Mendocino County Today: Thursday, Mar 3, 2016

• Panthers Win
• Annotated Presser
• Clark Exonerated
• Judge Election
• Sales Taxing
• Bluff Trail
• Altered Male
• Cap'n Flints
• Ortner Ousting
• Bass Wanted
• Super Contract
• Yesterday's Catch
• Various Walls
• Yee Ha!
• Felon Clinton
• Huff Party
• Dismissive Chortle

IN A GAME HE'LL REMEMBER FOREVER, Tony Pardini Jr., with seconds left in overtime, intercepted a Hanna pass, quickly drew a foul, and coolly sank the second of his two free throws, sealing the third round sectional championship for Anderson Valley, 63-61. The packed Boonville gym was delirious at the victory over the tenacious visitors from Sonoma, but in the end Anderson Valley's tenacity won out. The Panthers now advance to the Northeast small school championship, either traveling to Emeryville this weekend or hosting St. Bernard's of Eureka depending on the winner of the Emeryville-St. Bernard's game. No Anderson Valley team has ever advanced this deep into the playoffs, let alone competed for the overall championship.

AN ANNOTATED UKIAH CITY COUNCIL PRESSER

The Ukiah City Council tonight will be asked to approve more preparation work on the proposed site for the new Mendocino County Courthouse.

(The Council will vote 5-0 to rubberstamp another step towards a new County Courthouse no one wants except the 9 (!) pampered judges of the Mendo Superior Court and no one outside Ukiah knows is moving inexorably to fruition. There's nothing wrong with the existing County Courthouse that the $300 million (!) the judges will get to build their new palace three long blocks south of the existing Courthouse that couldn't totally rehab, for much less, the existing Courthouse. The new County Courthouse, we should add, will serve only as courtrooms and, natch, lavish offices for their majesties who don't dare put the new Courthouse on the ballot because it would be slamdunked NO!)

According to the staff report for the March 2 meeting, that work includes a “wetland delineation study” that will be required before the necessary permits can be obtained from the US Army Corps of Engineers and the Regional Water Quality Control Board.

(The usual eco-cover to reassure the three or four Ukiah environmentalists who might suddenly pop up to claim there's a wetland in the already ghastly neighborhood, an unplanned swathe of junk buildings and concrete that this project will make even uglier, cf the abandoned Willits Courthouse, which some of us will recall was also shoved down our distracted throats by these same judicial poobahs.)

The State Judicial Council of California is looking to buy 4.1 acres just south of the Railroad Depot near Perkins Street and Hospital Drive, but the city is carefully preparing all 11 acres of the parcel for future development.

(The State Judicial Council is a Sacto-based front group for judges funded by the extortionate fines and fees you pay to support an apparatus of life sinecures unaccountable to no one but the other politically-appointed Clintonians who sit as appellate judges. Several Ukiah-based greedheads are already in line to cash in on development around the new Courthouse.)

Since the site, which is owned by the North Coast Rail Authority, “borders downtown and sits along the east side of Ukiah’s primary gateway corridor,” city staff have been working closely with the Judicial Council of California to make sure that the courthouse project supports, rather than precludes, further development on the parcel.

(This project was green-lighted by the judges about five years ago. Related development will consist of privately-owned buildings leased back to the County at top rents for the ancillary office space the new Courthouse will not include. City staff periodically signs off on the deal.)

To help with that goal, the city agreed to front the costs of engineering and other design work that extends both Hospital Drive and East Clay Street through the parcel, as well as integrate the build-out of the site with other city projects, such as the Rail Trail and improvements planned for East Perkins Street.

(Good ol' Ukiah. Always helping to doom the city forever to bad buildings and more pavement.)

NCRA has agreed to refund the money once the parcel is sold to the Judicial Council of California. City Manager Sage Sangiacomo said the Judicial Council of California may be given the go-ahead to acquire the 4.1 acre parcel this month.

