
• SF Quake
• Cycling
• Campaign Financing
• Skydiving Contest
• Police Exculpated
• Side Straddle
• Adjustable Mortgage
• Dangerous Jobs
• Perseids Peaking
• Catch of the Day
• KZYX Business
• Waging Peace

ANOTHER FIRE — dubbed the Jerusalem Fire — broke out in Lake County late Sunday afternoon, this one southeast of Lower Lake in what is called the Jerusalem Valley.

As of about 8pm it was estimated to be up to 2,000 acres, moving northeast in dense brush and steep terrain similar to the much bigger Rocky Fire. Some of the same areas evacuated during the Rocky Fire have again been ordered evacuated. Fire officials speculated that embers from the nearby Rocky Fire had ignited the new blaze.

A Mandatory Evacuation order was issued Sunday evening for the Jerusalem Valley area east of Spruce Grove. Jerusalem Valley Road is closed to all traffic at Spruce Grove Road. Fire personnel and emergency vehicles will be working in the area. CalFire has not yet announced how many firefighters or the amount of equipment, but it was assumed that the already overworked Rocky Fire crews would have to move up the street for more.

OUR LAKE COUNTY FRIEND, MIGUEL LANIGAN, WRITES:

The Rocky Fire is truly A Beast. This NPR report is spot on.

http://www.npr.org/player/v2/mediaPlayer.html?action=1&t=1&islist=false&id=430651396&m=430763882

I've covered several large fires in my twenty-some years here in Lake County, and never have I seen anything like the Rocky Fire: it truly is what the firefighters call "The Beast."

This is a photo I took at the critical intersection of Highways 20 and 53. They brought in huge jet water-tankers from their fire-base in Sacramento to stop this superfast advance of "The Beast". A very scary fire.

DEPT OF UNINTENTIONAL HUMOR. Willits Weekly reporter Mike A'Dair, in the August 6th edition of the paper, under the title “Fire Safe Council: Too Many Trees,” the ubiquitous Madelin Holtkamp (ubiquitous among the County's plethora of non-profits, that is) "said the problem of experiencing uncontrolled catastrophic wildfires stemmed from having too many trees. ‘There are just too many trees… There are more trees out there now than at any time since the inception of Western civilization on the North American continent. Finding a reasonable way to address that risk is something we are looking at. The solution is: We need fewer trees. Everyone knows that. It is how to economically remedy that, that is the tricky bit’.”

EVERYONE KNOWS THAT? I didn't know that. I asked the people in the office. They didn't know that either. We all thought trees were good, that they help beat back global warming, that more trees was a global desire, that even the most environmentally devastated countries had tree planting programs going.

MS. HOLTKAMP is Executive Director of the Fire Safe Council, one more Mendo non-profit that exists to feed only itself. According to A'Dair, who reported this nuttiness straight, “Holtkamp noted that Native Americans who lived here prior to 1850 used fire to affect vegetation on the landscape. ‘In the summer, when the grass turns brown, they would throw a couple of burning twigs out there. Then they would go over to the coast and go fishing. In the fall when they came back, everything was great and there was no problem. What I would like to see is a set of policies in place that people would follow so that if there is a wildland fire it will not be a catastrophic fire,’ she said.”

WHO'S to argue? Madeline's no kid. Hell, maybe she was there. Maybe she watched the Indians throw a couple of “burning twigs out there” before they all went out to the coast to go fishing.

MS. HOLTKAMP and her Fire Safe Council was talking about the fire danger associated with Mendocino Redwood Company's widespread use of tree-poisoning as a way to kill their non-commercial hardwoods. There are now thousands of upright dead trees on MRC's thousands of acres, hugely exacerbating both the fire and toxic hazard if the forests burn. The Fire Safe Council was a convenient way for the Board of Supervisors to dodge the question about what to do about MRC's dangerous tree-thinning practices, so they shifted the problem to this phony balony Fire Safe Council. By "trees" Ms. Holtkamp may have been referring to the dry brush build-up in recent years which is indeed a fire hazard, but she should have said so if that's what she meant. The problem could at least be partially dealt with by issuing firewood permits to local woodsworkers, but MRC prefers poisoning because it's cheaper, and now that most of their unwanted trees are poisoned, would-be firewood cutters wouldn't touch them anyway.

AN EARTHQUAKE with preliminary magnitude of 3.3 struck off the Pacific Coast near San Francisco on Sunday afternoon, according to the US Geological Survey, with reports that it was felt around the Bay Area. There were no initial reports of damages. The quake struck nine miles west of San Francisco, according to the USGS, at 1:26 p.m.

