Mendocino County Today: Tuesday, Oct 6, 2015

• FB Restaurant Edict
• Water Emergency
• Ortner Money
• Graceful Farewell
• Tense Times
• Visiting Judges
• Free Associating
• Foreign Movies
• Chop-Chop Restaurant
• Sporting
• Oaky Joe
• Militia
• Private Radio
• Stagnent Wages
• Yesterday's Catch
• Marijuana Initiative
• Pot Prosecutions
• American Credibility
• Dollar General
• Kuczinsky
• Inmate Abuse
• Planning Commission
• Pushkin Sonnets
• FB Docs
• Teen Leadership
• Harvard Debate
• Caspar Fair

FORT BRAGG ORDERS RESTAURANTS TO USE DISPOSABLE PLATES, CUPS

by Peter Fimrite

Things are bad everywhere in California, but the big dry has gotten so severe in the coastal city of Fort Bragg that fancy restaurants are now being ordered to plop their filet mignons on disposable plates and pour wine into plastic cups to avoid washing dishes.

The rugged former lumber town in Mendocino County declared a “Stage 3” water emergency after the normally mighty Noyo River, a primary source of drinking water, got so low that ocean water began leaching into municipal pipes.

The emergency order, declared Sept. 30 by the City Council, requires residents and businesses to cut water use 30 percent compared with the same time last year. Residents may not wash cars, irrigate lawns or maintain landscaping. Restaurants and hotels must use disposable plates, cups and flatware, serve customers water only when asked, and drastically cut back on the laundering of tablecloths, napkins, sheets and towels.

The city of 7,300 residents was given until Wednesday to comply.

“The Noyo is a critical component of our water supply, and it is too salty to use. The flows are so low, it’s off charts,” said Linda Ruffing, Fort Bragg’s city manager. “We have to lower our water use to the absolute minimum.”

Restaurants object

The order, though, has created such an uproar in restaurants not used to setting tables with plastic spoons and forks that Ruffing said the council may consider loosening the restrictions at its meeting next Tuesday.

“You might be able to cut a filet mignon with a plastic knife, but you are not going to cut a New York,” declared Jim Hurst, the co-owner of Silvers at the Wharf and Point Noyo Restaurant and Bar, which overlook the river and are often packed with tourists. “The expense is going to be horrendous, I would expect. So that’s going to be a major impact. It seems to me there are other ways to save water.”

The problem, Ruffing said, is that most customers have already stopped watering lawns, taking long showers and washing cars in an effort to lower their bills. The townsfolk nevertheless managed to cut use from about 500,000 gallons a day before the order to about 400,000 gallons a day, she said.

One of the biggest users, North Coast Brewing Co., is also the biggest employer in town and a major tourist attraction. Ruffing said it had already reduced water use by installing new equipment.

“A lot of our customers aren’t going to be able to achieve a 30 percent reduction because a lot of them have already put in all the water devices they can,” she said, adding that the city is looking into trucking in more water.

New reservoir

A new reservoir, capable of providing 15 million gallons of storage, won’t be ready until next year, Ruffing said.

The Noyo River has always been a crucial vein that has kept Fort Bragg alive. The Georgia Pacific lumber mill, which closed in 2002, used the Noyo to transport wood from the ancient redwood forests of the Coast Range. The river now supplies 40 percent of the city’s water supply.

But flows are so low that saltwater has fouled the intake valves, forcing the city to use two springs, Newman Gulch and Waterfall Gulch, for its entire water supply. They only provide about 400,000 gallons a day.

“We’re real concerned,” Ruffing said. “The water has never been so low. We are looking at the possibility of it drying up before the rains come.”

(courtesy San Francisco Chronicle)

FORT BRAGG DECLARES HIGHEST-STAGE WATER EMERGENCY

Loaded with misinformation and mendacity!

http://www.pressdemocrat.com/news/4555602-181/fort-bragg-imposes-its-toughest?page=0

WHAT? STAGE 3 last Friday, now full-on emergency Monday? Que pasa, Fort Bragg?

A READER COMMENTS re the privatized Ortner Mental Health contract: “The money doesn't go to the clients or the line staff. It goes to paying hotel rooms, travel and food for the managers. And anyone that comes to visit or stay. They micromanage, have no idea about our county. They promised housing and there is none. There have been housing oppertunities that they botched. They have several seasoned staff who have worked in this county with over 40 years experience but they are never utilized. Ortner is for profit and has been from the beginning. They don't play well with the jail, the hospitals. They think they have a handle on UPD and Sheriffs but they don't.”

STEPPING OVER: Come to a special mini-workshop on Sunday, October 11th at 4:30 pm at Lauren’s Restaurant with Maggie Watson, author of A Graceful Farewell: Putting Your Affairs in Order. Utilizing the framework of her book, Watson will touch on the areas of one’s life that should be organized and information that should be made locatable to support and assist loved ones and caregivers. "The promise of this book is that it will give you peace of mind." Copies of Watson’s book will be available for sale.

TENSE TIMES here in Intoxicant County this time of year, with lots of bud and cash in the hills, and armed thugs cruising the highways and biways looking for easy scores.

EVER WONDER why our Superior Court sees a steady stream of "visiting" judges when we have 8 of our own plus a magistrate? Yes, 8 judges for a population of 90,000 people, and we still have to summon help from the judicial bullpen.

R. BOSTROM OF WILLITS, free associating, writes: "Whenever the Redwood Drive-in is willing to host a poetry reading or sponsor a tennis tournament, the County will be willing to accept two Syrian refugees to Covelo. A former editor of The Willits News, Claudia Smith ("We don't display Willits' dirty linen for everyone to see") will not be the new face on the ten dollar bill. The Times reports that popular opinion is favoring La Boca Grande, E. Roosevelt. Here's a project for you. Write a couple of paragraphs in the style of Hemingway and send them to the ava. Let's see who does it best."

