Mendocino County Today: Friday, Jan 15, 2016

• Wet Sunday
• River Flooding
• Sprinkle Memories
• Police Reports
• BS Game
• Coach Kelly
• Yesterday's Catch
• The Revenant
• GOP Debate
• Progress
• Vignettes
• Glove Sale
• Bernie Endorsement
• Two Meetings
• Hipcamp
• Name & Shame
• Kareem Interview
• Joint Meeting
• Northcoast Railroads
• Cuba Drool
• Document Confusion
• Fee-free Day
• Public Hearing
• Food Policy
• Craven Events
• FBUSD Meeting

SIGNIFICANT RAIN EVENT SUNDAY & MINOR RIVERINE FLOODING POSSIBLE

(National Weather Service, Eureka)

Significant and rapid rises on area mainstem rivers Sunday.

• Following rivers reach Flood Stage Sunday: Van Duzen River near Bridgeville
• Following river reaches flood stage Sunday night: Navarro River near Navarro, Highway 128 potentially closed
• Following river reaches Flood Stage Monday: Eel River at Fernbridge
• Following river reaches Monitor Stage Sunday: Mad River near Arcata expected to remain below Flood Stage
• Russian River forecast to exceed a stage of 15 feet Sunday night - Highway 175 near Hopland potentially closed
• Garcia River near Pt Arena forecast to crest near 10 feet on Sunday - Highway 1 near Manchester potentially closed

Significant rises on the tributary creeks and small rivers and some may exceed their banks.

Standing or ponding water can be expected in low-lying areas and areas with poor drainage.

Standing or ponding water on roadways where storm drains are unable to keep up with rainfall

Rock and mudslides are possible along highways and county roads

Strong and gusty winds possible

Rain will move into northwest California Sunday morning

Heaviest rain is expected Sunday afternoon

Forecast precipitation amounts:

• Del Norte County...2 to 4 inches locally up to 6 inches
• Humboldt County...2 to 4 inches locally up to 6 inches
• Northern Mendocino County...2 to 4 inches
• Southern Mendocino County...2 to 3 inches
• Trinity County...2 to 4 inches

After a brief break from the rain Saturday night, a wet and slow moving frontal system is forecast to move across northwest California on Sunday. The heaviest rainfall is forecast to occur Sunday afternoon. Then showers are expected Sunday evening and will continue into Monday. With little time between these recent rain events and a saturated ground will combine for a good run off during the Sunday rain event. This will result in rapid rises on small streams and the mainstem rivers.

MSP'S 'EYE ON THE NAVARRO'

NOAA Predicts Navarro To Exceed 23' Flood Stage

MSP tries to bring our viewers news other coast outlets ignore - or news they report AFTER the fact. Which is why we keep a close "Eye on the Navarro River."

This morning (11:15 am) NOAA forecast the river to reach 22.2' - just below flood stage. But @ 3:15 pm today they raised that forecast to 23.9' - which is just over the 23-foot flood stage and may cause CA-128 to be shut down.

So stay tuned here - we'll be following the river forecast as well as CalTrans/CHP scanner reports because, as we all know, if the Navarro floods and closes CA-128, there's an equal chance Highway 1 down by the Garcia River will flood and close the Shoreline Highway in Manchester/Point Arena.

(Courtesy, MendocinoSportsPlus)

JAMES MARMON, in his capacity as County social worker, knew Mark Sprinkle, a frequent AVA subject. (We've linked a summary of the Sprinkle saga for those of you who may be interested.)

Marmon writes:

AVA, I won't say that Mark deserved all the time he's served, but he certainly deserved some of it. The charges against Mark came after I found Natasha hiding out in his tiny travel trailer out at The Forks; she had been missing for two weeks. I returned her home to her mother and that was the end of it for me. They both denied having any physical relationship, but I've always had my doubts. What I do know is that he had groomed this little girl for several years and that she was absolutely in love with him, wanted to marry him. She was a very attractive young lady and I couldn't believe that Mark would put himself in that kind of danger. No wonder he's in prison. It's my opinion their relationship was unnatural and that he was asking for the big trouble which he eventually found. Mark was really stupid and he walked into this thing eyes wide open. He had his chance to get out of it and stay out of it when I intervened. He didn't do it. He wouldn't stay away from her. I was an outreach crisis worker for the Youth Project and worked with both the young girl and her mother. I was not involved in the specific incident that Mark was finally convicted for, but I wasn't surprised when I heard about it. I knew Mark, but he wasn't a friend or foe, I just knew him. He was a long time friend of my ex-wife.

HEY! I'VE GOT A GOOD IDEA. LET'S GO FOR A WALK IN THE WOODS AT 1AM

On 01-11-2016, at approximately 1:00 AM, Salvador Jara, 22, of Fort Bragg, Broderek Klee, 23, of Fort Bragg, and William Raley, 29, of Fort Bragg drove about 6 miles east of Caspar, California on Caspar Logging Road and parked their vehicle and went for a walk in the Jackson State Forest. During the night they became disoriented. On 01-12-2016, at about 5:30 AM Jara called 911 for assistance via his cellular telephone, reaching the Mendocino County Sheriff's Office. The dispatcher was able to determine his location via the Global Positioning System (GPS) of the cellular telephone. An on-duty deputy spoke with Jara via telephone and provided him with directions of how to walk back to the road. At about 6:45 AM Mendocino County Sheriff's Deputies attempted to telephone Jara and he did not answer. Jara's vehicle was subsequently located, still parked on Caspar Logging Road. Deputies requested that the Mendocino County Sheriff's Office volunteer Search and Rescue Team respond to assist with the search. One strategy used during the search was for a marked sheriff patrol vehicle to drive on the road near Jara's vehicle and sound the siren. Jara, Klee, and Raley heard this siren and walked toward it, eventually reaching the road. The subjects were uninjured and returned to their vehicle. The Mendocino County Sheriff's Office wishes to again thank all of the volunteers for generously donating their time and working together to come to the aid of members of their community in need.

* * *

LOST IN THE BACKYARD

On 01-11-2016, at about 11:25 AM, a resident of Albion, called to report that her son, Jackson Kircher, 29, of Albion, was lost in the woods near their home. The mother explained that Jackson and his dog had gone for a walk in the forest the day before and at approximately 11:00 PM last night, 01-10-2016, Jackson called her and said that he was lost. Jackson was not concerned and stated that he would make a fire, shelter in place and walk home in the morning during daylight. As of about 11:00 AM on the next morning, 01-11-2016, Jackson had not come home and his mother was concerned so she called the Mendocino County Sheriff's Office for assistance. Mendocino County Sheriff's Deputies, assisted by employees of the Mendocino Redwood Company, Albion/Little River Volunteer Fire Department, Mendocino Volunteer Fire Department, and the Mendocino County Sheriff's Office Volunteer Search and Rescue Team responded to search the area. Mendocino County Sheriff's Deputies coordinated the search by the various volunteers. Jackson and his dog were eventually located by an employee of the Mendocino Redwood Company on 01-11-2016, at about 4:00 PM. Both were in good health and transported home. The Mendocino County Sheriff's Office wishes to thank all of the volunteer's for generously donating their time and working together to come to the aid of a member of their community in need.

