Mendocino County Today: Monday, Jan 11, 2016

• Do Nothing
• Lake Mendo
• Wandering Mouth
• Cash Benefits
• Filling Resevoirs
• Mendopia Video
• Factory Panels
• Tax Reform
• Corktop Speaks
• VP Choices
• Vintage Posters
• KZYX Thoughts
• Yesterday's Catch
• Stoner Nuns
• Broadband Agenda
• El Chapo Speaks
• Chamber Music
• China Concerns

ACCORDING TO A STORY by Mike A’Dair in last week’s Willits Weekly, Health and Human Services Director Stacey Cryer has been given leave by the regional director of the California Public Health Department to ignore the recent audit critical of Mendo’s privatized mental health services. Ms. Cryer doesn’t dispute the content of the report and admits it had to do with Ortner’s mental health crisis center (ICMS) in Ukiah, but instead takes issue with the report’s use of the term “partial hospitalization program” which, according to Cryer, Mendo doesn’t have. (Mendo doesn’t have an intensive outpatient service program? That’s a problem right there!) Cryer told A’Dair that she had spoken to the Santa Rosa-based regional state office that supervises the inspecting nurses, run by a Ms. Fornay, and was told that “the inspection was immaterial and the proper response is to do nothing.” A’Dair added, “This is fortunate for the providers involved because the report highlights some major failures.” Indeed. The “failures” included a pathetic lack of coordination which the report said lead to the death of a client, “Client 10.” (Our earlier coverage of the report already described the particular failures cited therein.) A’Dair’s report concludes with Cryer’s claim that the death of the client and other problems identified in the report were trivial and required very little action to be taken. Cryer said she and her staff “have spoken with representatives from [Ortner] about these issues,” and “regardless of whether or not the report was valid or not [sic], it certainly exposed some flaws in the medication management portion of [Ortner’s] program here. [It exposed a lot more than that.] We have spoken to them about these flaws and I think it is fair to say that 98% of them have been corrected or are in the process of being corrected.” A mentally troubled vet dies as a result of being mishandled by Ortner and what happens? Ortner is spoken to. Too bad nobody “spoke to” the vet before he was discovered dead in his residence.

DESPITE RECENT RAINS, Lake Mendocino’s water level remains far below normal, mostly because of upstream work. Since the middle of October, about 15 inches had fallen on the Ukiah Valley. The lake depends on the Potter Valley diversion for its liquid life, but PG&E is working on the tunnel and not much water is going though at present.

THE FORECAST FOR THE WEEK ahead is wet. Nearly five inches are expected to fall in Boonville over the next nine days.

LOOKS LIKE NAVARRO RIVER TURNED HARD TO PORT!

The original breach of the "mega-sandbar" at the Navarro River mouth was on either side of "Pinnacle Rock" - the rock was nearly in the middle. As you can see from these photos taken Saturday, the channel through the sand has wandered a considerable distance south of the rock.

At last report (10:15 am), the river had a height of 6.21' and was draining @ 832 cubic feet of water per second.

(Courtesy, MendocinoSportsPlus)

THE NATIONAL Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration says its recent study of coastal communities in Sonoma, Mendocino and Marin counties demonstrates the cash benefits of marine sanctuaries. The study claims that tourists have dropped $1.2 billion on coastal NorCal. How much of the booty was dropped on the national monument just north of Point Arena was not specified.

EL NINO, EL SCHMNO. Rainfall totals for December are about normal for this time of year. The Department of Water Resources says rains in December added 293 billion gallons — to 154 major state and federal reservoirs in the state, but that only brought them to an average of 31% of capacity. It has rained enough, though, so that water is beginning to run off into the big reservoirs like Shasta, Oroville and Folsom. The agency says "things are looking fine for a normal year,” but there’s a very big hole to fill.

THE LATEST MENDOPIA VIDEO IS HERE:

https://youtu.be/vgNIPadjXno

The complete Mendopia playlist is here:

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLWTKx4OwAkBEZRZB07aPOA237QV8BS-b0

Thanks again,

Scott M. Peterson, Mendocino

SOME OF THE 2,000 solar panels planned for the roof of Factory Pipe at the old Masonite site north of Ukiah have been installed. Ross Liberty, owner of Factory Pipe, says the solar installation will cut the company’s power bill, presently $46,000 a month, by more than half. Liberty's panels will generate 656 kilowatts of energy at full build out.