A READER WRITES RE: RIVERWATCH'S LAWSUITS: It really is disgusting that this practice is allowed to continue. As far as I know, Silver has never initiated a case based on his own research but simply trolls the files at the State Water Board and then files suit against already heavily regulated local agencies that are self-reporting both real and technical violations. If Silver was invested in the public interest, as he claims to be, he would be looking for violators that are not currently in the system. In that case he would be justified in going after them. Instead he prefers to shoot the proverbial fish in a barrel that are already in the regulatory pipeline. And of course his settlements do nothing for the environment, but merely put cash in his pocket to make him go away for an agreed upon period of time. Years ago people complained to Congressman Thompson about it and got the usual rhetorical hand-wringing and the standard explanation that we can't fix it because we don't want the nasty Republicans to have an opening to attack the Endangered Species Act, Clean Water Act, etcetera. The underlying problem is a lack of meaningful campaign finance reform which puts the congressional boys and girls in a position of non-stop pandering to the special interest groups that fund them. Therefore, there will be limited, if any, meaningful reform in dozens of public policy arenas where the discussion is dominated by special interest campaign cash. Our congressional reps will continue to give lip service to the public interest, but their votes will almost always align with the special interest money.

RED BULL SKYDIVING CONTEST

http://www.pressdemocrat.com/home/4310404-181/red-bull-proposes-skydiving-competition

A skydiving competition featuring wing-suit racers zooming around an aerial course is being proposed in Cloverdale by energy drink company Red Bull.

MENDO DA: COPS NOT AT FAULT IN STEVE NEUROTH’S IN-CUSTODY DEATH

July 29, 2015

To: The Honorable Thomas D. Allman, Mendocino County Sheriff
951 Low Gap Road, Ukiah, CA 95482

Re: Death of Inmate Steve Neuroth in The Mendocino County Jail

Dear Sheriff Allman:

We have completed our review of the in-jail death of Steven Kellogg Neuroth. Accordingly, under this cover I am turning over to you the investigation binder of reports and evidence which were compiled by my investigators to allow for our independent review of the chain of events that lead to the declaration of Mr. Neuroth’s death just before 1 o’clock on the morning on June 11, 2014.

As I believe you know, Mr. Neuroth was arrested by the Willits Police Department about quarter after 10 o’clock on the night of June 10, 2014. He was arrested for using and/or being under the influence of a controlled substance, a misdemeanor violation of Health and Safety Code section 11550(a). It is obvious from all accounts that Mr. Neuroth was suffering from drug-induced delusions at the time of his arrest, this finding supported by the report that Mr. Neuroth was perceiving non-existent snakes writhing on the floor of the patrol vehicle he was being transported in. After being transported down the hill to the Mendocino County jail facility for sobering, booking, and housing, Mr. Neuroth exhibited significant paranoia and was resistant with jail personnel.

While physical force was necessary to overcome Mr. Neuroth’s resistance, my review of the available evidence leads me to conclude that only that force necessary to reasonably overcome the inmate’s resistance was employed. Given his words and actions, I find that the inmate clearly posed a safety risk to the correctional officers and they acted in a reasonable manner to address the situation without putting their own individual and collective safety at unnecessary risk. There is insufficient evidence for me to conclude, or any other objective fact finder for that matter to conclude, that the actions of the Willits Police officers and/or the jail’s correctional officers caused the death in question.

The scope of this review has been straightforward. The focus has been to determine whether there is evidence available that would lead a reasonable person to conclude that Mr. Neuroth’s death was the result of criminal misconduct — whether intentional or negligent — by any one or more of the police officers and/or correctional officers who interacted with Mr. Neuroth from Willits until his death in Ukiah. In short, while an extremely unfortunate situation, the information I have reviewed, along with all reasonable inferences that may be drawn from same, do not indicate or otherwise support criminal causation.

Finally, I will note that the amount of methamphetamine circulating in Mr. Neuroth’s body at the time of his death is staggering and, in the pathologist’s opinion, likely contributed to his symptoms as reported, as well as his eventual death. As noted in the hospital emergency room report, Mr. Neuroth had a “history of active methamphetamine abuse,” abuse that seemed to be especially out of control during the weeks, days, and hours leading up to his death.

Yours truly,

C.David Eyster, District Attorney

THE HOMELESS, a local case history. I saw two men doing lateral side straddle hops down South State Street last week. It was about noon and it was hot, too hot for side straddle hops even if you were in gym clothes. And who does those anymore anyway, even in a gym class?