* * *

JUST ANOTHER NIGHT IN COVELO

On 01-09-2016 at about 3:26 PM, Mendocino County Sheriff’s Deputies were dispatched to a reported unknown adult male armed with a handgun, shooting into the air outside of several downtown businesses in the 76000 block of Highway 162 in Covelo, California. While responding, Deputies were advised the unknown adult male was near the Covelo Public Library, where he had just placed a loaded revolver up to the head of an innocent bystander. The unidentified adult male demanded the bystander’s cellular telephone and then left the area on foot. Deputies arrived and located a person matching the adult male suspect’s description near the 20 block of Tabor Lane. Deputies attempted to stop the person who began to run away while holding a revolver in his hand. The person ran behind a large wooden fence and Deputies were able to have the subject exit from behind the fence by use of verbal commands. The person, identified as Alva Reeves, 26, of Covelo, was subsequently arrested in connection with reported incident. Deputies searched the area of the fence and located a loaded .38 caliber revolver with the hammer drawn back. Reeves was booked into the Mendocino County Jail on charges of Attempted Robbery, Assault with a firearm, Loaded Firearm in Public, and Discharge of firearm Negligently. He was to be held in lieu of $75,000.00 bail.

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COUNT ON IT. HE HAD IT COMING

On 01-05-2016 at approximately 10:14 AM, Deputies from the Mendocino County Sheriff's Office were dispatched to a reported incident of domestic violence at a residence located on Oak Lane in Covelo, California. Upon arrival the Deputies learned a 45-year-old adult male and his wife, Alicia Elliott, 34, of Covelo, had engaged in an argument. During the argument Elliott became angry and eventually grabbed the adult male by his hair. After pulling the adult male backwards by his hair, Elliott struck him with her fists and scratched his face with her fingernails. Deputies noticed scratches on the adult male’s face consistent with the reported incident. Elliott was arrested for felony domestic violence and booked into the Mendocino County Jail where she was to be held in lieu of $25,000.00 bail.

TODAY'S LESSON IN CRITICAL THINKING — NAME THAT BULLSHIT!

https://cityfortbragg.legistar.com/View.ashx?M=F&ID=4119335&GUID=51BE9438-D462-477B-8669-C2C373070060

SPORTS NOTE: CHIP KELLY is a great head coach hire for the 49ers, and probably good news for Colin Kaepernick, Kelly's kind of run and gun quarterback. Kap suddenly lost his mojo this season under the confused direction of the Niner's incompetent, meddling ownership. Interesting thing about Kelly is he's got about six years missing from his cv. Where was he, what happened? Nobody knows, and the guy isn't saying. If the owners leave him alone, Kelly will revive the franchise as he restores Kap's confidence.

CATCH OF THE DAY, January 14, 2016

STEPHANIE BALL, Ukiah. Under influence.

JOSE BARRIGA-BARRERA, Ukiah. Probation revocation.

WILLIAM BARRY, Ukiah. Drunk in public. (Frequent flyer.)

LLUAN FUENTES, Ukiah. Interfering with police radio communications, community supervision violation, probation revocation.

ANDRES FUENTES-LUCERO, Ukiah. Resisting.

MICHAEL GILES, Willits. More than one ounce of pot.

LINDSAY PEAK, Ukiah. DUI-drugs.

ERIC SEALE, Fort Bragg. Domestic assault, controlled substance, probation revocaiton.

REBECCA STILES, Laytonville. Drunk in public. (Frequent flyer.)

KEITH VELEZ, Willits. Sex act with child of 14-15 with perpetrator more than 10 years older.

JESSE VINCENT, Willits. Under influence.

TIFFANY WHITMAN, Willits. Domestic battery.

THE REVENANT, the movie. I had to look it up, vaguely recalling that revenant had some re-born associations. Boing! That's what it means — back from the dead. My memory isn't quite dead. Anyhoo, a rainy day in Fairfax, so into the Fairfax Theater I went. This thing is certain to win big Academy Awards because it's wholly improbable, the dialogue and story line are childish, the acting consists of a single facial expression — the grimace — the writers throw in some noble Indians with the obligatory villainous white boys raping and murdering them, and we get lots of ultra-vi including a death fight with a grizzly bear. I'd recommend Revenant for 9-12 year old males. So, like, why were you there, Mr. Editor? Three hours later I'm still asking myself that question. I guess because I liked the scenery, which looked like some place in frozen Alaska.

THE OFFICIAL GOP DEBATE DRINKING GAME RULES, PT. 6

It’s right up the river from Ft. Sumter. Yee haw!

By Matt Taibbi

After nearly drinking myself to death during the last debate, I revised the Rolling Stone GOP debate drinking game for the sixth debate. We have just 10 rules from now on, and no easy ones. No more, “Take a shot of bourbon when Donald Trump brags about his billions.” This isn’t a mass-suicide exercise.

This debate was focused on the president’s State of the Union address and featured some excellent eye-gouging between Trump and the pride of Canada, Ted Cruz. There are only seven candidates left onstage, as both Carly Fiorina and Rand Paul got the Jason-ax this time around. Without further ado, tonight’s rules:

We Drank After Every Mention Of:

1. Sean Penn.
2. Farsi Island. “Sailors” also acceptable.
3. Law-abiding gun owners.
4. Goldman Sachs. One shot if it’s regarding Hillary. Two shots if it’s about Ted Cruz.
5. The Emanuel AME church.
6. The Confederate flag.
7. “This president didn’t even mention Islamic terrorism in the State of the Union address…”
8. “When I was a federal prosecutor.” Limit five shots. Chaser if Christie mentions 9/11.
9. Gov. Nikki Haley. Take a double if it’s Trump and he works in a sexist/racist joke at her expense. If he works in both, take an unprecedented triple shot.

WILD CARD: We also drink after every clearly rehearsed joke.

