Mendocino County Today: Monday, Mar 21, 2016

• Springtime
• Weather Outlook
• Allman's Case
• Puff Opinion
• Puff Closure
• Asha Missing
• Homeless Count
• Liberty Layoffs
• Coliform Testing
• Boonville Water/Sewer
• Presidential Contributions
• Kenwood Quake
• Shelter Audit
• Proposal Process
• Abnormally Dry
• Teacher Firings
• Glyphosate Use
• Yesterday's Catch
• Vicious Life
• Log Truck
• Rushing Marshmallows
• Cat Bounce
• Republican History
• Lord's Avenger
• Tunnels Collapsing
• Marco Radio
• Tsunami Test
• Spring Fever

THE FIRST DAY of Spring, which was Sunday, began dark, damp and dreary, but by the time Spring had sprung at exactly 2pm, the sun was shining, the birds singing, the scent of new lilac everywhere, and all was young and hopeful on Mendocino County's acre of God's green earth.

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE has issued a Hazardous Weather Outlook for March 21, 2016. They are expecting waves of moderate to heavy rain today followed by numerous showers overnight. Thunderstorms and small hail may be possible in the coastal areas. Snow levels may fall to 3500 ft. Days two through seven may produce small hail and lightning strikes.

SHERIFF ALLMAN MAKES HIS OWN CASE

Good afternoon—

Thanks for discussing the mental health situation, and our initiative. Over the past ten years, I have asked about the possibility of a PHF and have been met with the simple response that there is no money that would cover the reopening of such a facility. Granted, the budget for mental health is $20 million, this money is used as "money out, money in (reimbursed)."

There are four parts of the mental health foundation that we should have in our county:

1) A psychiatric health facility (PHF) that allows our citizens to stay local if they suffer from a psychotic episode. Keeping people local means easier follow up and more family involvement.

2) A crisis residential location (voluntary, non-locked) where people can transition from a locked facility to an unlocked facility. This would be for up to 30 days of treatment.

3) A drop in clinic. This would allow clients to drop in for counseling, meds, basic check in and a safe place for clients to visit.

4) An improved location for treatment of clients involved with treatment of alcohol and other drugs.

And Mental Health Veteran Services must be improved in our remote area for the veterans who live too far to frequent the Ukiah VA office.

Whatever we want to call our mentally ill citizens (clients, patients, inmates, victims), we must get to a point in our available services where families can feel comfortable in the diagnosis, treatment and medication. While I have not specifically spoken with Jim Bassler about this initiative, he is a driving force in my desire to see improvement.

Mental illness is not a crime. The treatment of our friends, family members and fellow citizens should improve. I readily offer any other person to put another idea on the table. I listen and learn, but I also want to see law enforcement officers not continue to be the primary responders to these fragile situations. While we (law enforcement) will continue to respond to potential violent situations, these are the exception and not the rule.

This initiative will not solve all of our problems, but this initiative has helped increase the dialogue about a solution. We need to continue to discuss a solution for our citizens who have been declared conserved. This is a huge amount of money which is leaving our county.

Let's keep talking. If I am wrong on the solution, then I am wrong. We need a solution. Mendocino County is a very smart county. We can come up with our solution. If we are going to sit and wait for State or Federal solutions, we will never see a solution.

Tom Allman, Mendocino County Sheriff

Ukiah

SHERIFF’S BALLOT PROPOSAL A GOOD SOLUTION

by K.C. Meadows, Editor, the Ukiah Daily Journal

One of the worst mistakes county supervisors ever made was closing the psychiatric health facility commonly called the PHF, or “puff” in 2000.

There is more than one reason that happened, and the county always likes to say it was just about money, but it was also about trying to cut their losses at a facility that was out of control and no one in county administration at the time had the gumption to make the needed changes. It was just easier to shut the thing down. Supposedly that million or so a year the PHF cost would be spent creating superior out patient services so no one would ever need to be locked up.

What has happened instead is that the growing population of mentally ill patients — many of whom are also addicted to something or other — are running local law enforcement in circles and making a mockery of local emergency rooms.

