Mendocino County Today(s): Dec 1 & 2, 2015

• Bridge Closures
• Deceased Diver
• Bistro Contest
• Ukiah Water
• Ortweins
• Storytelling
• PD Headline
• Project Sanctuary
• Oklahoma Lane
• Fun-iture
• Painting Class
• Cold Warrior
• Dorothea
• Local Arts
• Piano Concert
• Elk
• Website Switcharoo
• Remembering Raquel
• Systems Failing
• Rocky Creed
• Marijuana Talk
• Redwood Classic
• Unforgiving Sea
• Deadheading
• Healing Music
• Catch of the Days
• Library Events
• Feliz Navidad
• KZYX
• Survivor
• Tiny Dancer

BEGINNING WEDNESDAY, December 2, traffic at the Navarro River Bridge on Route 1 in Mendocino County will experience intermittent full closures with delays of up to 30 minutes each. A contractor will be removing logs from a logjam to the east of the bridge. The work is anticipated to be completed by Friday.

Phil Frisbie, Jr.
Public Information Officer for Lake and Mendocino Counties, Web Content Administrator
Caltrans District 1
707-441-4678

MISSING PERSON WITH SEARCH AND RESCUE OPERATION. 45000 BLOCK LIGHTHOUSE RD., POINT ARENA. 11-28-2015 Time: 7:12 PM. Name: Eric Stine, Age: 58. City/State: Vallejo, CA

On 11-28-2015 at approximately 7:12 PM, Mendocino County Sheriff’s Deputies were summoned to the area of the 45000 block of Light House Road, Point Arena for a report of a missing diver. Representatives from the United States Coast Guard (Noyo Harbor Station), the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, California State Parks, and Fire personal from the Redwood Coast Volunteer Fire Protection District were requested to respond and assist in the search. Mendocino County Sheriff’s Deputies arrived on scene and learned that two men from Vallejo had entered the ocean in the area of the Point Arena Lighthouse at around 2:45 PM to dive for abalone. The reporting party said he finished diving first and noticed it was starting to get dark and he had not heard from his friend who was still in the water. The reporting person said the missing diver was last seen in a cove about 300 yards north of the Point Arena Light House. The reporting party was unable to locate his friend and called 9-1-1 for help. Helicopters, boats, and personnel on land were utilized to search the area. The search continued into the night but the missing diver could not be found.

On 11-29-2015 the Mendocino County Sheriff Volunteer Search and Rescue Team continued the search for the missing diver. At about 10:05 AM the missing diver was located, deceased, by members of the Mendocino County volunteer Search and Rescue Team approximately one-quarter mile north of the Point Arena Lighthouse in the surf at the Manchester State Beach. The decedent’s name is being withheld pending Next of Kin notification.

UPDATE: The decedent has been identified as Eric Stine, age 58, of Vallejo. An autopsy has been scheduled to determine the cause of death.

FORT BRAGG BISTRO STAYS WITH CURRENT OWNERS.

But bar will close.

Owners of beloved local eatery, who launched an essay contest last summer and vowed to give the business to the winner, have canceled the contest to keep running the restaurant, but will shutter the bar downstairs.

http://www.pressdemocrat.com/news/4847632-181/owners-will-keep-ft-braggs

UKIAH has met state mandates for water conservation, but just barely. The Daily Journal reports that Public Works Director Tim Eriksen says the county seat made it over the summer because people didn’t use their sprinklers, but the winter months tend to be more profligate. Eriksen told the city council saving 20 percent of each month compared to 2013 should "be interesting." Inland plumbers seem uninterested in installing low flow commodes, although anyone with toilets made before 1992 could be eligible for the low flows.

Kim Ortwein, the Ukiah woman (with kid and with husband) whose children have been appropriated by Mendocino County.

https://www.theava.com/archives/49514#6

"MADAME, all stories, if continued far enough, end in death, and he is no true-story teller who would keep that from you."

— Ernest Hemmingway, Death In The Afternoon

HEADLINE OF THE DAY, Santa Rosa Press Democrat: “The 5 Best Things About Being a Morning Person.”

PROJECT SANCTUARY is accepting volunteer applications for its annual 'certified domestic violence and sexual assault counselor training'. Bilingual applicants are encouraged. Applications are available on-line at www.projectsanctuary.org/volunteer or call 707-961-1507 for more information.

The mission of Project Sanctuary is to prevent domestic violence and sexual assault in Mendocino County through advocacy, crisis response, community collaboration, education, and shelter.

We are currently accepting volunteer applications for our annual 'certified domestic violence and sexual assault counselor training'. Once certified, volunteers will take crisis calls and assist with community outreach. A one year commitment is required. Training consists of one four-hour session per week that begins in early February and lasts until late May. Bilingual applicants are encouraged. Applications are available on-line at www.projectsanctuary.org/volunteer or call Luz at 707-961-1507 for more information.

JUST ANOTHER FORT BRAGG LOVE STORY

ON NOVEMBER 20, 2015 at about 11:50 AM Mendocino County Sheriff's Deputies responded to a reported domestic violence incident at 17950 Oklahoma Lane, Fort Bragg. Upon arrival, Deputies learned that a 40 year old female, who was in a dating relationship and recently cohabitated with Gerard Larvie, 31, of Fort Bragg engaged in a verbal argument, regarding her being pregnant. The argument escalated and Larvie punched the female in the face causing injury to her right eye. Deputies observed a visible injury to her right eye. There was a small laceration above the eye and it was swollen and slightly purplish in color. Deputies also learned that there was a domestic violence order keeping Larvie away from the female victim. Deputies subsequently contacted Larvie in the area of George's Lane and Ellison Way in Fort Bragg, California. Larvie was arrested for felony domestic violence battery and violation of a domestic violence order. Larvie was determined to be on Mendocino County Court Probation and was also arrested for violating the terms of his probation. Larvie was booked into the Mendocino County Jail for Infliction of injury to a spouse or cohabitant and Violation of a Domestic Violence Order. He was to be held in lieu of $30,000 bail.

A FORT BRAGG WOMAN and a resident of the street, comments to MSP: "I live out Oklahoma Lane. It's so sad what it has turned into out here. Drugs, fights, stealing. I can't even let my kids walk home from the bus or leave my car unlocked. It's absolutely out of control out here...the worst part is the property all this is happening on is owned by the bank and there are at least 20 meth users squatting on it and NO ONE is doing anything to get them out of there. The cops are there at least 5 out of 7 days a week. Everyone has cameras now.... we even have to drive around a lady who lays in the middle of the road...not a good place to live anymore."