AMEND PROP 13 NOW

Editor,

Governor Jerry Brown has emphasized the vulnerability of the state budget to economic swings. Fortunately, there is an easy solution to minimize the budget roller coaster: Amend Prop. 13 so that corporations pay their fair share of property taxes. When Prop. 13 was enacted in 1978, corporations provided half the state's property tax revenue, and individual homeowners paid the other half. Today, corporations pay only one quarter, and that percentage dwindles each year. Our schools, colleges, highways and other infrastructure need and deserve predictable funding. Providing a stable base of property tax revenue allows this, and it is only fair that corporations pay their way. The passage of State Constitutional Amendment 5, which has been introduced in the Legislature with the intent of appearing on the November 2016 ballot will do just that. It will generate $9 billion each year without raising taxes on homeowners or renters. It deserves the support of every California organization and voter.

Jay Nitschke, Berkeley

CONGRESSMAN CORK TOP THOMPSON, Chair of the House Gun Violence Prevention Task Force at the White House supports Obama's announced executive actions to reduce and prevent gun violence. "Commonsense steps will reduce gun violence and save lives," Thompson declared on the off chance somebody was listening. Always good for a sonorous cliche, Thompson says the move is aimed at keeping guns away from people who shouldn’t have them which, strictly considered, would be about 90% of the adult population of the country.

ON LINE COMMENT OF THE DAY

If you are going to predict the future let’s have some panache! 380 days until the inauguration of President Trump and Vice President Oprah. When Trump announces her as his choice Rodan the Flying Reptile will team up with Bernie as a last ditch effort to be his VP since we know it can’t happen the other way around. They will lose. You can pretend to the bitter end the election will make sense but that is exactly what you will be doing. Pretending to the bitter end.

PRINTS OF DARKNESS: macabre vintage posters – in pictures

http://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/gallery/2016/jan/09/prints-of-darkness-macabre-vintage-posters-in-pictures?CMP=share_btn_link

THE FORGOTTEN ARM.

by Marco McClean

The AVA asked Marco Maclean for his views on the recent management changes at KZYX:

* * *

Ms. Dechter's resume that I read makes her sound pretty good, but that's the job of a resume. I'd like to talk with her; that involves a half-day side-trip and a visit to a place full of bad memories for me. I don't believe in ghosts and curses or any supernatural nonsense, but to me the place has always been electric with menace, entirely the opposite of the way KMFB felt, or the way KNYO or KMEC feel.

Even if Ms. Dechter is the right sort of person, she's boxed in by the obfuscatory organizational apparatus around her.

The problem is, the people we're all glad are gone are not gone at all. Mary Aigner is on the programming committee. I think Stuart Campbell is on the personnel committee. John Coate is still controlling the website. The cheerleader/pimp/thugs are still cheerleading and pimping and thugging. And there's still no way to be certain that an email to the trustees actually reaches them, nor to explain where half a million dollars-plus really goes to (or comes from, for that matter) every year there, except for two faked-up sheets of paper for the annual report. It's an educational band nonprofit station, meaning that the law requiring that letters to a radio station go into the public inspection file doesn't apply; they don't have to disseminate or keep or even acknowledge any correspondence. To the recommendation that they add an open forum to the website so listeners and members and the public and the airpeople can communicate regarding the station, its operation, opinions, dreams, aspirations, complaints, etc., without interference, and let a little light in, Meg Courtney's response was to write, and I quote: "It would take staff time to moderate a kzyx.org interactive forum, because we could not just allow anyone to post anything they wanted; it could become a free-for-all. As for posting information about the KZYXTalk listserv on our station webpage, wouldn't this establish a bad precedent? Wouldn't we then have to do the same for any other group? What would the standard be? The station webpage should be for official station business only."

Meaning: no.

Meg, here's how you do it. Cut and paste.

Kzyxtalk archives: http://lists.mcn.org/pipermail/kzyxtalk/

Subscribe to kzyxtalk:

http://lists.mcn.org/mailman/listinfo/kzyxtalk

When I talked to Mary Aigner four years ago, I told her that the way I determine whether a radio station is worthwhile or crap is, can I play with it? Is there anyone there who is at all like me? If yes, worthwhile; if no, crap. And she said, pursed-lipped, calculating, cementing this moment and her evaluation of me in her mind: "Crap."