* * *

I GOT RIGHT TO WORK: I drove over the hill to Ukiah on a hot day. I was looking for the County's lead educator. He's an Italian from Point Arena. I thought about how far things have slipped since Socrates and how they poisoned him for being bisexual. I drove east to Talmage. Damaged people shuffled up and down the sidewalks in the sun. A dog was dead in front of the Talmage Market. At Mendocino County's air conditioned temple of learning, blissed out-looking people wandered around on thickly carpeted floors holding coffee cups.

I said to the lady at the desk, "I want to see the boss." You can't see him, she said. He's at lunch. "It's 3:30 in the afternoon," I said. Sit down, she said. He'll be back in time to leave for the day. "Can I have something to read while I wait?" You mean like a book or a magazine? "This is the center of learning for all Mendocino County, isn't it?" That sounded like sarcasm, she said. "You're very perceptive," I said, "maybe even intuitive." Sorry, she said, we don't have any books and all the Sports Illustrateds are in the boss's office. A xylophone played Why Can't A Woman Be More Like A Man. It was the phone on the reception desk. The woman at the desk said, That was the Italian. He says he won't be back in the office today. He said to tell you he won't be in his office ever again if you're there too.

RECOMMENDED MOVIES

Foreign movies can be interesting simply because of the glimpses they provide into other places and cultures. Viewing them becomes an easy way to travel vicariously. Two recent movies, now available through Netflix, are set near the Black Sea.

"Tangerines" takes place in Abkhazia, a region which declared its independence from Georgia via civil war in the early nineties. Although the story takes place during this conflict, and the plot is largely driven by that event, this should not be thought of as a "war movie." The film's concern is with the effects that conflict had upon a handful of characters, two of them merely residents of the area. It's a small story, about how a few individual lives intersect with much larger events, but it's very well told. I also enjoyed seeing the simple country life as it was portrayed in this film.

"Winter Sleep" takes place a little further south, in Anatolia, a region of eastern Turkey. This is the more visually striking of the two films, and the landscapes are stunning. It's also twice as long (over three hours). The story in this film is more internal. Instead of examining how the outside world collides with individual lives, this movie is more concerned with how individuals collide with one another. Gender, class, and age differences often provoke these tensions. Even though this movie concludes with unresolved issues, I thought it was still worth the journey.

Both movies are subtitled, and of the two, I would probably recommend "Tangerines" over "Winter Sleep" to most people. It’s the more tightly told tale. "Winter Sleep" is more of a rambler, but if that sort of movie is your cup of tea, you may enjoy that one too.

(—Mike Kalantarian)

RECOMMENDED DINING: The new Chop-Chop restaurant on Standley Street opposite the County Courthouse, the only quality eating place in the County whose kitchen will still take orders at 11pm. Reasonably priced, lunch and dinner.

IN A TRAIN from London to Manchester, an American was berating the Englishman sitting across from him in the compartment. "The trouble with you English is that you are too stuffy. You set yourselves apart too much. You think your stiff upper lip makes you above the rest of us. Look at me... I'm me! I have a little Italian in me, a bit of Greek blood, a little Irish and some Spanish blood. What do you say to that?" The Englishman lowered his newspaper, looks over his glasses and replied, "How very sporting of your mother!"

OAKY JOE IN HIS OWN WORDS

(Background: https://www.theava.com/archives/48319)

Hello,

To those of you familiar with my story and to those of you who are not, a brief history.

My name is Oaky Joe Munson. I grow pot for sick people. If the cops don't come and take it I give it to the sick people. I've been arrested a whole bunch of times and cases have been dismissed a whole bunch of times. For ten years my wife, children and collective members had been subjected to numerous civil liberties violations brought on by local law enforcement under the guidance of federal authority!

A few years ago my daughter and I were traveling to Virginia to see my mother who had had a stroke. While we were waiting at the Sacramento airport I saw Sheriff Tom Allman. I said, "Hi Tom." He said, "Hello James."I said, "Hey, you want to take a look at some of my patients' pictures?" He said, "Well, okay."

I spent ten minutes showing him the pictures and I was able to explain what ails a lot of the different patients. After he looked at the pictures he said, "So how are things going for James?" And all I could think to say was, "Much better, sir, since I've moved out of your county." He kind of laughed and wished me a pleasant trip.

One evening I saw Sheriff Allman out back of the bar in Willits. We told each other a dumb joke and then I asked him why he had sent his deputies out to my home. He said, "How many plants, James?" I said, "137 with 15 recommendations." He said, "That's too many, the Feds said over 100, gotta go. If it is over 100 they gotta go, James."

In a recent interview with a reporter, Sheriff Allman is on record saying, "Growers like Munson are playing legal games and making loads of money while thumbing their noses at law enforcement." He continued to say, "The moral of the story is, don't come up on our radar and we won't show up on your property." And he added, "Having a massive garden, no matter how many recommendations you have, is a great way to be noticed."

Can we look closer at what law enforcement (Allman) said. "If you have a massive garden no matter how many recommendations you have is a great way to be noticed."

Am I missing something here? In my mind that means that 50 recommendations mean shit to the people who are being paid to be protected under the law. Cops don't give a shit about some guy with a bottle full of pain pills, but if he is getting medical pot for any reason than he is a lowlife.