(The NCRA, once a functioning railroad in the days before America lost its way, is now a jobs program for the NorCal Democratic Party, several of whom will keep high-pay jobs doing absolutely nothing having to do with railroads. Or anything else except pouring wine at private spas for the elected people who keep them employed. Besides which this is all a done deal, and Sage Sangiacomo, Ukiah's half-mil a year "manager," knows that. The pure load of bullshit being dumped here is suffocating me but, for you, dear readers, I'll continue.)

In the meantime, the council is being asked to approve paying consultant Rau and Associates another $11,959 to complete the “wetland delineation study,” along with “mitigation drawings and a monitoring plan, as well as an update of the five-year floristic botanical survey.”

(O hell yea. Let's make sure as many locals as possible get a few bucks outta this thing, not that there's any opposition out there. But there is no wetland, and any flower that manages to raise its merrily optimistic head through the rubble and the macadam will instantly die at the sheer squalor of its surroundings.)

The meeting begins at 6 p.m. Wednesday in the council chambers at 300 Seminary Ave.

(No need to bring a rubberstamp. Five of them will already be up front in the big leather chairs.)

UKIAH SENIOR CENTER DIRECTOR Diana Clark was exonerated Tuesday when Superior Court Judge Jeanine Nadel agreed with her defense that there was no substantial evidence that Ms. Clark had conspired with an Indian Health Center coworker to commit a crime. Clark had been charged with computer access fraud, eavesdropping or recording confidential communication and copying or making use of data from emails from the Consolidated Tribal Health project in Redwood Valley back in 2014 while she was human resources director there.

CHARGES against Clark’s coworker, Peter Fennel, the health center’s technology director, were sustained and will proceed. Apparently, when investigators were searching Fennel’s computer records they found things they believed implicated Clark. But upon further investigation, the emails were deemed to be inconsequential and not criminal. Further there was no evidence that Clark was eavesdropping or recording anything. Fennell is accused of hacking into the Health Center’s computer records and disrupting their machines, reading patient records and damaging or destroying information after being terminated.

TWO MEN are running for Superior Court Judge in the June elections, Patrick Pekin of the Mendocino Coast, Keith Faulder, Ukiah. So far, Faulder is the invisible candidate while Pekin has already amassed a virtual Who's Who of the County's warm-fuzzies, fuzzy-warms and middle-of-the-road extremists like Lee Edmundson, former judge Jim Luther, Rachel Binah, Jim Mastin and so on. Pekin is a relative County newcomer, Faulder has both County seniority and experience on him. We're for Faulder straight-up because he's got a lot more experience than Pekin, and he's smart and honest. Which isn't to say Pekin isn't, but we've always been impressed by Faulder in a courtroom. Pekin, so far, has spent about $16 thou on his campaign, Faulder around $4k. But Faulder better make himself a lot more visible pronto or Pekin's going to waltz on into a life sinecure of the most lucrative sort, as Judge Luther can tell him. The middle-of-the-road extremists and the fuzzy-warms all vote. Defendants tend not to vote, although Faulder as a defense attorney has saved a ton of them from the big time-out room at San Quentin.

BUT FAULDER has also been a prosecutor. Back when he was Assistant DA under Norm Vroman in 2007 Faulder had this to say about a domestic violence case he prosecuted.