THESE GUYS were both tall, well over six feet, and tweaker-lean. They'd hop straight at pedestrians then veer off just before running into them, and a couple of times they ran under building overhangs and back out onto the sidewalk, their faces frozen in maniacal grins.

WHEN I GOT CLOSER I recognized one of the men. He'd been born and more or less raised in Boonville. He got bigger anyway, a lot bigger, although he'd been semi-abandoned by both parents, one of whom, mom, used to run up behind me hissing like a goose, startling hell out of me. When I asked her to please not sneak up on me like that she hissed some more.

I'VE KNOWN Side Straddle since he was a child. He and his brother, from the time they were in junior high school, lived in a dirt floor house that had been hauled on to property the grandparents owned. Side Straddle's father would appear every few weeks to drop off bulk containers of food like his sons were zoo animals.

SIDE STRADDLE was, predictably, eccentric as a kid. But not unmanageable. He went to school, behaved himself. Boonville was kind to him and his brother. We all knew the situation, and lots of people did what they could to make that situation easier for the two boys who resisted assistance not out of resentment but because they seemed to assume their feral context was more or less normal. Side always seemed startled when you gave him stuff.

OF THE TWO, Side was the smartest, and he was very smart, testing out very big brain by school measurements. He had, and I guess still has, an artist's creativity. I have some drawings and a painting he did which I think are very good. I always encouraged him to take art classes at the college but the fast-forwarded movie he always had going in his head prevented intake from anywhere but his own impressions, which often became odd obsessions, like the one he developed for everything and anything Japanese. With some training, Side could be a real artist.

ONE NIGHT, driving late back to Boonville over the Greenwood Road, here comes Side furiously pedaling uphill towards the Coast. I caught up with him and asked if he was ok. Without answering he kept on going.

ANOTHER TIME, Side was walking near Boonville when I stopped to give him some shoes and shirts. Because we're roughly the same size, I'd keep my surplus clothes in my car for whenever I saw him. “I'm kinda pissed off at you right now, Bruce. I don't want to talk to you.” And he walked off looking furious. Whatever, as the young people say. I didn't press him. And that was maybe three years ago, and the last time I saw him in Boonville because he moved over the hill to Ukiah.

I FIGURED OUT later Side was probably mad at me because I'd suggested that he apply for SSI. “But I'm not nuts,” he said. “I wouldn't get it.” I could name fifty people on SSI who are a lot less nuts, not that I said that. “I know you're not nuts,” I said, “but just go in there and pretend you are. You gotta eat, man.” I heard he got it, and him getting it is not a handout. He really does qualify.

I OFTEN SEE SIDE in Ukiah, and I've seen him in the Sheriff's Log a few times. I'm sure the Ukiah police are on a first name basis with him, not that he commits crimes of any magnitude, and not that he's ever been violent. But Side lacks, well, judgment, and the drunks and amphetamine-driven people you see shuffling up and down State Street to and from Plowshares are now Side's community. He'll get steadily worse, and he's already a quality-of-life guy, a destroyer of public space because of his size and behavior.

THE OTHER DAY when I spotted him doing his mid-day laterals for a quarter mile or so, I'd guessed he was tweaked to the max. He'd have to be to be doing what he was doing on a hot day in Ukiah. In his booking photos Side's got those telltale tweaker face scabs.

SIDE'S MONTHLY SSI CHECK probably isn't enough to cover rent and food so he lives rough off South State somewhere near the old Thomas pear sheds. A Boonville guy told me that at dawn, “All the homeless tweakers get up and walk out of there in the mists. It looks like a horror movie.” In 1960, Side would have been confined to a state hospital program where he probably would have been set to rights, made functional. He's off, but not that far off with structure and help. But anymore there's a small army of Sides out there, and they get nothing but crazier.

COP FUNERALS around the nation have morphed into giant spectacles. So much so that they've become wildly disproportionate to the dangers of being a police officer and the relative importance of the job.

Although police officers certainly perform a pivotal role in our society and work in a dangerous profession, they don't have the most dangerous job in America, not by a long shot. It's not even in the top ten. What is the most dangerous? According to a 2015 Bloomberg News report based on labor department statistics from 2006 through 2013, fishermen have the deadliest job in the nation. In fact, fishermen are eight times more likely to be killed on the job than cops. After fishermen, the other top ten most dangerous jobs in America are: loggers, aircraft pilots, extraction workers (which include explosives workers and oil drillers), iron and steel workers, roofers, garbage collectors, farmers and ranchers, truck drivers, and power-line installers and repairers.

