Mendocino County Today: Thursday, Nov 19, 2015

• Grist Lawsuit
• Panther Volleyball
• Palace Negotiations
• Fire Victims
• Free Throw Contest
• Lesbos Refugees
• Mideastern Aid
• Micro Aggression
• Ukiah Molester
• Catch of the Day
• Storage Unit Scuffle
• Oppressive Mediocrity
• Caretaker's Garden

GRIST CREEK AGGREGATES CLAIMS NEIGHBORS MADE “FALSE REPORTS”

Asphalt Plant Sues Air Quality District

by Jane Futcher

Grist Creek Aggregates, owner of the site producing rubberized asphalt on Covelo Road, about two miles east of Highway 101, has filed a lawsuit against Mendocino Air Quality Management District and Mendocino Air Quality Control Officer Robert Scaglione.

The suit claims that the Air Quality District’s Oct. 22 Notice of Suspension to Grist Creek, if enforced, would damage the company’s reputation as well the reputation of is subcontractor, Mercer-Fraser, by interfering with completion of resurfacing on Highway 101 near Laytonville. Grist Creek has a contract with Caltrans to provide the asphalt for the project. Suspension would also harm the public, according to the lawsuit, if road work cannot be completed before the rainy season.

The Sacramento firm of Harrison, Temblador, Hungerford & Johnson LLP filed the suit Nov. 6 on behalf of Grist Creek. The petition asserts that "neighbors have filed numerous false complaints with various state and local agencies, including the district, in an effort to stop operations.”

Neighbors disagree.

“The idea that the complaints are false is ridiculous,” said Doug Kerseg, who lives just across Outlet Creek from the plant. “Any one who lives over here and smells the nasty results of that operation, as I’m doing right this minute, would know how ridiculous that claim is.”

Scaglione said that the Mendocino Air Quality Management District is currently negotiating with Grist Creek to come up with a settlement agreement.

“The protection of air quality is what I’m after here,” Scaglione said. “I am trying to ensure that Grist Creek follows the rules that every other asphalt plant in the county has to follow, and that they be good neighbors.”

After a brief hiatus, the plant resumed making rubberized asphalt on Wednesday, Nov. 18.

The Grist Creek lawsuit against Air Quality alleges that “perhaps in response to public pressure,” the county has recently taken a series of “illegal, unfounded, misguided, and erratic actions that appear to intended to interfere with [Grist Creek’s] operation of the asphalt plant.”

The suit goes on to say that Air Quality has: “(1) issued two NOVs (notice of violations) without supporting evidence; (2) attempted to shut down the asphalt plant, in the middle of the Caltrans pavement project; (3) asked for further permits in contradiction to prior direction that no further permits were required, and then refused to process Petitioners’s [Grist Creek’s] applications for those additional permits; and (4) asserted, to public media, that Petitioner has committed other violations for which Respondents [Air Quality] have issued no NOV and have never discussed with Petitioner.”

Air Quality fined Grist Creek owner Brian Hurt, who would not comment on his lawsuit, a total of $172,000 for violations, including for: failure to comply with the asphalt plant’s air-permit conditions; violations of multiple Air District Regulations, and a violation of California Health and Safety Code, Section 42402.

Numerous public nuisance complaints, coupled with California Air Resources Board Enforcement Division’s investigation and documentation of over 20 instances of permit violations, resulted in Air Quality issuing multiple violation notices and penalties.

On June 2, Mendocino Air Quality Management District approved Grist Creek’s application to make 500,000 tons per year of asphalt and rubberized asphalt along the banks of Outlet Creek.The facility was constructed and is being operated by Eureka contractor Mercer-Fraser Company. Asphalt production began in early September.

Friends of Outlet Creek would like to see the plant closed down until a full environmental review, which the county did not require, has been completed. To that end, the group has filed three lawsuits — one against the Board of Supervisors, one against the Mendocino Air Quality Management District and one against Grist Creek Aggregates. The group and its attorney have long argued that such a large industrial plant on the flood plain of Outlet Creek, a major Eel River tributary, requires intensive environmental study.