Long ago I reached the point of not being able to even glancingly think about KZYX without going unngh. Today I was thinking about solving problems with the radio stations that I can happily play with, and other things, and KZYX crossed my mind, result: unngh. Juanita said, "What's the matter?" I said, "Three things. My mother wants me to drive her all over California next week so she can visit Mimi's new grandkids in Fresno and go to the dentist she likes in Sacramento (!) and I don't want to do it but of course I have to. And the telephone company promised they'd have your phone line fixed by Wednesday and last night it was still fucked up and I could tell by the buffer graph while I was doing my show that it was clicking on and off like a crazy monkey. And I was just reading about KZYX…"

Juanita said, "Marco, what would you do if a meteor fell on KZYX?"

I thought, "Depends on who was inside," but I said, "I see your point, but still-- unngh."

She called the phone company, used some trick she knows to actually talk to the right real person right now, talked gently but firmly about what she expected them to do, and fifteen minutes later a phone truck man named Jeff knocked on the door. I described the symptoms (phone ringing, nobody there but torrents of static; police visits to several people in the neighborhood at 3am answering 911 calls nobody made; erratic DSL internet service). He nodded, said, "Got it," went out, fixed it, phoned to report and check. Now: perfect clean signal, flawless DSL connection. He explained that it was water in the wires under the street. So, done. Good. The system works.

As for KZYX, I recall the page from Walt Kelly's Pogo, Stepmother Goose, where innocent toddler versions of the familiar Pogo characters are poling a pole-boat into a swamp forest where even though it's a static drawing it conveys mounting menace, and the caption reads:

The gentle journey jars to stop.

The drifting dream is done.

The long gone goblins loom ahead.

The deadly, that we thought were dead,

Stand waiting — every one.

In other words: like you, Bruce, I worry for Ms. Dechter.

PS. I read all of 2015, the Year in Review on my show last night, and the material about poor Dennis Boardman, killed by someone he'd been kind to. Your paper serves the county better than any other, and works very well on the radio as-is. Suggest it to the new manager of KZYX. (Unngh.)

PPS. I recommend the 2006 film The Fall, by Tarsem Singh. It's set in 1916, in a Southern California hospital. It's about the storytelling and story-interpreting relationship between a heartbroken film stuntman and a little Hungarian girl with a broken arm. The stuntman was played by Lee Pace, who later played Ned in two years of Pushing Daisies (with Anna Friel, Swoosie Kurtz, Kristin Chenoweth, etc.)

Marco McClean

memo@mcn.org

http://MemoOfTheAir.wordpress.com

CATCH OF THE DAY, January 10, 2016

KELLI ADAMS, Boonville. Drunk in public, probation revocation.

LAURA ADAMS, Calpella. Controlled substance, destroying/concealing evidence, paraphernalia, court order violation, failure to appear.

KAILEB DAVIS, Stockton/Ukiah. Under influence, possession of controlled substance and paraphernalia, resisting.

BONNIE DINYER, Willits. Domestic battery.

ELIZABETH DOCKINS, Ukiah. Controlled substance.

BRYAN FLINT, Little River. Probation revocation.

BRIAN MILLER, Redwood Valley. Drunk in public, vandalism, probation revocation.

NOAH POWELL, Ukiah. DUI.

ALVA REEVES III, Ukiah. Negligent discharge of firearm, loaded firearm in public.

ANTONIO RODRIGUEZ, Ukiah. No license, illegal entry, probation revocation.

TONYA SCHEURICH, Fort Bragg. Probation revocation.

DUANE SWEARINGER, Covelo. Controlled substance, resisting, failure to appear.

AN ORDER OF STONER NUNS in the Central Valley, the Sisters of the Valley, is in a big fight to continue growing medical marijuana. The Merced City Council wants to put the nuns out of business. Two of the self-alleged nuns, Sister Kate and Sister Darcy, create products with CBD oil, which they claim is useful in treating all sorts of medical ailments, including cancer. Although the nuns have no official religious affiliation to the church, they say they feel they’re doing divine work.