“Every case is different, of course. Sometimes victims go sideways on us. I have prosecuted cases where the victim has recanted. In fact my very first trial against Meredith Lintott in a domestic violence case on the Coast, she represented the defendant. A guy punched his girlfriend in the stomach so hard that she thought she had a miscarriage. She went to the hospital. He did not go with her. She told the story to the doctors. Doctors are mandated reporters so they reported it. Law enforcement arrested the guy, and we prosecuted him. Then she got on the stand and said she made it all up. But the jury still convicted him. The evidence contradicted her claim. So we still prosecute cases even when there’s a recanting victim if the evidence is there. That’s always the bottom line. Is there evidence that we can prove this case beyond a reasonable doubt? Sometimes we can’t. Anyone who wants to criticize our domestic violence prosecution record has to look at each case fully. They can’t just take the word of somebody who is unhappy with the outcome. By the way, after the verdict for this case with the recanting victim who was hit in the stomach, Judge Lehan gave him 90 days on the spot and he was remanded to custody right away. The victim then came up to me afterwards and said, “Thanks a lot. You have ruined Christmas for me.” And she spit in my face. So she wasn’t happy with the conviction! It was a bit of a wake-up call. So we are tough on domestic violence when we can prove it. We enjoy prosecuting people who commit domestic violence. We enjoy making people take responsibility for their actions. The most important part of domestic violence cases is that they must go into domestic violence treatment. That’s the best part of that law. I know some people are hardened to it and may not benefit from domestic violence treatment. That applies to most of the treatment that the courts order people into, whether it’s domestic violence or drugs or anger management or the alternative to violence programs. You have to try. You have to plant the seeds and see which ones sprout.”

TRY GETTING OBSERVATIONS LIKE THAT from Mr. Pekin who has never been a prosecutor.

THE PAVEMENT CONDITION INDEX (PCI) is measured by the County Department of Transportation and for the cities by their municipal Public Works Departments. The PCI is intended to be an objective measurement of the condition of the roads and can help prioritize the best use of available road dollars. Road segments that score 70 and above are rated good to excellent. Segments that score from 50-70 are considered “at risk” with those below 50 rated “poor” and those below 25 considered “failed.” Applying slurry seal to a road in the lower range of “good” or chip seal to a road rated “poor” is much more cost effective than waiting until a road is in poor or failed condition and needs to be rebuilt.

THE PCI FOR WILLITS AND FORT BRAGG has gone up close to 20 points in the last 10-15 years because they each passed a half-cent sales tax dedicated to roads. During the same period, the PCI for Ukiah and the County has gone down by about the same rate. The difference is that neither Ukiah nor the County has a sales tax for roads. Ukiah passed one for "public safety" but it can only be used for police and fire. It seems pretty clear that without an additional source of revenue, the overall condition of the roads in Ukiah and the County will continue to decline. Mendocino County “maintains” about 1,000 miles of roads, about a third of which are gravel. Without additional funds it is likely that some of the roads in the poorest condition will convert to gravel.

SUPERVISOR GJERDE, who has made improved roads one of his top priorities, and Supervisor Woodhouse, who says roads are the most important issue in his district, are believed to be pushing for a half-cent sales tax for county roads. As members of the Mendocino Council of Governments (MCOG) they pushed for funding an opinion poll in Ukiah and the County to gauge public support for a possible half-cent sales tax for roads. Phil Dow, who runs MCOG, told the Board of Supervisors last Tuesday that the poll showed strong support for a road tax. Because it could only be spent for roads, it needs a two-thirds vote. One problem apparently not covered in the poll (or at least not made public) is Sheriff Allman's proposed half-cent sales tax for mental health. When more than one tax measure is on the ballot, it’s more likely the combo will trigger a blanket "no" vote. The Mendocino Coast Hospital and the Little Lake Fire District are also considering local tax measures which would all end up on the same ballot.

SHERIFF ALLMAN'S PROPOSED half-cent sales tax for mental health facilities also faces the same potential hurdle as the newly formed Firefighter's Association proposed initiative to require the Board of Supes to give 30% of the Prop 172 public safety sales tax to the fire districts. Acting County Counsel Kit Elliot, acting "as an individual in her official capacity" challenged the proposed measure as an unconstitutional interference with the budget process. After a lot of legal wrangling, Superior Court Judge (and former County Counsel) Jeanine Nadel agreed with Elliot and tossed the proposed initiative. Willits attorney Chris Neary, representing the firefighter association filed an appeal on February 10 with the State Supreme Court, bypassing the Appeals Court on the grounds of urgency. The Supreme Court, which only hears a tiny percentage of the cases submitted to it, transferred the case back to the Appeals Court where it should have been filed in the first place. The Appeals Court promptly issued an order summarily denying the appeal. Allman has yet to release a draft of his proposed initiative so it remains to be seen if it will be vulnerable to a legal challenge on the same grounds as the failed Prop 172 initiative. The plan is to increase the sales tax to raise money to build a mental health building, but exactly what services would be provided (or how they will be paid for) has yet to be disclosed.