In March, over the protests of neighbors and Friends of Outlet Creek, the Mendocino Board of Supervisors voted 5-0 to fast track the plant. The board subsequently rescinded its decision and handed responsibility for permitting to the county’s Air Quality Management District.

Friends of Outlet Creek members say they’re disheartened by Grist Creek’s lawsuit against the county. They worry about finding the money to fight on against Grist Creek and the deep pockets of its much larger subcontractor, Mercer-Fraser.

“The legal process takes a great deal of time and produces signifiant frustration to those of thus who have to live with all of that delay,” said Kerseg. “Now Grist Creek has received a new permit which permits the rubberized asphalt that they’ve been producing all this time. I don’t see any way to stop them from completing their Caltrans job.”

Sue Crews, who lives close to the plant, said the fumes sometimes makes the neighborhood “uninhabitable.”

“It’s sad we have to pollute people to have smooth roads,” Crews said.

For information on Friends of Outlet Creek, contact Glen Colwell of Friends of Outlet Creek at glencolwell.paleographics@juno.com or Lyn Talkovsky at lyn@twinberry.net.

(Jane Futcher lives near Grist Creek Aggregates and is active in Friends of Outlet Creek.)

THE IMPRESSIVE AV HIGH PANTHER GIRLS VOLLEYBALL TEAM easily defeated St. Bernard’s Catholic high school out of Eureka Wednesday night with a quick and lopsided three-match to zero victory lead by the Panther’s power-spiker Alex Farber. Second seeded AV now moves to the league championship match against top seed SF Waldorf in San Francisco on Saturday.

HOTEL PERPETUAL NEGOTIATE. The fate of the Palace Hotel is still up in the air. A teleconference was held Monday between the visiting Judge and the attorneys for the City of Ukiah and the building owner, Eladia Laines. At issue is whether the building should be taken from Laines and put into receivership after years of wrangling over the building’s condition, which the city calls a nuisance. The judge says they should all consider mediation and had set Monday’s phone conference to discuss that, but nothing was decided. The Ukiah Daily Journal reports another teleconference was set for later this week. The judge also suggested since work’s been done to improve the building in the years since their legal complaint started, the City might want to amend their expectations if they want to prove the building really is a nuisance.

LAKE COUNTY FIRE VICTIMS apply for help by next Monday (23 November) and is also the last day to visit the Disaster Recovery Centers. There are two in Lake County: one in Clearlake at 14860 Olympic Drive and the other in Middletown at 21256 Washington Street. After Monday the Clearlake site will close and the Middletown site will transition to an SBA Disaster Loan Outreach Center. You can also register for FEMA assistance online at the website www.DisasterAssistance.gov or by calling 800-621-3362

THE ELKS NATIONAL HOOP SHOOT FREE THROW CONTEST will be held on Saturday, 11/21/15 at the Deep Valley Christian School on Uva Drive in Redwood Valley beginning at 10:00 am. This is a free throw contest for boys and girls ages 8-13. Winners of the local contest will move on to the District Contest in January and compete for the opportunity to move on to State, Regional and National Contests. For more information, contact Sandi Brown at 485-7517.

THANK YOU FROM THE DUTCH & THE REFUGEES

Dear Editor,

Thank you to all of you who came to either to The Philo Grange or the Elk Community Center this past weekend, to join us for the Dutch film (and film maker) “The Growing Garden” and the slideshow/talk about the Syrian refugee crisis. This was a fundraiser. Thanks to each of you who contributed. This money will go straight to food, water, medical supplies, diapers, and now hypothermia blankets, as the refugees are continuing to cross the 7 km strait between Turkey and Lesbos, Greece in perilous waters.

An excerpt from a poem called “Home” by Somali-British writer Warren Shere says it all:

No one leaves home

Unless home is the mouth of a shark.

You only run for the border

When you see the whole city

Running as well.

You have to understand

That no one puts

their children on a boat

Unless the water is safer

Than the land.

* * *

Thank you to those who have contributed. Thank you to all of the people who are volunteering their time on this Greek Island of Lesbos; meeting those children and their families, as they come in the boats, with food, blankets, and such kindness (At this time 7,000 people are landing every day). If you would still like to donate (any amount is good) go to website: timothyjaysmith.com

and there are a few options of ways to donate.