IN MEMORY OF NIKOLA TESLA

I've read everything ever thrown at me that's represented as proof that cell phones and microwave ovens and wi-fi cause cancer or even only bad dreams, and it always turns out to be as easily debunked as the mountains of nonsense presented as "scientific" proof for chemtrails, homeopathic patent nostrums, the Holy Trinity, Intelligent Design, foot reflexology, yogic flying, essential oils, herbal detox, anti-gay prayer, smudging for demons, etc. The chief and only danger to cell phone users is that you'll hurt yourself by paying attention to what's in your hand instead of where you're going. And so-called electrosensitivity, while clearly a nuisance for the sufferer, is entirely explainable by the nocebo effect. So instead of spending hours going through it all again to zero use except to stir the weasels up further, I just watched the extended version of the Lord of the Rings trilogy all in one sitting instead of sleeping last night, and I did it in chainsaw-chopped wood-heated warmth, eating electrically refrigerated and then microwave-cooked nutritious traditional (non-organic) food. And a couple of probably-sprayed oranges from a thousand miles away, juicy, sweet and perfect. The Lord of the Rings trilogy is a lovely set of films. Thank Jeebus nobody could ever pray away the gay on Ian McKellan's behalf. He's an accurate Gandalf. And I especially liked what they did with Eowin. And they totally got that Sam is the main character, the focus of the entire struggle and adventure, not Frodo, and certainly not Aragorn the returned king. Remove Sam and there's no story. Last week I read on my show a harrowing summary and description of the Irish potato famine, and it occurred to me to wonder what modern science-hating (and science-misrepresenting) and progress-fearing newsgroup armchair legislators would say to those millions of starving-to-death women and children of the past about the eventual development of safe cheap reliable long-lasting easily-reversible birth control, or of spraying for potato blight, or of constructing a potato that can't catch it in the first place because it has a tinkertoy gene in it from a plant (or fish) that laughs at potato blight. And all those millions of children killed or merely crippled for life by polio. What would you say to their parents, if you could go back in time? Would you tell them vaccines cause autism, because you read it somewhere on the internet, whatever that is, and to let nature take its course?

Marco McClean

memo@mcn.org

http://MemoOfTheAir.wordpress.com

ON LINE COMMENT OF THE DAY

Some of us are very familiar with this general scenario, but that doesn’t make it any less weird. There’s something about it that speaks to the very nature of Life, Choices, Ethics and the limits of any human’s power of volition. I find myself creating allegorical vignettes to keep things in perspective:

1. You’re going to meet a guy with a house in the hills – someone you know from ‘way back’. Things have been going his way lately, he’s feeling flush, so he invited you to one of his “get-togethers”. ‘Word around the campfire’ is that he throws some pretty interesting parties, so you say ‘what the hell’, figure you’ll arrive and leave early and keep things simple.

There are a few people there when you arrive, you chat with this guy for a minute, grab a drink and head out to the back deck to enjoy a smoke – making very sure to sealed the double-paned deck doors to keep the smoke out of the house.

A few drags later you hear some gunshots from somewhere nearby, you figure that it must be crazy neighbors or someone’s gigantic home theater, and you finish your cigarette.

When you slide the doors open you hear the music but you smell the cordite – you’re on high alert (no choice). You find your old acquaintance standing alone in the living room – babbling like a crazy person. His eyes are dilated, forehead waxy-pale and he’s cold-sweating so you dart over and check the back of his head.

“You need an ambulance” you say.

He tries to argue with you so you grab him by the collar and show him the bullet-hole in the back of his head reflected in the mirror-work on the mantelpiece. His eyes are still blank, he’s still arguing, your message is not getting through…

So what can you do? You sit him down on the couch, dial 9-1-1 on his phone, set it down, give his shoulder a pat for old time’s sake (shoot, you don’t hate the guy), you wipe everything you touched and get out before things get complicated.

Wow! That was a quick party.

2. You’re driving in the woods real slow (so you don’t ram a herd of deer) when you hear a bunch of howling & garbled gobbled-gook coming from the a mining tunnel. You wonder “w-t-f”?, pull over, grab a couple things and go check it out.

You are met at the mouth of the tunnel (“condemned”.. “no trespassing” signs etc.) by a pack of whacky-looking trolls.

“Can I help you?” you ask, as they belch their Troll-Speak at you. It takes a minute but you realize that they want you to join them in their lair. You explain why that doesn’t seem like a good idea, ask if there are any children present, and strike a road flare to get a better look at what the hell is going on behind them.

This sends them into a rage – it is *Light* after all, and they hate that – so they start flailing their arms and advancing, attempting to menace you.

You’ve had enough of this noise (literally) turn about while giving the flare a hearty flip over your shoulder and head back to the car. Well, the flare sets off the moonshine vapor and that sets off the messy meth-lab inside the mine.

You hear explosions, some prolonged wailing and a few cut-short screams as you pull back onto the road, but by then you’re fascinated by the dramatic chiaroscuro created by the tall trees, long-shadows and pale late-afternoon sunlight.

Cheers!

FLASH SALE ON GARDEN GLOVES

The Garden Store at Mendocino Coast Botanical Gardens is holding a FLASH SALE on gardening gloves

• TODAY ONLY
• Gardening Gloves
• 10% off non-members
• 20% off Gardens members and Master Gardeners

The Garden Store, Nursery on the Plaza, and the Gardens are open until 4pm today. As always, no admission fee to shop!

Mendocino Coast Botanical Gardens
18220 N Highway 1
Fort Bragg, CA
707-964-4352 ext 16
www.gardenbythesea.org

BERNIE SANDERS FOR PRESIDENT

The Nation Magazine Endorses The Bern

With integrity and principle, the Vermont senator is calling Americans to a political revolution.

A year ago, concerned that ordinary citizens would be locked out of the presidential nominating process, The Nation argued that a vigorously contested primary would be good for the candidates, for the Democratic Party, and for democracy. Two months later, Senator Bernie Sanders formally launched a campaign that has already transformed the politics of the 2016 presidential race. Galvanized by his demands for economic and social justice, hundreds of thousands of Americans have packed his rallies, and over 1 million small donors have helped his campaign shatter fund-raising records while breaking the stranglehold of corporate money. Sanders’s clarion call for fundamental reform—single-payer healthcare, tuition-free college, a $15-an-hour minimum wage, the breaking up of the big banks, ensuring that the rich pay their fair share of taxes—have inspired working people across the country. His bold response to the climate crisis has attracted legions of young voters, and his foreign policy, which emphasizes diplomacy over regime change, speaks powerfully to war-weary citizens. Most important, Sanders has used his insurgent campaign to tell Americans the truth about the challenges that confront us. He has summoned the people to a “political revolution,” arguing that the changes our country so desperately needs can only happen when we wrest our democracy from the corrupt grip of Wall Street bankers and billionaires.

We believe such a revolution is not only possible but necessary—and that’s why we’re endorsing Bernie Sanders for president. This magazine rarely makes endorsements in the Democratic primary (we’ve done so only twice: for Jesse Jackson in 1988, and for Barack Obama in 2008). We do so now impelled by the awareness that our rigged system works for the few and not for the many. Americans are waking up to this reality, and they are demanding change. This understanding animates both the Republican and Democratic primaries, though it has taken those two contests in fundamentally different directions.