ENCOURAGING TO HEAR the Supervisors beginning to talk about a trail along the Point Arena bluffs. The Stornetta National Monument would draw a lot more people if tourists could walk along the bluffs to get there.

A READER WONDERS: "Hi, was curious to know more about the "Altered Male" on the "Fire/Rescue Log" Feb.24 issue page 5…"

Hmmm. Good question. I suspect a few local males have probably been altered, but I believe the term is usually cop shorthand for someone in an altered state of consciousness, chemically induced.

EATING OUT ON THE MENDOCINO COAST

by BB Grace

What I really wanted was a spicy bloody Mary. I don't know what it is about the bloody Mary, as it really doesn't matter how it's made, but where it's made. The bloody Mary is the perfect choice of beverage when dining near the ocean. Breakfast, noon or night, the tomato enhances the saltiness of the ocean, especially the garnishes. Sliding the celery garnish out of the glass, applying salt and pepper and taste the crisp salty air even more, or popping briney pimento stuffed olives in your mouth, the bigger the better, squeeze of lemon and lime, and siiiiiiiiiip, crunch to savor the atmosphere. A bloody Mary and a bowl of hot creamy clam chowder, with maybe some garlic toast, maybe not. That's what I really wanted.

It was a wet and rainy gray day when I pulled into one of the three empty spaces at Carine's Fish Grotto in the Fort Bragg Harbor, with my bloody dreams of a clammy dining experience, to meet a man I'd never met before and saw what appeared to be a large man, not homeless, but lost on the west side of the building as if he was going to the Noyo River, or maybe he was color blind and completely missed the red front door. I shut off the engine watching him case the building. As I prepared to get out of the car the lost man made a dash through the rain quicker than I suspected one so large could move, asking, “BB?”

Carine's was unfortunately closed, so we repaired to Cap'n Flints.

Even in the gloom of the gray rain, the redwood siding, big windows, wooden and beamed interior beaconed warm and cozy behind the nice potted shrubbery. A pretty young blond waitress was hanging out the front door as she captivated the three men leaving. They didn't want to leave. I didn't either.

Cap'n Flints is unique as a living museum or perhaps a throw back to the late 60s and early 70's more than even many Mendocino locals realize. 'Flint's does not sell bloody Marys, but they do have an understated understanding of what is gourmet ocean side dining, of the 60's, not the 90's or this century. Cap'n Flints features several vermouth cocktails, domestic boxed wines, domestic beers, lemonade and iced tea with free refill. The menu is short but sweet, with shrimp louies, and calamari being as popular as fried chicken and hamburgers. The menu has throwbacks like these little creamy triangle puffs they call “shrimp won tons”. I'm sure these were a huge hit in the 60s, so why not now?

I once came across a copy of a Sunset or Western Living Magazine from the early 70's, which featured the recipe for Cap'n Flint's Shrimp Creole soup. It's really a very good soup and a nice change from clam chowder, which they also serve. My bowl of soup came with oyster crackers, slices of sweet french bread and cold butter. They only ding I'm giving Flint's is for the cold butter, though the Mendocino Health Department would side with Flint's. Our pretty young brunette waitress said that the Shrimp Creole is her favorite soup. I was talking so much I didn't eat most of my bowl of soup, but enjoyed all I consumed and I recommended my friend try it, who agreed the soup was tasty and appeared happy to return home with a sample.

