Mendocino County Today: Sunday, Feb 28, 2016

• Amazing Curry
• SC Primary
• CNN Protest
• Eberhard Testimony
• Redwood Forestry
• Mustard
• Fatal DUI
• Fjord's Ukiah
• Shelter Facts
• Caesar Time
• Hathaway Questions
• Lost Records
• Strong Men
• Signature Gathering
• Yesterday's Catch
• Loathsome Trump
• Different Hats
• Never Underestimate
• Prick News
• Murderer Sequel
• Rock Oscars
• Schedule Change

I PITY THE SPORTS FAN who missed Saturday night's Warrior's game against the Oklahoma City Thunder. It had everything, including the most amazing individual performance by the extra-terrestrial, Steph Curry, who won it with less than a second to go in overtime with what? his 12th three-pointer in the game. He's the best ever, a human marvel.

Highlights: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C0HtFvZC5W8

SAPS GO TO THE POLLS

The South Carolina Democratic Primary has been called for Hillary Clinton. According to early surveys, roughly eight in ten black voters went for Clinton. The win also reverses her 2008 primary loss in the state to Barack Obama and gives her two wins in a row as the candidates head in to Super Tuesday. According to exit polls conducted by the AP, 6 in 10 voters in Saturday's South Carolina primary were black and about "7 in 10 said they wanted the next president to continue Obama's policies, and only about 20 percent wanted a more liberal course of action."

A GROUP OF U.C. IRVINE STUDENTS gathered at CNN headquarters in Los Angeles today (Saturday) to protest the network's measly coverage of Bernie Sanders' campaign. The protest was organized by UCI senior, Olivia Allen, of Philo.

FEDERAL TRIAL OF WILLITS PHOTOGRAPHER CONTINUES

Press Rights Ignored by Cops

by Nicholas Iovino

State police treated the media like an enemy and made no distinction between journalists and environmental protesters they were removing and arresting at a highway construction site, a news photographer testified Friday.

In the final day of witness testimony in his false-arrest trial against the California Highway Patrol, photojournalist Stephen Eberhard said officers subjected him to a pattern of intimidation, threats and harassment to deter him from covering one of the state's largest highway projects in decades.

"They treated us like we weren't press," Eberhard told the jury on Friday. "We were protesters. That's the way we were treated many times."

Eberhard sued the CHP and three officers that assaulted and arrested him as he covered the Willits Bypass Project, a $300-million rerouting of Highway 101 in the Northern California town of Willits.

After arresting Eberhard for trying to snap photos of two protesters that locked themselves to construction equipment on July 23, 2013, the arresting officer, co-defendant Christopher Dabbs, told a jailer, "I've got another protester for you," Eberhard testified Friday.

The newsman said he made a point to remind Dabbs that he was an objective newspaper photographer, not a protester.

While Eberhard and an independent videographer covered another protest on June 12, CHP Sgt. Braden Moffett looked at the two journalists and told them they would be the first two arrested even though they were accompanied by an official escort from the state Department of Transportation, or Caltrans.

A few weeks later, Eberhard drove down to the construction site with his wife when an unknown CHP officer approached his car and recognized him, he said.

Eberhard's wife Lana testified in court Thursday that the officer's facial expression immediately changed when he realized her husband was the journalist that had been taking photos of police arresting protesters at the site.

"His face just hardened and his demeanor changed, and there was this hostility" Lana Eberhard said of the officer. "You could just sense it. He said, 'If you don't leave the area, you'll be arrested.'"

Earlier this week, co-defendant and CHP officer Teddy Babcock admitted he shoved Eberhard four times as the newsman tried to shoot photos of construction work at the project site on May 31, 2013.

"I was afraid he might assault me again," Eberhard said. "I was pretty shook up. I was not expecting any officer of the law to attack me like that, and while I'm taking photos."