FOLKART FANTASY FURNITURE (Nancy MacLeod & William Allen, of Philo) will once again be offering their unique creations at the annual Unity Club Holiday Bazaar, this Saturday, Dec. 5th, at the Boonville Fairgrounds. Fun footstools from recycled butcher block, Nancy's lovely handmade backpack purses, Mini-paintings on redwood slash, special prices on some of our most popular tall cabinets, and more! We hope to see you there!

CAPTURING LIGHT AND ATMOSPHERE IN PASTELS

http://www.mendocinoartcenter.org/Summer14/Massey.html

COLD WAR MEMORIES

(On-line Comment of the Day)

What a small world it really is. I, too, spent three years at the Air Farce base up on the hill. September 1961 through September 1964.

My AFSC was 32251A which means I worked on the F-106 interceptors MA-1 electronic system. I froze my ass off in the wintertime as the northwest winds whipped across the flight line. I used to think of my counterpart in bases across USSR and felt sorry for those poor bastards freezing their asses off!

Were you in during the Cuban missile crisis? I got sent down to Volk field near Wisconsin Dells for two weeks since an attack by USSR seemed all too real and our 11th FIS planes were dispersed to several alternate air fields.

I had severe problems and pain with my hands from the terrible cold (smoking Lucky Strikes probably didn’t help with blood circulation) and finally got an assignment the last winter to debrief the pilots after their sorties and to analyze the radar scope films and WSEM analog/digital tapes to determine if they might or might not have hit their simulated targets. That’s when I learned to present unpleasant news diplomatically.

There was the old joke about the Finlander who got on the bus and asked “Does this bus go DUL-LUTH” and the driver said “No, it goes beep-beep”. What a groaner, huh.

THE ORIGINAL PROVOCATION (AVA, November 4, 2015)

DOROTHEA DORMAN snagged me this morning as I delivered papers to the Ukiah Co-op. Some people would be tempted to substitute a livelier verb for “snagged,” maybe accosted or ambushed. Me? I'm fond of the old girl, a pioneer hippie and long-time resident of the deep hills of West Redwood Valley at Greenfield Ranch. But she can be tedious, as can we all. When I encountered her, Dorothea immediately waved a handful of crank diet lit at me and declared by way of greeting, “Your diet is totally wrong!” (If I had a nickel for every diet lecture I've gotten from fagged out old hippies who can barely drag themselves across the room…) "Nothing wrong with red meat, whiskey and chocolate," I replied. "It will kill you," Dorothea said. "Life kills us all," I said, going deep. The grande dame of organic is not a great one for irony. Behind us a tweeker was striding up and down Gobbi yelling at no one in particular. People walked past him as if he weren't there. He needed diet advice a lot more than I did. Dorothea rambled on. She said she'd found a new diet that had turned three of her gray hairs black. "Congratulations," I said. "And you're totally wrong about vaccination," she said. "I've been totally wrong about a lot of things, Dorothea, but I'll tell you, and only you, the secret of my longevity. Ready?” "You really should try this diet," she said, again brandishing the latest in diet advice. "Booze and meat will kill you." "Dorothea," I said, "If you keep a song in your heart, and a good word for everyone ready on your lips, no matter what you eat you'll go straight to gluten-free heaven.”

* * *

TO BE CONTINUED. AND CONTINUED. AND CONTINUED…

Dear Bruce,

It was wicked and mean-spirited of you to write that smear piece about me. Fact checking, Bruce.   You described me as an original California hippie. The fact is I never quite attained hippiedom, though there are many aspects of hippie culture I embraced – the back to the land ideas, growing home grown fresh fruit and vegetables, respect for and caring for nature and the California forests and wildlands. I was already an environmentalist when I arrived in California, having witnessed my favorite woods destroyed, bulldozed to the ground, the sweet black soil stripped away to reveal the yellow clay in which very little would grow. I believe this woods was the last pocket of original forest left in New York City in an outlying area of Queens borough, where immensely tall ivory white and pale pink flowering dogwoods flourished, a bog where wild geraniums, wind anemones and jack-in-the pulpits grew, where I sighted my first scarlet tananger, first Baltimore oriole. In February I was already examining the north sides of the trees for greening moss announcing the arrival of near spring.

Back to my arrival in San Francisco to begin a new job with Gordon Ashby Design as the editor of the 44-screen extravaganza for the Texas Pavillion of Hemisfair. It was a daunting experience. I felt like the commoner girl in the fairy tale who was given three impossible tasks to perform when the animals and birds helped her to complete the impossible. Yet the show, despite the Rube Goldberg editing equipment, 2 screens of the Movieola running in sync, a 3rd screen on a variable speed motor on catch-up or running ahead. Yet the final version of the show when previewed in a special effects Hollywood studio went up perfect to the frame, thanks to the teamwork of Gordon Ashby Design.

Unheard of in the film industry for a first screening to be perfect.

To be continued.

Sincerely,

Dorotheya M Dorman, Redwood Valley

ED REPLY: I, I, I… but, but, but Dorothea, I thought… please let me explain, I, I, I… You're not listening, Dorothea. I, I, well, but, I… Can I get a word in here? I, I, I… I was trying to apologize but, but, but… You wouldn't give me… any… room so I, I… gave up.

CELEBRATE THE HOLIDAYS!

SUPPORT LOCAL ARTISTS, ARTISANS & AUTHORS

At the start of this year's holiday season, Visit Mendocino County wishes you and your families a happy and safe celebration.

We encourage you to stop by the Visit Mendocino County Marketplace at 345 N. Franklin, Fort Bragg for a First Friday reception on Friday, December 4  from 5:00 pm to 8:00 pm. We will be serving light bites, truffles, and pouring port from Brutocao Cellars. This is also a great opportunity to meet Joe Webb, VMC's Interim General Manager. Joe will be on hand to talk with you about how VMC can work with your business in 2016 and beyond.

Local artists, artisans, and authors will be showcasing their wares throughout December. And there's no better way to say "Happy Holidays" than with a handmade, locally produced gift by one of the many talented people in the county.

The Marketplace features artwork by Mendocino County artists Sev Ickes, Dayle Doroshow, Marcia Plancon, Tom McFadden and many others. Also, a wide array of locally made products by Potter Valley Soapworks, Mendocino Mustard, Albion Soaps and Mendocino Tea Companys, as well as an array of books by Mendocino County authors.

We look forward to seeing you this holiday season!