What did he have? Not the famous “Cap'n's Treasure Chest”, but he devoured a basket of fish and chips. So old school. The basket was heaped with beautiful crispy juicy pieces of fish. Picture perfect. So much fish and chips I didn't see the little paper cup of coleslaw I know is included. My friend appeared to enjoy his meal more than my monologue, but the food was great and I'm really happy to see Cap'n Flints ready to take on all who dare to share the best dining view on the Mendocino Coast. Get yourself some shrimp creole soup and fish and chips while you can.

A READER WRITES: "I have to agree with the online comments by James Marmon and BB Grace taking exception to the Board of Supes dumping Ortner as the adult mental health contractor. Anyone who reads the Kemper report has to come away with the impression that the county (including the Supes, CEO, County Counsel, HHSA and Mental Health Directors) all dropped the ball by approving a weak contract and then failing to do anything about it for almost three years. The fix recommended by Kemper was to re-write the contract to put the county in charge, and hire a contract administrator to make sure things get done right. Mark Montgomery, representing Ortner, previously told the Supes they would be willing to re-write their contract and work to implement the Kemper recommendations. After some back and forth, the Supes agreed, but also told staff to update the RFP in case implementing the Kemper changes didn't work out. But the three member majority of the Supes decided to pull the plug on Ortner.

“WITH ORTNER ON THE WAY OUT, there is less than a zero chance that he is going to have any interest in re-writing the contracts to give the County more control. Or do anything else to improve service. And it won't be any surprise if he beats the county to the punch in giving notice that he is outtahere — way outtahere. When McCowen said if you had a new car and the transmission went out you'd tow it to the repair shop, not the junkyard, Gjerde had a good comeback when he said you would if it was a lemon. Except the Kemper report never said Ortner was a lemon. Kemper says Ortner is providing more and better service than the county did. Hamburg and McCowen pointed out that Ortner was being blamed for what the county didn't do. Everyone seems to forget that the county never did a good job with adult mental health. And some of the things that people want Ortner to do, like crisis residential (something Kemper says need to be done) are things the county never did.

“UNTIL ORTNER is replaced someone needs to keep providing services to the clients. The RFP process has to take at least several months although some of the public seemed to think the job could just be handed over to RCS which handles children's mental health services. RCS, even if there is an RFP, is sure to have the inside track. Either way, there will be some kind of transition process lasting at least a few months. And don't expect Ortner to be doing any favors for anybody on their way out the door. Hamburg and McCowen urged the Supes to stick with their original plan, knowing they could always put out the RFP if things weren't working out with Ortner. But the three-member majority was determined to kill the beast. I only hope the clients are not the ones who pay the price.”

WARRANT WEDNESDAY

Robert Bass is wanted on a no-bail warrant for revocation of probation.
 Height: 5' 7". 
Age: 55 years old. 
Hair: Brown
. Eyes: Blue
, Weight: 185 lbs. 
If you have any information regarding this individual's location, please call MCSO Dispatch at (707) 463-4086. (Bass was immediately apprehended, see bookings below.)

PD: Superbowl contract released by Sonoma County Tourism Bureau

http://www.pressdemocrat.com/news/5314063-181/super-bowl-contract-released-by

CATCH OF THE DAY, March 2, 2016

ROBERT BASS, Ukiah. Probation revocation.

ANGELIC CISNEROS, Denver/Ukiah. Child endangerment.

TARRAN EDDY, Ukiah. DUI, parole violation.

NORBERT ELLIOTT, Willits. Domestic battery.

BETH FONTAINE, Eureka/Ukiah. Court order violation.

JOHNATHAN FRENCH, Laytonville. Honey oil extraction, armed with firearm, controlled substance.

KYLE GILLESPIE, Ukiah. Felon with firearm, loaded firearm in public, possession of drugs while armed.

ANDREA GONZALEZ, Ukiah. Controlled substance, failure to appear.

BOBBY GRAY, Philo. Controlled substance, failure to appear.

GABRIEL ISAZA, Vacaville/Ukiah. DUI, probation revocation.

