Mendocino County Today: Friday, Mar 11, 2016

• Morning Downpour
• Ortner Out
• Flood Advisory
• Sewage Dumper
• Senior Reflections
• Sleepy Sex
• Sequiera Suckerpunch
• Yesterday's Catch
• The Two
• Umbrella Girl
• Beerfest 2016
• Pinot Festival
• The Donald
• Bernie's Message
• Delta Smelt
• Endless War
• Mobile Zombies
• Rental Available
• BHAB Agenda
• Poetry Month
• Swing Band
• Craig-casting
• Mendocino Theatre
• PILT Bill

THURSDAY MORNING'S DOWNPOUR. Impressive half day of rain yesterday with Boonville reporting 1.77 inches and Yorkville 2.44 inches. The Navarro River crested at 6pm at 17.73 feet, five feet short of flood level. However, more rain is forecast over the next three days, with over three inches expected. If that happens the Navarro may indeed flood the highway.

ORTNER OUTTA HERE. After months of nearly universal local condemnation for services not rendered, Ortner Management Group of Yuba City, private owner of half of Mendocino County's annual mental health budget worth about $7 million a year, has given notice that they will be withdrawing from Mendocino County as of July 1st.

EVERYONE from cops to emergency room doctors to advocates for the mentally ill to ordinary citizens complained that the mentally ill were not being attended to, let alone treated.

BUT IT TOOK the bold action of supervisors Gjerde, Woodhouse and Brown, acting on the recommendations of the Kemper Report, that made it so clearly obvious that Ortner was not meeting the terms of his agreement with the County. The jig was up for Ortner. He probably calculated that actually delivering mental health services, as per Kemper recommendations, would cut so far into his larcenous profits that withdrawal was his only option.

SUPERVISOR HAMBURG, out of the cozy relationship he enjoyed with Ortner for free mental health services for his troubled son, wanted to continue with Ortner. Supervisor McCowen, who can be tiresomely obtuse, seemed to think that Ortner, against all the evidence of Ortner's prior non-performance, would somehow incorporate Kemper's recommendations and begin, at last, to live up to his contract with Mendocino County.

NOW WHAT? Sheriff Allman is Mendocino County's de facto mental health service provider. He recognizes of course that the County Jail is not suitable as mental health provider. Allman has suggested that the County establish its own mental health site and services, which would be a case of back to the future, as Mendocino County, not long ago, did indeed sustain its own crisis unit.

WE THINK SHERIFF ALLMAN'S proposal should get serious consideration. He proposes a tiny temporary boost in the sales tax to fund it. Yeah, yeah, we know the sales tax is regressive, but even more regressive is handing an out-of-county businessman $6-7 million a year for doing not much of anything while local law enforcement does almost all the mental health heavy lifting.

THE NOW ABANDONED Howard Hospital in Willits is the perfect place for a secure mental health facility which could be inexpensively sited there and staffed for a lot less than the roughly $20 annual millions we now spend on failed to non-existent services.

FLOOD ADVISORY FOR MENDO

On 03-10-2016 the Mendocino County Sheriff's Office learned the National Weather Service (NWS) has issued a Flood Advisory for Mendocino County for today [Thursday] and a Flood Warning for the Navarro River tomorrow through Saturday. The NWS is forecasting the following:

1.  The Navarro River is forecasted exceed flood stage around 7:00 PM today but quickly drop back down below flood stage within 2 hours or so. This may impact Highway 128 tonight. The Navarro is then forecasted to exceed flood stage again at 8:00 AM Friday and crest near 36 feet around 6:00 PM Friday. This would result in closure of Highway 128 and could potentially impact a few houses along the banks of the Navarro River until dropping below flood stage at 5:00 AM Saturday. Monday it is forecasted to exceed flood stage at 24 feet at 8:00 AM but quickly drop back down by 10:00 AM.
2.  Russian River near Hopland forecast to hit 15 feet at midnight tonight and crest near 20 feet around 5:00 PM Friday. It is forecasted to drop back down to 15 feet around 3:00 AM on Saturday. This will likely impact Highway 175 and may close the highway Friday.
3.  Garcia River near Point Arena forecast to hit 11 feet at 10:00 PM tonight and crest near 15 feet around 3:00 PM Friday which would likely result in closure of Highway 1. It's not forecasted to drop back down to 11 feet until 7:00 AM on Sunday.

These are forecasts/predictions and levels may not reach predictions.  NWS and USGS currently have personnel in the field recording river levels to record more accurate measurements to improve models as needed.

Currently no rivers in Mendocino County are at or above flood monitor stage. The Sheriff's Office has received no reports from any Operational Area Partners regarding weather impacts so far. There are no confirmed road closures or large utility outages at this time.

Sand and sand bags are available at the following locations:

• Albion-Little River Fire (both fire stations)
• Comptche Fire Station
• Covelo Fire Station
• Friedman's Home Improvement in Ukiah (sand has been ordered- should arrive today)
• Hopland Fire Station
• Potter Valley Fire Station
• Redwood Coast Fire District
• Redwood Valley Fire Station
• South Coast Fire (Gualala Fire Station)
• Westport Fire Station

WHO’S DUMPING RAW SEWAGE IN THE STORM DRAIN?