So where do cops rank? Fourteenth, behind agricultural workers (11), construction laborers (12), and taxi drivers and chauffeurs (13). You read that right: It's more dangerous to drive a cab or chauffeur the wealthy in America than it is to be a cop. So, then, why aren't there massive funerals featuring governors and mayors and TV news crews when a cab driver or a power-line worker or a fisherman is killed? And why aren't these people referred to as "warriors" and "heroes" when their jobs are more dangerous than that of cops?

DAZZLING PERSEID METEOR SHOWER PEAKS THIS WEEK

The annual Perseid meteor shower will reach its peak this week, giving amateur skywatchers with clear dark skies a potentially dazzling celestial light show.

Luckily for those watching the skies, there will be a new moon, allowing for maximum darkness just when the Perseid meteor shower will be is at its best. The meteor shower's peak occurs during the overnight hours of Wednesday (Aug. 12) and Thursday (Aug. 13). No fancy equipment is required; just a lawn chair and your naked eyes will be enough to see the "shooting stars."

The Perseids are visible from all over the Northern Hemisphere. To have the best chance of seeing a meteor, pick a dark area (as far from bright city lights as possible) and face northeast. The meteors were appear to radiate out from the constellation Perseus, hence their name: Perseids.

While showers are hard to forecast, astronomers with the Royal Astronomical Society believe there will be at least one meteor every few minutes. A NASA advisory for the 2015 Perseid meteor shower predicted up to 100 meteors per hour.

According to the Royal Astronomical Society, French astronomer Jeremie Vaubaillon further predicted there could be a brief outburst at about 2:40 p.m. EDT (6:40 p.m. UTC). It won't be visible in North America, however, as the daytime skies will be too bright at that time.

Meteor showers occur when the Earth plows into small particles in space left behind by a comet or asteroid. In this case, the Perseids come from the tail of Comet Swift-Tuttle (whose last visit to Earth was in 1992). They are named after the constellation Perseus, the direction from where they appear to radiate.

If it's cloudy those nights, there still is a chance to catch a few Perseids. While there will be fewer shooting stars to see, the Perseids extend from about July 17 to Aug. 24. Meteor showers occur several times during the year, with another prominent display happening in November when the Leonid shower occurs.

(Courtesy, Yahoo News)

CATCH OF THE DAY, August 9, 2015

EMILE ALFORQUE, Concord/Gualala. Pot possession for sale.

MICHAEL BAUGHER, Lucerne/Fort Bragg. Probation revocation.

ANGELO BETTEGA, Ukiah. Possession of meth for sale, resisting.

CHRISTINA BRITTON, Covelo. Drunk in public, probation revocation.

JEFFERY DELCARLO, Fort Bragg. Domestic battery.

PAULINE DUNGAN, Covelo. Possession of controlled substance, assault on police officer, false ID, failure to appear.

BRIAN FLINT, Little River/Willits. Vehicle theft, reckless driving, misdemeanor hit&run, evading.

CHRISTOPHER FRANCE, Willits. Receiving stolen property/conspiracy.

REMO MCOSKER, Ukiah. Probation revocation. (Frequent flyer.)

ANTHONY PINOLA, Ukiah. Drunk in public.

HAROLD ROGERS, Redwood Valley. DUI, receiving stolen property, conspiracy.

DAVID SMITH, Ukiah. Probation revocation.

RAYMOND TYLER, Willits. Possession of controlled substance, dirk-dagger, shuriken (steel throwing star).

GERI WHARTON, Willits. Probation revocation.

BRIAN WILLIAMS, Willits. Pot possession for sale.

JESUS YANEZ, Salinas/Ukiah. Possession of controlled substance, parole violation.

CAL WINSLOW & THE LATEST FROM RADIO SNARL

KZYX Business: 2016 Budget & GM Coate's Final Report

by Sheila Dawn Tracy

Having arrived early to the June 29th meeting of the KZYX Board of Directors, I was delighted by the four stacks of informational handouts available to the public. Upon closer examination, I noticed the absence of minutes from the Board's May membership meeting. I approached the dais to ask Board President, Stuart Campbell, for an explanation for the lack of minutes and received the limp reply that he did not know how many people would be attending the meeting. A more honest inquiry came from Director Ed Keller, who asked why the public needed a copy of the minutes which were there for the benefit of Board members. I reminded Keller of a member's right to review KZYX public documents and stated that, with the inclusion of public comments in the minutes, the public had an obligation to review their statements for accuracy.