24TH ANNUAL PROFESSIONAL PIANIST CONCERT JAN 9 & 10

On Saturday, January 9th at 7 p.m and Sunday, January 10 at 2 p.m., the 24th annual Professional Pianist Concert will be held at the Mendocino College Center Theatre. Featured performers are Spencer Brewer, Elena Casanova, Tom Ganoung, Chris James, Elizabeth MacDougall, Ed Reinhart and "The Queen of Boogie Woogie" Wendy DeWitt. Tickets will be on sale at Mendocino Book Co. and dig Music! in Ukiah, Mazahar in Willits and Watershed Books in Lakeport. Tickets are $15 general admission and $25 "I Wanna See the Hands" limited seating. For more information call (707) 707-391-8374. This concert features all seven pianists on stage in a living room environment throughout the concert trading stories and songs with two pianos on stage to accommodate impromptu collaborations. This popular event is an annual sellout because of the diversity and quality of all the diverse music and humor that takes place throughout the evening. The musical selections can range from classical to jazz, boogie woogie to Cuban and.....who knows till that evening! The Ukiah concert benefits the Ukiah Educational Foundation and the Allegro Scholarship Program. Sponsors are Sparetime Supply, Ken Fowler Auto, Savings Bank of Mendocino, Ukiah Civic Light Opera, Willits Furniture Center, Waterman Plants, K-WINE/MAX, KOZT-The Coast and KZYX/Z. There will be autographed CD's by the artists for sale in lobby. Refreshments will be provided by Ukiah Civic Light Opera.

ANOTHER BUSY DAY IN ELK… (Courtesy, Mendocino Sports Plus)

MEANWHILE, ON THE GRASSY KNOLL

AND MALAY, FRANCE, FORMERLY OF FORT BRAGG

Friends,

Would any of you know how to remove a website from Google or Yahoo and replace it with a bogus one?

This is exactly what's happened to the website of an organization I belong to called "Oswald Innocence Campaign." Check out the link at the very bottom of this message.

I'm barely computer literate so correct me if I'm wrong. It would take a great deal of computer skill to hack into a legitimate website, remove it, and replace it with a bogus one. And who might have the motive, means and opportunity to sabotage a website dedicated to finding and exposing the genuine assassins of Pres. John Kennedy?

Second question--Am I being grandiose or just plain silly to think it might be the CIA's Department of Disinformation--the protectors of the status quo of the USA?

This crime-in-progress reminds me of what Mahatma Gandhi once said--"First they ignore you, then they ridicule you, then they fight you, then you win."

Tom Cahill

Malay, France

ON LINE COMMENT OF THE DAY

Raquel Welch. When she visited the troops in Vietnam in 1968, her name was virtually synonymous with international sex symbol. She was 28 years old. Nearly a half century later, at 75 years of age (born Sep 5, 1940) the woman is still drop-dead gorgeous. Google her images if you doubt me. While not as widely known in the general culture today as she was back then, no soldier from ’68 has forgotten her, not to mention any other red-blooded American male alive during that era. Like a ’68 GTO or Corvette, this is one gal who hasn’t been much of a “depreciating asset in terms of beauty.” Do I hear a second to my nomination?

THE STORY LINE DISSOLVES

by James Kunstler

Sometimes societies just go crazy. Japan, 1931, Germany, 1933. China, 1966. Spain 1483, France, 1793, Russia, 1917, Cambodia, 1975, Iran, 1979, Rwanda, 1994, Congo, 1996, to name some. By “crazy” I mean a time when anything goes, especially mass killing. The wheels came off the USA in 1861, and though the organized slaughter developed an overlay of romantic historical mythos — especially after Ken Burns converted it into a TV show — the civilized world to that time had hardly ever seen such an epic orgy of death-dealing.

I doubt that I’m I alone in worrying that America today is losing its collective mind. Our official relations with other countries seem perfectly designed to provoke chaos. The universities have melted into toxic sumps beyond even anti-intellectualism to a realm of hallucination. Demented gunmen mow down total strangers weekly in what looks like a growing competition to end their miserable lives with the highest victim score. The financial engineers have done everything possible to pervert and undermine the operations of markets. The political parties are committing suicide by cluelessness and corruption.

There is no narrative for our behavior toward Russia that makes sense anymore. Our campaign to destabilize Ukraine worked out nicely, didn’t it? And then we acted surprised when Russia reclaimed the traditionally Russian territory of Crimea, with its crucial warm-water naval ports. Who woulda thought? Then we attempted to antagonize them further with economic sanctions. The net effect is that Vladimir Putin ended up looking more rational and sane than any leader in the NATO coalition.

Lately, Russia has filled the vacuum of competence in Syria, cleaning up a mess that America left with its two-decade-long crusade to leave a train of broken governments everywhere in the region. A few weeks back, Mr. Putin made the point before the UN General Assembly that wrecking every national institution in sight among weak and unstable nations was probably not a recipe for world peace. President Obama never did formulate a coherent comeback to that. It’s a little terrifying to realize that the leader of our former arch-adversary is the only figure onstage who can come up with a credible story about what needs to happen there. And his restraint this week following what may have been a US-assisted shoot-down of a Russian bomber by idiots in Turkey is really estimable. It all looks like a feckless slide provoked by our side into World War III, and for what? To make the world safe for the Kardashians?

The uproars on campus before Thanksgiving are more a reflection on the astounding cowardice of college presidents than the foolishness of young minds — which, being not fully formed, are easily susceptible to idealist figments. The adults in charge ought to know better. Princeton President Christopher Eisgruber actually entertained the “demand” to erase Woodrow Wilson’s presence on campus for being an arch-segregationist by a black “social justice league” that at the very same time demanded separate (i.e. segregated) social space for blacks only. How did he reconcile these pleadings in his own mind, I wonder.

President Biddy Martin of Amherst pandered to students protesting against free speech, saying:

“Over the course of several days, a significant number of students have spoken eloquently and movingly about their experiences of racism and prejudice on and off campus. The depth and intensity of their pain and exhaustion are evident. That pain is real. Their expressions of loneliness and sense of invisibility are heartrending. No attempt to minimize or trivialize those feelings will be convincing to those of us who have listened. It is good that our students have seized this opportunity to speak, rather than further internalizing the isolation and lack of caring they have described.”

Bottom line: hurt feelings supposedly cancel free speech. No, that’s exactly the opposite of the meaning of the First Amendment. How can a college president fail to understand that and fail to defend the campus against that sort of Jacobin despotism? The answer is they are hostage to dogmas cooked up by race-and-identity careerists who don’t really care to make distinctions between what is true and what is not true — and that is now the official tone of higher education in America. It’s a short hop from there to not knowing the difference between what is real and what is unreal.

The phenomenon of demented lone gunmen killing strangers and innocents will morph into civil insurrection, especially as the major political parties break apart and the loosed factions set out to settle their old scores by whatever means they can. History knows that violence is infectious and that social inhibitions melt away when the conditions are ripe. Groups give themselves permission to act outside the bounds of normal behavior, and all of a sudden atrocity is the order of the day.

Both Trump and Hillary have the mojo to destroy their respective parties and I think the probability is that they will. Unfortunately, we don’t live under a parliamentary system that recognizes smaller factions as legitimate parties, so we are sure to live through an era of political disorder. What emerges from that could be a very severe polity, since it will be based on the wish to restore order at all costs.

