Mendocino County Today: Tuesday, Sep 22, 2015

• Valley Fire
• Open Government
• Defending Shawn
• Local Food
• Federal Protection
• Howard & Zack
• Drug Gouger
• Yesterday's Catch
• Prop I
• Ocean Rocks
• FCC Declaration
• Prison Protest
• Library Events
• Troubled Planet
• Yazzle 2016

PD DECLARES VALLEY FIRE ‘ONE OF CALIFORNIA’S MOST DESTRUCTIVE’

http://www.pressdemocrat.com/news/4510599-181/valley-fire-containment-up-to

WE KNEW THAT, of course. But it’s getting truer and truer as the damage assessments come in. Now at about 76,000 acres / 75% containment, almost 2000 structures destroyed, about half of them homes. CalFire, Monday evening: “On Monday firefighters continued to mop up and secure more of the fires perimeter. Damage Inspection Teams have nearly completed surveys of the fire area to determine how many structures have been destroyed. A second survey has been initiated to confirm initial findings. Current data indicates that the fire has destroyed 1910 structures; including 1238 single-family homes, 23 multi-family homes, 64 commercial structures, and 585 other structures such as sheds and smaller outbuildings. As surveys are completed and additional data is confirmed, the number of structures destroyed may rise. The Valley Fire now ranks among the top three most destructive wildfires in California history With so many structures destroyed, the damage assessment continues."

VALLEY FIRE EVACUEES AT LAKE MENDOCINO STILL NEED HELP!

Hello everyone. I am managing the donations at the Bushy Campground at Lake Mendocino. It has come to me attention that someone has put a comment on my previous post that we are no longer accepting donations. This information is not correct. However, the list of my donation request has greatly changed. Here is the list of items I despretly need to build the areas to store all these awesome donations. 
Large Event Tents (25x60?)
 Sturdy Shelves (As many as possible)
 Wood (to build shelves)
 Rods (to make clothes racks) 
Screws 
Screw guns
 Pallets 
Boxes (Hoping to get more Mattix boxes for clothes because they work great! They are the ones seen in the photo. No tape required and not too big.)
 Duct tape (For labeling totes)
 Last but not least VOLUNTEERS to build shelves and sort through donations. Please contact me personally if you can help me with any of my requests. 
Also, Please share this post to help me get the word out.

Sharie Bishop

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10205326878515014&set=o.1690018051233194&type=1

FORT BRAGG: ONE MAN'S EXPERIENCE

by Rex Gressett

I have been going to all the city council meetings, but recently at a city council meeting I was invited to the public works committee meeting. I enjoyed it very much. A few months ago I suggested that Channel 3, our new PEG TV station , that all committee meetings as well as the city council meetings be videotaped and made accessible on the web and broadcast on Channel 3 where appropriate. When I said this, there were those on the city council that rolled their eyes and said to me that it would never happen, but if it did it would amount to a revolution.

Nothing I was told would effect the operations of city government more than letting the people see what happens after the city council meetings, at committee. Now I believe it.

My original idea , if you can call it that, is that all government meetings should be accessible on the web and Channel 3 — city councils, Board of Supervisors, city councils in Willits, local governments everywhere in the county, and all of the committee meetings in Fort Bragg for sure and as much of the Ukiah stuff as possible.

They are all legally accessible . They are all officially public meetings. Anybody with nothing better to do could walk around and attend them all. But of course no one does. No one goes to committee meetings, except very occasionally for the directly interested. But it is at committee meetings that the negotiation, the give and take and the arm wrestling with the hows as well as the whats of government occurs. It occurs strictly in private. Nobody here but us politicians, and we are famously a uniquely forgiving and mutually accommodating clan. It would make great Internet video — boring but potentially highly illuminating.

My first committee meeting addressed the proposed use of Fort Bragg's iconic, town hall for community meetings. Now all meetings that have occurred in town hall for lo these many years have been conducted by the City. They occur only on City time and payroll and are conducted according to the City's agenda. City management of course understands that it, not the people, own town hall.