I would like to bring up a few more points about our patients' garden:

50-plus valid recommendations (25 or more are senior citizens). No complaining neighbors, no guns (I'll say this twice: NO GUNS. (I have little kids." No criminal element. (We only work with patients.) No parks nearby (3 miles away), no churches nearby (3 miles away), no schools nearby (3 miles away), no synthetic chemicals (organic medical marijuana), no diversion of water, no diversions of medicine (only to patients), no mean dogs, no environmental damage, no alcohol or tobacco. Et cetera.

I have moved my family four times in the last seven years as a direct result of police action. I think I'm finished moving. My children love their school! My wife has a great thyroid doctor and I'm not going anywhere! The Sonoma County Sheriff and the District Attorney are pointing at each other and saying that they are not responsible for the raid. I've had over 100 phone calls placed to the District Attorney's Office in Sonoma County on behalf of the collective. At first the District Attorney laughed and told my collective member they "had nothing to do with it and to call the sheriff." Now they won't talk to anyone!

I have another question. Why is the deputy DA's signature on the search warrant? Why won't they look at who they are hitting before instead of after? These guys have been flying over my house for three years. Why couldn't they send a couple of squad cars? The tank was overkill in a big way. I have been busted for pot many times and law enforcement knows that I do not ever have guns!

Why doesn't Sonoma County District Attorney Ravitch know what her counterparts are doing? Why is the investigator calling all the patients after they (law enforcement) took their medicine? Is this to look for criminal activity or to exonerate me? I think the former rather than the latter. Did Ravitch have her head under a rock the whole time she was a deputy district attorney in Mendocino County? I had 18 — count ’em — 18 felonies dismissed while she was part of that District Attorney's Office. How could she let this happen? She is supposed to be in charge.

The Sonoma County Sheriff's spokeswoman, Sergeant Cecile Focha, libeled herself when she reported to the media that trees were clear-cut to make way for marijuana plants. The facts: Nine trees were cut, all 14 inches in diameter or smaller on a private 17 acre property as directed by the fire marshal and CalFire. "100 feet of defensible space." Every tree cut was well within 100 feet of the house that the landowner lives in with his wife. Sgt. Focha spoke more: "Deputies are continuing to enforce all laws in the same way as prior to passage of Proposition 215"

What does Proposition 215 mean to the police, the district attorney? The police are being paid well to sort out the real from the fake. Deputies are responsible for finding the legitimate collective. Why can't local law enforcement call the shots instead of being coerced into breaking local laws in favor of federal law? The feds are very two-faced about this. I have spoken to federal medical marijuana patient Irvin Rosenfeld, author of the book "My Medicine." He confirmed to me that he has been receiving medical marijuana from the federal government along with other people supplied by the feds — grown by a big university. He receives his medications in a tin can full joints, low-grade, indoor, synthetically grown pot. Damn shame! Say one thing and do another. The last time I checked I lived in California where the voters voted to legalize medical pot. In my opinion local cops are bound to local laws.

Furthermore, cops take all the patients' medicine and are not responsible for taking good care of it in case the judge dismisses the case. The damage is done! How can they be allowed to take people's private property and destroy it and not be held accountable? What can a person do to convince the law that things are on the up and up? In Japan, if something is impossible, they will tell you that "This would be very difficult." Same, same!

The police who had been to my gardens tell me that they have never seen a legitimate medical garden. These are the people who are supposed to be conducting compliance checks.

Gun toting, knuckle dragging neanderthals do more harm than good. Stop letting the fox guard the chicken coop. There is going to be a number of years of transition going from illegal marijuana to legal marijuana and we are going to let these irresponsible totally unaccountable officials continue their smash, grab and a arrest cycle?

Please already — Enough! Stop!

Hey folks, we are not playing on a level field. The police can get away with breaking many many laws under the guise of the badge. As citizens it seems we are held to a higher standard of responsibility. I believe this concept of accountability in a medical garden should be shouldered equally between citizen and cop!

If people think that they can count on the cops to be fair and impartial then the cops will gain a lot more of the respect they command from the very same people that they are paid to protect.

Police will only acknowledge recommendations that are out of date. All the up-to-date recommendations are completely ignored.

Fifty sick people went to their doctors and spent their own money to try and follow laws. I run a collective for sick and dying people — human beings who have discovered the astounding benefits of the marijuana plant. This is not a bunch of young bucks running around in $100,000 pickups. This is medicine for really messed up people, some of whom are on their way to a very unpleasant death.

Believable? Who is? The judge? The cops? The district attorney? Or the defense?

A bunch of plants, a bunch of patients, a bunch of cops, a bunch of felony charges, a bunch of medicines taken, a bunch of acquittals, a bunch of anger, a bunch of disappointment, a bunch of waste — of time, money, and effort on everyone's part including the police.

When I go to the Americans For Safe Access (ASA) meetings I haven't noticed any medical marijuana growers in attendance. If you are legitimate, come on down to San Francisco and meet some of the really sick folks. Bring some medications because we smoke out after the meeting.

All of my collective members want me to file a lawsuit! I want to get the one remaining charge against me dismissed before we go there, for me, to pursue a lawsuit. I have enlisted the help of Cannabis Radio and the Grow Show. This is a Los Angeles-based radio station. This will air next Wednesday. The Wall Street Journal has me on their website with a videographer's film and all of the aftermath of the recent raid. The San Francisco Chronicle has a reporter looking into this, and other media outlets as well. We have started the Oaky Joe Defense Fund. If you want to send any contributions send them to:

Keith Faulder, Attorney at Law, 390 West Standley Street, Ukiah, CA 95482. Or e-mail: Keith@FaulderLaw.com.

Contact me at Joe@OakyJoes.com. Please comment, like or dislike. I want to see it, please!

Oaky Joe Munson

Sonoma County

PS. Feel free to call the Sonoma County District Attorney's Office at 707-565-2011. Please be polite.