What Sheriff Allman wants to do is impose a temporary half-cent sales tax to raise $22 million to reinstitute a locked mental ward here in the county where people who are acting out in the streets and are a danger to themselves or others, can be taken to calm down, get their meds if necessary and get back on course. It would also immediately save the county the hundreds of dollars each day we spend on out of county mental wards elsewhere.

Having mentally ill patients cared for here not only is a better economic solution but also better for families of those patients who now have to drive sometimes hundreds of miles to see their loved ones who are hospitalized.

There is a place right here in our own county that would be the perfect solution: the old Howard Memorial Hospital in Willits. With some reconditioning, that former acute care hospital would be the ideal place to have our own psychiatric facility. Allman says he would be all for using that space.

His ballot measure would also take 10% of the money collected and create a mental health training facility for first responders and mental health workers in the latest methods of handling mentally ill patients.

One of the things we like about this proposal is its temporary nature. The sales tax would be in force for five years, at which time it would automatically sunset. All the spending would have to go through a select committee of 11 people from various associated walks of life to watchdog the money and make sure it’s going where it’s supposed to.

We think Sheriff Allman has thought this through, he has a personal connection with the need for serious and quality mental health services and he has made this a priority. We think it’s a good idea and we support it.

(Courtesy, the Ukiah Daily Journal)

WHAT EVER HAPPENED TO IN-COUNTY MENTAL HEALTH SEQUESTRATION (Blast From the Past)

Colfax Doesn’t Buy Mental Health ‘Crisis’

by Jim Shields

(Tuesday, Nov. 2, 1999) — It was literally a tear-jerker at the Supes weekly conclave County Mental Health last Tuesday.

Director Kristy Kelly broke down in the midst of informing the Supes that it’s a full-scale crisis at the Psychiatric Health Facility (PHF). Attempting to regain control, Kelly apologized for crying but was told by a choked-up Patti Campbell, “You never have to apologize to me for tears …” Campbell has been known to shed a tear or two herself during her Board tenure, including occasions when general assistance payments have been at issue, as well as those times when recovering-addict single mothers have testified to the merits of the Drug Court. While Richard Shoemaker offered Kelly a box of tissues, Fifth District Supervisor David Colfax appeared unmoved by the waterworks display and was more concerned with probing the cause of the “crisis.” Here’s the story.

Kelly appeared first thing in the morning with an “off-agenda” item requiring the Supes immediate attention. Kelly said an emergency situation necessitated her seeking Board approval to close the PHF unit immediately. The PHF, located at the Low Gap county complex, provides acute psychiatric care and other inpatient services to the seriously mentally ill, including those charged with crimes or being treated against their will (so-called “5150” cases from the penal code section of the same number).

The PHF unit is licensed by the state “which has clear guidelines for the conditions that allow its operation.” One of those conditions causing suspension of its license is “that certain patient/staff ratios are maintained and that a specific array of licensed staff must be working on the unit at all times.”

As Kelly explained it, chronic understaffing at the unit fell to below state standards in the last two weeks when “violent incidents” forced four staff members off the job with work-related injuries. Additionally, 11 PHF employees filed grievances “regarding working conditions due to concerns for their personal safety.” No details were provided about the violent incidents or the unsafe working conditions, but one can imagine that whacked-out mental cases are capable of bodily harm both to others and themselves.

Kelly told the Board that “as of 3pm today, we will not be able to maintain the minimum number of licensed staff on the unit required by our license.” Kelly recommended that the Supes “affirm PHF operations should be suspended until staffing and other problems are resolved.” In the meantime she proposed re-opening the PHF as a “Crisis Stabilization Unit” (CSU) on an interim basis while the county Personnel Department develops “recommendations on incentives and/or other solutions to address chronic problems in recruiting and retaining qualified staff.” However, the CSU could not house “5150” cases for longer than four hours. Likewise, mentally ill offenders would have to be sent elsewhere. She also pointed out that the CSU would use the existing PHF facility and staff. Finally, all services at the CSU would be “billable under Medi-Cal unlike PHF, which is only partially reimbursable.”