SERGIO NUNEZ-DAVILA, Covelo. Domestic assault.

ARMANDO QUIROGA, Ukiah. Honey oil, extraction, ex-felon with firearm, controlled substance, meth for sale, armed with firearm, possession of drugs while armed, trespassing, failure to appear.

ROGER SCHOENAHL, Ukiah. Drunk in public.

ANTHONY WILBURN, Covelo. Drunk in public, county parole violation.

PETER LIT WRITES:

Things are often reported differently elsewhere and I wondered if the Pope's comments to the effect that Trump, wanting to build a wall between the USA and Mexico, was not a good Christian and, therefore, don't vote for him, was reported in the mainstream press here as it was in Costa Rica. Trump's response made reference to the walls around the Vatican (at least he finally said something intelligent). Have we all forgotten/blocked Mao's statement that they would bury us? I wonder if he anticipated all the Chinese crap on our shores. I also recall reading somewhere that when asked about the French revolution he responded, in effect, too soon to tell. When it is time to vote, remember that a vote for the lesser of two evils is a vote for evil. Also remember that Earl Warren was appointed to the Supreme Court as a conservative, by a conservative. Vote Stein. Keep up the good work.

ED NOTE: It wasn’t chairman Mao, it was Kruschev who said it and he said it to Nixon.

MASSACHUSETTS ATTORNEY GENERAL MAURA HEALEY: Arrest & prosecute Bill Clinton & John F. Mitchell. Violation of Ma. Election Laws. Change.org. Bill Clinton was campaigning for Hillary outside a polling place in violation of Mass. Law — a felony. If you are as sick of the Clinton’s lies and dirty tricks as I am, please read the article and sign the petition to enforce the law.

https://www.change.org/p/massachusetts-attorney-general-maura-healey-arrest-prosecute-bill-clinton-john-f-mitchell-violation-of-ma-election-laws

THE NICE PEOPLE DO ENVIRONMENT

The 17th Annual Environmental Potluck and Award Ceremony
Saturday, March 19th from 6 PM - 8 PM
@ Russian Gulch State Park - Rec Hall
Mendocino, California 95460

Hosted by Mendocino Land Trust, Mendocino Area Parks Association, the Mendocino Coast Audubon Society, and the Dorothy King Young Chapter of the California Native Plant Society during this year's Whale Festival, join us as we honor Sheila Semans with this year's Matt Coleman Environmental Service Award for all of her amazing work over the past many years on coastal conservation projects and for engaging the community at the Noyo Center for Marine Science.

Speaker Marie Jones will share with us her vision for engaging the community with the creation of Noyo Headlands Park and Fort Bragg's new coastal trail.

This year we are honored to welcome a special surprise guest, Congressman Jared Huffman!

So bring your friends and a dish to share as we gather to celebrate the amazing environmental achievements in our community. As an environmentally conscious event, we ask everyone to bring their own plate, cup, eating utensils, and drinks.

Thank you!

Megan Smithyman
Operations Manager
Mendocino Land Trust
PO Box 1094
Mendocino, CA 95460
(707) 962-0470
www.mendocinolandtrust.org

$575,000 WORTH OF DISMISSIVE CHORTLES

KZYX Programmer Jim Heid <jim@heidsite.com> wrote:

Dismissive chortle... Actually, let’s do a little math...

* * *

Okay, let's, Jim. The fiscal year before this one, MCPB (corp. that manages KZYX) pissed away $575,000, much of it mysteriously, hence the reasonable request for detailed information, and $170,000 of that came from a grant of federal tax money. I guess those are usual figures, though not long ago MCPB had a fiscal year where it pissed away three-quarters-of-a-million-dollars.