It is likely to get the shove it needs from the implosion of the financial system, which is now running on the fumes of dwindling credit. A false capitalism reigns based on false capital — notional wealth where there is really no wealth; value where there is no value. Moments like this in history beat a path straight to currency collapse, and that will open the door to a greater collapse of all our familiar arrangements.

Surely there is some kind of massive unseen sensory organ in societies that receives the signal that systems are failing. And surely it spooks the individuals who make up those societies so badly that they will believe anything and do anything.

(James Kunstler’s third World Made By Hand novel is available! The Fourth and final — The Harrows of Spring — is complete
 and in production for May 2016 publication.)

HOW CREED SAVES ROCKY FROM HIMSELF

by Dave Zirin

I had two gnawing fears when “The Latest Rocky Film” (otherwise known as Creed) hit the theaters. These anxieties were rooted in knowing only the basic premise: Sylvester Stallone’s Rocky Balboa trains the late Apollo Creed’s troubled son, Adonis “Donnie” Johnson, played by Michael B. Jordan.

My first and greatest fear was that it would be a “white savior” film: Think Different Strokes with more punching. Rocky would rescue Adonis and be the great white father the troubled but gifted young black man always needed yet never had. In other words, we would see Michael B. Jordan reprising his role as Vince Howard in television’s Friday Night Lights, with Sylvester Stallone playing the role of Coach Taylor. That’s not necessarily a bad film — I loved FNL — but it’s tired and Caucasian self-congratulation for black success, especially in sport movies, has already occupied enough reels for one century.

My second fear was that Stallone, years since he did anything decent — Copland (1997)? — would deliver the kind of campy performance only John Waters could love. If Stallone was willing to spend decades in front of the camera as a caricature and make millions, good for him. But that’s not the way I wanted to see Rocky go out.

Neither of these fears, blessedly, came to pass. Before writing about why those concerns were pummeled like some “hurting bombs” to the kidneys, I must confess to being a lifelong Rocky fan-boy. I entered Creed having seen all six of the Rocky films a disturbing number of times, memorizing the lines, the fight sequences, and even — God help me — the lyrics to “In the Burning Heart” by Survivor. As a teenager, I even won a radio contest by watching the first five Rockys in a row without leaving the theater to go to the bathroom. My prize, a fake gold chain with a boxing glove on the end, turned my neck green. Despite the mint-hue around my clavicle, I never took it off until the necklace disintegrated into dust.

I loved them all. I loved the 1976 Oscar winning Rocky, which is really a gritty indie film down to its Hollywood/anti-Hollywood finish. I loved Rocky II, with the chasing chickens, sappy ending, and “Yo, Adrian, I did it!” which never fails to make me blink away the tears. I loved the utterly 1980s, flagrantly offensive Rocky III where Balboa learns how to fight with rhythm, or in the words of brother-in-law Paulie, like a “colored fighter” with the help of former nemesis turned blood brother Apollo Creed, and defeats Mr. T, playing a racial caricature out of a Jesse Helms campaign ad. I loved Rocky IV, which is effectively three music videos, a lot of Dolph Lundgren, and all soaked in writer/director Stallone’s red, white, and blue, andro-infused Cold War ejaculate. I even wrote a self-righteous defense of what is universally regarded as the worst of the Rockys, Rocky V, which most fans of the franchise pretend never existed.

The most recent flick in the canon, Rocky Balboa (2006) is, for me, the least re-watchable, but it has its moments (“don’t forget to visit your mother”) and seemed an appropriately wistful coda for the series, with a couple of classic speeches and a final shot of Rocky waving goodbye. I thought it was done. We all thought it was done. To revive this franchise seemed as logical as — to paraphrase Dr. Harry Edwards — giving CPR to a corpse.

The main reason Rocky felt over is that the underlying premise of the series seemed achingly dated: a fictional “Great White Hope” who dominates boxing shuts up the loudmouth cocky black fighters while also winning black respect. At it’s worst, the franchise was Skinemax for the white male sports fan.

In the era of Ava DuVernay, the time for Rocky films had surely passed. Fortunately, Creed is not a Rocky film. It’s a Ryan Coogler and Michael B. Jordan film. Coogler directed and Jordan starred in my favorite movie of 2013, Fruitvale Station. Just as Coogler took the tragic and iconic story of the police killing of Oscar Grant and infused it with the beats of everyday life, he does the same with Creed. It’s the little moments: Jordan’s Donnie Johnson learning Philly slang with the terrific Tessa Thompson over cheese steaks; the twitch on his face the first time a kid on a motorbike shows him love; that 50,000 watt Michael B. Jordan smile that breaks out when you least expect it and shatters the screen. Creed is to Rocky what Wide Sargasso Sea is to Jane Eyre: fan fiction elevated to high art.

Being a Coogler film more than a Rocky film is without question what saves Creed from being a “white savior” movie and shows the value when conscious black directors and writers get to tell their own stories. It is the best repudiation of Matt Damon’s instantly infamous statement on Project Greenlight that diversity matters only in front of the camera. Jordan’s Adonis Johnson is not saved by Rocky. He’s saved first and foremost by Apollo’s widow — beautifully underplayed by Phylicia Rashad — as an orphan in a Los Angeles youth prison. It’s a selfless act, taking in another woman’s child out of love for her late husband. Adonis then saves himself from a future in the criminal-justice grinder by leveraging this new wealth to get an education and a job in a corporate office. He has options, but chooses to box.

When Donnie makes his way to Philadelphia and approaches Rocky, he is not begging to be saved. He is asking to be coached. He is asking Rocky to pay a debt owed to his family and be the “Unc” (short for Uncle) that Apollo would have wanted him to be. Rocky doesn’t become Donnie’s savior. Rocky becomes family. This is a Rocky movie as translated through the lens of Black Lives Matter consciousness and shows how black agency can become a force of collective deliverance. It makes Creed one of the more hopeful films about what divides and unites us in recent memory. It makes Creed essential viewing even for someone who knows nothing about Rocky Balboa or even boxing.

But for the diehard fans, Michael B. Jordan is astonishing as a boxer. His first fight, filmed without cuts, is a testament to his training and is more athletically credible than anything this franchise has ever put on screen. Coogler is also savvy enough to put enough Rocky callbacks to the previous films to satisfy the hardcore fans. I will not spoil any of them, but suffice it to say, when the classic music finally kicks in toward the end, it feels earned.