On March 9, 2016 at approximately 5:20pm Ukiah Highway Patrol dispatchers received a call from a concerned citizen regarding a man dumping an unknown substance into a storm drain near Orr Springs Road east of WalMart in Ukiah. CHP Officer Jake Slates responded and found a male suspect and resident of Windsor who matched the description given by the concerned citizen dumping raw sewage from a large container into the storm drain. Mendocino County Environmental Health and Fish and Wildlife officials were contacted because raw sewage was entering a local waterway. The case is currently under investigation by the involved agencies and charges will be filed with the Mendocino County District Attorney's Office. (CHP Press Release)

(ED NOTE: Oddly, CHP did not release the name or company of the sewage "pumping" suspect.)

UKIAH SENIOR WONDERS WHERE THE FUN WENT

To the Editor:

The Ukiah Senior Center is no fun any more.

Few men can retire at 50 years as I did, which has given me time to observe the changes in our area both between the genders, our local economy, our choices in entertainment and lately even our senior center. I miss the days when my lady looked to me as her protector and provider. I miss our county’s pears, apples, lumber mills and Masonite jobs. Today we are stuck with just casino gambling, marijuana dope medication, alcohol grapes to treat addictions and mental illness plus gang activities due to culture change. Over the last 40 years of my retirement, our Senior Center has given us weekly pure enjoyment like dances, Valentines Day, Halloween, New Years events, Special Olympics dance for the kids, and cooked-on-site daily lunches featuring our own portion choices. Now we seniors 70 to 105 have no night transportation from MTA or senior buses. We are offered advanced directive shows for our demise, when to get a caregiver, subjects I for one need no help deciding. Although we are still here, as the ice cream social attendance attests to, the new board talks of a new center being built. I question that. The center cannot serve those of us still here now. It is all a generation gap.

Gene Hoggren, Redwood Valley.

On March 9, 2016, Mendocino County Sheriff's Detectives were summoned to the 300 block of Laws Avenue to contact a 23 year old female who wanted to report multiple counts of rape at the hands of Anthony Alan Cunningham Coburn. Detectives investigated the case and established probable cause that Coburn had committed multiple counts of rape while the victim was unconscious or asleep, as well as at least one count of corporal injury to a spouse or cohabitant. Coburn was contacted on the sidewalk outside his residence by Sheriff's Detectives and arrested without incident. Coburn was transported and booked in the Mendocino County Jail where he is being held in lieu of $350,000 bail.

RE ASSISTANT DA PAUL SEQUIERA'S CLAIM, a reader notes;

So Sequiera says he is owed money from an agreement from 2011? Presumably an agreement with the DA. Except the DA is not authorized to execute employment agreements. And Sequiera has never presented a copy of the agreement. The guy comes off as a first class jerk since he names his pal DA Dave in the claim. The County should make a claim against him since he is rumored to have caused three car wrecks while driving County cars. Probably because he was admiring himself in the rear view mirror. You may also recall that Sequiera had a couple of problems with fisticuffs prior to coming to Mendoland. As I recall, on both occasions he showed that he could take a punch, but not that he could throw one. Now, on his way out the door in Mendo, he is trying to land a sucker punch on the DA and CEO.

CATCH OF THE DAY,

HECTOR ALVARADO-CORTEZ, Santa Rosa/Ukiah. Under influence.

SCOTT CHAPMAN, Fort Bragg. Fighting, vandalism, drunk in public.

LARRY FLOWERS, Willits. Domestic battery.

BRIAN GULBRANSON, Hornbrook, California/Ukiah. Failure to appear.

JAMES LAWSON, Ukiah. Parole violation.

ROBERT MCCORMICK, Willits. Failure to appear.

THOMAS MOONEY, Laytonville. Drunk in public.

MICHAEL ROCANELLA, Chico/Ukiah. Probation revocation.

THOMAS SANDERS, Willits. Drunk in public. (Frequent flyer.)

THE TWO

Philip Levine, 1928 - 2015

When he gets off work at Packard, they meet

outside a diner on Grand Boulevard. He’s tired,

a bit depressed, and smelling the exhaustion

on his own breath, he kisses her carefully

on her left cheek. Early April, and the weather

has not decided if this is spring, winter, or what.

The two gaze upwards at the sky which gives

nothing away: the low clouds break here and there

and let in tiny slices of a pure blue heaven.

The day is like us, she thinks; it hasn’t decided

what to become. The traffic light at Linwood

goes from red to green and the trucks start up,

so that when he says, “Would you like to eat?”

she hears a jumble of words that mean nothing,

though spiced with things she cannot believe,

“wooden Jew” and “lucky meat.” He’s been up

late, she thinks, he’s tired of the job, perhaps tired

of their morning meetings, but when he bows

from the waist and holds the door open

for her to enter the diner, and the thick

odor of bacon frying and new potatoes

greets them both, and taking heart she enters

to peer through the thick cloud of tobacco smoke

to the see if “their booth” is available.