At the core of this crisis is inequality, both economic and political. The United States has become a plutocracy—one in which, as Sanders puts it, “we not only have massive wealth and income inequality, but a power structure which protects that inequality.” America’s middle class has melted away, while the gap between rich and poor has reached Gilded Age extremes. The recovery that followed the 2008 economic collapse has not been shared. Indeed, in the United States it seems that nothing is shared these days—not prosperity, nor security, nor even responsibility. While millions of Americans grapple with the consequences of catastrophic climate change, fossil-fuel companies promote climate skeptics so that they can continue to profit from the planet’s destruction. While Americans have tired of endless war, the military-industrial complex and its cheerleaders continue to champion the reckless interventions that have drained our country, damaged our reputation abroad, and created a perfect storm of Pentagon waste, fraud, and abuse. While Americans of every ideological stripe recognize the need for criminal-justice reform, African-American men, women, and children continue to be gunned down by police officers on the streets, and mass incarceration continues largely unabated.

Americans are fed up and fighting back. Seen in isolation, the Fight for $15, Black Lives Matter, the climate-justice movement, the immigrant-rights movement, the campaign for a financial-transactions tax, and the renewed push for single-payer healthcare may seem like unrelated causes. Taken together, they form a rising chorus of outrage over a government that caters to the demands of the super-wealthy, while failing to meet the needs of the many. They share a fury at a politics captured by special interests and big money, where pervasive corruption mocks the very notion of democracy.

Senator Sanders alone has the potential to unite the movements emerging across the country.

In Bernie Sanders, these movements for greater equality and justice have found an ally and a champion. In contrast to the right-wing demagogues who exploit these crises to foment division, the Vermont senator has reached into a proud democratic-socialist tradition to revive the simple but potent notion of solidarity. We must turn to each other, not on each other, Sanders says, and unite to change the corrupted politics that robs us all. His campaign’s funding reflects this commitment, spurning the support of corporate super-PACS and relying instead on millions of grassroots donors. Thanks to his campaign’s integrity, Sanders alone has the potential to unite the movements emerging across the country into one loud, irresistible demand for systemic political change.

For over three decades, Bernie Sanders has defied the political odds, while consistently championing ideas and issues long off our country’s increasingly downsized political map. As mayor of Burlington, he led the fight to keep the Lake Champlain waterfront open to the people and organized the sustainable redevelopment of the city’s downtown area, submitting balanced budgets all the while. In the US House of Representatives, he helped organize the Congressional Progressive Caucus and secured support for amendments to protect pensions and expand community health centers. In the US Senate, he eloquently opposed surveillance abuses, wars of choice, the deregulation of banks, and bailouts for billionaires, and his effective chairmanship of the Senate Committee on Veterans’ Affairs has earned bipartisan accolades.

While we believe that Sanders would make a great president, we know his road to the White House remains steep. At press time, he is contesting for wins in Iowa and New Hampshire and gaining ground on front-runner Hillary Clinton in national polls. His economic-populist message has resonated with many progressives and young voters, but he has yet to marshal deep support among the African-American, Latino, and Asian-American voters who form core constituencies of the Democratic Party.

That said, his campaign is attentive to the need to build a broader coalition, and in Sanders, Democrats have a candidate who can truly walk the walk: a civil-rights marcher in the 1960s with a consistent record of supporting racial justice, women’s equality, and LGBT rights. And they also have a candidate who has shown a willingness to listen and learn: Challenged early in the campaign by Black Lives Matter activists, Sanders has since outlined a bold agenda for holding police to account, reducing mass incarceration, and reforming discriminatory drug laws.

Voters can trust Sanders because he doesn’t owe his political career to the financial overlords of the status quo.

Voters can trust Sanders because he doesn’t owe his political career to the financial overlords of the status quo. Freed from these chains of special interest, he can take the bold measures that the country needs. Sanders alone proposes to break up the too-big-to-fail banks; to invest in public education, from universal pre-K to tuition-free public college; to break the power of the insurance and pharmaceutical cartels with Medicare for All reforms. He alone proposes to empower workers with a living wage. He alone stands ready to put Americans to work rebuilding our crumbling infrastructure, and to confront climate change by making the United States a leader in renewable energy. His audacious agenda proves that money in politics doesn’t widen debate; rather, it narrows the range of possibility. While Sanders understands this, we fear that his chief rival for the Democratic nomination does not.

Hillary Clinton is a candidate who combines unmatched experience with intelligence, grit, and strength. She has responded to the populist temper of the times: questioning the sort of free-trade deals that Bill Clinton and Barack Obama have championed; calling for reforms on Wall Street and tax increases on the wealthy; courageously defending Planned Parenthood; challenging the National Rifle Association; and supporting trade unions. If nominated, she would be far more preferable to any of the extremists running for the GOP nomination (and so would former Maryland governor Martin O’Malley). We understand that keeping the presidency out of the hands of right-wing Republicans is crucial, especially when the next president will reshape the Supreme Court. And there is no denying that if she were elected, Clinton would shatter the thickest glass ceiling and champion women’s rights in a way that no other president has.

But the limits of a Clinton presidency are clear. Her talk of seeking common ground with Republicans and making deals to “get things done” in Washington will not bring the change that is so desperately needed. Clinton is open to raising the Social Security retirement age, and her plan falls short of increasing benefits for all. She rejects single-payer healthcare and refuses to consider breaking up the big banks. We also fear that she might accept a budgetary “grand bargain” with the Republicans that would lock in austerity for decades to come.

Clinton is certainly seasoned, but her experience hasn’t prevented her from getting things wrong.

On foreign policy, Clinton is certainly seasoned, but her experience hasn’t prevented her from getting things wrong. Clinton now says that her 2002 vote to authorize George W. Bush’s invasion of Iraq was a mistake, but she apparently learned little from it. Clinton was a leading advocate for overthrowing Moammar El-Gadhafi in Libya, leaving behind a failed state that provides ISIS with an alternative base. She supported calls for the United States to help oust Bashar al-Assad in Syria, an approach that has added fuel to a horrific civil war. She now advocates a confrontation with Russia in Syria by calling for a no-fly zone. Her support for President Obama’s nuclear agreement with Iran was marred by an explicit rejection of better relations with that country and bellicose pledges to provide Israel with more arms. If elected, Clinton will be another “war president” at a time when America desperately needs peace.

Sanders’s approach is different and better. The senator hasn’t talked as much as we would like about global challenges and opportunities, and we urge him to focus more on foreign policy. But what he has said (and done) inspires confidence. An opponent of the Iraq War from the start, he criticizes the notion of “regime change” and the presumption that America alone must police the world. He rejects a new Cold War with Russia. He supports the nuclear-weapons agreement with Iran, and he would devote new energy to dismantling nuclear arsenals and pursuing nonproliferation. He has long been an advocate for normalizing relations with Cuba and for reviving a good-neighbor policy in the hemisphere. Sanders’s foreign policy would also create conditions for rebuilding a broadly shared prosperity at home. He would lead an international effort to end the crippling austerity that threatens to create another global recession, and he would champion a green New Deal to combat climate change. And as a leader of the opposition to the Trans-Pacific Partnership, he would undo the corporate-defined trade regime that has devastated America’s middle class.