As for Sylvester Stallone, the old man nails it. His wry melancholy, which comes off him in waves, is at times overwhelming. Whether it’s Rocky’s quiet grief when talking about his lost love Adrian or Stallone’s obvious pain when holding up a photo of his real-life son Sage, who played Rocky’s son in Rocky V and died in 2012, you feel his quiet pain. People are saying this should be Stallone’s Oscar. Who cares? All I know is, when the film ended, I didn’t want to give him an Oscar. I wanted to give him a hug. Stallone’s Rocky is family, and you don’t turn your back on family. Coogler didn’t turn away from Rocky, but he also didn’t turn away from his own unique cinematic vision. As a result, we have a franchise reborn and a young director and actor announcing their intention to take the world by storm. Yo, Adrian, they did it.

(Dave Zirin can be reached through his website, edgeofsports.com)

HERB OR DESIGNER DRUG THAT MAY TRICK US ALL

by King Arthur

Ralph Cantor is 71 years young born in the Bronx New York with no silver spoon upbringing. When he was a young boy and very talented at math, Ralph got a scholarship. He has been in public education for over 40 years as a Math & Science teacher, counselor and administrator.

Recently in the county of Mendocino Ralph Cantor gave a talk at the Conference centre Ukiah, “Marijuana: It’s impact on the adolescent brain” with humor, unbiased, passionate, easily understood and science backed evidence on Marijuana to educators, human service providers, behavioral health providers and medical professionals.

This is the equivalent of the CEO for alcoholic anonymous presenting his or herself to all the public bars over in England on News Years Eve talking about the dangers of alcohol. Who wants to hear about alcoholism when the owner of the bar is making “money” from alcohol and drinkers are having fun.

Do you get my point? Now I am not saying Mendocino’s main economy is marijuana, yet there does seem an abundance of financial opportunities to part take in an industry that pays hard cash. One of the basic jobs in this industry is called “Trimming.” After harvest, the cannabis plant is generally trimmed of its leaf matter, leaving behind only the buds. During the harvest season $200 a pound for trimming buds is the going rate if you can sit for eight hours and focus with scissors snipping away at this herb.

An example of the vast amounts of revenue created by marijuana is a 71 years young person, (in England we would say OAP, old age pensioner) was arrested with approximately $484,000 in a car and 12,000 plants. The person was later released on $50,000 bail.

So here is this man Ralph Cantor talking about marijuana, “Its impact on the adolescent brain” here in Mendocino. Is Mr. Cantor crazy, mad or is he just wanting to make a bloody wake up call to parents and the marijuana industry who have no idea what this “herb” can do to a young person’s brain? Remember Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz falling asleep in the field full of poppies until Glinda the good witch wakes her up and tells her to get on her way? “Your children instead of walking through the fields of poppies, they are walking past fields of marijuana plants.” “They need to wake up and get a life,” Ralph Cantor said.

I can see his point of view and hear those hippies of the 1960s saying, “It did me no harm, and I am still living.” Ok, that was a totally different “herb.” It has evolved. Marijuana of that time is not the marijuana of today Ralph Cantor says. The high the hippies got in the 1960s was 1% THC Tetrahydrocannabinol. This gives you the high. The new herb was brought in from Vietnam late 1960s and was 10% THC, then cloning, and modern growing techniques have raised it to 95% THC using dabs (butane hash oil) in the present day.

This high THC hitting a 12 year old young brain that has not developed mentally or physically may cause irreparable damage. Why? Well, it is so concentrated it can make the brain give copious amounts of dopamine to get that feeling of well being. “A deeper thinking of life and philosophy.” “I learn better.” “I perform better,” when I take Marijuana.”

Ralph Cantor explains that this is short-term memory for the adolescent brain. It tricks the brain, he says, just like alcohol. Another point to think about is the tar (dabs) from marijuana inhaled into the lung and the effect it has. Smoke damages the lungs as we all know and Marijuana is no different. Wait a minute, I saw a book being sold “smoking marijuana does not caused lung cancer”! Doctors suggest thick tar from marijuana will harm the fine hairs called cilia in the lung. Cilia helps clears the air passages. My common sense says this, any smoke or pollution will damage my lungs.

Mr. Cantor is not judging or preaching he is just explaining what this new herb has in it if a child at school wants or is offered to use it. Ralph Cantor is not against the use of Marijuana for adults, he wants parents with children 12-18 years of age to be aware that marijuana will damage their brain over long term use.

I have been saying it is a herb although my personal research has suggested with all the cloning and herbicides, fertilizers, hydroponic growing that this hippie “herb” — Ralph Cantor calls this “herb” “a designer drug.” Just like the food industry, processed food has affected the body. “The North Coast Regional Water Quality Control Board” has sent a notice to residents, and I quote, “The Cannabis Order aims to protect waters of the state from potential harmful impacts associated with cannabis cultivation addressing erosion control and drainage features, stream and wetland buffers, spoils management, water storage and use, irrigation runoff fertilizers and pesticides.” Interesting!

Obesity has grown. Vould marijuana become the new fast food of the drug industry? Instead of getting larger clothes to fit the ever increasing waistline as with obesity, what will be the answer to a zombified young brain that has been permanently destroyed? I know nursing care homes will increase. It could be a great investment as young people entering these homes as early as their early 20s. (I personally know of one boy admitted to a home for life after starting to take marijuana in his teens) will be there for a lifetime.

There is a growing call to make marijuana legal, a recreational drug like alcohol. Similar to alcohol it may be just a temporary band aid for when the stress levels start and the need for something to relax, a drink seems the answer. As we all know with booze there is a payback, if we drink too much or drink the wrong drink. A morning hangover or sluggishness follows. Yet continuing drinking the body will become more tolerant of alcohol, so we think. The body hides the withdrawal symptoms very well as long as the liver is cleaning you out.

Alcoholics anonymous was formed to deal with addiction, now I have read there is “Marijuana Anonymous.” Marijuana is fat soluble, it stays in the body and when Mr. Cantor says fat he means also the fat in the brain. It can take 60 days to eliminate marijuana from the body, some other experts say longer, 12 months.

As a non-user and observer from a distance I would urge parents to research and to listen to Ralph Cantor through the internet or contact him. A quote: “Help is only help as perceived by the helpee.”

Ralph Cantor can be contacted at:

http://www.themarijuanaeducator.com/Marijuana_Educator_Welcome.html

(King Arthur is a USA professional tennis coach & Health Consultant)

SECOND THINGS SECOND. The Redwood Classic basketball tournament kicks off Wednesday in the Boonville gym, and I can tell you right now which teams will be in the championship game Saturday night — Branson and Pinewood. Branson is a private school for a couple of hundred very rich kids located in Ross, Marin County. It's a former girl's school from the days the super-wealthy sequestered their daughters from, ah, unpromising liaisons with the lower orders. Julia Child is the school's most famous graduate. Back three decades or so, Branson, tired of being a basketball doormat, began offering scholarships to academically qualified athletes, and the school has been a basketball power, girls and boys, ever since. The small schools of outback Mendocino County are no competition for schools like Branson and Pinewood, another posh private school heavy on talented high school basketball players located in the gated precincts of Los Altos. The Boonville boys have a strong team this year, and might be able to give the faves a run for it by playing a tenacious man-to-man defense (we've got the athletic ability to do that) but the two same olds, Pinewood and Branson will again be too much for the locals.