Babcock said he took that action because the area was unsafe, but Eberhard claims Babcock was retaliating against him for a previous encounter. A few weeks earlier, Eberhard had asked Babcock why he yelled at him and no one else to back far away from an area where two people were being arrested — preventing Eberhard from snapping a photo of the event.

Babcock folded his arms and said, "I'm not saying another word," according to Eberhard.

"My impression is that he is a hot-head and knew he shouldn't say anything further," Eberhard said.

On cross-examination, state prosecutor Harry "Chip" Gower III asked Eberhard if anyone from Caltrans ever told him he could access the construction site without an escort.

Gower played a video of Eberhard's deposition testimony, in which Eberhard acknowledged he knew Caltrans did not want him entering the site without an escort.

The day Eberhard was arrested on July 23, 2013, he had called his escort and asked him to meet him at the site, but he did not have an escort with him at the time.

Gower also asked Eberhard if he felt he could manipulate younger officers like Dabbs, who were less familiar with the ropes, into letting him come onto the site and take photos when he had no authorization to do so.

The state prosecutor also pointed out that Eberhard still has many friends and strong ties to civic organizations in the community, downplaying the damages to Eberhard's reputation that he claims he suffered as a result of the arrest.

Friday was the fourth day of the trial and the last day of witness testimony.

Closing arguments and jury deliberations are expected to begin Monday.

U.S. District Judge James Donato instructed the nine-member jury that it must decide if Babcock, who pushed Eberhard, and the two arresting officers — Dabbs and Kory Reynolds — were motivated to retaliate against Eberhard or chill his First Amendment rights when they assaulted and arrested him.

(Courtesy, Courthouse News Service)

* * *

BABCOCK HAS LIED BEFORE

From the AVA of October 17, 2012:

A BIG WIN FOR JOHN McKELLER is also a big win for the motorists of Mendocino County. McKeller lives on Greenwood Road. You may recall that it was the sunny Sunday morning of May 6th when McKeller set out for his regular yoga session in Ukiah in his black Dodge Durango, the kind of vehicle viewed by law enforcement as a rolling felony. But McKeller is a law-abiding citizen, not a felon. He just likes Durangos.

THAT DAY McKeller knew there was an abalone checkpoint at the Boonville Fairgrounds so he rolled his tinted windows all the way down for easy viewing and proceeded within the posted speed limits through Philo, picking up lawful speed as he approached the Indian Creek Bridge.

“WHICH,” McKeller recalls, “is when a CHP cruiser whipped around and pulled me over at the driveway to KZYX. As the officer walked up to my window I released my seatbelt. The cop said I was driving without a seatbelt, but how could he even see my seatbelt driving the other direction at that redwood grove at the bridge? It’s the darkest stretch of road this side of Navarro. And besides I was wearing my seat belt.”

THE CHP OFFICER was the infamous Officer Babcock, something of a legend on the South Coast for eagle-eyed seat belt violations real, but many South Coast people insist, often imagined by the zealous Babcock. There were so many complaints about Babcock from South Coast residents that he was transferred inland to work out of the CHP's Ukiah office.

BACK IN PHILO that bright day in May, Babcock had proceeded to write McKeller a seatbelt ticket. An incredulous McKeller was astounded he was getting a ticket for an offense he had not committed. He soon visited the CHP office in Ukiah where he asked if he could look at the video of his alleged infraction, and was surprised that the duty officer immediately handed it to him.

“THERE IT WAS RIGHT ON TAPE,” McKeller says. “It shows everything — the officer doing a u-turn to catch up with me and me unhooking my seat belt as he walks up to my window.”

McKELLER'S next stop was Judge Nadel’s courtroom. “You have it on tape?” the judge laughed. “Yes, I do your honor,” McKeller said, “and here it is.” At the end of the viewing, the judge said, “I’m putting this over until Tuesday the 9th of October at 11am. “I’m going to bring the officer in and make him explain this one,” she said.