1. Scott Fitzgerald wrote that there were no

second acts in America, but he knew neither

this man nor this woman and no one else

like them unless he stayed late at the office

to test his famous one liner, “We keep you clean

Muscatine," on the woman emptying

his waste basket. Fitzgerald never wrote

with someone present, except for this woman

in a gray uniform whose comings and goings

went unnoticed even on those December evenings

she worked late while the snow fell silently

on the window sills and the new fluorescent lights

blinked on and off. Get back to the two, you say.

Not who ordered poached eggs, who ordered

only toast and coffee, who shared the bacon

with the other, but what became of the two

when this poem ended, whose arms held whom,

who first said “I love you” and truly meant it,

and who misunderstood the words, so longed

for, and yet still so unexpected, and began

suddenly to scream and curse until the waitress

asked them both to leave. The Packard plant closed

years before I left Detroit, the diner was burned

to the ground in ‘67, two years before my oldest son

fled to Sweden to escape the American dream.

“And the lovers?” you ask. I wrote nothing about lovers.

Take a look. Clouds, trucks, traffic lights, a diner, work,

a wooden shoe, East Moline, poached eggs, the perfume

of frying bacon, the chaos of language, the spices

of spent breath after eight hours of night work.

Can you hear all I feared and never dared to write?

Why the two are more real than either you or me,

why I never returned to keep them in my life,

how little I now mean to myself or anyone else,

what any of this could mean, where you found

the patience to endure these truths and confessions?’

SINGING IN THE RAIN

BEER FEST 2016

The North Coast's premier beer fest takes place on Saturday, March 19 in Fort Bragg at historic Eagles Hall, 210 N. Corry at Adler. The time is noon to 4 p.m.

This is the 20th year for this event sponsored by the Fort Bragg Rotary Club to support its many projects in the community and world-wide.

Sixteen craft brewers will pour their best beers and ales. Please, no children or pets. You must be 21 or older and ID is required. The cost is $30 and you may taste as many beers as you like. This is an event for experts and novices alike.

Live music is by the band Gnarly Pints. The beer fest is part of Fort Bragg's weekend celebration of the whales that migrate up the Coast each spring on their way to Alaska feeding grounds.

FOR SOME DARN REASON, THE WINE INDUSTRY DOESN'T SEND US THEIR PRESSERS

PHILO — Now in its 19th year, the Anderson Valley Pinot Noir Festival has expanded to include more wineries and events than ever. This year’s festival, to be held May 19-22, will showcase more than 60 Anderson Valley Pinot Noir producers, and will include an extra day of winemaker-only events.

The festival will commence on Thursday, May 19 with a new Winemakers Workshop. Open only to winemakers producing Anderson Valley Pinot Noir, this day-long workshop aims to bring winemakers together to taste both current releases and 2015 barrel samples.

Winemakers will offer critical feedback and discussion in hopes of improving the quality of Anderson Valley Pinot Noir into the future — an already high bar.

Regular festival events like Friday’s technical conference (open to the public, trade and press), the Friday night casual barbecue, Saturday’s grand tasting and winemaker dinners and Sunday’s winery open houses will continue.

Run concurrently with a press tasting, Friday’s technical conference will include topics like: an Anderson Valley sparkling wines tasting; a Navarro River Watershed update (now in its fourth year); a vineyard-focused Pinot Noir tasting; “Lessons of the 2015 Vintage,” based upon the discussions held at the prior day’s Winemakers Workshop; a session on closures, and more. Breakfast and a full lunch will be provided.

The technical conference will be followed by a casual, outdoor barbecue at Pennyroyal Farm, featuring plenty of grilled delicacies, a live band and Pinot Noir from a variety of producers.

The grand tasting will again take place in the vineyards at Goldeneye Winery in Philo. Pinots will be paired with smoked salmon, pork belly, wood-fired pizzas, duck sliders, local chocolates and other delicious bites. There will also be live music and a silent auction to benefit the valley’s rural health clinic, the Anderson Valley Health Center in Boonville.

Participating wineries at the grand tasting normally include: Angel Camp, Ardzrooni Family Wines, Balo Vineyards, Baxter Winery, Bink Wines, Black Kite Cellars, Brutocao Cellars, Cakebread Cellars, Champ de Reves, Copain Wines, Domaine Anderson, Donkey & Goat, Drew Family Wines, Elke Vineyards, Expression 39, Fathers & Daughters, FEL, Ferrari Carano, Foursight Wines, Fulcrum Wines, Goldeneye Winery, Greenwood Ridge Vineyards, Handley Cellars, Harmonique Wines, Husch Vineyards, Knez Winery, La Crema, Lazy Creek Vineyards, Lichen Estate, Littorai, Lula Cellars, MacPhail Family Wines, Maggy Hawk Vineyard, Maple Creek, Navarro Vineyards, Nelson Hill Winery, Pangloss Cellars, Panthea, Phillips Hill Winery, Philo Ridge Vineyards, Quince, Roederer Estate, Roma’s Vineyard, Saintsbury, Scharffenberger Cellars, Schramsberg, Toulouse Vineyards, Twomey Cellars, Waits-Mast Cellars, Walt Wines, Williams Selyem, Wind Racer Wine, Witching Stick Wines and more.

On Saturday evening, May 21, local wineries will host four winemaker dinners in Anderson Valley and on the Mendocino Coast.