BROADBAND ON THE AGENDA

(Board of Supervisors Agenda, Tuesday, Jan. 12, 2016)

*(b) **Discussion and Possible Action Regarding a Report by the North Bay/North Coast Broadband Consortium/Broadband Alliance of Mendocino County on the September 2015 Telecommunication Outage and the Impacts on Residents of Mendocino County Including Transmission of Said Report to Legislators (Sponsor: Supervisor Hamburg)*

*Recommended Action/Motion*: Accept the report by the North Bay/North Coast Broadband Consortium/Broadband Alliance of Mendocino County on the September 2015 telecommunication outage and the impacts on residents of Mendocino County; and further, authorize the posting of the report on the County's website and transmission of said report to legislators; and authorize Chair to sign same.

*(c) **Discussion and Possible Approval to File a Motion with the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) on Behalf of Mendocino County to Become a Party to a Current CPUC Proceeding Related to Recent Public Telecommunications Switched Network (PSTN) Failures (Sponsor: Supervisor Hamburg)*

*Recommended Action/Motion*: Approve filing a motion with the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) on behalf of Mendocino County to become a party to a current CPUC proceeding related to recent Public Telecommunications Switched Network (PSTN) failures, and authorize the Chief Executive Officer to file the motion on behalf of the Board and sign any and all necessary documents related to the transaction.

*(d) **Discussion and Possible Approval of a Letter Sponsored by Senator Mike McGuire to AT&T Requesting to Schedule a Meeting including Humboldt, Lake, Mendocino, Napa and Sonoma Counties Regarding Recent Telecommunication Outages in the North Coast Region (Sponsor: Supervisor Hamburg)*

*Recommended Action/Motion*: Approve the letter sponsored by Senator McGuire to AT&T requesting a meeting regarding recent outages in the North Coast region and authorize Chair to sign same.

* * *

4. CONSENT CALENDAR - CONTINUED *The Consent Calendar is considered routine and non-controversial and will be acted upon by the Board at one time without discussion. Any Board member may request that any item be removed from the Consent Calendar for individual consideration.*

*BOARD OF SUPERVISORS*

(e) Adoption of Resolution Endorsing Mendocino County's Continued Participation in the North Bay/North Coast Broadband Consortium (Sponsor: Supervisor Hamburg)

*Recommended Action/Motion*: Adopt Resolution endorsing Mendocino County's continued participation in the North Bay/North Coast Broadband Consortium; and authorize Chair to sign same.

EL CHAPO SPEAKS

by Sean Penn

He begins: "I want to make clear that this interview is for the exclusive use of Miss Kate del Castillo and Mister Sean Penn." The image goes black.

Of the many questions I'd sent El Chapo, a cameraman out of frame asks a few of them directly, paraphrases others, softens many and skips some altogether.

How was your childhood?


I remember from the time I was six until now, my parents, a very humble family, very poor, I remember how my mom made bread to support the family. I would sell it, I sold oranges, I sold soft drinks, I sold candy. My mom, she was a hard worker, she worked a lot. We grew corn, beans. I took care of my grandmother's cattle and chopped wood.

And how did you get involved in the drug business? 


Well, from the time I was 15 and after, where I come from, which is the municipality of Badiraguato, I was raised in a ranch named La Tuna, in that area, and up until today, there are no job opportunities. The only way to have money to buy food, to survive, is to grow poppy, marijuana, and at that age, I began to grow it, to cultivate it and to sell it. That is what I can tell you.

How did you leave there? How did it all expand?


From there, from my ranch, I started to leave at 18 and went to Culiacan, then after to Guadalajara, but never without visiting my ranch, even up until today, because my mom, thanks to God, is still alive, out there in our ranch, which is La Tuna, and so, that is how things have been.

How has your family life changed from then to now?


Very good – my children, my brothers, my nephews. We all get along well, very normal. Very good.

And now that you are free, how has it affected you?


Well, as for being free – happy, because freedom is really nice, and pressure, well, for me it's normal, because I've had to be careful for a few years now in certain cities, and, no, I don't feel anything that hurts my health or my mind. I feel good.

Is it true what they say that drugs destroy humanity and bring harm?


Well, it's a reality that drugs destroy. Unfortunately, as I said, where I grew up there was no other way and there still isn't a way to survive, no way to work in our economy to be able to make a living.