Still waiting for the meeting to begin, I had time to conduct an informal poll of the audience to ascertain what portion had received a copy of the minutes. As I approached programmer Cal Winslow to ask my question, I was startled by his snarling response to "lay off." As I attempted a reply, he repeated his admonition with sufficient venom to cause programmer and soon to be reappointed Board member, Jane Futcher to turn in her seat in the front row to give him "the look."

In an ordinary year the minutes of a meeting are uneventful and routinely approved. However, these being extraordinary times at our public radio station, the minutes have been rife with misspellings of the name of a two year sitting director amid other inaccuracies as well as being punctuated with question marks and capitalization. Problems with accuracy have been serious enough for Director John Sakowicz to request of Secretary Meg Courtney that he have a chance to review the draft minutes before being brought to the Board for approval. His corrections of the minutes are separated from the rest of the content with italics and annotated with Sakowicz as the source of the corrections.

In light of these unusual circumstances, Winslow's response to Advocate News reporter Frank Hartzell's article on Coate's resignation amid conflict and criticism which predated his arrival, seems disingenuous, relegating the station turmoil to the machinations of a few vocal, disgruntled ousted former programmers.

This prelude attempts to illuminate the proceedings of a five-hour meeting where the tedium of abundant information is broken up by the drama, eloquence and, at one point, the chaos of public commentary. It concludes a series of articles published in two previous editions of the AVA. (July 15th & 22nd)

With a long agenda that included over 20 subcategories for discussion, public comment and/or action, it appeared that the new KZYX Board of Directors had made a decision to be proactive in meeting increasing demands for community engagement on the decision making level.

Halfway into the meeting, (see July 15th issue) the Board addressed the appointment of new Board members to fill the vacancies left by the resignations of At Large member, Paul Lambert and Third District representative, Jane Futcher (who resigned since becoming a programmer).

Director Sakowicz nominated three people for the open seat--former Board candidates, Dennis O'Brien and Doug McKenty and programmer Richard Miller, host of “Mind, Body, Health and Politics,” a program for which he expressed admiration. Sakowicz stated that in the spirit of reconciliation, he thought it provident to have a member on the Board who represented the membership's minority voice. Two of the nominees had secured one-third of the member's vote in the most recent election.

No second to the nominations was forthcoming from any of the other five Directors, leaving no avenue for further discussion.

Jane Futcher was then nominated and seconded for the At Large seat, which is open to programmers, unlike the seat she recently vacated.

Public Comment: Very little of the comments received pertained to Futcher or her qualifications. One speaker thought it was time to get new people on the Board. Futcher had previously served on the Board in 2005.

I expressed disappointment in the Board's failure to second Sakowicz's nominees, stating that such action would have allowed a discussion of the qualifications of the candidates and not have required a Director's vote of approval.

Sakowicz withstood a verbal pummeling by station programmers and members. He was asked to withdraw his complaint to the FCC by programmer Bill Taylor to help further the reconciliation process. Other speakers cited misinformation, saying Sakowicz's letter asking the FCC to revoke the station's license was cause to ask for his resignation. In actuality, Sakowicz's request to the FCC was to delay the license of the station until the current General Manager, John Coate had been terminated.

I had pointed out during my comment time that public input on how the station met the needs of the community was a part of the FCC's license renewal process. On air announcements of that information had been made by the station, generally at obscure times. The real problem was that the information had not reached the majority of listeners, so that only those who had unresolved issues with management or the Board took the initiative to respond to the FCC invitation to provide input. Not a single letter of commendation of KZYX had been received by the FCC.

Sakowicz responded that in purging good programmers from the airwaves, station management had managed to censor and silence differing points of view. He calmly stated that he stood with the signers of the demand letter for transparency.

Futcher's nomination was approved by the Board and she commenced to take her place on the dais. The filling of the second Board vacancy was tabled until the September meeting.

2016 Budget: Board President Campbell reported that along with GM Coate, he and Finance Chair Clay Eubank had worked hard to cut expenses by $40k to balance the budget with projected revenue for fiscal year (FY) 2015-16. The total expected revenue for the current year is $541,500.