The weekend will conclude on Sunday, May 22 with open houses at Anderson Valley wineries, featuring special tastings, educational talks, music and food.

Tickets for the 19th annual Anderson Valley Pinot Noir Festival go on sale March 15 at www.avwines.com.

For additional information about the event, visit the AVWA Web site at www.avwines.com or call (707) 895-WINE or email info@avwines.com. The AVWA thanks its many sponsors for their support, including Scott Farmer, Encore Glass and American Ag Credit.

ON LINE COMMENT OF THE DAY

Makes me laugh, this piling on The Donald. Now it’s Robert Reich with this fascism baloney. Jesus H Christ, Trump, a fascist? Seriously?

Reich claims he’s reluctant to apply the word “fascist” because it’s too often used carelessly. Yeah, no shit, in this I agree, much too often, much too carelessly, including in Reich’s article. I can imagine the deep sighs and regret, oh my, tsk, tsk, but Reich uses the word anyway.

On second thought, given that Reich is a practitioner of that lowest, most contemptible pseudo-science – economics – should we be surprised? What do economists generally spew after all if not nonsense? It’s their stock-in-trade.

These nonsense-mongers cite bogus parallels like Reich does when he says The Donald got people to raise their right hand at a rally, you know, Seig Heil style. You want to avert your eyes, not from Trump but from Reich and people like him.

I wonder, have these guys ever talked to anyone actually there to see what real fascists inflicted? Have they actually cracked open a history book to read about it?

The Donald a fascist? Give me strength. A semi-successful real estate developer, one that left a trail of bankruptcies, a blustering clown maybe, a boor, yes, a vulgarian ok, but a fascist? Please.

OK, maybe this is just another con job. We keep hearing this fascism stuff, so the glitterati elite don’t like The Donald, maybe they’re pissed because the appointed lackey – Bush – screwed it up, so they’ll say damn near anything to derail The Donald’s campaign.

Maybe they’re preying on the ignorance of the great unwashed, especially the younger contingent that haven’t actually learned any history in school and don’t have the first fucking clue and wouldn’t know from fascism.

Maybe these guys learned some campus tricks. To make people an object of contempt you call them “angry white men”. To shut people down, you level accusations like “bigot” and “racist”. Don’t like what somebody is saying? Accuse them of “hate speech”. Call them “Nazi” and “Fascist”.

It works on universities and colleges. Not so sure it’ll do anything in the real world.

See, as Matt Taibbi sez in his February Rolling Stone article, The Donald says a lot of crazy stuff, but there’s also a lot of truth in what The Donald is saying.

Too much truth in fact. Way too much. Can’t have that. So, they get down and dirty, they do what they have to. They call The Donald a Fascist.

When this doesn’t work, and it probably won’t, we’ll see what other tricks they try, this being the Presidency of the Depleted States of America we’re talking about. Depleted or no, The State is still a valuable asset so they want somebody reliable, who colors between the lines and doesn’t say things he shouldn’t, especially about how a small elite screwed the country.

I’M FOR BERNIE and all; who wouldn’t be? But gawd his message is negative and vague. The other night on the Thom Hartmann Show, although his voice was distinctively his, he sounded like just another lib-lab rattling off the usual generic gripes about What’s Wrong With America — which Bernie repeatedly referred to as “my message” — that most Americans already know if we’re following things at all. There’s no obvious or practical fix or even partial fix to these kinds of gripes: The gap between the rich and poor is too big, Native Americans are getting a raw deal, Wall Street is getting bailed out, jobs are going overseas, Americans are working harder for less, the education system is broken, climate change is getting worse, and on and on. The only specific proposal Bernie mentioned in his 15-minute monologue was free college for everyone. That’s nice. But it won’t make a whit of difference to any of the things he was griping about; US colleges are not graduating people with those goals and skill, to be generous. Bernie didn’t even mention reigning in the grotesque military budget. At other times we’ve heard Bernie talk about taxes and the minimum wage and so forth, but even those sort-of ideas are vague and/or not gonna happen in the American political context. Ralph Nader had some specific proposals when he ran; lately Ralph has been championing what he calls the emerging left-right alliance on subjects like prison reform, corporate tax breaks and loopholes, restoration of tariffs and job protections, etc. Couldn’t Bernie at least borrow a few from Ralph? I’m tired of listening to tedious repetitions of the hackneyed lib-lab litany of unsolvable systemic problems. (Tip: Whenever someone says “We have to…” you can be sure that whatever “we” have to do will never happen because “we” is always some amorphous other people.)

Mark Scaramella, Boonville

DELTA SMELT POPULATION PLUNGES TO A NEW RECORD LOW

by Dan Bacher

The population of Delta smelt, an indicator species that demonstrates the health of the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta, has declined to a new record low population level, according to the spring 2016 surveys conducted by California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW).

The January Kodiak Trawl survey produced only seven fish, while the February survey yielded just six smelt. The Delta smelt once numbered in the millions, but have plummeted after decades of massive Delta water exports, combined with the impacts of declining water quality and invasive species.

"Once the most abundant species in the estuary, we can now name smelt rather than count them," said Jennings, Executive Director of the California Sportfishing Protection Alliance (CSPA).