Or, send a check to me: Kira Brennan PO box 104 Elk, Ca. 95432

Call or email for info: kibrenn@yahoo.com phone:877-3479.

This Money goes directly to volunteer organizer and accountant Tim Smith, and will be used specifically for food, water, etc. as the refugees come in.

Kira Brennan

Philo

MARSHALL PLAN FOR MIDEAST

Friends,

So-called "conservatives" in the West are demanding that "Syria be bombed back into the Stone Age." But most of the Mideast is already in the Stone Age.

Instead, I propose a United Nations-sponsored "Marshall Plan" for Mideastern countries, similar to the one conceived by US Gen. George Marshall to help Europe including West Germany recover from the devastation of WW II AND to counteract the communism of the USSR.

The wealthy nations, especially the USA, Russia and Saudi Arabia, should contribute the most money and resources especially since they are the ones profiting most from the misfortune of the people of the Mideast. They are also the ones manipulating the testosterone-fueled young Muslims determined to win the Olympics of death and destruction. (Hey, what else have these youths to look forward to beside martyrdom?)

We all know war has ALWAYS been good business for a fortunate few. But isn't it about time to give peace a chance on Wall Street and other centers of global finance? The alternative is to watch the proliferation of billionaires in the world while the rest of us live in fear. And worry, my friends, is a PRAYER for something we DON'T want.

Tom Cahill

Malay, France (formerly of Fort Bragg)

WHAT KINDA NAME IS THAT? WHERE YA FROM?

On Line Comment Of The Day

The ninny-ism that we see on campus is maladaptive. Like all mal-adaptations it is doomed to extinction.

I saw a college prof explain “micro-aggression” to an interviewer. The prof has Asiatic features and he said that he’s been asked where he’s from. So he responds, he tells the questioner the American city of his birth. But the questioner asks yeah but where is the prof REALLY from?

This folks, according to the learned professor, is the devastating offense of “micro-aggression”. It leaves the – cough – “victim” outraged and psychologically burned.

See, simple curiosity about someone’s overseas ancestral origin is taken to be a racial attack, demeaning and setting the victim apart and segregated as not a REAL American.

Have to admit, I don’t really get this AT ALL. People hear my surname and ask what “nationality” is it. I tell them. Simple enough question. I’ve asked the same question of others, I’ve asked people with foreign accents or obviously foreign origins where they’re from.

In my experience people take kindly to curiosity about themselves. NEVER in my experience has a responder taken offense, in fact, what often follows is a conversation about the person’s life and the situation in their “old” country. Sometimes the “old” country is already a couple generations in the past and there’s not a lot to talk about but, no matter, it’s how you often make a personal connection.

The student elite are told at college that THEY are the future leaders. Lord help us, how do we trust such people in ANY capacity, even the most menial, never-mind leadership, when they have such a head full of nonsense and who see fit to make problematic such everyday, friendly interaction? America is supposedly a country of immigrants but one where the topic of foreign origins is not for civilized company.

The world is full of really vile people, who do really vile things, things that need to be dealt with. How will these cope-less, college ninnies er, cope, if they take simple inquisitiveness as “aggression.”

ON THE OTHER HAND....

I’ve experienced deep resentment from immigrants when asking them about where they’re from. They want to be seen as Americans, as American as anyone else – even if they’re not. Particularly if they’re not. The kind of innocuous conversations you’ve had are possible with European immigrants who came here legally and who are naturally going to fit into a European America.

YET ANOTHER MENDO PERV

On November 16th, at 8:16 AM, A Mendocino County Sheriff's Deputy took a report from a family that their 11 year old daughter had possibly been molested by 72 year old Doran Wallace Lincoln, of Ukiah. Detectives from the Mendocino County Sheriff's Office became involved after the initial report was taken and conducted an investigation. During the investigation, it was learned that Lincoln, a close family friend of the victim, had molested her multiple times from September to November of 2015. Following the investigation, Lincoln was arrested without incident at his residence and subsequently booked in the Mendocino County Jail for one count of 288(b)(1) PC [ Committing Lewd and Lascivious acts on a child under 14 years of age by means of fear or force] and two counts of 288(a) PC, [Committing lewd and lascivious acts on a child under 14 years of age]. A Mendocino County Superior Court Judge granted a bail enhancement and Lincoln's bail is set at $250,000. If anyone has any information about this offense or any additional unreported offenses, please contact the Mendocino County Sheriff's Office Investigations Bureau or call the Mendocino County Sheriff's Office Tip Line at (707)234-2100 or go to crimetip@Mendocinosheriff.com