Do you think it is true you are responsible for the high level of drug addiction in the world?


No, that is false, because the day I don't exist, it's not going to decrease in any way at all. Drug trafficking? That's false.

Did your drug business grow and expand when you were in jail?

From what I can tell, and what I know, everything is the same. Nothing has decreased. Nothing has increased.

What about the violence attached to this type of activity?


In part, it is because already some people already grow up with problems, and there is some envy and they have information against someone else. That is what creates violence.

Do you consider yourself a violent person?


No, sir.

Are you prone to violence, or do you use it as a last resort?


Look, all I do is defend myself, nothing more. But do I start trouble? Never.

What is your opinion about the situation in Mexico, what is the outlook for Mexico?


Well, drug trafficking is already part of a culture that originated from the ancestors. And not only in Mexico. This is worldwide.

Do you consider your activity, your organization, a cartel?


No, sir, not at all. Because people who dedicate their lives to this activity do not depend on me.

How has this business evolved from the time you started up until today?


Big difference. Today there are lots of drugs, and back then, the only ones we knew were marijuana and poppy.

What is the difference in people now compared to back then?


Big difference, because now, day after day, villages are getting bigger, and there's more of us, and lots of different ways of thinking.

What is the outlook for the business? Do you think it will disappear? Will it grow instead?

No, it will not end because as time goes by, we are more people, and this will never end.

Do you think terrorism activities in the Middle East will, in any way, impact the future of drug trafficking?


No, sir. It doesn't make a difference at all.

You saw how the final days of Escobar were. How do you see your final days with respect to this business?


I know one day I will die. I hope it's of natural causes.

The U.S. government thinks that the Mexican government does not want to arrest you. What they want to do is to kill you. What do you think?


No, I think that if they find me, they'll arrest me, of course.

With respect to your activities, what do you think the impact on Mexico is? Do you think there is a substantial impact?


Not at all. Not at all.

Why?


Because drug trafficking does not depend on just one person. It depends on a lot of people.

What is your opinion about who is to blame here, those who sell drugs, or the people who use drugs and create a demand for them? What is the relationship between production, sale and consumption?

If there was no consumption, there would be no sales. It is true that consumption, day after day, becomes bigger and bigger. So it sells and sells.

We hear avocado is good for you, lime is good for you, guanabana is good for you. But we never hear anyone doing any publicity with respect to drugs. Have you done anything to induce the public to consume more drugs?

Not at all. That attracts attention. People, in a way, want to know how it feels or how it tastes. And then the addiction gets bigger.

Do you have any dreams? Do you dream?


Whatever is normal. But dreaming daily? No.

But you must have some dreams, some hopes for your life?

I want to live with my family the days God gives me.

If you could change the world, would you?


For me, the way things are, I'm happy.

How is your relationship with your mom?


My relationship? Perfect. Very well.

Is it one of respect?


Yes, sir, respect, affection and love.

How do you see the future for your sons and daughters?


Very well. They get along right. The family is tight.

How about your life? How has your life changed, how have you lived it since you escaped?

Lots of happiness – because of my freedom.

Did you ever use drugs?

No, sir. Many years ago, yes, I did try them. But an addict? No.

How long ago?

I haven't done any drugs in the last 20 years.

Did it not worry you that you might be putting your family at risk with your escape?


Yes, sir.

For your recent escape, did you pursue your freedom at any cost, at the expense of anybody?


I never thought of hurting anyone. All I did was ask God, and things worked out. Everything was perfect. I am here, thank God.

The two times you escaped, it is worth mentioning, there was no violence.


With me, it did not come to that. In other situations, what's been seen, things occur differently, but here, we did not use any violence.

Bearing in mind what has been written about you, what one can see on TV, things are said about you in Mexico, what kind of message would you like to convey to the people of Mexico?


Well, I can say it's normal that people have mixed feelings because some people know me and others don't. That is the reason I say it is normal. Because those who do not know me can have their doubts about saying if, in this case, I'm a good person or not.

If I ask you to define yourself as a person, if I ask you to pretend you are not Joaquín, instead you are the person who knows him better than anybody else in the world, how would you define yourself?


Well, if I knew him – with respect, and from my point of view, it's a person who's not looking for problems in any way. In any way.