The Delta smelt collapse is part of an overall ecosystem decline. The California Department of Fish and Wildlife’s 2015 Fall Midwater Trawl demonstrates that, since 1967, populations of striped bass, Delta smelt, longfin smelt, American shad, splittail and threadfin shad have declined by 99.7, 98.3, 99.9, 97.7, 98.5 and 93.7 percent, respectively, according to Jennings.

These percentage declines are reflective of the other 2015 surveys, including the 20 mm, Smelt Larva, Spring Kodiak and the Summer Townet Surveys. noted Jennings. For example, the 2015 Townet Index for Delta smelt was "zero," the lowest in the 56-year history of the survey.

"And so far in 2016, survey results are even more dire," said Jennings. "The first Spring Kodiak Trawl of Delta smelt showed a 67% decline from the record low of 2015 (which was 86% below 2014). The first Smelt Larva Survey found no Delta smelt (same as last year) and showed a 29.5% decline in Longfin smelt from 2015’s record low (which was 82% below 2014)."

Jennings emphasized that "Mother Nature did not cause the estuary’s biological collapse," in spite of the claims by state and federal officials that the "drought" is the cause of the collapse.

"It is the result of illegal political decisions by state and federal regulatory agencies that have become captive to powerful special interests," he stated.

He noted that these fisheries "evolved and prospered over thousands of years and survived the hundred-year mega droughts of the past."

"Since 1995, DWR and USBR have fully complied with Bay-Delta water quality objectives in only 8 of 21 years," according to Jennings. "The State Water Board has never taken an enforcement action for the thousands upon thousands of violations."

"In addition, the State Board has routinely waived compliance with legally promulgated criteria explicitly enacted to protect fisheries and water quality during critical drought sequences. And the fishery agencies have consistently acquiesced in these actions," he said.

Delta smelt are very near extinction in the wild - and Dr. Peter Moyle, UC Davis fisheries scientist, professor and author, is not optimistic about their potential recovery.

”We are entering uncharted waters with the delta smelt now because populations have never been so low,” said Dr. Moyle. "My guess is that populations are so small now that random events, such as predation by a swarm of silversides on eggs and larvae in an isolated spawning event, can keep driving the population down."

“These March rains are the best hope for any short-term recovery (as in 2011) because they should result in somewhat increased outflows from local run off in the Sacramento Valley, decreasing temperatures, increasing turbidity, diluting contaminants and other factors: all good for smelt,” said Moyle. “We are clearly close to extinction in the wild but whether we will see the last wild smelt in 2 years or 10 is anyone's guess."

"Presumably there is still a small probability of a miraculous recovery, but I am not optimistic, especially if we go back to drought conditions," he concluded.

As Delta smelt populations near extinction, recreational, tribal and commercial salmon fishermen face restrictions this year, due to the low abundance estimates for Sacramento and Klamath River Chinook salmon. As is the case with the Delta smelt, salmon populations have plummeted due to massive water exports out of the Sacramento-San Joaquin River system and the Trinity River, the largest tributary of the Klamath, along with poor management of northern California reservoirs by the state and federal governments and declining water quality. (http://fishsniffer.com/index.php/2016/03/03/sacramento-and-klamath-river-salmon-ocean-abundance-estimates-are-down-in-2016/)

Rather than trying to restore these fish populations, the Brown administration appears to be moving in the opposite direction as the Governor promotes the California Fix to build the Delta Tunnels as a "legacy project." The construction of the Delta Tunnels would hasten the extinction of Sacramento River winter Chinook salmon, Central Valley steelhead, Delta and longfin smelt, green sturgeon and other species, along with imperiling the salmon and steelhead populations of the Klamath and Trinity rivers.

In response to a request to my questions about the causes of the Delta smelt decline and the future of the fish, a representative of the California Department of Fish and Wildlife has not responded.

THE RETIRED OFFICER & THE TYPEWRITER

Dear Ed.,

You know the saying about given enough time, a monkey with a typewriter could come up with the Encyclopedia Britannica?  Well, after some 100 years of using High Explosives as 'policy' in the Mideast (making their oil handy for US), a retired U.S. Army Officer has come up with an uncharacteristically pertinent question.  Andrew Bacevich (Lt. Col? ret.) on Democracy Now! this am, asked this one, to my knowledge the first time EVER it's been posed in public:

'For some decades, U.S. policy in the Iraq [to say nothing of 146 countries elsewhere] has been largely made of undeclared wars [known elsewhere as 'war crimes.']...the Question is, 'How has that worked out for us?  And for others?'  The next Question, and a better one, might be, 'Could that kind of extra-lawful expression of 'policy' be where all this 'foreign terrorism' is coming from?'

When it came clear that 'winning' a war is less profitable than 'prosecuting' one or more at length, the bookkeepers in the Back Room answered these questions for all of us.  It seems like there's so damned much money being made at it, they just won't quit.

Go ahead.  Just keep letting 'em roll like that, bombing the Cradle of Civilization [and elsewhere] '...back to the Stone Age,'...

Rick Weddle, Hawaii

IT REALLY IS PATHOLOGICAL how distracted everyone is in public, and I assume the same is true in private. We apparently have to be entertained every waking minute, fiddling with electronic devices or with earphones on as we walk, drive, and ride the bus.