ON THE 9th of October, which was last Tuesday, Officer Babcock and McKeller both appeared in Judge Nadel's courtroom. “I couldn't get my video to work so I ended up showing it on the judge's laptop. I hadn't heard the audio before. The audio goes on just as Babcock is pulling me over. He's unloading his f-bombs all over the place. As he's following behind me, the whole courtroom hears him saying, “What a fuckin' moron. Why didn't he fuckin' pull over right there. That would have been fuckin' perfect.”

SO, NOW THERE'S the video that clearly shows McKeller, his vehicle at a full halt at the KZYX driveway, unhooking his seatbelt as Officer Babcock walks up to McKeller's Durango with Officer Babcock spraying the Indian Creek neighborhood with f-bombs.

OFFICER BABCOCK didn't know about the video, and certainly didn't know McKeller had a copy which had just now been played in court.

AUDIO-VISUALS BE DAMNED! Babcock stuck to his false story that McKeller not only didn't have his seatbelt on he'd crossed the yellow highway divider line. However, the video clearly, unmistakably, irrefutably shows the fully seat-belted McKeller not crossing the line. And wearing his seatbelt.

JUDGE NADEL said she'd seen enough as Officer Babock launched into a laughable spiel about how his own camera “can't see everything” and how he saw what he saw and that he properly ticketed McKeller for not wearing his seatbelt.

“ON TAPE,” McKeller says, you can see that Babcock is a quarter mile away from me when he starts turning around saying that he saw my belt off. My video shows everything and now we have the audio to go with it.”

JUDGE NADEL found for McKeller. Officer Babcock slammed his chair into the table and stomped out of the courtroom, behavior that would have caused lots of judges to bring him back into the courtroom to threaten him with contempt if he didn't apologize for his behavior.

McKELLER filed a formal complaint against Babcock with the CHP.

THE THEORY AND PRACTICE OF REDWOOD

Talking with Comptche old timers George and Cindy Hollister

LONG BEFORE wine grapes and marijuana, family farms were Mendocino County's dominant feature. Timber sustained several thousand families who were able to take home enough money from the woods and the mills to create the stable communities that lasted here until the early 1970s. Many people called the family ranch home while they went off to work in the woods, worked in the schools, fished, raised a few chickens and cows and generally did a little bit of everything to pay the taxes on the old home place.

THERE AREN'T many family homesteads anymore, but Comptche's Hollister Ranch, George and Cindy Hollister, proprietors, is a step back into a life earned from the careful cultivation of a small timber holding.

THE HOLLISTERS have two sons. Paul is in the Air Force, Victor is s student at Cal Poly SLO. Mom and Pop hope the boys will eventually come home to make their way where Hollisters have been a fixture for nearly a hundred years.

CINDY AND GEORGE have carefully managed their four hundred-plus acres of redwoods into a steady income for themselves, although the bland verb “manage” disguises an awful lot of hard physical work rooting out non-marketable tree species to create the lush redwood forest that now covers most of the Hollister's modest property. They're justly proud that their redwoods have been cultivated to where redwood growth has increased to roughly four percent a year. “We're constantly thinning to enhance growth of redwood, and the money some years is good and some years not so good,” the Comptche logger says with the fated shrug he shares with farmers everywhere.

GEORGE HOLLISTER has lots of hard earned opinions about how to do timber. A man of many parts, he's not only logged his own trees, he's worked for his mammoth neighbor, Mendocino Redwood Company back to when it was the Masonite Corporation. Hollister says he agrees with the application of chemicals to root out fir, madrone and tan oak so redwood can flourish. “Try getting them out by hand!” he says, going on to point out that way back fires burned out the undergrowth and cows grew fat munching on the weed-like new growth of scrub oak and madrone.