CATCH OF THE DAY, November 18, 2015

KIRK ASHLEY, San Francisco/Ukiah. Pot cultivation, processing, possession for sale.

WILLIAM BOYCE, Ukiah. Pot sale-transport-furnish, conspiracy, county parole violation, probation revocation.

WILLIAM BRANDT, Gualala/Point Arena. Unahthorized use of someone else’s credit card.

MEGEN BYNUM, Willits. Probation revocation.

JOSEPH CLANTON, Ukiah. Failure to appear.

JASON DUNN, Ukiah. Pot cultivation, processing, possession for sale, probation revocation.

SHARREEN FLORA, Ukiah. Vehicle theft, receipt of stolen property, suspended license, evasion.

MANUEL FREASE, Ukiah. Possession of meth for sale, meth sale, paraphernalia, under influence.

WILLIAM JACKSON IV, San Mateo/Ukiah. Probation revocation.

JASON KULL, Ukiah. Pot cultivation, processing, possession for sale.

BRANDON LANGENDERFER, Laytonville. Pot sale-transport-furnish, conspiracy, probation revocation.

WILLIAM LASKEY, Santa Cruz/Ukiah. Failure to appear.

DORAN LINCOLN, Ukiah. Lewd/lascivious acts upon child under 14, commission by force, violence, duress, menace or fear on child.

RICHARD MORRISON, Willits. Probation revocation.

DANIEL NOORDA, Ukiah. Pot cultivation, processing, possession for sale, honey oil production.

RACHEL PIERCE, Ukiah. Drunk in public.

JONAH ROSS, Paonia, California/Redwood Valley. Court order violation, probation revocation.

ZACHARIA ROZEK, Fort Bragg. Probation revocation.

HUMBERTO VILLAPANDO-SANCHEZ, Ukiah. Pot cultivation, processing, possession for sale, meth possession for sale.

FROM THE WEIRD FILE:

http://www.sfgate.com/weird/article/Police-called-after-argument-over-sex-position-6639191.php

NEWS ABOUT KZYX

by Marco McClean

Here's a video that explains why it's important to talk about how much money everyone is paid, no matter where you work: http://tinyurl.com/TellYourPay

I was just thinking about how MCPB pays just Mary Aigner twice the money that it pays for all the NPR shows and all the local shows put together. And for what? The NPR and other syndicated shows play themselves (and often repeat over and over, week after week), and the local airpeople certainly play themselves. What exactly is Mary doing for the station that makes her worth half the entire yearly pot of membership dues, where all the local airpeople who are actually doing what the station is there for in the first place, producing and airing their shows -- under Mary's thumb, yet -- get paid nothing at all, zero percent of even the minimum legal hourly rate, for their skill and talent and dedication and preparation, and on top of being paid zero per hour, they don't even get zero per hour for the legal-minimum four hour day.

And MCPB is advertising for a new general manager who will be paid $5,000 A MONTH to do a short afternoon's paperwork per week. That's about five hundred dollars per hour. What I get from the advertisement is that the main responsibility of the general manager they're looking for is to somehow meditate enough money into being for the station to coast along in its current state of expensive, oppressive mediocrity. (Background in nonprofit fundraising, check. Importance placed on knowledge of and accomplishments and innovations in media in general and creative educational radio in particular, not so much.)