OF COURSE YOU CAN'T LOOK AT OUR BOOKS. WHAT DO YOU THINK WE'RE RUNNING HERE, A PUBLIC RADIO STATION?

SO THE KZYX DISSIDENTS write a nicey-nice request to Public Radio, Mendocino County asking for a look at the numbers. They address their request to the station's interim director, a close pal of the previous director:

Dear Mr. Campbell,

Thank you for your email of September 5 concerning our demand for inspection of documents. In it, you state that your current position concerning the inspection is the same as your initial response of June 23, wherein you asserted that you could delay the inspection until you had hired a general manager and that our rights of inspection were more restricted than we claimed.

Please refer to our response of June 26, copied below. In it, we explained how your restrictions have no basis in the law. As for a delay, the organization has had plenty of time to prepare for the inspection, a total of four months by the time it happens. You have not identified any specific record that cannot be made available for inspection by October 7.

We intend to proceed with the inspection on October 7, beginning at 1:00pm, at the Philo office. It is not clear from your letter that you intend to refuse access at that time. Pursuant to the Corporations Code, you would need a court order to do so. Otherwise you will be in violation of California law, our own bylaws, and your duty to comply with both.

We thank you in advance for facilitating the inspection on October 7.

Doug McKenty
John Sakowicz
King Collins
Norm de Vall
Peter Kafin

MR. CAMPBELL, natch, refuses the request. It the station was running in the black, Campbell would welcome any and all to inspect station finances, but..... But the station isn't running in the black because it's been mismanaged for years, especially under departed manager, Coate. Coate's clone, this Campbell character, continues management's nutty secrecy and even nuttier pursuit of its perceived enemies. On the other hand, as the libs invariably put it, state dissidents are pursuing a strategy of relentless Gotcha. Smart management would cool them out, i.e., give them all programs, but KZYX management is not smart. Never has been.

THE DISSIDENTS WROTE back to Campbell, a portly full-of-himself type prevalent among Mendolibs.

Thank you for your email of June 23, 2015, responding to our written demand of June 9 for the inspection of documents. We disagree with your analysis.

The right of a member to inspect and copy records is not based solely on California Corporations Code Section 6330, which authorizes the inspection of membership records. There is also Section 6333, which states:

"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."

In addition, the Bylaws of Mendocino County Public Broadcasting grant members the right to inspect any records that are not personnel records or otherwise protected by law:

"Member Inspection Rights:

Members shall have the right at all reasonable times to inspect all of MCPB’s records which are or should be maintained at the principal office except personnel records and other items that would violate the privacy of a specific individual or are otherwise protected under Federal or California law."

CAMPBELL WASTED NO TIME REPLYING:

You will not be admitted to the Philo studio on October 7, 2015. We disagree with your assertion that this would put us in violation of any legal obligation that we have.

WHAT WOULD JUDI BARI DO? Show up, bull rush Campbell and whatever other dope-soaked marshmallow is in the way, take over the mike, explain live what you're doing, maybe even get arrested. Make a major issue out of it. When Bari was denied she rallied a strike force and barged right on in. Only the noble Gordy Black tried to stop her, and he was shoved mercilessly aside, greasy cravat and all, but not before he'd thrown a couple of elbows into the elderly (and late) Rusty and FloAnn Norvell. This approach to management intransigence is called Direct Action. It's what you do when the other side is behaving in an illegal and indefensible manner, as is the case here.

JOHN COATE'S delusional self-assessment of his work at KZYX isn't surprising in a time and a place where self-evaluations, rubber-stamped by credulous and irresponsible boards of directors, are a fact of civic life. Put video cameras and a team of sports writers to work evaluating the work performances of Mendo's lead bureaucrats and we'd see some sad sights.

ACCORDING TO COATE “I was the GM of KZYX radio in Mendocino County and the Executive Director of Mendocino County Public Broadcasting from 2008 until 2015. KZYX is listener-supported public radio. It serves a wide geographic area that is quite rural. When I arrived the station was mired in debt. Most of that debt is paid off and the station is better than it ever was.”

IF THE FINANCIAL picture is so rosy, let's see the books. Coate, instinctively secretive and a generally chickenbleep dude, always resisted transparency and, given the over-large management and pay structure at the station, added to a shrinking membership, we'll soon learn that KZYX badly needs to take a hard fiscal look at the way it operates. But its board, being the usual Mendo board of happy faces and professional joiners, is incapable of hard looks at anything. I've assumed for a long time that the books have been cooked and, by now, are probably totally fried.

AS A STATION MEMBER but infrequent listener, I have to say I think programming fairly reflects the gamut of local big issue public opinion, left to soft right (NPR). The local news reporting is improved. What's missing is the kind of freewheeling call-in talk about local matters that Doug McKenty and Norman deVall used to do, and before them, KC Meadows who did it best of all.

AND NOW for an instructive trip down Memory Lane. A pair of putative liberals and dope monomaniacs — Pebs Trippett and Lynda McClure — got KC removed from her volunteer slot as a bi-monthly talk show host. And even station program director, Mary Aigner, ordinarily sacrosanct, got herself suspended because she said on-air that her neighborhood (Hungry Hollow, Nash Mill Road) was teeming with growers claiming that they had only the purest of the pure medical marijuana motives. The stoners claimed that Mares' opinion was outtaline and that KC wasn't an 'objective' moderator because she'd also ventured her opinion that the pending ballot measure under discussion was probably a good idea, aimed as it was at bringing some order to the local pot industry. People still get thrown off the air for even dumber reasons, and, ironically, it's Aig who does most of the throwing.