Critics of Bernie Sanders dismiss him as an idealist (he is!) on a quixotic crusade. Meanwhile, the corporate media has paid shamefully little attention to his campaign’s achievements, instead lavishing attention on the latest outrageous pronouncements by Donald Trump and the Republican candidates struggling to compete with him. Nonetheless, polls show that Sanders—even as he still introduces himself to many voters—is well poised to take on the eventual GOP nominee, frequently doing better than Clinton in these matchups. Moreover, in contrast to the modest audiences at Clinton’s campaign stops, the huge crowds at Sanders’s grassroots rallies indicate that he’ll be able to boost turnout in November.

Whether his candidacy, and the inspired campaign it fuels, will spark a “political revolution” sufficient to win the Democratic nomination and the White House this year remains to be seen. We do know that his run has already created the space for a more powerful progressive movement and demonstrated that a different kind of politics is possible. This is a revolution that should live on, no matter who wins the nomination.

Bernie Sanders and his supporters are bending the arc of history toward justice. Theirs is an insurgency, a possibility, and a dream that we proudly endorse.

COMMUNITY WILDFIRE PLANNING MEETING JAN.28

Avoiding wildfire hazards are certainly one way to be able to Age in Place. This meeting is set for the same time as the AVHC scheduled annual meeting at which, according to the bylaws,

"The Directors shall be selected at the annual meeting of the Corporation in January, in the following manner: During the December Board meeting preceding the annual meeting, notice will be given that there will be selection of Board Members in January. The Board Development and Governance committee shall present a slate of nominees at the Annual Meeting. Selection will be made by the Directors by written ballot. Following the tabulation of votes by the Secretary of the Board, Directors will be announced and shall assume their duties."

However, since there are no published Dec. minutes nor Jan. Agenda, it is anybody's guess as to what is happening. Supposedly the Board decided that web info would be handled "in-house" from now on. The news and announcements generated by the center has been increased, [e.g. "It’s AVHC’s 40th anniversary!! Our founder Franklin Apfel opened the doors of the health center on this day January 8th, 1976. Shortly after Dr. Mark Apfel joined in September and has been taking care of Valley residents ever since. Thank you to our founders and to our loyal patients, donors and friends who keep our doors open. Happy Anniversary AVHC!"].

But the Board has a legal responsibility to publish minutes of their actions, and of any committee actions, and those cannot be generated by the staff of the center. How about it Board? What did you decide last month, and how's it going? What's the money situation? Was/is the fundraising a success? Are the committee goals being satisfactorily met? Anxious concerns? Good results? The Board will meet at 6:00 at the Health Center. It should be possible to take in part of both meetings?

But in any case, if you do have concerns about wildfire hazards (standing dead trees; how the State Responsibility Area fees are collected, and how and to what entity they are dispersed? Why does the County and CDF allow development in SRA's where there is no fire protection? for starters), do come and speak out.

Cheers,

Gene Herr

* * *

Community Wildfire Planning Meeting Jan.28

You are invited to attend a community wildfire planning meeting at the Boonville Fairgrounds on January 28th. Local fire chiefs and public agencies will provide information and hope to hear from "communities at risk" about what their concerns are regarding wildfire hazards in their neighborhoods. We hope you can attend and help spread the word in your community.

Carol Mandel
District Conservationist
Natural Resources Conservation Service
(707) 468-9223 x115
1252 Airport Park Blvd., Suite B1
Ukiah, CA 95482
(707) 468-9223 x115

A NEW WAY TO DEAL WITH THE HENDY WOODS OVERFLOW

Editor,

I realized I might have sent this last email to the web editor when you are probably more appropriate. I work for Hipcamp, and I'm hoping to secure a piece in the Advertiser about the Hipcamp Land Share program. Similar to Airbnb, the program is as a way for private landowners to earn passive income from their land by hosting campers. Except our users aren't just looking for weekend escapes and to get pampered; they're looking to connect with nature, local communities and be a part of a land movement. I love Boonville, and I'd personally love to see some private land camping up there. It's a wonderful town that deserves some more like-minded people coming through. Let me know if you have time to chat this week.

Best, Jacqueline Tanzella

* * *

Hi there,

Hope you're getting ready for a nice holiday! I was hoping to secure a story in the Advertiser about the Hipcamp Land Share program as a way for private landowners to earn passive income from their land by hosting campers. Most people enter the new year looking for ways to save money and make more money, and hosting campers is a great way to do so with low impact on a person's schedule or land. It's also a fantastic way to drive a local economy, connect with people and find new customers for potential CSA box, goods or produce sales. We are actively seeking new private landowners, ranchers and farmers in the Anderson Valley area to list their land on our platform. So many of us have spent time camping at Hendy Woods and enjoying the sun at the Brewery, and we know Boonville and AV are great places for us. Right now we're offering $250 for successful landowner referrals, and I'd love your help disseminating that word around town. Would you be up for a quick call to discuss the program as well as some of the locals who are already using Hipcamp?

Cheers,

Jacqueline Tanzella
Head of Land, Hipcamp
415.741.7848
http://www.hipcamp.com/

NAME & SHAME SOCIAL WORKERS: SHAME YOUR SOCIAL WORKER

Shall we?

http://nameshamesocialworkers.blogspot.com/2008/08/shame-your-social-worker.html

THE INTERVIEW WITH KAREEM

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar is the consummate basketball renaissance man. The all-time leading scorer in NBA history is also an author, historian, and now cultural commentator on the most hot-button political topics of the day. Here, we sit with Kareem for an hour to discuss his deep history of activism, scholarship and steadfast self-discovery. We’ll be releasing video of this interview at The Nation in the coming weeks.

Just click below and have a listen!

http://www.edgeofsportspodcast.com/post/137242219220/kareem-abdul-jabbar-a-beautiful-mind

In struggle and sports

Dave Zirin, edgeofsports.com

MENDOCINO COUNTY BOARD OF SUPERVISORS TO HOLD JOINT MEETING WITH THE MENDOCINO COUNTY EMPLOYEES’ RETIREMENT ASSOCIATION BOARD OF RETIREMENT

On January 19, 2016, the Mendocino County Board of Supervisors will hold a joint meeting with the Mendocino County Retirement Board at the Ukiah Valley Conference Center, 200 South School Street, in Ukiah. The joint meeting is scheduled from 2:00 – 5:00 p.m.

The Agenda will feature a presentation of the Actuarial Valuation Report by the Segal Company. Additionally, the Agenda will include discussion and possible revocation of Board of Supervisors resolutions related to excess earnings and potential action by the Board of Supervisors and the Board of Retirement to reduce long-term pension costs to the County’s retirement system.