AS WE DROVE up the ridge and into the forest, George noted the charred evidence of the great Mendocino fire of 1931 that burned all the way from the coast to Ukiah. That big fire's blackened stamp still marks the larger redwoods for miles around. “A lot of people think because we're so close to the ocean that fire isn't that big a danger,” the logger observes. “Not true. We have a lot of hot fire days, and all of us in this area worry about it.” George cites the fast-moving fire of 2008 caused by downed power lines behind the Comptche Fire Station. “This whole county can go up anytime. It's a big worry.”

”I went to UC Berkeley and Humboldt State,” the long, lean son of the soil begins the statement of his inspirations and bona fides. “Professor Bill McBride was the most influential teacher I had.” But the Hollisters, through years of hands-on toil, have come to their own theories pegged to the centrality of soil moisture as the key to restoring healthy redwood stands. “A lot of foresters emphasize sunlight,” he says, “but you've got to have soil moisture, that and you thin constantly to get the redwood growing. The thing that I do that is different from what most people do is I always cut the smaller redwood trees, and yes, I do a lot of it myself. High quality redwood is what has always driven the industry in Mendocino County.”

* * *

THE FOLLOWING is a crash course by the Hollisters called ‘Soil Moisture and Tree Growth…’

What I have seen suggests, in older undisturbed redwood forests, soil moisture is the limiting factor to forest growth. In younger or logged in forests, sunlight is the growth limiting factor.

To see this, the 1977 drought is a good place to start. The 1977 drought was more severe than any one of the drought years we are currently experiencing. In the 1977 drought we did not get enough rain for the grass to turn green. In all of the current drought years, it appears that at some point during the growing season the forest soil profile has been saturated.

My experience has been that in areas uncut shortly before the 1977 drought, a much narrower drought growth ring can be seen. This can be observed by looking at growth rings from borings taken from standing trees with an increment borer, or, much easier, from stumps.

But not all redwoods that were growing during the 1977 drought show the effects of the drought. The young trees in clearcuts harvested a few years before the drought, and older trees in heavily thinned stands harvested in years immediately before the drought appear unaffected by the 1977 drought.

The Lindquist thinning plots in Jackson Demonstration Forest, with various basal area retentions, are a good example. The plots that were thinned don't show the 1977 drought, the control plots do. I believe these commercial thinning plots were done in 1973. This suggests that in uncut older forests, the available soil moisture is mostly depleted every year by transpiration. In young forests, or thinned forests, annual transpiration is quite a bit less than what the available soil moisture is.

Tan oak control in a redwood forest is a second example. If one takes an older, uncut stand of tan oak and redwood, let's say 50 years old, and only removes the tan oak, there is a positive growth response seen the following year in the remaining redwoods. Because these redwoods have been existing as co-dominant in the stand before the tan oak is removed, there does not appear to be a significant change in the amount of sunlight hitting the photosynthetic part of the redwood tree. This suggests the competition between tan oak and redwood is for soil moisture.

Sometimes the growth response in redwoods from removing tan oak is dramatic. There is a larger positive growth response after two years. The larger response after two years suggests there is an expansion of the redwood trees' root system because the increase in sunlight hitting the photosynthetic surface area of the tree due to removing tan oak appears minimal and not proportionate to the increase in the redwood tree growth rate.

The third example is in thinning from below which means thinning that leaves the tallest and biggest trees of a given page. When thinning older pure redwood stands or redwood clumps surrounded by grass, the Redwood Road systems are assumed to be fully developed. The redwood trees that are left have a positive growth response the following year after thinning and there is less discernible two year secondary response.

Again, since thinning is being done from below, the change in sunlight hitting a photosynthetic surface of individual leave trees appears relatively unchanged the year following thinning. There are shady needles that transition to sun needles, but the part of the leave three that has been in full sunlight appears to be getting close to the amount to the same amount of sunlight as before thinning. I emphasize from below because most thinning currently done is from above where the taller and larger trees of the same age are removed and the results could be different.