I ALSO DISAGREE with Marco McClean's notion that all programmers should be paid. Please, Marco. Totally impractical, even with a pared-down management structure. How you gonna pay 120 programmers? Public radio stations, especially in rural areas, are volunteer-reliant by their very nature. I'd pay extra for a weekly public affairs on local matters but only if it were hosted by someone smart and articulate like Ms. Meadows. But smart and articulate are like kryptonite to the reigning KZYX politburo, hence, well, no need for the mantra. (Pay me to listen and I promise to tune in an hour a week.)

NOT THAT IT'S LIKELY, but if KZYX were ever to hire a smart, reasonable, friendly, hard working person to oversee Mendocino County Public Radio, membership would double and its local news and discussion shows would become must listening. As is, with the thing being run like a private club, KZYX will continue to flatline.

THE FOLLOWING is from our report on the purge of Ms. Meadows and the two week suspension meted out to Mary Aigner:

Meadows: “Mary never said, ‘Vote for Measure B.’ She simply stated that problems with commercial pot growing were real and she'd seen them first hand. Suspending her for that, it seems to me, borders on a serious First Amendment violation. (I wonder, if Mary had said something like, ‘It’s been my experience that medical marijuana patients really have a problem finding supplies’ she would be under suspension right now.)

“For some reason there was a real crowd at the station last night, I assume because they're in the middle of pledge drive. The crowd, I am told from someone standing among them, was also going crazy trying to get me to shut up, too. One woman (later identified as Lynda McClure, an opponent of Measure B) actually put a note to that effect up to the broadcast booth window, but I didn't have my glasses on and couldn't see it.

“Anyway I wouldn't have shut up. I said at the beginning of the broadcast that I was a fervent B supporter and that would be clear during the show. For some reason the folks at KZYX assumed I was simply hosting some kind of non-partisan debate on Measure B. I would never have agreed to that. First, I am not unbiased about it. That is why I stepped aside from my usual role as moderator for the forum the Daily Journal is hosting May 8 with the American Association of University Women and the National Women's Political Caucus. Plus, I express my opinions on my monthly show all the time. Why would last night be any different?

"It was an absolutely surreal experience watching the meltdown in the crowd outside the booth as the program progressed. I guess they were there for pledge night, but I'd never seen so many people at the station. At one point a woman [Lynda McClure] was holding a hand written sign up to the booth glass trying to get me to keep quiet. When Mary Aigner started talking about how her Anderson Valley neighborhood was full of commercial pot growers claiming to be medical marijuana growers I thought the KZYX team was going to rip the microphone out of the wall. Their free speech cop came bounding into the booth with us making faces and signaling wildly to Mary to SHUT UP!!!! I've had my disagreements with Mary, but I have to give her credit for speaking up.

“The only people having a problem throughout all this were outside the booth. As heartily as Faulder and I disagree on this issue, even he pointed out during a break after one caller claimed I was part of the right wing takeover that people forget the UDJ endorsed him for DA.

“Anyway, I hope Mary doesn't get thrown under the bus for this. I just found out when I got to work this morning that they canceled today's planned Measure B ‘forum’ with Karen Ottoboni, Ross Liberty and Dan Hamburg. And that they won't be airing anything on the subject for two weeks. Belinda (then station manager Belinda Rollins) said this morning to me that they were consulting their attorneys about how serious this flaunting of their rules turns out to be. I also understand that they are not allowing anyone to have a copy of the tape of the show either. Well, good luck to them.”

But Mary Aigner has been thrown under the bus. Whether or not she’ll be rescued or run over until she’s flattened right out of a job remains to be seen.

This is what Aigner, a single mother who has raised two daughters by herself, said on the public airwaves Thursday night; this is her crime, verbatim:

“Aigner: I just want to jump in here and say, because I happen to live in a rural subdivision with wonderful southern exposure, so I’ve seen what’s happened in my neighborhood over the last five years. I must say that I don’t think that anyone in Mendocino County will ever say they are not growing medical marijuana. According to people who grow it, it’s all medical marijuana. And so I think that that is interesting to me and that’s one of the things that both the Yes and No need to address is this huge loophole in Measure G because it’s obviously not all medical marijuana. I don’t think there are that many cancer and AIDS and chronic pain patients.”

Faulder responded, “Why do you think that, first of all? That there aren’t that many?

Aigner: Pardon me?

Faulder: Why do you think that? I know…

Aigner: Personally, I do know people who do use medical marijuana because they’re HIV positive and it’s very important for them, mostly as an appetite stimulant and to counterattack the drugs that they take. And they tell me, where they live, if they go into a dispensary, they see very few of people, they say very few of the patients they see in the dispensary, they’re, you know, young, healthy kids.

Faulder: “What does diabetes look like?”

Aigner: “I’m just… I’m…”

Faulder: “What does Krohn’s Disease look like? You know, I’m no doctor, but you can’t see a lot of these… ”

Aigner: “My perspective is that everyone who has, you know, is definitely, it’s all medical marijuana and I think that that is an important distinction in this situation. Is that some of it’s medical marijuana, some of it’s personal use and some of it is just economic. And I think that that distinction should perhaps be made in this conversation.”

CATCH OF THE DAY, October 5, 2015

ESPERANZA ALFARO, Redwood Valley. Suspended license.

JOHN BOLTON IV, Willits. Drunk in public. (Frequent flyer.)

MATTHEW CAFAGNO, Covelo.

WAYNE CAMPBELL, Ukiah. Drunk in public, probation revocation. (Frequent flyer.)

SHARON CARRIER, Fort Bragg. Failure to appear.

JOY DAVIDSON, Fort Bragg. Drunk in public, resisting.

VICENTE GONZALEZ, Willits. Possession of controlled substance, probation revocation.

PHILLIP LOPEZ, Ukiah. Parole violation.