Whenever I ride Muni, almost everyone aboard is involved with a cellphone or tablet, except for a few old farts like me. Simply riding a bus is apparently seen as downtime to filled up with electronic foolishness or music/entertainment. People seem to need to fill in every gap in their lives with something instead of simply doing what they're doing at the time. Whatever happened to the Be Here Now concept? You don't need to adopt arcane religious practices to pay attention to your surroundings.

It's nuts and, as the latest Governors Highway Safety Report tells us, it's also dangerous, especially for pedestrians, who are not only distracted by their own electronic devices but are threatened by similarly distracted motorists (Pedestrian deaths surged last year by an estimated 10 percent).

(Recall that back in 2014 the governors released a report on the dangers of cycling, which prompted a flurry of outrage from Streetsblog and the bike lobbyists, as if riding a bike, given the intrinsic dangers, could ever really be made safe.)

(Rob Anderson, District 5 Diary)

RURAL HOUSE FOR RENT near Philo: 3-bedrooms + 2 cabins: $1400/m: available April 1^st

FOR RENT:  Rustic, secluded 3-bedroom home looking down on private Navarro River swimming hole plus two detached cabins. Near Philo in Mendocino County's beautiful Anderson Valley and immediately next to 850-acre Hendy Woods State Park with miles of trails plus outstanding virgin redwood groves. The surrounding forests and river keep you cooler in summer's heat. There are great views from the deck and numerous windows of the river, both upstream & downstream, with its abundant wildlife, including water birds, salmon and otter. With practically no homes in sight you feel privacy and seclusion, yet you're only 5 miles from Anderson Valley stores, restaurants, galleries, vineyards and tasting rooms, 20 miles from the ocean, and 30 from Mendocino, an art, food & wine lovers heaven, plus near-by airport, golf course, fishing harbor, whale-watching cruises, and several rivers for boating, swimming, hiking and biking.

The house has one large bedroom and two small ones, one bathroom with tub and shower and room for washer and dryer, a large kitchen-living room, a small entrance porch and a small deck overlooking the Navarro River. It can be heated by both a wood stove and a propane heater. One of the two cabins has a wood stove and mini-kitchen but no bathroom; the other cabin can be used for storage, art studio or office. We will not allow little children (due to steep river edge danger) or pets. The rent is $1400 a month. A commitment of staying at least one year plus a $500 damage deposit and first and last month's rent (= $3300) in advance is required.

PHOTOS, details and APPLICATION form are available at: http://tw.mcn.org/RiverHouse If you are interested in renting this property, here is some additional information you should know about it. The Rental Application form and Rental Agreement are available by clicking the icon on the bottom of the webpage. If you'd like to apply to rent this property, you must print out this application form, fill it in and fax it to 707-937-5602, email it to tw@mcn.org, or mail it to: Tom Wodetzki, 31901 Middle Ridge Road, Albion CA 95410

The property is located at 18575 Philo-Greenwood Road and is currently occupied, so please do not go to look without making an arrangement with me first. Tom Wodetzki, tw@mcn.org

MENDOCINO COUNTY BEHAVIORAL HEALTH ADVISORY BOARD MEETING

Attached you will find the agenda packet for the Mendocino County Behavioral Health Advisory Board (BHAB) meeting scheduled for March 16, 2016 at the Mendocino County Administration Offices, Conference room C, 501 Low Gap Road, Ukiah CA from 10:00 am to 2:00 pm.

If you have any questions regarding the meeting please let me know.

Thank you,

Carolyn Peckham
Administrative Secretary
Mendocino County Behavioral Health
1120 S. Dora Street
Ukiah, CA 95482
Bus. phone (707) 472-2310

* * *

MENDOCINO COUNTY BEHAVIORAL HEALTH ADVISORY BOARD AGENDA

MARCH 16, 2016 - 10:00 AM – 2:00 PM

COUNTY ADMIN. CENTER
CONFERENCE ROOM C
501 LOW GAP ROAD
UKIAH, CA

Before the Behavioral Health Advisory Board County of Mendocino, State of California

Agenda – March 16, 2016

AGENDA ITEM NO. 1 – OPEN SESSION, CALL TO ORDER, AND ROLL CALL,

[Silly Boilerplate skipped]

AGENDA ITEM NO. 7 - REPORT FROM THE CHAIR – JOHN WETZLER CHAIR BHAB – 30 MINUTES OR AT THE CHAIR’S DISCRETION

• Chair Wetzler will introduce Mendocino County Chief Executive Officer Carmel Angelo to address the current events in process to transition Mental Health Adult Services to a new in County provider system of care.
• Report from the Chair – Handout

AGENDA ITEM NO. 8 - DIRECTOR’S REPORT – JENINE MILLER, BEHAVIORAL HEALTH AND RECOVERY SERVICES DIRECTOR – 30 MINUTES OR AT THE CHAIR’S DISCRETION

• Director’s Report – Handout

1. Wellness Grant Progress Report
2. MHSA updates regarding Annual Plan Approval Deadlines
3. MHSA Housing update
4. Update on AOT status and progress on AOT Coordinator Position.