Something of added interest: I was looking at redwood growth rings in an older second growth stand on the river flat across from Paul Dimmick State Park on land owned by Mendocino Redwood Company. I was not expecting to see the 1977 drought in these redwoods because of the proximity to the Navarro River and due to the river having some flow during the 1977 drought. But I did see a very definite drought ring for 1977.

This supports the view that the moisture in the soil that is being transpired and in the root zone is separate from the water flowing under the surface and in waterways. But there appears to be a definite influence on water available for transpiration due to the interface between where the root zone is and where water is flowing. We see this in more vigorous growing redwoods seen along streams and near springs. It reminds me of redwood roots that plug up septic leach lines. The roots tend to do fine in the leach line but don't venture very far into the septic tank.

These suggestions, based on observations, result in conclusions and questions. One conclusion is that since a measurement for transpiration potentially closely fits a measurement for photosynthesis potential because both depend on needle surface area and older, an older closed canopy stand is "overstocked." In a typical growing season an older, undisturbed redwood forest will show growth due to water stress, not due to a reduction in seasonal sunlight. The question is, Why do older redwood forests that have openings in their canopies still show droughts from the past?

It is a given that redwoods need some light or they don't grow and any tree that is blocking sunlight from a redwood is competing with that redwood. But a redwood forest manager is more importantly managing soil moisture, not sunlight. Redwood forestry is, in effect, dry land farming. The concepts of dry land farming and thinning from below apply to all redwood forest management regardless of whether the application is commercial or otherwise. Park managers and groups like Save the Redwoods League would benefit. The need to control hardwoods in a managed redwood forest becomes obvious as do the implications for managing redwoods for drought conditions. Managing a redwood forest with less than a closed canopy means sunlight will be hitting the forest floor providing a constant opportunity for other tree competition to develop and also the constant need to control these competitors. Fire and grazing were the popular means to control this competition in the past. Herbicides are commonly used today.

For your information, Douglas fir responds differently to thinning than redwood does, and a lot of what I am saying above does not apply to Douglas fir.

CALIFORNIA HIGHWAY PATROL OFFICERS WERE DISPATCHED to the scene just before 8 p.m. to find that a 2009 Toyota Tacoma pickup truck had collided with the victim's Volvo S60.

Mendocino County Sheriff's Office Capt. Greg Van Patten said before noon Saturday that the 81-year-old victim was identified as Juan Juan.

The driver of the truck, identified as Jared Soinila, 40, of Redwood Valley, was arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence of alcohol, and following treatment for minor injuries, was transported to the Mendocino County Jail where he is being held on allegations of gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated, and DUI with priors, according to jail records. His bail was set at $200,000.

Juan Juan was found to be trapped and unconscious in the vehicle, and was later pronounced dead at the scene. The Mendocino County Sheriff's Office was called to the scene to begin a coroner's investigation.

The Ukiah Valley Fire Authority also responded to treat a passenger who was in the victim's car, identified by the CHP as 72-year-old Juana Juan. She was transported to the Ukiah Valley Medical Center for major injuries."

MSP went to the Mendocino County Jail site to find the 5'10", 160-pound Mr. Soinila was arrested by the Ukiah CHP Friday @ 8:25 pm, booked on three felony charges at the county jail Saturday @ 10:46 am ($200,000 bail) & had his booking photo taken @ 1:52 pm.

As of 2:10 pm, he was still behind bars.

* * *

MSP Coverage Of Fatal Accident

This is what MSP posted last night as the events unfolded:

Head-On Collision Reported North Of Vichy Springs

1 Dead, 1 Major Injuries, Other Driver Fled Scene

The scanner & the CHP Traffic "incident" page are reporting (7:48 pm) a "head-on collision between a pickup and a white car" near the intersection of Redemeyer Road & Lewis Lane.

A reporting party said they saw the "pickup speeding" prior to the traffic collision.

A first responder said (7:55 pm) "one of the drivers fled on foot." Another said, "this looks like a felony hit & run."

Ukiah Fire & ambulance are on their way.