JOSE NUNEZ-ALVARADO, Fort Bragg. Fugitive from Justice.

MARY POOL, Ukiah. Under influence of controlled substance, chid endangerment.

DANIEL SKAGGS, Redwood Valley. Possession of controlled substance/meth for sale and paraphernalia.

CAMEO SMITH-ARJO, Ukiah. Domestic assault, probation revocation.

JOSEPH SURLES, Willits. Pot possession for sale, sale, transport, furnish.

SHAUN WAY, Potter Valley. DUI.

SCOTTY WILLIS, Ukiah. Domestic assault, Probation revocation. (Frequent flyer.)

ERIC WRIGHT, Redwood Valley/Ukiah. Failure to appear, probation revocation.

‘BIG SHOT POT ACTIVISTS’ FILE THEIR OWN LEGALIZATION INITIATIVE

“Heavy-hitting” Bay Area marijuana legalization activists and their proposed initiative to legalize adult use of marijuana in California.

http://marijuana.blogs.pressdemocrat.com/10375/californias-big-shot-marijuana-initiative-has-landed/#4578070

FROM THE DA'S OFFICE: 15 Non-medicinal Marijuana Prosecution Stats: Forty-five (45) individuals were charged in Mendocino County with illegal marijuana-related primary offenses had their cases resolved during the third quarter of the 2015 calendar year.

The resulting conviction rate for the quarter was 82%.

Of the 45 defendants, eight (8) individuals had all charges dismissed against them. Twenty-three (23) individuals were convicted at the misdemeanor level. Fourteen (14) individuals were convicted at the felony level. Five (5) of the 14 felons received prison sentences, with one being sentenced to state prison and four receiving local prison sentences.

The 23 misdemeanants and nine of the 14 felons are now on either supervised (formal) or court (summary) probation.

All 32 are subject to warrantless search on demand of peace officers, as well as other terms and conditions of probation. As one term of their probation, 24 of the probationers must perform a collective 3,950 hours of community service, with monitoring of their enrollment and completion of hours by the staff of Mendo-Lake Alternative Service, Inc. (MLAS)."

ON LINE COMMENT OF THE DAY

You had to at least admire the forthrightness of Mr. Putin. His economy of motion is breathtaking. He goes to the UN and says: “The situation in Syria is intolerable and we’re going to do something about it,” and a few days later they did. Russia commenced bombing groups that the US had labeled “the moderate opposition” to Bashar al-Assad. The quandary for the US, of course, as Mr. Putin pointed out at the UN, is that we keep on arming and training “moderate oppositions” to this regime and that regime and abracadabra (to use an old Middle Eastern term-of-art) they break bad on us. They use the Humvee’s we give them to control the landscape and they blow stuff up with the ordnance we give them, and cut off the heads of Americans on video in the rudest and cruelest manner imaginable. So, might we ask ourselves: is there anything to the US’s complaint that Russia is not bombing the right ISIS?

I suspect world opinion is not buying our claim that Bashar al-Assad has to go because he bombed his own citizens and used gas on them. I mean, we say that a lot, but is it actually true? US officials say a lot of things a lot that happen not to be true (e.g. the Federal Reserve’s claim that the US economy is humming.) In fact, we’re in this predicament precisely because we have squandered our credibility. We go into one country after another and destroy the institutions that held these places together, and leave a train of death and chaos behind. Iraq, Libya, Somalia, now Syria.

— James Kunstler

TIED HANDS MAKE BAD PLANNING

by Alex de Grassi

The construction of a Dollar General store in Redwood Valley was approved by the Mendocino County Planning Department earlier this year, and an appeal to that approval was recommended for denial to the County Planning Commission resulting in a denial by that board. These actions were taken without an EIR, without input from the community and with little or no public notice, because, according to the County General Plan, if the proposed project does not exceed the C-2 zoning limits such as square footage, height, setback from the road and the requisite number of parking spaces (30 in this case), then the county planning department can approve a “zoning clearance,” meaning the applicant does not need a use permit. The project is thus deemed “ministerial” (as opposed to discretionary) and becomes exempt from pubic input, EIRs, and CEQUA review, thus clearing the way for the county to issue 1) building permits, 2) business licenses, 3) the approval of final subdivision maps, and 4) the approval of individual utility service connections and disconnections without further discussion.

Wow, really! You mean that the largest retail building in “downtown” (hey, we have a 3-way stop sign!) Redwood Valley with more parking spaces than any of the existing “downtown” businesses can be built without a use permit or any further planning oversight or input from the community? Does it say that in the County General plan?

Well… kind of. The County Department of Planning and Building Services, in a memo to the Planning Commission regarding the appeal protesting the approval of the plan says:

The subject parcel has a General Plan land use designation of Commercial and is zoned C-2 (General Commercial District) in accordance with the General Plan’s “Community- Specific Policies.” In the “Community-Specific Policies” for Redwood Valley, the downtown area has been designated to function as a commercial hub for the surrounding community.

True, but the Redwood Valley Community Area Policies in the General Plan also states that:

Policy CP-RV-1: The County supports and promotes “Smart Growth” planning techniques and principles for the Redwood Valley. It also says:

Action Item CP-RV-3.2 Potential strategies include:

—- Establishing a consistent architectural theme, compatible with the character of Redwood Valley, for commercial development south of the downtown.

Holy Smokes! You’d have a tough time convincing the residents of Redwood Valley that the decision to permit a Dollar General stems from “Smart Growth” or that it establishes a consistent architectural theme compatible with the character of Redwood Valley. I would be surprised if anyone at county planning or on the county planning commission would agree with those characterizations either. It seems the Building Department simply overlooked those parts of General Plan.