* * *

Since our late-night visit in the Mexican mountains, raids on ranches there have been relentless. A war zone. Navy helicopters waging air assaults and inserting troops. Helos shot down by Sinaloa cartel gunmen. Marines killed. Cartel fighters killed. Campasinos killed or displaced. Rumors spread that El Chapo escaped to Guatemala, or even further, into South America. But no. He was right there where he was born and raised. On Friday, January 8th, 2016, it happened. El Chapo was captured and arrested – alive.

I think of that night, of that calm before the storm, and the otherworldly experience of sitting with a man so seemingly serene, despite his living a reality so surreal. I had not gotten the kind of in-depth interview I'd hoped to achieve. Not challenged checkers with chess, nor vice versa. But perhaps, at least, retrieved a glimpse from the other side, and what is for me an affirmation of the dumb-show of demonization that has demanded such an extraordinary focus of assets toward the capture or killing of any one individual black hat.

Still, today, there are little boys in Sinaloa who draw play-money pesos, whose fathers and grandfathers before them harvested the only product they'd ever known to morph those play pesos into real dollars. They wonder at our outrage as we, our children, friends, neighbors, bosses, banks, brothers and sisters finance the whole damn thing. Without a paradigm shift, understanding the economics and illness of addiction, parents in Mexico and the U.S. will increasingly risk replacing that standard parting question to their teens off for a social evening – from "Where are you going tonight?" to "Where are you dying tonight?"

El Chapo? It won't be long, I'm sure, before the Sinaloa cartel's next shipment into the United States is the man himself.

(Actor, writer and director Sean Penn has written from the front lines in Haiti, Iraq, Iran, Venezuela and Cuba. He wishes to dedicate this article to the parents of slain Chicago youth, and to Rodrigo Lara Bonilla, public servant, father and hero. Courtesy, RollingStone Magazine)

TRIO CELESTE CONCERT January 24, 2016

Trio Céleste, known as one of the most dynamic chamber music ensembles in the country, will perform on the FBCA Coast Chamber Concerts series on Sunday, January 24 at 3 pm in Preston Hall, Mendocino. This trio with a "magic spark” (Philip Setzer, Emerson Quartet), was recently invited to perform a recital in Carnegie Hall next season. The players, -- pianist Kevin Kwan Loucks, violinist Iryna Krechkovsky and cellist Ross Gasworth are all strong prize-winning instrumentalists in their own right. One happy critic reported: “Krechkovsky, who performs on a Stradivarius, is a precise yet spirited musician; cellist Gasworth is a warm and generous one. Loucks, who played with the piano lid fully open, never overpowered them, while uncovering many shades and dynamics in the music at hand, sculpting phrases intelligently with passion, energy and technical mastery”, Orange County Register. Trio Céleste, cited by the Long Beach Gazette as “exuberant and technically dazzling,” is based in Orange County as the ensemble in residence at the Claire Trevor School of Arts at UC Irvine. The performance in Mendocino includes selections from The Four Seasons of Buenos Aires by Piazzolla and Tchaikovsky’s elegiac piano trio subtitled, In Memory of a Great Artist, written upon the death of Tchaikovsky’s close friend and mentor, Nikolai Rubenstein. Information: 937-1018 Advance tickets $20 are available until January 22 at Harvest Market and Out of This World. Tickets at the door are $25.

DYNAMICS OF CHINA'S SELL OFF

John Sakowicz and Sid Cooperrider return to 105.1 FM KMEC Radio, at 1 p.m., on Monday, January 11, at 1 p.m., Pacific Time, for a show about the huge global stock market selloff, starting in China. Our guest is James S. Henry.

Henry is former chief economist at the world's leading international consultancy firm McKinsey & Co. He is now senior fellow at the Columbia University Center for Sustainable International Investment.

See: http://www.thenation.com/authors/james-s-henry/

KMEC RADIO: We broadcast at 105.1 FM in Mendocino County, CA. We also stream live from the web at www.kmecradio.org

. Our shows are archived and available as podcasts.

MONDAY'S SHOW: The New York Times is reporting: "Stocks in the U.S. and Europe sank after trading was halted in China for the second time this week. Markets had plummeted in Asia over concerns about China’s currency."