Dan Gjerde, Board Chair, shared the following comments: “All of the supervisors are looking forward to meeting with the retirement board, and welcome members of the public to share their ideas. Our shared goal is to fund reasonable retirement payments into the future, in a way that is not cost-prohibitive for plan beneficiaries or taxpayers.”

The public is welcome and invited to attend every Board meeting. The agenda will be posted online 72 hours prior to the meeting at

www.co.mendocino.ca.us/bos/meetings/PublishedMeetings.htm.

For more information, please contact the Executive Office at (707) 463-4441.

Carmel J. Angelo

Chief Executive Officer

A HISTORY OF NORTHCOAST RAILROADS

http://www.pressdemocrat.com/gallery/5073908-181/history-of-north-coast-railroads

US ENTREPRENEURS DROOL OVER CUBA

by R.G. Davis

“We have the opportunity to increase the likelihood that Cuban people have greater liberties and freedom with the ability to connect with them,” said sponsor Jerry Moran, a [Senate] Republican. “I also would say that as Americans we have certain freedoms that we cherish, and Americans can travel around the globe today without exception – no country is totally prohibited with the exception of Cuba.” (AP July 23)

When the Senate Republicans agree with Obama it must be a better way to invade and subvert Cuba – with of course the ruse of “democracy” which by now we in the US understand means capitalism -- well not so obviously just “free markets.” It’s a new policy, a mini “open door” pact with one country, since the old system of blockade & attack forced the Cubans into international connections with the Soviet Union then Russia and China, Brazil, Canada and many other countries. In addition given Cuba’s enormous prestige in resisting the US juggernaut plus supporting liberation struggles around the world, Fidel and Cuba not only are respected but also reciprocal trade has been established with many other countries.

A significant amount of support for Obama’s opening to Cuba has come from Midwest Senators, representatives of agricultural mega corporations: Cargill, Nestle, Monsanto, ConAgra, and Archer Daniels Midland. The US corporations are drooling over the possible sales of more GMO products and (pesticides) to poison the Cuban people. Of course this is the achievement of “free trade” as we understand from NAFTA and now Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP). However the Cubans have had an alternative agenda, and might avoid massive US investments for number of reasons. The $957m (£577m) overhaul of the port of Mariel, in the west of the capital, Havana, has been financed by Brazil. (2014. BBC) A container port will be part of the industrial zone. In 2005 a national campaign to improve energy conservation focused on replacing kitchen inefficient hot plates and old refrigerators with more efficient equipment. I asked Mario Arrastia of Cubaenergia “Where did Cuba obtain those replacements? China!”

With the recent lifting of terrorist charges other countries can now deal - François Hollande President of France and German Foreign trade minister have visited Fidel, of course, to touch history and talk trade. The agreements with other capitalist colonial powers is likely to be ramped up more quickly than with the US just by expanding existing Spanish, Italian touristic investments and South American Venezuela, (oil) Bolivia,(minerals) Ecuador (food) projects. Before the US business community can eliminate the embargo which also restricts US investors they have to settle a few big money deals still to be resolved, the “game changer” is the Cubans want Guantanamo back! How will Obama close Guantanamo and give it back to the Cubans? Perhaps Jimmy Carter’s 1978 treaty ceding control of the Canal to Panama could be the model: It took 21 years to complete.

The Cubans might not allow US investment in Cuba till the US agrees to return the offshore torture prison. Remember the US worked that seaport into the Platt Amendment (1903). Fidel in his sensitivity to ethical gestures has since 1959 not cashed the check for “rent” that the US agreed to pay each year for the navel base. The Cuban’s are demanding much more then rent for the damage of the embargo and other US actions.

While the US in its Empyreal reach has been working to undermine the Ukraine’s connection to Russia, and invested a few billions for destabilization and now military equipment in support of old Nazi operatives, Vladimir Putin visited Cuba in 2014 to talk trade and write off 90 % of Cuba’s 35 billion debt. Cuba may have many more options then to trade with US entrepreneurs. In addition, the Cubans state they will keep all investments off their socialist and communist supports (don’t mention they have a Communist Party like the one in Venezuela) and so there will be a great effort to preserve Cuba’s commitments to its peoples health care, education, social services and state supported agroecological food production systems – no pesticides allowed in food growing in Havana and Cuba’s major cities.

In Cuba, with 27% of the land, small farmers produce: 98% of fruits, 95% of beans, 80% of maize, 75% of pork, 65% of vegetables, 55% of cow milk, 55% of cattle and 35% of rice (Braulio Machin et al, ANAP-Via Campesina, “Revolucion agroecologica, resumen ejectivo”). [Counterpunch 26 June15/Colin Todhunter]

The Cuban situation is different then other countries that have accepted loans and restructuring from the World Bank and IMF. Argentina and Greece suffer from all those loans and debts, plus the privatization of any social service that helps people

As a recent visitor on a tour to Cuba I was struck by changes like the return of tipping, and the rare use of “Companero” plus the insistence that we spend money like usual bourgeois tourists even though we were on a progressive tour. This tour had four important and valuable sessions with knowledgeable ecological environmental institutions, that followed with touristisch - “get off the boat,--buy trinkets -back to the boat- float away.” There were also intermediate subjects called restaurant selection an elevated activity that didn’t improve ones sense of Cuba’s culinary arts. I began to wonder how could I engage this country in a better way?

When I returned home I began reading various texts – (Peter Rosset, Richard Levins and Miguel Altieri) and found an alternative to usual “spend” tourism that relates to the pro-Cuban enthusiasts in the US, weather liberal or leftist, it’s the Richard Levin’s model. Harvard Professor in Public Health who since1964 has worked with the Cubans to improve their scientific abilities, he was an inspiration for the Cuban Institute for Ecology and Systematics. His suggestion for further efforts of the same kind answered my own irritation with simple tourism: “Spend $400 for Cuban cigars and rum and Support the Revolution.” There was a more enjoyable and useful way to proceed:

“It requires international cooperation between scientists who have the resources and freed from urgency that permits theoretical exploration but who live in countries with more impediments to ecologically and socially rational agriculture, and countries committed to such a direction but lacking in scientific resources.” (p.17

His article argued that IPM was only a first step towards full organic farming. Plus, Cuba is no longer as scientifically deprived as in 1986 however the point made is that those of us who can provide expertise where it is needed should try to figure out how to do it. Given the history of US sabotage, assassination attempts and subversion it doesn’t make it easy for us ‘gringos’ however it’s worth trying.

To make sure I am talking about Cuba and existing conditions “on the ground:” Raul Castro if one understands the difference between his policies and Fidel’s – from all indication Fidel certainly discusses strategic matters with his brother and certainly they agree as well as have different but complementary aproaches while the humor (sense of contradictions) of Fidel apparently resides in Raul as well.

When President Raul Castro visited Pope Francis at the Vatican he commented to the press: “I read all the speeches of the pope, his commentaries, and if the pope continues this way, I will go back to praying and go back to the church. I’m not joking.”