At 7:56 pm, CHP said "driver of one vehicle unable to be removed, unconscious." The driver of the other vehicle "took off on foot, eastbound up a hill."

Upon arrival @ 8:05 pm, first responder called dispatch reporting "one 11-44 (deceased), another patient with moderate to major injuries."

Dispatch acknowledged the report of a "coroner's case."

The Ukiah Police K-9 unit was being summoned to the scene.

(Courtesy, MendocinoSportsPlus)

LONG-VACANT FJORD’S BUILDING on North State Street in Ukiah - and its iconic sign - may have a future after all.

A long vacant building in north Ukiah apparently has a buyer, as a local Realtor said Thursday the property is now in escrow. The former Fjord’s Smorgette building may become an In 'N Out Burger.

THE FACTS ABOUT THE SHELTER

To The Beast,

A few facts vs. myths about the Animal Shelter and the RFP process: a rebuttal to your letter writer of February 26:

1. The origin of the RFP process was NOT the county "asking for help." Petaluma Animal Services was contacted by a local family toward the end of 2014, and subsequently sent the county an "UNSOLICITED letter of intent."
2. PASF runs only one animal shelter; its other contracts are for animal CONTROL services.
3. If you would take the time to read the CEO's letter to PASF (non award letter) and the proposals from PASF, all of which are available online at the county website, you will see that not only did the county NOT respond "with disregard and unprofessionalism," in fact PASF was given many opportunities to present a viable proposal. Several months ago, the battle cry from the pro-outsourcing folks bemoaned the process as too long. In a complete 180 turn around, the idea has become, "elected leaders...do your jobs and resolve the shelter situation NOW. That means giving the proposal from PASF its due consideration." i.e. It needs more time.
4. Once again, if you read the information released online, you will notice that the claim that the proposal's "fate was decided by one woman acting alone" is without substance, as a committee was formed and given the task of reviewing the proposal.
5. When a contract proposal is under consideration, there are mandated procedures that are required during the review stages. Those procedures are in place to assure that no back room shenanigans occur. You can probably find out from the county just what the procedure entails, who is entrusted with reviewing the proposal, and what role the Board of Supes plays during that time.
6. Again, if you read the material from PASF, you will understand why the county felt it could not fork over close to a million dollars of taxpayer money—the information presented, after six long months, did not answer many of the questions our county did and SHOULD ask any perspective organization wanting to partake in contract negotiations.
7. This part of a long process has ended. The future can now be about ideas and WORKING TOGETHER with people on both sides of this quagmire, in the hopes of making the improvements you argue are needed.

Time for gossip, social media-induced rhetoric, and personal attempts at undermining the shelter to end.

Kathy Shearn

Ukiah

TIME OF THE CAESARS

Letter to the Editor,

The Great Regression accelerates. Locally, a bureaucratic squabble destroys Sonoma Compost. We used to buy cheap loads of organic compost recycled from local green waste, now it's all shipped outtahere. And the supermarket recycling centers have closed, leaving two for the whole area, while the state continues to confiscate the CRV from consumers. Before the CRV was made law, floods would cover Jenner beach with a blanket of aluminum cans. Those days will return, if it ever rains again enough to move the trash downriver. Meanwhile, watch as the bottles and cans pile up in the gutters, just like the good old days. Now even the homeless won't push their cartloads of trash 15 miles just to get a few dollars. Don't look to Governor Glibgab for any solutions here, he's too busy thinking Deep Thoughts.