The previous fiscal year ended with an estimated loss of $67k due to a $36k loss in membership donations, a drop off of $13k in fundraising revenue and a corresponding drop in underwriting trades of $13k. Legal fees were $1.5k over budget estimates of $6k. Expenses were increased in the news consultant category to more than double the amount estimated. The exact amount paid to the news staff remained unclear due to GM Coate's talent in cross categorization. Valerie Kim is on salary as part-time news staff as well as part-time membership coordinator, a job she shares with Nora aka Notorious, host of program Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang. Gross employee wages showed an increase of $5k over projected costs.

FY 15-16 projects a total income of $320k from membership donations which is now broken down into five separate revenue streams.

Estimates of savings in telephone and internet connectivity costs were $1.5k from the previous year.

Eubank stated that they hoped to increase membership donations by $7k and underwriting revenue from $38k to $60k. For the third year in a row it was stated that Business Development Coordinator, David Steffan would have more freedom to "work out in the field" which means more interpersonal interaction with the business community.

Sakowicz asked for the total cost of the news staff's salary and was not given an answer by Eubank who said he did not want to provide a "back door" to figuring out employee salaries. A question on the status of current station debt yielded a $23k draw on the credit line in May and a current old NPR debt of $12k.

Public Comment: My comment on the budget was that the figure I had for legal fees for FY 14-15 was $6k. That figure was given as the cost of renewing the station's license before any complaint was made to the FCC. On this year’s budget sheet for the same year, that figure was noted at $5k. The actuals for that year was $7.5k — only $1.5k over what was originally budgeted. Much has been made by Board members about the high cost of legal services to answer the five complaints made to the FCC. Figures from $9k to $16k had been tossed around during the year by GM, John Coate. Those inflated amounts are not supported by the statistical data.

I also noted the lack of transparency of the true cost of the news staff by Coate's decision to separate the news team into two categories: part time paid staff and freelance consultants.

I noted that the hiring committee already had a former Board member, staff person, CAB member and programmer appointed to it and asked the Chair, Director Eubank, how he proposed to get community members involved. I suggested an on air invitation along with an ad in local newspaper to get new voices interested.

Jeff Wright noted the promotion of NPR programming in an ad that appeared several months ago in Real Estate magazine with no mention of local programming. He felt local shows that cost the station nothing were deserving of recognition. He praised the efforts of the news team to cover local issues and events but felt the ten-minute time frame did not allow for in-depth coverage or a sufficient span of countywide coverage and wanted the program expanded to 25 minutes. He drew attention to the decision of the Skunk Train to move its operations from Fort Bragg to Willits as one example of uncovered important stories.

Wright continued on despite timekeeper Benj Thomas' escalating efforts to indicate that Wright's time had expired. Campbell had broken the gavel at the February meeting in an attempt to restrain Wright's interrupting questions from his seat in the audience and it had not been replaced. Reading from a written statement, Wright asked that staff person David Steffan be fired for his abuse of Director Sakowicz in an earlier public comment when Steffan seemed to be taunting Sakowicz by using the "F" word repeatedly and challenging Sakowicz to repeat unflattering comments made to Steffan in a private email before the public and his peers. There was a cacophony of calls from the audience for Wright to take a seat. Newly hired staff person, Valerie Kim jumped ahead in line to grab the microphone away from Wright, hovering over it protectively. Still nonplussed by the ensuing commotion, Wright continued speaking until the next man in line, eyes popping, began bellowing S-T-O-P!!!

Being close to the action and armed with umpiring experience, I confronted the enraged man and quietly asked him to stop. By this time Director Eubanks had disengaged himself from his place on the dais to restore calm.

The man, Bill Bradless went quietly on to say that he has been a member from the beginning who enjoys NPR programming. He continued that Sakowicz had not done his fiduciary duty as Director by adding to the cost of the station's legal fees and asked him to resign. He added that he thought Sakowicz should serve on the Board of the station where he currently produces his show (KMEC).

Valerie Kim spoke next to explain her combined staff position of part-time news/membership coordinator, thus addressing the salary separation into different categories from the other two reporters who were working as freelance news consultants. She stated that the present news format took a great deal of effort and time to produce. If more news was desired, it would have to be supported by an upswing in membership donations.

News Director Lorraine Dechter further elaborated on the different roles she and reporter Sherri Quinn had in using their own equipment to bring in news from the diverse community issues around the County. Kim, she explained, worked at the station using station equipment to weave together cohesive segments. She added she works out of her own office in Ukiah maintaining a station presence there unbeknown to people who are advocates for a Ukiah studio.

Larry Pendleton, Dechter's husband, gave details on how a half hour TV news program was put together. Having been involved in filming news crews, he said, generally, a team of ten reporters would produce 2 to 3 minute spots that would be intertwined with 30 second spots by an anchor person coordinating from the main studio. It would then be featured twice a day and at times, be distributed to a third station.