Raul may not be the charismatic speaker and enormous presence of Fidel but he seems to have a fairly good idea along with all his advisors over the last 56 years. Remember Cuba has been at a socialist/communism juggle for a long time, one Castro is grand, two is fascinating, however there must be others who are active communists, revolutionaries, socialists anti-colonialists and even nationalists and ecological socialists who will object and restrict the new type of invasion/subversion envisioned by the drooling entrepreneurs 90 miles from the coast of Havana.

(R.G.Davis visited Cuba in April; his fourth visit in November focused on organic farms, gardens and agroecological science. rgdavis10@gmail.com.)

MARTIAN CHRONICLES

by Valeria Luiselli

In the United States, where I’ve lived for many years, one is considered a resident for tax purposes after 30 days. This is not true in the realm of immigration status where one might spend her entire life as an illegal despite paying taxes, or -- as in my case, being an “alien” -- a word that for most of the human beings that I know signifies “Martian” more than it does “foreigner”.

Only this status as a Martian, I believe, can explain what happened to me a few weeks ago. To avoid double taxation, Martians as well as normal people can request that the government send us certificates of fiscal residence. This year they came without any problems, but when I opened the package I realized that the papers were not in my name but in the name of one Richard Tiffany Gere.

The name seemed familiar so I checked it out on the Internet. As I had thought, it was the name of the Hollywood actor, the protagonist of Pretty Woman, whom my mother considered no less than the reincarnation of the god Apollo.

To me it seemed a horrible omen to receive the tax documents of a gentleman no matter how handsome and gray haired he were. It was a bad sign -- proof that peculiar things happen to me that are not necessarily good. But when I told my mother, she became very excited and it occurred to her to take advantage of this happenstance; so in the package of documents we sent to the accountants of Mr. Gere, we included an invitation to dinner in a Tibetan restaurant in Manhattan. (Mr. Gere and my mother apparently share Buddhist convictions.)

On the specified date, the two of us dressed up elegantly and went out to dine at the Tibetan restaurant. Of course Mr. Gere never showed up because Martian stories never have happy endings. And my documents never arrived either.

MENDOCINO NATIONAL FOREST TO WAIVE RECREATION FEES FOR MARTIN LUTHER KING JR. DAY

The Mendocino National Forest is bringing in the New Year by offering a fee-free day at all Forest Service run campgrounds and the Red Bluff Boat Launch in honor of Martin Luther King Jr. Day, January 18, 2016. The fee waiver program is in cooperation with other federal land management agencies under the Federal Lands Recreation Enhancement Act. "These fee-free days help encourage visitors to come out and see our Forest. With the recent designation of the Berryessa Snow Mountain National Monument, this is a great chance to get out and see what exciting and unique opportunities await," said Forest Supervisor Ann Carlson. "These lands belong to all of us, and we want to thank visitors for their continued support and remind them that this is a place to have fun!" As a reminder, the Upper Lake Off-Highway Vehicle (OHV) trails remain closed due to high saturation levels. Visitors are encouraged to check trail conditions by visiting our website or calling the Upper Lake OHV message line at 707-275-1430. With recent wet weather, and more on the way, forest roads may have been impacted. If you come across an area where the road is compromised or washed out, please report it to Forest Engineer Shannon Pozas at 530-934-3316. For a list of campgrounds and other recreational opportunities, please contact the Mendocino National Forest at 530-934-3316 or visit www.fs.usda.gov/mendocino<http://www.fs.usda.gov/mendocino>. Get the latest updates and alerts easily by following us on Twitter, @MendocinoNF.

Elizabeth Sousa
Acting Public Affairs Officer
Forest Service
Mendocino National Forest, Supervisor's Office
p: 530-934-1137
c: 530-517-1057
esousa@fs.fed.us<mailto:esousa@fs.fed.us>
825 N. Humboldt Avenue
Willows, CA 95988

FRIENDS OF OUTLET CREEK....

Friends of Outlet Creek asking County to shut down Grist Creek asphalt plant at Jan. 29 public hearing

Air Board Hearing To Appeal Asphalt Plant Permit 1-29-16

On Jan. 29, neighbors of the Grist Creek Aggregates asphalt plant on Covelo Road (Highway 162) at Longvale (next to Outlet Creek) will ask a special Mendocino County Air Quality Management District (MCAQMD) to revoke the most recent permit issued for the plant’s operation by the District until a complete environmental review of the operation’s impacts has been evaluated. A local grass-roots advocacy group, the Friends of Outlet Creek is urging the public to attend and participate in this hearing. The hearing before the MCAQMD Hearing Board will be held in Ukiah on Friday, Jan. 29 at 10 a.m. in the Ukiah City Council Chambers, 300 Seminary Ave.

Friends of Outlet Creek will ask to appeal the Air District's newest air permit issued to Grist Creek Aggregates on Nov. 17 for a Crumb Rubber Heating and Blending Unit used for the production of rubberized asphalt. At issue is the fact that rubberized asphalt has never been produced at the site before, is being permitted without review of environmental impacts, and that the County of Mendocino has acted in the matter to benefit one particular business enterprise without regard to the interests of the public or of the environment.

The rubberized asphalt equipment was not permitted under the previous permit issued by the MCAQMD in June. The plant operated for over a month in violation of that permit, resulting in financial penalties being assessed against Grist Creek Aggregates by the Air District. Penalties assessed against the facility since it began operation in September now total over $172,000. Asphalt plant neighbors hope that with the poor compliance record of the facility, the penalties assessed by MCAQMD against the plant, and the problems and violations detailed in a California Air Resources Board Investigation Report dated Oct. 29, 2015, that the MCAQMD Hearing Board will be receptive to taking action to prevent the asphalt plant from continuing to impact the Longvale community. A previous appeals hearing by the MCAQMD Hearing Board in August, before the asphalt plant began operation, contested the first air permit issued for the asphalt plant.

The California Air Resources Board Investigation Report pointed out many violations at the plant and many inadequacies in MCAQMD’s permitting process. Shortcomings included failure to adequately respond to the many public complaints about air and noise pollution from the plant.

Amy Lee, a neighbor of the plant, says: “I have experienced burning eyes, sinuses, and throat when the exhaust smoke and fumes blow onto my property and I am outside to experience it or my windows are open. Sometimes, the smoke clouds hover onto my property for up to five hours a day, depending on the wind. I feel trapped in my home because my health suffers when I step outside and the asphalt plant is operating.”

In April of 2015, Friends of Outlet Creek filed suit against the County of Mendocino to require an environmental review of this new asphalt plant as required by the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA). According to the Friends of Outlet Creek, because Mendocino County Planning Department did not evaluate the project’s environmental impacts as required under CEQA, the County Air District, which issued the project’s permits, must now act as the lead agency under CEQA, and thus require an environmental review.

The public is encouraged to attend this hearing and speak during the public comment period.