Radio is cheaper and easier to do than any other business besides a church. Once the license is acquired and the big-ticket equipment is paid for -- and for KZYX this was covered a quarter-century ago -- it costs little more to operate and maintain radio as to heat and light the space you do it in. And, just as with a church or charity, paying a few people at the very top very well to fake the need for a mysteriously huge cash flow is wrong. KZYX somehow blew through $575,000 last year alone, about a third of that being tax derived in the form of the CPB grant. That makes it three times as wrong. Think of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting grant as an annual bailout without which KZYX would have sunk below the waves every year of its existence; it is managed that badly compared to other little radio stations. And it's managed that badly by people who brag on their websites and Facebook pages and resumes that they've done a great job by edging the books slightly into the black, where other little stations without the benefit of any $190,000-a-year bailout at all have been all along.

With proper management paid by the hour for hours actually worked, the airpeople can be paid. They should be paid. The MCPB directors who perpetuate the situation where the airpeople are not paid are bad both in the sense of being bad people and being incompetent, and they should feel bad. Let's talk about that on the air, on KZYX. Let's get the KZYX so-called news department involved, because that's news.

Here's something like what I have in mind. It's a news article about a similar situation. http://tinyurl.com/ThisIsLikeThat

Of course something just like that should be done regarding Fort Bragg City Hall, and Ukiah, and the County Schools racket, and so on, and to some extent the Anderson Valley Advertiser admirably takes on that sort of thing. It's news when any supposedly public organization is spending so much more money on top people's salaries and perks and mystery expenses than on what the organization pretends it's there to do. Here's a model piece of work for the KZYX news department to look at -- an article about charities that behave the way KZYX management does: http://tinyurl.com/Just25OfThem

p.s. I just read email from John Sakowicz to another boardmember, that he copied to me to read because he mentioned me. Just this part of it struck me as being exactly true, exactly as written, and I think it's important for dues-paying station members (part owners) and the general public (paying with our taxes whether we like it or not) to know:

"The truth of the matter is that Mary Aigner is the shot caller around here. She keeps the station in Philo, where she lives, and has defeated the move to Ukiah. She determines programming. She censors the content of shows by imposing policies like "no safe harbor". She purges her critics who have shows, me among them. She thwarts our 2,100 members from communicating with one another and organizing. She disparages, insults, and marginalizes those members who are reform-minded. She influences Board elections. She operates in secret. She is passive-aggressive. She is snarky. And when Aigner is called out by the likes of me, Marco McClean, Norman De Vall, Dennis O'Brien, Mary Massey, Christina Aanestad, KC Meadows, Els Cooperrider, Doug McKenty, and many others, she puts on this act -- "Poor me. Help. I'm just a working woman. I'm just a single mother who never got child support. Help. Save me from these bad people." -- and the Board dutifully comes to her rescue."

Marco McClean

memo@mcn.org

http://MemoOfTheAir.wordpress.com

GET YOUR SHAKRAS CHAKRAS ALIGNED, BOYS

I am thrilled to announce, and you will be thrilled to hear, that Diana is joining us at the Caretaker's Garden and will be offering accupuncture, massage, and much more! Please contact her directly for an appointment.

Wendy Read, Boonville

Acupuncture, Massage, Herbs and Astrology at Caretaker's Garden!

Diana Graue, L.Ac is taking appointments on Thursdays at Caretaker's Garden. She practices Acupuncture, Massage, Chinese Herbal Medicine and Chinese Polestar Astrology. She accepts insurance (for Acupuncture), please make an inquiry prior to your appointment to see what your coverage is.

Thanks to those of you who tuned in for Holistic Health Perspectives on Tuesday 11/17. For those who missed it, check the HHP Facebook page or http://www.kzyx.org

Diana came to practice Chinese Medicine through a fascination with nature, the body, and empathy. She has 10 years of experience in the healing arts and has enjoyed being able to incorporate all the branches of Chinese Medicine: diet, massage, herbs, acupuncture, astrology and geomancy and movement arts. In addition to appointments at the Garden, Diana plans to offer community-style acupuncture and acupuncture for those with Medi-Cal coverage in the very near future. Stay in touch for updates!

Connect with Diana for questions or to book appointments through her website: www.dianaglac.com

Or by phone:

707-272-8332 Diana Graue is a Licensed Acupuncturist, Herbalist and Astrologer in Anderson Valley.

Her mailing address is:

Diana Graue, Licensed Acupuncturist
1123 S Cloverdale Blvd
Suite E185
Cloverdale, CA 95425