The Dumb Train stumbles towards its ever-receeding alleged operational date. The Dumb Train will ship a few hundred luxuriously subsidized yuppies down to the ferries at Larkspur. The Dumb Train will have zero effect on 101 congestion. This absurd fantasy of delusional choo-choo brains gobbles up a half-cent of dedicated sales tax from half a million people who will never set foot on it. This tax could have repaved every road in the county, the worst roads in the Bay Area, decade after decade, but Noooo…

Nationally, every half-wit toothless cracker in America will swamp the polls in November to elect their Fuhrer, Trump. It will be the ugliest, meanest, sleaziest campaign of our lifetimes. Trump can and will say absolutely anything, the more theatrical and ridiculous the better, day after day, just to keep his blitzkrieg of noise drowning out any analysis and reflection, not that the media cares about these anymore. Hillary Clinton will have to get down in the mud and kick Trump in the balls every day from now to Election Day to have a prayer of preventing this loudmouth lunatic from taking over the country.

Ralph Nader wrote a book titled Only the Super Rich Can Save Us. Is this what he meant? Is the republic dead, and has the time of the Caesars arrived?

Jay Williamson

Santa Rosa

THESE TRIBUTES TO MENDO JUDGE GALEN HATHAWAY appeared on Kym Kemp's Redheaded Blackbelt website, kymkemp.com:

(1) They [Mexicans] are hard workers. I would like to do an in depth article on political and judicial corruption in Mendocino where I live. My friend, a Mendocino county resident of over 40 years, is being sued and evicted out of his home by a former Mendocino county judge Galen Hathaway who has done this many times using questionable documents and bogus land partnerships to in effect steal property. He was suing someone who went in front of him on a criminal case which I think has to violate ethics rules. There are many cases out there like this and if people started writing and talking about it more people would come forward and a clearer picture begins to emerge that shows how “business” is done in the emerald triangle.

(2) That’s old mendo politics at work as usual. Look at the history there. Who surprised it keeps rolling along? Something in the water down there. You don’t need to look very far to see the county govt supporting losers. It’s common policy to do so.

(3) Mr. Hathaway’s brother while drunk claimed his brother the judge has acquired over $4 million in property in partnership with a notoriously crooked land financer Steve??? a simple title search would be quite revealing. If he was indeed helping to identify people that had criminal charges and possible drug problem then in partnership with Steve offering hard cash loans at what were decent terms but including a land partner on the note. Then the partner refinances the note to over 12% interest without the original party signing the note. Miraculously the original owner gets arrested and judicial foreclosure proceedings begin. Galen Hathaway has over 34 years on the bench in Mendocino county superior court and if he was suing people that were going in front of him in criminal cases and I have documents to prove this and has acquired anywhere near the amount of land and houses that his brother claims then this should be investigated. Hiding behind a judges robes while committing what are at the least serious ethics violations denigrates the court and the office he held.

DEBRA? DEBRA KEIPP? White courtesy telephone, please. A reader says, "Point Arena appears to be up to some more mischief. Mayor Jim Koogle claims that the City has lost all records, and has none to show to a local business owner in town who has filed a Coastal Development Permit for a new building. 'Absolutely lost it all due to changing councils, new managers, and forced exits of staff controlling such information,' according to The Koog."

WELCOME TO MENDOCINO - WE'VE GOT STRONG MEN

by Scott Peterson

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lncrVRs3Q8A&index=1&list=PLWTKx4OwAkBEZRZB07aPOA237QV8BS-b0

LITIGATION UPDATE, Feb. 27. — Pending a decision by the Supreme Court, the so-called "Public Safety and Rehabilitation Act of 2016" should be coming to storefront signature-gatherers near you in the near future.

As always, please don't sign a petition unless you understand its impacts (good and bad) and agree with those impacts, and especially don't sign a petition for a falsely-titled and misleading initiative. Beware that the signature-gatherers are NOT subject matter experts. They literally don't care if those who sign are being mislead; they are only interested in getting paid for as many signatures as they can get on paper.

(District Attorney Press Release)

CATCH OF THE DAY, February 27, 2016

MICHAEL ARNOLD, Covelo. Probation revocation.

JADE BENNETT, Fort Bragg. Battery, probation revocation.

TRACY DODSON, Fort Bragg. Domestic battery, drunk in public, resisting, fraud.