The brainstorming sessions about the mill, that went nowhere, all the jumped up city hype about the industrial arts building, the Cedar Street project to nowhere, all of the dog and pony shows for city management hype and all the sales jobs to the people on behalf of developers that have rented the city management to push their projects , the public part of all of it occurs at Town Hall.

I proposed by email to the city council and publicly at the city council meetings, that the public, that means the people of the city, should be allowed to use Town Hall without supervision. I proposed that if anyone could get one city council person to call a meeting , we could have a meeting on any subject in the building that we the people are said to own. Mike Cimilino put the proposal down in a simple four part plan and got them to agree to send it to committee. Dave Turner, our mayor, said to me at that city council meeting in his avuncular and sinister way that we would flesh it out in committee. Please come. I did and what we got was something quite different.

The good news is that we get to use our own Town Hall. The bad news is we get to use it one day a month on the second Tuesday of the month if there is no one else that wants to rent it for money. And we are limited by our mayor's sensibilities to the subjects that are permissible to discuss. No candidates. We have elected officials, thank you, and don't need to have more. Also No Politics. They scorned the ugly word. Nothing like what happened to me, Dave intoned, meaning his recall. And nothing about that troublesome ballot initiative that is causing so much trouble.

But concessions were made to me , as the promoter of what had become by that time a defunct idea. The Hare Creek development project, it was magnanimously announced, we can discuss this one time. But the main rule is that they get to pick and choose what is acceptable. The people of Fort Bragg asked for public meetings and got a City censor. I wonder how that is going to work out for them.

DEFENDING SHAWN

Dear Editor,

I am writing you in regards to a very slanderous & incorrect statement made in your paper as follows:

JUST IN from the streets of Fort Bragg: "Jan Owings was one of three people who died from a batch of Pehnol [sic; probably Phenol, perhaps a reference to over-the-counter sore throat medication, or, worse, to paint stripper] sold by an individual known locally as Tattoo Shawn. Mr. Shawn is an accomplished police informant and full-time heroin addict. Another victim of this drug is a former official at Hospitality House. He died in a van parked in the driveway of the recently fired pastors of a local church. The death was not reported for 6 hours as they debated their recourse. These people have moved to Idaho (for other reasons) and had the courtesy to take Tattoo Shawn with them along with his bride of recent weeks, the former director of the church."

In addition to the previous e-mail I have sent you I would also like to add that you contradict yourself in the same sentence.   You mention that Jan Owings died from over the counter medication or paint stripper, so you don't even know & then you say she bought it from Tattoo Shawn, but you don't even know what she bought, so how do you know he sold her anything? And furthermore if that stuff is available at the hardware store or Rite Aid, then why would she need to purchase it from him?  Seems like she could just go get it herself, I don't know?

Apparently you have all the facts though!

Sincerely,

Alycia Heater

Fort Bragg

C'MON, LET'S GET READY!

The 10th annual C'mon Home to Eat in October celebration is c'ming right up! The Anderson Valley Foodshed is once again creating a whole month of celebrations and events that encourage eating locally produced food. Plans are set for local food breakfasts, lunches, dinners, potlucks, a farm tour, gleaning days, pumpkin carving, a school lunch, a fermentation workshop, a local challenge for your eating plans, and much more. Look for the C'mon Home to Eat posters around the Valley, a posted calendar of this year's events, a weekly AVA report, and info at mendocinolocalfood.org.

Eating local food increases the nutritional value of your meals, contributes greatly to the local economy, reduces use of fossil fuel for food transportation and packaging, boosts food security, reduces waste products, and provides exercise if you grow it yourself. Buying and eating local food enhances community ties

How is local food defined? Of course the most local is your backyard, but we have AV farmers and ranchers that produce ample vegetables, fruits, oils, and meats. Grains grown in the Ukiah Valley are sold here. Fish, seafood, and salt come from the coast. Drawing a 100 mile radius around Anderson Valley is still pretty local.