Furthermore, it says in the introduction to the Community Specific Policies of the General Plan:

“In the event of a conflict between policies specific to a geographic area and other policies, the area-specific policies shall supersede. The County shall ensure that the special features in each community area shown in this General Plan shall be retained or enhanced, and shall consider these features in its review of any proposed development project.”

Yes, it says “…shall consider these features in its review of any proposed development project.” No, not just “discretionary” projects that also require CEQA review, but “ministerial” projects as well (you know, the ones decided behind closed doors, presumably in the “minister’s” office). But wait! When county planning considered an appeal on behalf of the Redwood Valley Market (we already have a store that provides us with a better selection of all the things that Dollar General will offer) backed by 1,700 signatures (a majority RV voters) protesting the green-lighting of a Dollar General store because the decision violates Community Specific Policies for Redwood Valley as stated in the General Plan, they rebutted each of the objections.

Besides, they said, “The Appellant’s letter makes reference to several General Plan policies. These are responded to individually below, but, in general, General Plan policies are only referred to for projects requiring discretionary action.”

Whoa! Now I’m really confused. In the Recommendation to deny the appeal, the Planning Department cites adherence to the General Plan Community Specific Policies as a reason for approving the project. And then, later in the same document, they say that adherence to the General Plan Community Specific Policies is not necessary in a “ministerial” project. Does that mean the Planning Department gets to arbitrarily decide which General Plan policies should be followed and which not to follow? Wait, there’s more! It says in the introduction to the General Plan under the subheading Implementation of this General Plan that, “[t]he county is responsible for ensuring that its Zoning Ordinance and this General Plan are in conformity.” Wow, they’ve got some work to do!

There are many other reasons why we, the residents of Redwood Valley, don’t need or want a Dollar General Store here: cheap liquor outlet open many hours, DG’s extremely poor employment practices, most of their products are toxic, and the list goes on. But, in any case, I think the County Planning Department and the Planning Commission should bone up on the County General Plan and consider that, as planners, they may not be in compliance. I’ve heard it said that both the County Planning Department and the County Planning Commission feel that their hands are tied in this matter. What a shame that tied hands should result in such poor planning.

I hope that when the Board of Supervisors hears the appeal on October 6 that they will have the sense to recognize the good planning requires a duty to follow the vision as laid out in the County General Plan. I urge all readers of this letter to speak out against the proposed project and let your planners know how you feel about the issue.

Alex de Grassi is a Redwood Valley resident.

FEDERAL COMPLAINT Charges Sheriff Freitas & Sonoma County With Beating and Torture of Dozens of Inmates in Sonoma County Jail. Demand Made for Immediate Federal Intervention.

Press kit distributed at Press Conference will include endorsed copies of the filed complaint, detailed, handwritten letters by inmates beaten and tortured in the May 28th incident, and a letter to the Sonoma County District Attorney seeking a criminal investigation into the events. Inmate letters will be read aloud by family members of the victims.

* * *

A federal complaint filed today by the Law Office of Izaak Schwaiger on behalf of two Sonoma County men charges the County of Sonoma, Sheriff Steve Freitas, and other named Deputies with violations of the U.S. Constitution for heinous and inexplicable beatings of more than twenty inmates on May 28, 2015 in the Sonoma County Main Adult Detention Facility in Santa Rosa, CA.

The allegations set forth in the complaint describe in minute specificity the unconscionable events of May 28th, perpetrated by Sonoma County Deputy Sheriffs and ratified by Sonoma County Sheriff Steve Freitas.

“They grabbed Montes and threw him to the ground, handcuffed him, then slammed his head into the floor, striking several rapid and violent blows about his head, shoulders, neck, and back. One deputy kicked Montes in the head. Another deployed a taser against the inmate. Deputies then removed Montes from the unit to administer “yard-counseling,” a practice that is common in the jail and routinely involves the application of physical violence to inmates. Deputies dressed in all black wearing ski masks dragged Montes to the shower, ordered him to strip naked, and told the inmate he was their “bitch.” While naked and defenseless, deputies threw Montes to the ground and began another round of savage beatings…”

“…deputies then began a third round of violent beatings, punching and kicking Lopez and smashing his face into the concrete. As the beatings continued, the lieutenant told Lopez that he was to blame for the violence. Lopez cried that they were treating him worse than an animal. The response from the deputies was swift. Lopez felt an unknown deputy punch the back of his neck and other deputies began punching, kicking, and body-slamming Lopez to the point of involuntary defecation. They placed shackles around Lopez¹s feet and attached them through his handcuffs to a chain secured around his waist. A mask was put over his head and Deputy Medeiros began bashing his face into the floor. The deputies dragged Lopez to the mental health unit and stripped him naked. Covered in his own feces, Lopez pleaded for toilet paper. The deputies ignored his pleas, laughed at him, and locked him naked in isolation covered in his own feces for two days...”

“…Martinez repeatedly called for medical assistance for over an hour with no response. Due to his injuries, he was unable to pick himself up off the floor where the deputies left him. For two more hours he listened to screams of pain and torture from the other inmates as jail staff proceeded down the tier, removing each individual from his cell and subjecting him to similar beatings. Laying on the floor unable to move, Martinez heard his door open again. Hoping that it was the doctor, the inmate looked up just in time to see the SERT team returning to his cell wearing all black, with their nametags removed and ski masks covering their faces. They entered his cell and attacked him with overwhelming force, kicking, punching, and kneeing him and knocking his head into the floor. They called him a “bitch” and “a piece of shit.” They spat on him and threatened to continue the beatings if he were to ever yell out again...”