SEAN FLINTON, Fort Bragg. Drunk in public. (Frequent flyer.)

CASEY IRELAND, Willits. Under influence/possession of controlled substance, paraphernalia, probation revocation.

DAVID JOHNSON, Covelo. Fighting, criminal threats.

JASON KRUGER, Covelo. Domestic battery.

CHRISTOPHER MCDONALD, Ukiah. DUI.

CHRISTOPHER MILLER, Sunnyvalle/Willits. Controlled substance.

JAMES MORRIS, Willits. Parole violation.

WILLIAM PERRITT, Ukiah. Battery, criminal threats.

JARED SOINILA, Redwood Valley. DUI causing injury or death, gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated.

LYDELL WILLIAMS, Covelo. False impersonaltion of another, community supervistion violation, probation revocation.

ON LINE COMMENT OF THE DAY

It was not a good time, but they got through it because they still had each other.

Excellent observation!

There is a chance the loathsome Trump will not be the Republican presidential nominee.

If the loathsome Trump becomes the nominee, there is a chance he will not be elected president.

If the loathsome Trump is elected president, there is a chance he will be impeached within months of taking office, for high crimes and misdemeanors.

If the loathsome Trump is not impeached, then we will get through his term because we still have each other.

Our quotidian primary relationships will not change. Our ability to love, live, learn, laugh, will not change if Trump is elected.

I laughed out loud for sustained periods during tonight’s Republican debate. Laughter might actually increase during a ludicrous Trump administration.

NEVER UNDERESTIMATE…

The possibility of Trump as president seems ludicrous, but at first so did the idea of the actor Ronald Reagan when he ran for the office. Never underestimate the capacity of the Republican Party to dive deeper to the bottom, or the ability of the American public to accept lower standards. Let's see if the Republican Senate is willing to confirm Judge Judy when Trump nominates her for Supreme Court Justice.

David Matzinger, Menlo Park

MAKING A MURDERER, PART II

The filmmakers behind immensely popular Netflix docu-series Making a Murderer have reportedly begun planning a second installment of the series that told the story of Steven Avery, a DNA exoneree in Wisconsin who found himself the prime suspect in a murder case as he attempted to expose local corruption. During a panel event Thursday evening, directors Laura Riccardi and Moira Demos said they have continued to talk with Avery: “From our perspective this story is obviously not over,” Ricciardi said. “To the extent that there are significant developments, we would like to continue documenting this [case].” However, a continuation of the series could prove difficult as the directors have become the butt of “hostility” among locals who feel they’ve been misrepresented.

ROCK THE HOUSE. Harvey Weinstein, co-founder of the film studio The Weinstein Company, says anyone boycotting the Oscars shouldn't. He's sure that Chris Rock, who's hosting the 88th Academy Awards on Sunday, will say what everyone has been thinking. 'I just can imagine Chris Rock's opening remarks. 'If anybody's planning on boycotting the Oscars, don't, because Chris Rock is gonna annihilate every one of us in the first 20 minutes of the show, and it will be well worth watching. 'It will be an Oscars to remember,' Weinstein said on the podcast 'Awards Chatter'.

CHANGE IN FARM AND GARDEN SHOW

Restoration Ag & Holistic Management, March 3, 9-10 AM

Due to a scheduling error our interview with Mark Shepard and Spencer Smith will be aired on KZYX Thursday March 3 from 9-10 AM (we will record it on Monday 29 Feb, with excerpts aired during the community news at 6 PM Monday Feb 29). What will air Monday 29 Feb from 1-2 PM is Cherie Christiansen's interview with John Richardson on when to plant what over the next several months; he is always great to hear. All on KZYX, 91.5 FM, 90.7 FM, kzyx.org, 88.1 in Fort Bragg. The film is still March 3 at 6:30 PM at the Redwood Valley Grange and workshop 18-20 March as detailed in my last email to you.

Bill Taylor