WEDNESDAY NIGHT, 7pm, the Boonville boys play Tomales. We crushed Calistoga last week in a home game. A reader says, “Calistoga was the worst basketball team I've ever seen at the high school level.” Hey, so what? A win's a win.

TWO MIDDLEAGE ab divers made their last dives this week. You see these obviously out-of-shape guys waddling down to the unforgiving sea in their wet suits, and you know that sudden exertion among the sedentary can be fatal and, sure enough, it is. Two mollusk hunters drowned off the Mendocino Coast in five days. Then there was the woman on the beach at Goat Rock in Sonoma County she said she just want to put her toes in the ocean and is swept out to sea by a sleeper wave. Lucky for her two lifeguards just happened to be looking her way and saw her taken. By the time they got into their gear and got to her she was fifty yards off shore and sinking fast.

ONLY IN MENDO, a young man writes: "I was in a local eatery, Chop-Chop in Ukiah, when this guy about my age — mid-30s — walks in. He's got all the trappings of a Grateful Dead trustafarian, right down to the nicely groomed dreads with all the little beads carefully inserted, and he's wearing a 50th Deadhead Reunion t-shirt, which would have cost him $500 a ticket to hear a buncha has beens sing songs they ripped off from black sharecroppers. The ticket and hair-do alone put his visible net worth at about $700. I can tell the guy's itching for conversation but I try to ignore him until he says, 'Hey man, there sure are a lotta white people in here. This place reeks of white privilege.' I look at him and say to my friend Pedro down at the end of the bar, ‘Hey Pedro, you're Mexican aren't you?’ Pedro says, 'Do I look like Frosty the fuckin' Snowman?' So I say to the guy, 'Dude, check out the table behind you. Six outta 20 people in here are non-white and I'm eating a Vietnamese tofu peasant sandwich, so please shut the fuck up'."

DFM GIVES THE GIFT OF MUSIC TO CANCER PATIENTS

When Poppy Brodoski and Don Doidge, owners of DFM Car Stereo were asked to come up with a quote to install a sound system for a new office, they treated it as a normal business transaction. But things changed when they found out it was for the Cancer Treatment and Infusion Center (CTIC) at Ukiah Valley Medical Center. "We went back to the drawing board and we thought it would be a great opportunity to do something for the community," shares Brodoski. "I know so many people who have been touched by cancer; family, friends, neighbors, almost everyone knows someone who has had to deal with cancer. And what better way to help, than by sharing what we do best - music."

DFM donated and installed a state-of-the art sound system, including a 5-disc CD player, in-ceiling speakers and outdoor speakers to the CTIC. With this generous donation, patients at the Infusion Center will be able to listen to relaxing music while undergoing treatment. Research has shown that music is not just soothing but also beneficial for cancer patients as a way to cope with some of the symptoms of their disease and side effects of their treatment. Researchers at Drexel University reviewed 30 trials with a total of 1,891 participants and found that listening to recorded music, as well as music therapy, helps to improve anxiety, pain, mood, quality of life, heart rate, respiratory rate, and blood pressure in cancer patients.

Angle Slater, RN and patient navigator at the CTIC agrees, "Cancer is a difficult and long journey. So if there's anything that we can do to make it better for our patients we will do it. And music is one of those things."

"We are incredibly grateful to DFM for this gift. It truly is a blessing. I know music is not a cure, but it can improve our patients' quality of life and help them cope with their condition," adds Slater.

DFM, a family owned and operated business, has been providing mobile audio, video, security, and navigation products to Lake and Mendocino counties for more than 30 years. "So giving back to the community made sense to us," shares Doidge.

Brodoski agrees, "This is our hospital and our family has so many ties to it, I was born at the Birth Center, my mother, Lynn Meadows, PA is a physician assistant there and friends and family members have used the hospital's services in one way or another. We are privileged to do this for the community." Located at 260 Hospital Drive, Suite 207 in Ukiah, the CTIC provides comprehensive cancer care services and also offers the Focus on Healing Program. The program is designed to benefit patients and their families by reaching beyond medical treatment to incorporate elements that foster physical, mental and spiritual well-being including nutritional education, art, movement and music therapies and other healing programs. To learn more about the services offered at the center and the Focus on Healing program please call 707.463.7623.

CATCH OF THE DAY, November 30/December 1, 2015

BEAU BENJAMIN, Santa Rosa. DUI-Drugs.

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

WAYNE CAMPBELL, Ukiah. Probation revocation. (Frequent flyer.)

RAMIRO COBARRUBIA, Manchester. Vandalism.

THEO CORCORAN, Talmage. Carjacking, assault with deadly weapon not a gun, stolen vehicle, criminal threats, robbery, conspiracy.

WILLIAM HENDERSON, Laytonville. Failure to appear.

CHARLES HENSLEY, Ukiah. Drunk in public. (Frequent flyer.)

JOHN HORTON, Willits. Domestic battery.

KENNETH JAMES-HORTON, Clearlake. Resisting.

MALIA LINDE, Willits. Carjacking, assault with deadly weapon not a gun, stolen vehicle, criminal threats, robbery, conspiracy.

JUSTIN MALUGANI, Ukiah. Dirk-dagger.

LEON MARKS, Point Arena. Assault with deadly weapon not a gun.

DANIEL NEAL, Fort Bragg. Suspended license.

NOE PEREZ, Ukiah. Drunk in public.

JORGE SANCHEZ, Fort Bragg. Community Supervision violation.

BELINDA SCHAFER, Ukiah. Drunk in public.

JACQUELINE SMITH, Fort Bragg. Probation revocation.

JOSHUA WAMBOLT, Redwood Valley. Child abduction, protective order violation.

LIBRARY EVENTS

Game Nights

On Thursdays Evenings from 5:30 pm to 7:30 pm the Mendocino County Library, Ukiah Branch is hosting Game Nights.

Game night is for all ages, and everyone is welcome. We have a large selection of board and card games to choose from, and some of the games can even be checked out for a week to play at home with friends and family. Come and enjoy!

District Teens Leadership Council

Saturday, December 5^th

Saturday, January 9^th

Saturday, February 13^th

3 - 4 pm

Teens are invited to join the library’s Teen Leadership Council (TLC). Teen leaders can volunteer & apply for credit toward community service hours while building their résumés. Teens will have a chance to be heard & make a difference in the community.