• BHRS Newsletter – Handout

AGENDA ITEM NO. 9 – TODD STORTI, BEHAVIORAL HEALTH & RECOVERY SERVICES – PRESENTATION REGARDING MENTAL HEALTH AND ASO QUARTERLY FINANCIAL REPORTS – 15 MINUTES OR AT THE CHAIR’S DISCRETION

AGENDA ITEM NO. 10 – RQMC AND OMG DATA AND UPDATES BY WRITTEN REPORT – 20 MINUTES OR AT THE CHAIR’S DISCRETION

• Redwood Quality Management - Handout and brief presentation - Tim Schraeder, MFT – Chief Executive Officer to answer questions – 5 minutes
• Ortner Management Group - Handout and brief presentation - Mark Montgomery, Psy D-Vice President of Operations to answer questions – 5 minutes

12:00 P.M. BREAK - 25 MINUTES OR AT THE CHAIR’S DISCRETION

AGENDA ITEM NO. 11 – UPDATE KEMPER REPORT RECOMMENDATIONS/RFP PROCESS – SUPERVISOR JOHN MCCOWEN 2ND DISTRICT UPDATE BOS MEETINGS MARCH 1, 2016 AND MARCH 15, 2016 - 30 MINUTES OR AT THE CHAIR’S DISCRETION

AGENDA ITEM NO. 12 – COMMITTEE REPORTS – AD HOC COMMITTEE UPDATES IN PREPARATION OF FINAL REPORTS DUE APRIL 30, 2016 – 20 MINUTES OR AT THE CHAIR’S DISCRETION

AGENDA ITEM NO. 13 – BOARD DISCUSSION AND POSSIBLE ACTION REGARDING THE ROLE OF THE BEHAVIORAL HEALTH ADVISORY BOARD AS THE COUNTY MOVES FORWARD WITH THE IMPLEMENTATION OF KEMPER RECOMMENDATIONS AND THE CONTRACT AND/OR RFP PROCESS – 30 MINUTES OR AT THE CHAIR’S DISCRETION

Action Item: form an ad hoc committee to address how can the BHAB play a constructive role in the advising Behavioral Health & Recovery Services and the Board of Supervisors regarding the implementation of the Kemper recommendations and the contract renegotiation/RFP process?

AGENDA ITEM NO. 14 - CORRESPONDENCE AND BACKUP MATERIALS RECEIVED AND FILED

• OMG Data
• RQMC Data

NATIONAL POETRY MONTH:

• Book Spine Poetry (teens), Wednesday, April 6^th 2-5pm
• Poetry Magnets (teens), Wednesday, April 13^th 2-5 pm
• Making Found Poems (teens), Wednesday, April 20^th 2-5pm
• Chapbook Workshop (Adults & Teens): Saturday, April 30^th 2-4 pm

National Poetry Month is the largest literary celebration in the world, with tens of millions of readers, students, K-12 teachers, librarians, booksellers, literary events curators, publishers, bloggers, and, of course, poets marking poetry’s important place in our culture and our lives.

The goals of National Poetry Month are to:

• Highlight the extraordinary legacy and ongoing achievement of American poets
• Encourage the reading of poems
• Assist teachers in bringing poetry into their classrooms
• Increase the attention paid to poetry by national and local media
• Encourage increased publication and distribution of poetry books, and
• Encourage support for poets and poetry.

Book Spine Poetry – Teens will create visual poems by stacking books so that their spines are visible & construct poems.

Poetry Magnets – We’ll make our own magnetic poetry kits to take home.

Registration is required – please call 467-6434 or email carrm@co.mendocino.ca.us to sign up!

Making Found Poems – Teens will discover how to make poems from a variety of sources, including dictionaries, newspapers, rocks, the mind, & music. We’ll have fun exploring language & syntax through play, as well as cut & paste fragments from other poems.

Poetry Chapbook Workshop – You’ve written the poems, now what? Assemble them into a chapbook! Chapbooks have a long history of communicating impelling messages to communities & are often handmade and sold cheaply or given as gifts. Adults & teens are invited to learn how to make poetry chapbooks. This workshop will be taught by Melissa Eleftherion Carr (MLIS, MFA), widely published poet & author of five chapbooks. Registration is required – please call/email Melissa Carr to sign up: 467-6434/carrm@co.mendocino.ca.us

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

THE LOCAL HONEY SWING BAND TO PLAY IN CLOVERDALE APRIL 7

Cloverdale Arts Alliance presents THE Jazz Club first Thursdays, October to May

Cloverdale, March 10, 2016 -- On Thursday, April 7, THE Jazz Club at the Cloverdale Arts Alliance is pleased to present the Local Honey Swing Band.

The Local Honey Swing Band was formed at the Camp Meeker Supper Club, where open jam sessions based on 30's Jazz sprung up in 2010. Inspired by Django Reinhardt, Sidney Bechet and Billie Holliday the band plays "Small Band Swing" that is suitable of dancing or relaxing.

The band's goal is to lift spirits, connect us to history and roots, put a little sweetness into life, and make musical magic at every event. Their repertoire includes obscure forgotten gems from the American masters, French Waltzes, Gypsy Jazz from yesterday and today, and original music to carry on the tradition.