What is this Challenge about? AV Foodshed would like to challenge you to eat as locally as possible for the month of October, meaning mostly food grown/produced within that 100 mile radius of AV. As the summer garden season culminates, October is harvest month and perhaps the easiest time to embrace this challenge.

Where can I buy local fresh produce, grains, and meat? The Boonville Farmers' Market is at the Boonville Hotel on Saturday mornings from 10-12:30. Anderson Valley Market, Boont Berry, Lemons Market, and Yorkville Market all have selections of local food—look for the shelf talkers that say local on them. You can eat out at Aquarelle*, The Bewildered Pig* when it opens, The Boonville General Store*, The Boonville Hotel*, Lauren's, Mosswood Cafe, Paysanne*, the Senior Center, Stone & Embers*, and the Yorkville Market Deli. (Stars* indicate almost all locally sourced ingredients. Lauren's stars the many local ingredients on her menu, and at the others ask for specials that feature local ingredients.)

Does it cost more to eat locally? Maybe. Maybe not. If you take into consideration the cost of driving, the older age (i.e. reduced flavor and vitamin content) of produce from afar, the time/cost of recycling packaging, the health benefits of local produce, and the community benefits of knowing your farmer, then eating locally may save you dollars.

Next week the October calendar of local food events for restaurants, cafes, stores, the Grange, the Shed, the school, and the AV Health Center will be out. If you want to jump ahead join in on Sustainable Discoveries farm/ranch/garden tour of the productive Acorn Ranch, Old Chatham Ranch, and Ravenridge plus a local food lunch on Saturday, September 26th (andersonvalleylandtrust.org). For those who want to look ahead to November, the Chestnut Gathering at the Zeni Ranch will be on Saturday, November 7. Meanwhile here is a preview from Jen Burnstad of the October gleaning activities in the works or “The Neighborly Practice of Foraging and Gleaning....or So Many Apples and Pears, So Little Time: Yes...it's that abundant time of year again where some of us can hardly keep up with our own gardens and orchards, yet the plentiful fruits ripening and falling to the ground in our neighbors' yards call to us to harvest them as well. If we collect more than we can use there are food banks and schools in our Valley and all around the County who welcome the surplus. All we need to do is share with each other the location of heavily laden trees, find out the owners and get permission to pick, and then rendezvous with our bags and boxes to gather, share, and distribute the offerings of the season.  Anyone who is willing to let our crew of gleaners access your orchard to pick what you don’t want—or if you want to join the Gleaning Team, please call Jen at 895-3243.  We will gather at the Boonville Hotel parking lot at 10 a.m. on Monday October 5th and Tuesday October 6th. We are especially looking for grapes, figs, persimmons, pomegranates, and kiwis besides the usual apples and pears.”

How local can you go in October and beyond?

— Barbara Goodell

I THINK there's a local angle to this one.

The current New Yorker has published "Assets and Liabilities — The mobster Whitey Bulger secretly worked for the F.B.I. Or was it the other way around?” by Patrick Radden Keefe

Joseph (the Animal) Barboza was a murderer for hire from New Bedford, Massachusetts, who came by his nickname after an altercation with a minor mafioso which he elected to settle with his teeth. Barboza ultimately confessed to seven murders, and bragged to associates that he had committed many more, but he had the good fortune to be employed by the Mafia at a moment when authorities were trying desperately to better understand organized crime. In 1961, J. Edgar Hoover stressed, in a memo, the imperative to develop “live sources within the upper echelon of the organized hoodlum element.”

Barboza became a prized informant: he served as a government witness, helping to convict members of the Patriarca crime family. In fact, he was so valuable that when authorities began looking into a 1965 murder that Barboza had participated in, his contacts at the F.B.I. engineered a scheme to protect him. Barboza was never prosecuted for this crime; instead, he took the stand as the government’s star witness and implicated four innocent men in the murder. His F.B.I. handler, an agent named H. Paul Rico, boasted afterward about the ease with which the bureau had set up four “pigeons” for a crime they did not commit. All four men ended up with life sentences. (They were cleared of the murder in 2001, by which point two of them had died in prison.)