Randy Dalton of Willits suggested that the station should create a mediation committee or appoint someone to act as an ombudsman to resolve internal disputes She advocated for the return of popular news programs such as W.I.N.G.S. and CounterSpin saying she thought the public was not getting a full spectrum of information. She wanted a reporter to cover the Board of Supervisors meetings as had been done in the past as a regular feature of Community News and supported the idea of a gas stipend for programmers.

Dorotheya Dorman does not like to hear Democracy Now in the afternoon. She would like a concentration of news in the morning so as to be able to critique one source against another. She noted one way to reduce the cost of the news was to provide training to community members who could be paid a stipend per story. She also felt that money should be provided for nonviolent mediation training.

General Manager's Report

Outgoing GM, John Coate began his remarks in the pugnacious style that has marked several years of discord at KZYX. Addressing his decision to move closer to his family and Sakowicz he stated, "If you or anyone else thinks I can be run out of town by the likes of some of these people," (station members) "think again."

Reading from his report, he noted new programs in the 9am Thursday morning spot, The Cannabis Hour, hosted by Jane Futcher alternating with Coastal Currents — a volunteer effort hosted by Lorraine Dechter that serves to expand local news by more in depth independent investigation and interviews of local people on local issues.

The Treehouse (Thursday evening at 8pm) was recently vacated by host W. Dan Houck to give greater attention to his wife, Loretta, who is recuperating from a serious head injury.

Operations

A positive development in solidifying a signal between the Philo studio and the Cold Springs Mountain transmitter came when the station's internet provider (IP), North Coast Internet, was able to install more broadband capacity at the Philo studio. The station can now disconnect the slow and expensive T-1 line which supplies the office internet and web stream, using IP broadband as a backup transmission signal. The strength of the new signal was tested during the live broadcast of the Sierra Nevada Music Festival with excellent results. Together with a second set of rebuilt Moseley station transmission links (STL), Coate believes the station will have greater on air reliability.

Finances

Lower funding from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) grant and higher costs for news staff salaries added up to a net loss for FY 2014-15. Coate maintains that $200k was received in pledges but the budget figures for estimated actuals puts donations at $316k — $36k less than expected. Discrepancies in legal costs were also noticed between two separate budget sheets for the same year, the difference being $1k.

Pledge totals fell short of goals. Coate stated there was not enough available staff and volunteers to extend the drives to make up the difference.

The 2016 budget is based on the recommendation to find ways to raise needed funds without making large cuts.

According to Coate, cutting personnel means losing a professionally managed station which also may risk losing CPB funding while cutting national programming means losing a large portion of regular listeners. Slashing local news programming reverses momentum in the direction the station needs to go.

KZYX's Future — Coate points out an emerging problem regarding the station's relationship to national programming. Until recently, one had to go to a NPR or PRI affiliate to hear content. Now one can go to the npr.org website to hear programs the same day or one day later. He feels in the coming years, NPR will not need its affiliate stations and instead become competitors.

He believes radio will continue to exist because of its capacity to reach the public in emergencies when other systems go down — a main reason for continued federal funding. Coate maintains KZYX has made great advances to match the changing ways the under-40 generations are accessing information. Live streaming, a website with programmer blogs, a program archive, the on demand convenience of Jukebox, a Facebook page and a soon to be made public iOS app are examples of recent innovations that have kept the station current with new technical advances.

He is encouraged by increased participation of younger people as KZYX programmers, volunteers and staff that bring energy and new ideas to public radio. His hope for the station's future, besides an increase in membership support, is to have the main studio located in a better facility and to see more people involved in the infrastructure and technical aspects of radio to keep maintenance at a high level to continue the station's ongoing forward motion.

He expressed his appreciation to all the people who made it possible to persevere through his seven years as general manager adding that it was the longest job he had held, the hardest and the most productive.

Public Comment

In the final public comment of the long evening, Sarah Reith, host of Women's Voices brought attention to the fact that the taking of pictures by members of the public was a free speech issue.

Randy Dalton wanted to see more money put into the development of local programs. She would like to see Native American culture, knowledge and stories featured. Remarking on national programming's overemphasis on war, she would also like a greater balance of perspectives by local coverage of community peace activities.