When I listed all the real expenses of running and maintaining KZYX, including everything — and I mean everything: paperwork and rent and paint and music publishers' fees and tower rental and equipment maintenance, as well as water and electricity and phone lines — it was easily covered, and then some!, by just the yearly CPB grant. A truly bare-bones operation like KNYO has essentially everything KZYX has, except the right to use a high-power transmitter, and KNYO spent just $12,000 over the same period. Compare. And KZYX broke down about the same number of times as KNYO, and in many of the same ways.

A big part of the difference ($575,000 vs $12,000) is: the handful of office people at KZYX are paid a quarter of a million dollars a year to show up and sit in the office. That's many times what it would take to pay all the airpeople to do their shows. Bob Young of KNYO performs all the essential tasks of everyone in the KZYX office, and he does it while helping with his partner's serious health adventure, and he has time left over to have a life, and he is paid nothing. So, Jim, your attitude of awe and respect for the work/value ratio of the pack of KZYX office drones is puzzling. Surely Lorraine Dechter alone can easily cover it all in return for her salary. Why would you think she can't?

Also, when you characterize $700 or even $1,000 a year per airperson as piffle, you can't be thinking of people I know. People who work for a living don't think of $20 dollars here and $30 there for this job or that in terms of how little each gig adds up to at the end of the year and then spit on it. We think of it in terms of: when I leave paying work to do a two-hour show (that I prepared for days to do) I have $20 to pay for gas to get to the radio station and food to eat when I get home and save up for a new microphone or computer part to make the show better.

And Tim Gregory blathers that MCPB is a corporation and so it needs to make a lot of money or else lose market share to video games. What can be said to that? The educational band of the FM spectrum was set aside to do things commercial radio and its money-centric attitude makes impossible, because if it hadn't been set aside, there would be nothing but KUNKs and Fox Newses up and down the dial. The noncommercial left-hand end of FM isn't there to play Monopoly with; it's there for ordinary local people to further art and science and music and education and public affairs and even whimsy and annoying self-conscious nonsense.

Radio is cheap. Little churches own whole broadcasting networks of radio stations. Once a station has a broadcast license, and the transmission equipment has been paid for — which was all accomplished for KZYX 26 years ago — it costs pennies an hour to operate. If KZYX has so much money to throw away, and apparently it does, why not pay the local people who do the work? Why constantly lie that that's impossible, when so many shows from out of the area are paid for without your batting an eye?

Again, if you don't want or need the money for your work, fine. See that someone who does actually gets it, for a change.

Further, Jim, you write: "So who do you propose handles the logistics of adjusting pay depending on whether a programmer was able to do his or her usual shifts? Or does the station install a time clock? What fun THAT would be. Or does the station institute some kind of bureacratic process of figuring out how much content a programmer produced, then paying him or her accordingly? Who's going to tackle that adventure? One of the employees you're proposing to do away with? Do weekends and holidays warrant overtime? And what about taxes: are each of those 90 programmers going to want to complicate their tax returns by including 1099 income? Do each of those 90 programmers even FILE a return now? What about worker's comp and the other legal liabilities that the station would incur if it were to hire 90 part-time employees? ...Chortle."

Jim, you're being deliberately obtuse. There's a schedule on the station's web page that says when each airperson is sitting at the microphone. It's plain as day; it's already in a spreadsheet; I'm looking at it right now. It's simpler than the pay schedule of even the smallest theater company, and at Mendocino Theater Company, one of the places where I work, a single bookkeeper manages the task in a short afternoon per month using a ten-year-old computer. Workers and performers and designers and techies are paid what's called a stipend. The company has insurance. And theater people do their taxes just like everyone else does. The company is a nonprofit, just like KZYX; unlike KZYX it doesn't get $160,000 a year from taxpayers, but it manages nonetheless. I think your bookkeeper can handle it.

Speaking of which: Mendocino Theater Company's first play of the 2016 season,/Quills, about the Marquis de Sade in the booby hatch, opens this week. For info call the box office: 707-937-4477, or go to http://MendocinoTheatre.org

Marco McClean
memo@mcn.org
http://MemoOfTheAir.wordpress.com