In 1969, the government placed Barboza in witness protection, relocating him to California [Santa Rosa]. But in his new identity he killed a man, and when local [Sonoma County] prosecutors sought to try him for the murder, the F.B.I. concocted a second coverup, maintaining that the killing was an effort by the Mob to frame the Animal and dispatching federal agents to appear in court as witnesses for the defense. After prosecutors agreed to reduce the charge, Barboza served only four years. Upon his release, in 1975, he was promptly murdered. But the Boston F.B.I. continued to enjoy a relationship with one of his associates, Stephen Flemmi, a member of the Winter Hill Gang.

ETC.

* * *

THE LOCAL ANGLE? The 1990 bombing of Earth First! activist, Judy Bari, in downtown Oakland. The FBI never conducted a serious or even an unserious investigation of that spectacular event while granting Bari's ex-husband, Mike Sweeney, a curious exemption from Suspect Number One status. The only explanation for such an exemption is that Sweeney was and is a federally protected guy. An FBI spokesman, interviewed by Steve Talbot, leans towards Talbot on camera and says, in effect, "You know of course that the man in a woman's life is always the first suspect." But the man in Judi Bari's life told the feds to go away, that if they wanted to talk to him they'd have to come back with a warrant. They never came back.

THE FEDS had everything they needed to wrap up the alleged "mystery" of the attack on Bari but didn't do it. Given Sweeney's background as a kind of revolutionary Johnny on the Spot for bomb-related events of the 1960s in the Bay Area, I suppose he was a snitch for the feds all the way back to the fire bombing of the BofA branch in Isla Vista, about which he wrote at length, as a very young man, and with insider info, for Ramparts magazine. How an unknown young guy got an assignment from Ramparts on that particular subject is one more mystery in a case replete with them.

SWEENEY soon joined a Stanford-based group called Venceremos led by an English professor called H. Bruce Franklin. That band of fake revolutionaries planted bombs all over the place and managed at least one fully documented murder, that one of an unarmed young prison transport officer. Hispanic with a wife and two young children, the great revolutionaries bent him over and shot him in the back of the head.

THE RICH KID revolutionary bands of the sixties were rife with informants, and the one at Stanford was undone by snitches.

A DECADE LATER, there was a Sweeney-linked fire bombing of an airplane hangar at the old Navy Air Field west of Santa Rosa. Sweeney and Judi Bari, a married couple, lived next door and had opposed conversion of the airstrip to homes.

AND A DECADE AFTER the Santa Rosa Air Field bombs — one of them failed to detonate — Sweeney's ex-wife is blown up.

AND THIS GUY'S not a suspect?

SWEENEY, natch, has gotten away with it and now functions as Mendocino County's garbage bureaucrat. Ah, Mendocino County, where every day history starts all over again and you are whatever you say you are.

THE BARI CASE could be wrapped up tomorrow. All it would take is subpoenas for the dna of the primary suspects to match against the known dna from a confession letter written by the Bari bomber calling himself/herself The Lord's Avenger. The FBI has that envelope. They've closed the case. They said nobody would talk to them. (Female dna is on the stamp, male dna was found on the envelope's seal.)

Howard and Zack Memorial

A DRUG commonly used to treat life-threatening parasitic infections has jumped in price to $750 per tablet, from $13.50, after being acquired by a pharmaceutical startup run by a former hedge-fund manager. The 62-year-old drug, Daraprim, was acquired by Turing Pharmaceuticals this year. Turing's CEO Martin Shkreli defended the price increase in an interview with Bloomberg Monday. “At the end of the day, the price per course of treatment — to save your life — was only $1,000," Shkreli said. Daraprim is still underpriced relative to its peers." He also explained that the company simply needed to make a profit on the drug. Biotech stocks plummeted Monday after Hillary Clinton announced that she would release a plan to combat high prescription-drug costs in response to the Turing incident.