Former Board member Doug McKenty responded to Coate's predictions regarding national programming by saying he sees it as an opportunity to move away from the NPR model toward a community based model. He would like to see greater support for independently produced shows and asked for the revival of a Program Council that was given more authority to make programming decisions rather than merely act in an advisory capacity to the Program Director.

Dorotheya Dorman spoke about the influence corporate power had on local politics. She felt the dismissal of extensive public input against MRC's poisoning of tan oak trees with the herbicide, Imazapyr was a tremendous betrayal of public interest. She thought the entire hearing at the Board of Supervisor's meeting should have been broadcast because it had far reaching consequences on public health and safety. Public radio, she maintained, is there to help publicize the serious issues that threaten the community and give coverage to the activist community who care enough to stand up to corporate entities that only act out of self interest.

Lorraine Dechter explained that she had attended that meeting and did air a piece on that issue. She talked about a story she is currently working on called "The Anatomy of a THP" in which community questions of how to effectively input the process of forestry regulation are addressed up the chain of command to participating agency heads.

Roger Krax is a long time listener who doesn't believe that Sakowicz is interested in killing the station. He sees the station as nearing the point of a "full blown Inquisition" in its lack of tolerance of different perspectives, stating, "We need our Thomas Paynes and our Ted Cruzes." He believes Sakowicz has a good point in looking at how the station is structured; that it has inherent problems, one of which is that the Philo studio is inconvenient to almost everyone. He commended Coate on doing what needed to be done to make the station financially sound but stated that he will not contribute until the station's credibility is healed, advising the Board to not burn the messenger but listen to the message.

Angela DeWitt, who is related to Director Bob Page, stated that she grew up with radio but had difficulty in getting her peers involved because of their perception that radio is old fashioned. She loves the cultural and community connection that radio brings to her life. She observed that it was her first Board meeting and realized that along with her partner Cobb and Valerie Kim, their attendance had dropped the average age of those at the meeting by 20 years. She thought that the station needed to focus on appealing to all age groups.

Cobb, who co-hosts The Discussion program with Angela, said he was entertained by the passion for public radio that people brought to the meeting and impressed by the ability of the Board to endure it. He admired the skill set that Coate brought to the job and thought he deserved credit for his ability to inspire the participation of capable people.

Programmer Derek Hoyle read as much of his three page letter to the Board as time would allow. He strongly objected to a new directive being imposed by Program Director Mary Aigner which eliminates a federally sanctioned "Safe Harbor" time that allows adult content in song lyrics and the spoken word from 10pm to 6am. Late night programmers were forced to sign an "agreement" to review all material for "sensitive content" under threat of suspension for a first offense and loss of one's show for a second infraction. Hoyle asked the Board to immediately rescind the faulty policy which legitimizes censorship and inhibits the creative freedom of dedicated late night programmers. (See July 22nd edition for more details)

I remarked that Aigner had pulled a coup of stated procedures for policy change in the shadow of the imminent departure of John Coate. Such change is within the scope of duties of the Board of Directors and only them as elected representatives of the members.

Programmer Jeff Blankfort gave his opinion that Sakowicz was no Thomas Payne since Payne engaged directly with the public while Sakowicz chose to involve the government in making his complaint.

I offered a rebuttal that a Director of a Board does not lose his/her right to participate in a public process by virtue of their executive position.

The next Board meeting will be held in Anderson Valley on September 7th at 6pm, location TBA.

* * *

In Memory of the contributions of two members of the KZYX community who passed away in the month of July. Gary ‘Zac’ Zachary served on the KZYX Board of Directors and cared immensely for the mission of public community radio. Michael Kisslinger facilitated a community meeting for KZYX; hosted the public affairs program, Give and Take, and worked in the capacity of a news consultant until November of 2014.

ALICE SLATER ON KMEC RADIO

On Monday, August 10, at 1 p.m., Pacific Time, KMEC Radio is pleased to bring you another show on the Iran Nuclear Deal with special guest, Alice Slater of the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation and Abolition 2000. John and Sid are our hosts.

See: https://www.wagingpeace.org/author/alice-slater/

KMEC Radio

KMEC broadcasts at 105.1 FM, in Ukiah California. Our studios are located in the offices of the Mendocino Environmental Center and the Cloud Forest Institute.

We stream live to a worldwide audience at www.kmecradio.org

Our shows are posted to Youtube with video and text.

Additionally, our shows are archived at the station's website and available as podcasts.

We may also post shows to the Public Radio Exchange and Radio4All for wide distribution.

Please support KMEC Radio and the Mendocino Environmental Center by becoming a member at: http://kmecradio.org/donate/