• 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!
• Pizza will be provided.

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

DIY (Do It Yourself) Holiday Gift Making, Saturday,

December 19^th from 2:30-4:30 pm

Make gift giving even more special by making them yourself. Folded your own paper boxes and fill them with fun fridge magnets. Come craft with us.

Sponsored by the Ukiah Valley Friends of the Library.

* * *

THIS WEEK AT THE UKIAH LIBRARY

Brrr - it's December. Chill out (& warm up) at the library this month!

http://mendolibrary.us11.list-manage.com/track/click?u=3696d38b68efac10f9e33fa9a&id=3228d0e57d&e=a3c5eb703b

Share The Light

Make votive candle holders to give as holiday gifts.

First Friday Art Walk

Dec. 4th 5-7:30 pm

http://mendolibrary.us11.list-manage1.com/track/click?u=3696d38b68efac10f9e33fa9a&id=ef2e19f671&e=a3c5eb703b

Trouble with your new Phone or Tablet?

Receive FREE Tech Help from Librarians

EVERY Saturday 1-3 pm

http://mendolibrary.us11.list-manage.com/track/click?u=3696d38b68efac10f9e33fa9a&id=0e16717ab3&e=a3c5eb703b

Clean out those Closets this Holiday Season & Contribute to those in Need.

It's a Clothing Swap!

Donations now being accepted at Ukiah Library.

Sunday, Dec. 13th 2-5 pm

FELIZ NAVIDAD/Fort Bragg

(Photo by Susie de Castro)

KZYX: THE GREAT DIALOGUE

AIGNER OUT. The controversial KZYX program director announced last week that she is resigning effective the end of January.

WE'LL NEVER KNOW why The Aig will depart, assuming she hasn't resigned one position to take the station manager job, neither of them what you would call demanding as now performed. But it’s highly unlikely she resigned of her own accord. It seems, though, the station’s self-selected board of directors have gradually been replaced by smarter, more ethical people, people committed to a true community radio station. I think the latter additions to the board know that the problems with the place go deeper than Aigner, but to solve them, as a beginning, Aigner had to go.

THE NEEDED CHANGES are more structural, and to seriously begin them the station should move to Ukiah where it could do a total re-tool, getting rid of the entrenched group of programmers who vote as a bloc for whatever incompetent or nutpie is running the show so long as they're on the air. There should be a limit on how long programmers remain on-air before their slots are opened up to new blood. And there's an ongoing need for unfettered talk on purely local matters. To bring that off you need a smart, articulate host, but every time there's been one Aig has offed him or her.

IN THE LONG, sad history of KZYX there's only been one smart, confident manager capable of not only keeping the nuts at bay — this is Mendocino County after all — but knew how to make radio lively and intelligent. That was Nicole Sawaya. Of course she was also competitive in the great world outside and soon moved on to a better media job among more amenable and appreciative people.

INTERIM KZYX station manager Stuart Campbell wafted Aigner out the door with a blast of pure, untethered blather so far beyond the looking glass it would need the big telescope at Asilomar to make it out. I love Campbell's first sentence. "Everyone who has come through the door at KZYX in living memory (sic) knows what Mary Aigner looks like."

TRUE. But you hear the low growl first, then a pair of claws shoot up from somewhere deep within the cluttered grime and, as the unwitting visitor beats back an impulse to run for the door, a menacing female figure screeches in a coyote kill shriek, "What do youuuuuuuu want ....."

I DO TEND to bring out the worst in certain people, but even us untouchables should be able to expect at least a reasonable facsimile of professional decorum from tax-funded entities. But the grungy Philo hippie shack has always been famously unwelcoming.

THE AIG is formidable in her unhinged way, and I can certainly see how she intimidates the caponized fat boys at the station, but I pity anybody new that the Stalinist-like cadre of screwballs dominant at the station brings on board. Of course the new person or persons will be a composite of what we have now because a truly capable person would be immediately sabbed. This really is a situation of Fire Everyone and Start Over.

* * *

KZYX'S Search Process

Daney Dawson wrote:

Thanks, Doug. Do you know how the committee was selected? I've heard that there is no one representing the coast on it. I have not seen any notices about it, and I would hope there would be a way for members to have input other than attending meetings, since traveling to the far reaches of the county is not feasible for most people. I would ask Sheila Dawn but I don't know how. Perhaps if she's reading this she could respond publicly. I must not be the only person wondering.

* * *

Marco McClean here. I think all the committees were picked by Stuart Campbell according to his whim. I read that the board picked the committees, but I don't think that's entirely true. I know for a fact that Stuart personally vengefully excluded at least one qualified applicant from being on any committee at all.

Stuart Campbell got himself appointed general manager as his last act when he was president of the board of directors.

That's the same Stuart Campbell who for years intercepted all communication to the board, to decide whether to pass it along or not. And the same Stuart Campbell with his tentacles in every aspect of the so-called elections for board members.

Also that's the same Stuart Campbell with no previous experience in radio, who taught philosophy at Santa Rosa Junior College and amassed abysmal* student reviews of his classes even though the average grade he passed out was "A". Everyone in all his classes got a A, and they still gave him bad reviews; that's some achievement.

Here: http://tinyurl.com/nn3f7yt

Not the lowest rating in the department, but in the lowest 16th percentile. Oh-- look at that. Gordon Black. Aww.

Also, and I'm sure this will interest you: having just applied at nearly the last minute before the deadline for the position of manager, I experienced a mild frisson of concern that Stuart Campbell, as current manager, might be the one goal-tending the email box that was posted as where to send in applications (the box I used) so I went to the station's website just now and clicked on About --no directors' email addresses there, but there's a link to /Members of the Board of Directors/. Click on it and you're dumped back out at the home page. So there's no freely contacting the board anymore at all, if there ever was. And there's no notice anywhere of the committees, nor their purposes and powers, nor who is on them. And I have email from Stuart Campbell, from two board meetings back, refusing to place in the station's public inspection file anything I write to the board because, as he put it, "There's no provision for that." It's true that, unlike with a commercial station, a noncommercial station is not legally required to do anything but shred any communication from the paying members or the public (!), but that's the first thing I'll change when I'm managing there. It may not be a legal requirement, but its an ethical requirement, after all. Also it takes less effort to slip a letter or email into the file than to destroy it. So it's just malice, then, again, on Stuart's part.

That reminds me, I remember reading email from Stuart Campbell to another board member, where he wrote angrily --and this is not out of context-- "No one has a right to be on the air at KZYX!" I hope you disagree with him on that point, as all should.

Hmm, in Contact Us, there is still the link labeled /You can contact the KZYX Board of Directors by filling out this form./ But, again, who has access to what's sent there? Is it still just Stuart Campbell?