A READER COMMENTS: This drug treats toxoplasmosis, a disease that is found in roughly 25% of the population of the United States. Now if you are young and in good health this is not an issue, you might feel a little minor fever and aches when first affected but your immune system handles it easily. But the parasite lives in you, and when you get older or become very ill and/or have to take medications for cancer, HIV, and organ transplant or something else where your immune system is impacted and weakened, then it can become threatening. Pregnant women also are at risk as is the fetus since it will pass through to the uterus. It is passed through food which is not well-cooked — rare meats, raw vegies and fruits as well as possible fecal contamination from surfaces, door knobs etc. In fact, because of distribution agreements and the cheapness of the drug, there are no generic forms available in the US or Europe. India has a generic but no one knows how effective it is and it has not been tested by the FDA. For the libertarians who have been defending this guy, he is robbing you blind. The ACA does not prevent him from jacking up the price. Your insurance pays for a percentage of the prescription and since the cost has risen so high the insurance premium rates for everyone will rise to cover the additional cost. The same is true for the folks with subsidized plans, so the amount the government pays also will rise.

CATCH OF THE DAY, September 21, 2015

SEAN CRAMBLETT, Redwood Valley. Pot cultivation, processing, possession for sale, possession of controlled substance.

SHAWN LINDEBOOOM, Healdsburg/Ukiah. Domestic battery.

RONAL MAGANA, Ukiah. DUI.

BETHANY PACHECO, Fort Bragg. Domestic assault, probation revocation.

DARIC PARDO, Ukiah. Burglary, vandalism, possession of burglary tools, probation revocation.

MARK PIVER, Ukiah. Community supervision violation.

LENOX REYES JR., Petty theft, county parole violation.

MAURICE VIONNET, Laytonville. Drunk in public, battery of peace officer, possession of controlled substance.

THE SAN FRANCISCO TENANTS UNION has endorsed Proposition I, the 18 month pause on market rate development. We would like to let you know about some easy ways to help our campaign.

We have a very difficult fight ahead. The developers, realtors and their City Hall allies will spend millions to distort Proposition I and frighten voters.

Fortunately, we have people power. We are asking for your help to get our message out. We know many of you are busy so we want to make it as easy as possible to help.

Here are some examples of low-commitment ways you can help:

Post a House Sign: Stop by our office (558 Capp Street) to pick up a house sign!

Get friends and Neighbors to Post House signs

Share or Like us on Facebook

Help Register voters

Help organize a house or block party

Come to a Phone Bank gathering

Make a Donation

Come to a Town Hall at Bernal Heights Neighborhood Center, 515 Cortland Street, Tuesday, September 22 at 7:30 p.m.

All help is welcome and encouraged. Please visit our website savethemission.org, click “Volunteer” and/or “Donate” and/or “Events” and let us know how you can help us Save the Mission.

TAKE THIS, MARCO!

Editor:

Marco McLean adds to his curses against KZYX management as, "classically [sic] paranoid, tyrannical, greedy, conniving, false-faced…." But don't forget your old "utterly corrupt," Marco. I liked that one.

After a year and a half of indulging complaints from some names known on these pages, the Federal Communications Commission has renewed the broadcast license for KZYX&Z. The FCC declaration is posted in full on the station home page, kzyx.org, and is a pleasant read for those who can enjoy the driest of humor.

Gordon Black

Mendocino

PROTEST Wed, Sept 23rd at Pelican Bay

From:  Redwood Copwatch <peoplesARC@gmail.com>

Date:  Monday, September 21, 2015 at 1:00 AM

To:  <vervain@lists.riseup.net>

Subject:  Wed, Sept 23rd at Pelican Bay

Please join us on Wednesday, Sept 23rd to protest the sleep deprivation torture that began on the night of August 2nd in Pelican Bay SHU (50 days and nights), perpetrated by the guards. People in SHU cannot escape the constant noise, and they can't sleep. It's torture and it's really hurting them.