“While the housing module filled with the screams of other inmates, Daniel Banks, laid face down on his mattress with his hands behind his back. For hours he had listened to the beatings all around him. He hoped that by his show of submission he would avoid being beaten as well, but the deputies merely saved him for last. His cell door opened and four deputies wearing black entered the small cell. All but one was wearing a ski mask. The four deputies jumped on top of him and began kneeing and punching him in the back and wrenching his arms above his head, causing him excruciating pain. The deputies yelled, “stop resisting!” and smashed a pair of handcuffs around his wrists, causing the metal to cut into him and leaving him with bruising, swelling, permanent nerve damage and pain. Though face down, Banks turned to see his tormenters, and observed that one was not wearing a ski mask. He brought his face close to Banks' and yelled, “That¹s right ­ get a good look at me, you punk bitch - This is our house!” and spit in his face. The deputies brought Banks out of his cell, down the stairs, and into the yard where the beating continued...”

Santa Rosa criminal defense and civil rights attorney Izaak Schwaiger received more than twenty letters from inmates following the beatings. A former prosecutor and Marine Corps veteran of the Iraq War, Schwaiger called the systematic assaults on the prisoners “gut-wrenching” and “beyond the pale.” Schwaiger's early investigation reveals that jail staff videotaped a large portion of the beatings, and that those videos are in the possession of the Sonoma County Sheriff. “This is like a horror movie,” said Schwaiger. “And we have reason to believe this was not an isolated incident.”

The complaint seeks unspecified damages and injunctive relief.

THE PLANNING COMMISSION meeting agenda for Thursday, October 15, 2015 is now available on the County website:

http://www.co.mendocino.ca.us/planning/meetings.htm

Please contact the Planning Department at (707) 234-6650 if you have any questions.

Thank you.

Heidi Morrison
Staff Assistant III
County of Mendocino
Planning & Building Services
Main Office: 860 N. Bush St, Ukiah, CA 95482
Coast Office: 120 W. Fir St, Fort Bragg, CA 95437
Phone: (707) 234-6650
Web: www.co.mendocino.ca.us/planning/
morrisonh@co.mendocino.ca.us

THE PUSHKIN SONNETS

Editor,

Making attempts to write Pushkin sonnets. My first wife's second husband gave me a copy of Eugene Onegin in 1970 before they were husband and wife. I read it and wrote nothing but rhymes from then on. But only recently when I reread it did I know what a Pushkin sonnet was. Slow on the uptake my friends tell me. I can do the rhymes but that's about it. Pushkin wrote in iambic tetrameter with an added wrinkle of masculine and feminine endings that mimic the rhyme scheme. Here's the first stanza of Eugene Onegin, a novel of 389 such stanzas.

* * *

My uncle—high ideals inspire him;

but when past joking he fell sick,

he really forced one to admire him—

and never played a shrewder trick.

Let others learn from his example!

But God, how deadly dull to sample

sickroom attendance night and day

and never stir a foot away!

And the sly baseness, fit to throttle,

of entertaining the half-dead:

one smoothes the pillows down in bed,

and glumly serves the medicine bottle,

and sighs, and asks oneself all through:

"When will the devil come for you?"

* * *

Here's my weak imitation...

A gimlet eye

Is boring in

Those walking by

With steely thin

Needles probing seams inside

For satin pockets schemes supplied

With vast and various forms of loot

To pad the visage of this suit.

The gimlet eye looks for a chance

Of getting a tiny piece of that

Which keeps the passerby so fat,

And use the bread to help finance

A trip down south and leave the weather

To unlucky birds of a feather.

* * *

I've been working on this one which started the story Frankie

Elders remember the USA

Where moms stayed home and father’s worked;

When you could let your children play

Out after dark where no one lurked.

These so-called elders have no clue

That that experience was had by few.

Bullshit rises wide and fast

When pundits wash and rinse the past—

Pull on your waders,

It’s getting deep;

The talk is cheap—

Windbag crusaders

Bluster up nostalgic talk

In hopes that they'll turn back the clock.

--John Wester, San Diego

FORT BRAGG & ENDANGERED SPECIES

https://cityfortbragg.legistar.com/View.ashx?M=F&ID=3212198&GUID=057FFCC4-ACAB-4811-865D-5AF17F316A36

FORT BRAGG, AKA DEVELOPMENT DIRECTOR MARIE JONES, RESPONDS:

https://cityfortbragg.legistar.com/View.ashx?M=F&ID=3668080&GUID=6B2EFD98-B34A-4DF1-AE78-DD731B5F7B56

TEEN LEADERSHIP COUNCIL: DISTRICT TEENS SPACE

Saturday, October 10^th 3-4 PM

Teens are invited to an informational meeting about the library’s Teen Leadership Council (TLC). Teen leaders can volunteer & apply for credit toward community service hours while building their résumés.

District Teens Leaders will gain valued skills & experience:

Collaborating to design our new teen space

Planning & organizing events

Recommending books & other materials for library purchase

Developing leadership & conflict-resolution skills

Contributing to the Ukiah community by expanding teen resources

Come and find out if this is the group for you!

Snacks will be provided.

For more information – please contact Melissa at the Ukiah Library: 467-6434 or carrm@co.mendocino.ca.us

INMATES DEFEAT HARVARD DEBATE TEAM

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2015/10/02/1427151/-Harvard-debate-team-loses-to-prison-debate-team?detail=email

CASPAR CREEK COUNTRY FAIR: Please join us at the Caspar Creek Country Fair! Saturday October 17th from 12pm-3pm at the Caspar Community Center. Enjoy live music by Lafe Crick, a puppet show, story telling, kids games, face painting, food, beer and wine, a silent auction and more! $5-$20 entrance fee per family sliding scale. All proceeds benefit Caspar Creek Learning Community.