Does that seem right to you? I mean, which is it, is he an octopus or a virus? And how do you fight that? Boiling, maybe. Or direct sunlight. Or real radio.

Marco McClean

memo@mcn.org

http://MemoOfTheAir.wordpress.com

* * *

Dear Mr. Campbell:

Why wasn't I copied on Mr. McClean's cover letter and application? Please see below. Why did I have to read about his application in the Anderson Valley Advertiser?

Mr. McClean is the perfect candidate for station General Manager (GM). He can heal the wounds here at KZYX that our exclusionary, closed clubhouse mentality has caused. He can launch the station forward with a new business model that is both more cost-effective and representative of the people of Mendocino County than our past business practices.

Back at the MCPB Board meeting in June, I asked to be named to the Search Committee. You, Stuart Campbell, were President of the Board, at that time, and you publicly stated that you refused to name me to any committee because of what you called my "rhetoric" and "desire to destroy that station."

Those reasons given by you grossly misrepresent me. They are slanderous. I work diligently for much needed change here at KZYX on behalf of a one third of the station's Corporate Membership that voted for change in the last Board elections.

The decision by you to deny a duly-elected, sitting Board Director a committee seat was a clear violation of the law -- the California Corporations Code.

If a lawsuit is ever filed, one could reasonably expect that my exclusion from committees be added to other violations among the causes of action in the pleading.

Other causes of action would include the station's refusing me to inspect station's records except under your tightly controlled restrictions. Also, former GM and Executive Director John Coate's public and on-the-record refusal to answer my questions about our "audit" at the annual membership Board meeting at Space Theater was an egregious violation. And in a recent Board meeting you have refused to disclose who is our station's legal adviser on issues other than regulatory issues -- our local attorney.

Therefore, let this email serve as my demand as a Board Director that Mr. McClean's application be brought before the entire Board. As acting GM and Executive Director who will probably be applying for the permanent position of GM and Executive Director, you have an obvious conflict of interest vis-a-vis other, more viable, candidates for the job.

Mr. McClean is qualified. He a veteran of both print and electronic media. His history with our station goes back to its founding, 25-years ago. He currently hosts and produces popular programs at both KNYO and KMEC. He attracts listeners, members, and underwriters. His management style is consultative, persuasive, and democratic, and it differs greatly from the autocratic management style of both yourself and John Coate -- a management style that has resulted in chaos and conflict, an erosion in membership and underwriters, loss of CPB support, and FCC regulatory delays in licensing renewal, among other problems including possibly a future lawsuit.

Thank you.

John Sakowicz

MCPB Board of Directors, 2013-2016; Board Treasurer, 2014.

* * *

Folks:

Just want KZYX/Z listeners to know that I applied to the chair of the committee through Stuart the minute I heard a search committee for a new station manager was being formed.

I did so as both a resident of the Mendocino coast from the 5th District (which has no representation on the current KZYX/Z Board), and as a founding programmer of KZYX, who spent six months organizing support on the coast for a radio station, locally oriented, that would address the interests of three groups not being served by commercial radio in Mendocino County: Folks with classical music tastes, folks who preferred Bluegrass and/or Alternative Music; and those of us active in Forest and Ocean protection who wanted a radio station that gave ample time to the enterprises of local people through thoughtful talk radio, originating from the Philo studio. Which is what I provided in a weekly, two-hour, mid-day show called 4th Gate Gazette.

The phone line was always open while I was on the air, and for three years listener participation contributed greatly to the quality and popularity and range of 4th Gate Gazette. I was fired by a new general manager (the first to insist he be addressed as GM) a fortnight after a survey identified 4th Gate Gazette as the listeners' favorite program.

While I was a volunteer at KZYX, I held off an FBI 'Prior Restraint' foray, and lobbied relentlessly that an independent News Department be established.

I also supported the station's original Mission Statement: the promise that there would be consistent attempts to elicit the participation of the County's Indian and Latino communities, and that they be reflected both in local programming and Board participation. The granting of the license was originally based on those promises. More than anyone, I was responsible for the hiring of Joseph Leon as the first News Director and insistent that Joseph be allowed to pursue his own style.

And despite Annie Esposito's earnest efforts, the only time KZYX/Z covered the matters of the local Indian reservations and rancherias as a natural part of the County's fabric was when Joseph, himself a native man, was news director.

We have three white, female news providers and no coverage of so-called "underserved communities".

I worked at the station as a volunteer programmer at a time when the spirit and say-so was much more collaborative. And it worked.

Clay Eubanks never got back to me. The coast remains unrepresented . . . along with every Indian and Latino resident of Mendocino and Lake counties.

It's inexcusable that this selection committee continues to demographically represent so few elements of the signals range.

— Beth Bosk

* * *

John Sakowicz,

To date I have received no application from either Beth or Marco. Letters sent to a listserve are not really an application for a job position. The email they go to is secured and only forwarded to Benj and myself. I was pretty specific about trying to keep the application process confidential. They have until tonight to turn in their applications which I hope they will do. I believe we should have as many applicants as possible to chose from.

Best, Clay Eubanks, Board Chair

* * *

Clay.

To be clear. I made no attempt to apply for the job of General Manager. I immediately, through Stuart Campbell, asked to be put on the Search committee: both as a resident of the unrepresented 5th District coast and as a credentialed critic of the way the station was being run. I received a communique from Stuart Campbell advising me he had told you of my request to serve on the search committee and that the seats had already (in a week!) been filled. My wish to be seated on that committee was to urge the committee to re-evaluate the whole dysfunctional task distribution scenario at the station. Before hiring yet another general manager to fit a dysfunctional slot. I'm not sure you have seen my letter to the coast listservs. I am forwarding you a copy. I'm easy to reach by phone. beth bosk 937-5703

TINY DANCER

Blue jean baby, L.A. lady, seamstress for the band

Pretty eyed, pirate smile, you'll marry a music man

Ballerina, you must have seen her dancing in the sand

And now she's in me, always with me, tiny dancer in my hand

Jesus freaks out in the street

Handing tickets out for God

Turning back she just laughs

The boulevard is not that bad

Piano man he makes his stand

In the auditorium

Looking on she sings the songs

The words she knows, the tune she hums

But oh how it feels so real

Lying here with no one near

Only you, and you can hear me

When I say softly, slowly

chorus:

Hold me closer tiny dancer

Count the headlights on the highway

Lay me down in sheets of linen

you had a busy day today

(repeat chorus)

Blue jean baby, L.A. lady, seamstress for the band

Pretty eyed, pirate smile, you'll marry a music man

Ballerina, you must have seen her dancing in the sand

And now she's in me, always with me, tiny dancer in my hand

But oh how it feels so real

Lying here with no one near

Only you, and you can hear me

When I say softly, slowly

— Elton John & Bernie Taupin