We are planning to set up outside of Pelican Bay State Prison on September 23rd (Statewide Coordinated Actions To End Solitary Confinement

<https://prisonerhungerstrikesolidarity.wordpress.com/the-23rd-of-each-month -statewide-actions-to-end-solitary-confinement/>

in protest of the 30 minute so-called welfare checks, the excuse for the sleep deprivation. Also, of course, we are always demonstrating against CA prisons entombing people in solitary confinement, period.

Want to join us?  We will have a banner and music and information (you can learn, if you don't know much about solitary).  People have been writing letters, sending emails <https://app.box.com/s/neikioeuuora8enihwryahuxtkibootv>, and making phone calls about the sleep deprivation, which seems to be retaliation for two successful lawsuits settled on behalf of prisoners.*

The men inside will learn of our solidarity action which, we hope, will lift their spirits.

Throughout California, there will be Statewide Coordinated Actions To End Solitary Confinement on September 23rd.  And around the nation on that day, people will be doing actions.  Our nationwide effort on the 23rd of every month is called Together to End Solitary

<http://www.nrcat.org/torture-in-us-prisons/together-campaign>!

The 23rd represents the 23 or more hours that people in solitary spend every day in their cell.

Please call (707) 442-7465 or email peoplesarc@gmail.com if you want to join us.  We will leave for Crescent City Wednesday morning and come back in the evening.

Verbena of Peoples' Action for Rights and Community and Prisoner Hunger Strike Solidarity Coalition (707) 442-7465

*Coleman vs. Brown, and Ashker vs. Brown. The constant noise and sleep deprivation is a distorted and abusive implementation of the "welfare" checks required by the Coleman settlement.

PBS/POV DOCUMENTARY, THE OVERNIGHTERS, on Wednesday, October 7^th at 6 pm

Ukiah Library is proud to present our fifth documentary film in our monthly series, “First Wednesday PBS/POV Documentaries.” The screening of The Overnighters will begin at 6 pm on October 7^th. This is a “Bring Your Own Dinner” event. When thousands of workers flocked to a North Dakota oil boomtown seeking well-paying jobs, they found few opportunities and no place to live. In response, Pastor Jay Reinke converted his church into a makeshift men’s dorm and counseling center, then faced fierce community opposition. (PG-13)

TAMORA PIERCE in a Live Streaming Author Visit on Tuesday, October 13^th at 6:30 pm — Well known author Tamora Pierce will make a virtual visit to Ukiah Library at 6:30 pm on Tuesday, October 13. Meet your favorite author of strong girl fiction — and ask your questions.

ON LINE COMMENT OF THE DAY

Hermann Hesse, in Steppenwolf, referred to planet Earth as a “labyrinth of chaos.”

Some Eastern thinkers prefer to the moniker: “realm of distortion,” when referring to our troubled planet.

Technical accuracy with words, being able to tell one thing from another, may be too elusive for the human psyche today.

Or as the old Nasrudin tale goes;

“When you die Nasrudin,” asked a friend, “how would you like to be buried?”

“Head downwards. If, as people believe, we are right way up in this world, I want to try being upside-down in the next.”

YAZZLE NEEDS A ROOM

I know this is months away, but I really need to find a place to stay for the June 2016 Sierra Nevada World Music Festival in Boonville. I cannot drive over the hill any more and also can't camp. I need a non-smoking room with a comfortable bed in someone's home, an inn, motel or even a house or cabin to rent for a single, quiet, non-smoking clean woman, who cannot pay a lot, but very willing to pay something reasonable. The Festival is Friday, Saturday and Sunday, June 17, 18 and 19th, 2016. I can also housesit, feed animals, water gardens, etc. I am fine with that, in case you are out of town. I am very responsible. Please call me with any leads or suggestions at 707-884-4703. Thanks very much.