The Cloverdale Arts Alliance is located at 204 N. Cloverdale Blvd. Tickets are $15 for Cloverdale Arts Alliance members and $20 for non-members. Doors open at 7:00 pm; music begins at 7:30 pm. THE Jazz Club takes place the first Thursday of each month from October through May.

To receive reserved seating privileges purchase advance tickets online at www.cloverdaleartsalliance.org or at the Cloverdale Arts Alliance during normal business hours. Tickets are available at the door.

The Jazz Club is a program of the Cloverdale Arts Alliance, a non-profit arts organization bringing cultural arts to northern Sonoma County. Other CAA programs include Friday Night Live at the Plaza, Art Gallery, Sculpture Trail, Americana Night, Music Workshops, Discovering Art Series, The Blues Session, Art Classes, Clay Classes, Wine Appreciation Workshops, and Special Events.

GOOD EVENING, AMERICA

Washington D.C. Update

Good evening America, Last night I attended a choir concert following Catholic mass in the Crypt Church of the Basilica of the Immaculate Conception at Catholic University.  Spotting Monsignor Rossi (the basilica's rector) in the crowd, I went up to him and introduced myself, having the previous Sunday sent him an email.  I reiterated my 23 years of unpaid service work for the homeless with Catholic Worker, and my having been four times in Washington D.C., where I was personally thanked by Cardinal Hickey and also by letter by Monsignor Kuhner, who was the head of Catholic social services at the time.  I asked Msgr. Rossi to help me find a guest room near the basilica, as I may wish to be in D.C. longer, and the CU neighborhood is attractive for a lot of reasons.  Msgr. Rossi did not know of anything, saying that the guest places were for students and "the religious".  I pointed out that I am religious.  He responded by noting that he knew this, but said that I nevertheless certainly understood what he meant.  We agreed that the basilica's choir concert was wonderful.     I am booked into Hostelling International-D.C. for four more nights. I do not know what I am going to do after that.  In terms of radical environmental and peace & justice activism, there is not much happening here at this time.  There is organizing underway by Beyond Extreme Energy for the Break Free (of fossil fuels) rolling demonstrations scheduled in May, and there is a prior conference call which anyone may participate in on March 16th.  Otherwise, my continuous flow of networking emails have not gotten any significant responses, insofar as: 1. performing spiritually based rituals, 2. creating new street theater both for here and for the national conventions in late July in Cleveland and Philadelphia, 3. any literary collaboration that is appropriate, and 4. YOUR SUGGESTION HERE.     So, I don't know what the hell to do.  Dualistically speaking, huge thanks to the Divine Absolute that I have money!  Please contact me if you have anything to offer in this ridiculous postmodern situation, Craig Louis Stehr  EMAIL: CraigStehr@inbox.com

Craig Louis Stehr
March 10, 2016
Washington, D.C. USA

QUILLS CONTINUES THIS WEEKEND!

Quills, by Doug Wright, continues this weekend at the Mendocino Theatre Company.  An Obie Award-winning play, this dark, gleeful comedy features Steven P. Worthen, Phillip Regan, Rachel Sparks, Mark Friedrich, Mark Marco and Janice Culliford.

Do watch our video trailer <https://youtu.be/qW5UZ-Dd0nA>, created by Maya Neumeier of California Poppy Productions!

For information, or to by tickets, please phone our box office at 707-937-4477.  You may also purchase tickets online at http://mendocinotheatre.org/single-tickets/.

Don't miss this outrageous, shocking and BRILLIANT comedy!

FROM RURAL COUNTY REPRESENTATIVES OF CALIFORNIA:

The Rural County Representatives of California (RCRC) is sponsoring a measure to again require the State to make Payment in Lieu of Taxes (PILT) payments to counties.  Senate Bill 1188 by Senator Mike McGuire (D-Healdsburg) has 15 other authors and co-authors, and is a bi-partisan effort to amend Fish and Game Code language to make State PILT payments to counties a requirement.

Established in 1949 to offset adverse impacts to county property tax revenues that result when the State acquires private property for wildlife management areas, State PILT helps small and rural counties fund a variety of programs and services that benefit county residents.  In 2015, the final State Budget Package included language in the Fish and Game Code that changed “shall” to “may” to make future State PILT payments to California’s 36 PILT counties permissive.

This language change is significant as the Department of Fish and Wildlife (DFW) already owes nearly $8 million in State PILT arrearages to California’s State PILT counties.  Despite the previous requirement in statute that the DFW make State PILT payments annually to the impacted counties, they have failed to do so until last year.

“State PILT is crucial to California’s counties, and over the last 15 years counties have struggled to tighten their budgets in order to fund programs and services for residents when the State stopped making payments,” said John Viegas, RCRC Chair and Glenn County Supervisor.  “This language change only makes it easier for the State to forego their obligation, further impacting programs and services to residents throughout the state.”

“The State needs to step up and follow through on a promise and advance Fish and Wildlife PILT payments to rural Counties,” Senator Mike McGuire said.  “Since 2001, California has been depositing millions of PILT dollars that should have been going to rural counties into the State General Fund and it’s time to give counties their due.”

A detailed Q&A on California State PILT can be accessed here.  The full text of SB 1188 can be accessed here.