Letters and written response for the public hearing may be submitted until Jan. 21 at 5 p.m. to: Donna Roberts Nash, Clerk of the Hearing Board (mcaqmd@co.mendocino.ca.us) Mendocino County Air Quality Management District 306 E. Gobbi St., Ukiah, CA 95482 (public hearing notice attached)

Hearing Location: Ukiah City Council Chambers, 300 Seminary Avenue, Ukiah, CA Hearing Date: Friday, January 29, 2016, 10:00 AM For more information: www.friendsofoutletcreek.com; (707) 621-3215 or (707) 836-6595.

Asphalt plant emissions filling the canyon at Grist Creek Aggregate, Oct. 16, 2015

Outlet Creek threatens to flood asphalt plant Dec. 22, 2015

ANNUAL REPORT AGAIN SEES NEED FOR IMPROVEMENT BY STATE'S LEGISLATURE ON FOOD AND FARM POLICY

The California Food Policy Council Grows, Linking Nearly 500 Organizations

A report released this week by the California Food Policy Council<http://www.rootsofchange.org/projects/california-food-policy-council/> (CAFPC) and Roots of Change<http://www.rootsofchange.org> reveals the 2015 food and farm policy votes of California's 120 elected state legislators. The 2015 CAFPC Report on Legislation Related to Food and Farming<http://www.rootsofchange.org/what-we-do/current-collaborative-projects/cafpc-reports/> illustrates how despite some progress on food and agriculture issues, the Legislature and Governor continue to miss most opportunities to pass bills that will actually have the greatest impact on the people most harmed by the challenges connected to California's food and farming system. Wages remain low for food and farm workers, healthy fresh produce is more expensive, sugary beverages are overly consumed and the impacts of climate change are least addressed for those most at risk from heat, water shortages and poor water quality. Created by 17 local food policy councils, including the Mendocino Food Policy Council, and 16 key nonprofits or advocates that form the CAFPC's Food Policy Work Group, this report represents a unified perspective from a large number of constituencies representing the diversity of California: rural and urban, conservative and progressive, affluent and low-income. In order for the state to achieve significant policy reform there must exist a broad and active base of Californians from north to south and east to west, who are determined to push their legislators toward positive change. Of the 18 priority bills tracked this year by the CAFPC, Governor Jerry Brown signed eight into law (44%). Included in this group were bills that end the sub therapeutic use of antibiotics in livestock (SB 27); improve the composting of organic waste (AB 1045 and AB 876) and create a nutrition incentives grant program (AB 1321) within the Farm to Fork Office of the California Department of Food and Agriculture, although it remains unfunded. SB 27 and AB 1321 are the first bills of their kind passed by a state. The Governor vetoed three of the tracked bills. The remaining bills stalled in committees or on the floor. "We continue to be impressed by the Legislature's willingness to consider a broad range of food system issues because there are many needing attention. And we are disappointed that the Legislature missed its opportunity to help farmers and ranchers build soil as a means to combat global warming and drought (SB 367 and AB 761) as well as commit state funds for nutrition incentives. It is particularly frustrating that the Assembly Health Committee would not advance AB 1357 to create a revenue source for building local food systems through a fee on sugar sweetened beverages," said Roots of Change President Michael R. Dimock. "That bill would transform our local food systems to greatly enhance the health of our families, but as the report reveals, the beverage industry and the California Chamber of Commerce funded members to block its advance, protecting corporate profits, but not our kids," he added. The biggest influence on California's food and agriculture politics remains that of large corporations and trade groups. In addition to defeating the sweetened beverage fee, industry again killed Senator Mark Leno's bill to add a cost of living adjustment to the state minimum wage (SB 3). Industry also stopped SB 32, which would have done more to combat global warming. "Although this report highlights some successes for California's rural and poorer communities, the Governor and Legislature still need to hear the voices of all Californians that are clamoring for a healthy, equitable, and just food system. Our local Food Policy Councils and the CAFPC provide one avenue to channel and express those voices," said Miles Gordon, member of the Mendocino County Food Policy Council and Food Systems Director for North Coast Opportunities. With this report, the California Food Policy Council completes its third successful year of collaboration on statewide food policy, and celebrates the addition of seven new members. The CAFPC now ties together the vision and goals of 29 food policy councils, 16 national or state policy organizations and 647 community based organizations seeking food system policy change. In addition to tracking legislators' votes and the Governor's actions on key bills, the report contains an analysis of the 2015 legislative session and a new section entitled the California Food and Farming Index that presents key facts that set the context and underline the critical need for food system change. About the Mendocino County Food Policy Council: The Mendocino County Food Policy Council (MCFPC) is an independent body whose mission is to promote a fair and sustainable local food system through research, collaboration and collective advocacy. Mendocino County Food Policy## Council 413 N. State Street Ukiah, CA 95482

JOE CRAVEN!

The Mendocino College Recording Arts and Technology Club presents multi-instrumentalist, singer, and award winning educator Joe Craven as Mendocino Community College's Artist-in-Residence for 2016. He brings a new band, Joe Craven and the Sometimers to the College Performing Arts Center Theater for workshops on Friday, February 5th and a concert on Saturday February 6th. Joe is the Director of RiverTunes Music Camp and plays a wide variety of string instruments, including fiddle, mandolin, ukulele, tres, cavaquinio, balaliaka, as well as a world of percussion, including anything he can get his hands on, such as a pickling jar, a credit card, or a jawbone. Craven is a well known Master of Ceremonies at acoustic music festivals and, for many years, was violinist and percussionist for the David Grisman Quintet. His versatile Sometimer band mates are Bruce MacMillan on guitars, dobro, lap steel, vocals and Jonathan Stoyanoff on standup and electric basses and vocals. Concert is 7:30PM with special guest opener, The Thin Air String Band. Tickets are $20.00 at the door, $15.00 for student/seniors and are available at Ukiah's Dig!Music, Mendocino Book Company, and both workshop and concert online at Brown Paper Tickets.

Thanks

Sheridan Malone
422 Jones St
Ukiah Ca 95482
707-463-1102 and 434-249-4416 cell

JANUARY 14 FORT BRAGG UNIFIED SCHOOL DISTRICT BOARD MEETING ON MTV

Mendocino TV will broadcast live the Fort Bragg Unified School District Board of Trustees Meeting at 6:00 PM on January 14, 2016 at www.mendocinotv.com.

Agenda: https://drive.google.com/folderview?id=0B0rFl2iHHw13Y1A1LUw2ZVA0clU&usp=sharing

Tonight's meeting is the first of the new year, with President Gerry Matson presiding over the board, including new members Kathy Babcock and Cynthia Audo as well as returning members Jennifer Owen, Vie President, and Sydney Smith-Tallman.

The Board will honor Michelle Norvell and Ryan Perkins for their exemplary service to the District staff, parents and students throughout their years serving on the FBUSD Board.

This event is sponsored by the FBUSD Board of Trustees.