On the down side, closing the PHF and opening a CSU would increase various costs, such as case management and transporting mentally ill offenders to far away state institutions such as Atascadero or Patton.

Colfax wasn’t buying the crisis argument. “Given the history of the agency you’re responsible for (Ukiah Police Department’s killing of Mental Health patient Marvin Noble, plus two other jail suicides of Mental Health clients),” he said, “and all the potential impacts on other departments, like the Sheriff, Jail, DA, Courts and Public Defender, I want something in writing, on paper, from all those affected by this (closing the PHF) before we make a decision.” Colfax went on to say that the so-called PHF crisis “has been building for years” but nothing substantive had ever been done to tackle it comprehensively. He also cited chronic understaffing at the jail and with patrol deputies. “I find it difficult to respond to this emergency when it’s been building for three to five years or more. We need to look at why we’re out of compliance and getting qualified people.”

He laid a large part of the blame on a lack of funding and voters who don’t seen concerned about service cuts in those areas. He urged that “the Sheriff and District Attorney should get on the soapbox” and let people know how serious the problems are.

Sheriff Tony Craver, responding to Colfax, likened the situation to “driving a car that runs out of gas — you won’t get there until you pay what a gallon of gas costs. You need to pay for services what they cost.” Captain Gary Hudson, who oversees the jail, told the Supes his facility had failed the last two inspections by the Department of Corrections. He said the jail was out of compliance with one-quarter of the positions vacant. If the PHF unit closes, it would place the entire operation at risk. “We are at our limits also,” Hudson stated. “With the inability of the PHF unit to function as a PHF, the jail could not operate as a jail.”

Hudson was referring to the seriously mentally ill inmates who must be housed at the PHF because the jail is not equipped to deal with them. He told the Supes that transferring inmates from here to facilitates in Patton or Atascadero would require 12 to 14 hours processing and transport time. That cost is multiplied each time the mentally ill offender is returned to Mendocino County for a court appearance. Furthermore, it would result in less street patrols since those deputies would be assigned transport duties.

Kit Elliott, from the Public Defender’s Office, warned the Board that they were “looking at significant costs” if Public Defender staff had to travel out-of-county to represent mentally ill offenders.

“Realistically, the Public Defender’s staff can’t drive back and forth to out-of-county facilities … phone calls (to the mentally ill) don’t work … you need face-to-face contact with them,” she commented.

With Colfax dissenting, his four colleagues voted to give Kelly the discretion to suspend operations at the PHF if she couldn’t find the personnel to maintain state staffing mandates. According to Kelly, if operations are suspended by local officials they can re-open the PHF any time they are once again in compliance without state approval. If and when Kelly closes the PHF, then the CSU would open, which would, in turn, trigger transporting criminal mentally ill offenders out of county.

Meanwhile, the Mental Health Department, the Sheriff, DA, courts and the Public Defender will be meeting to come up with a plan that will hopefully resolve this mess.

Colfax was not happy with the decision. “We keep backing away and backing away. We’re pretending we’re solving something but this is a major policy change. We’re making it (the PHF problems and related issues) out-of-sight, out-of-mind.”

Speaking for the majority, Mike Delbar scolded Colfax: “We’re not here today to grandstand. I have faith that the Mental Health Director and the ‘support’ departments (Sheriff, DA, PD, courts) will work on this problem — they will not let it fall off the table.”

(Jim Shields is the Editor of the Mendocino County Observer out of Laytonville. At the time of this report he was the only reporter in Mendo covering the Board of Supervisors in any depth.)

ED NOTE: Besides the four supervisors mentioned in this late 1999 report (Colfax, Campbell, Delbar, Shoemaker), the other Supervisor voting in the 4-1 majority to axe the PHF was Third District Supervisor Tom Lucier, the Willits mortician.)

ALBION WOMAN STILL AMONG THE MISSING...

Asha's Family Is Now Offering A Reward For The Safe Return Of Asha! Please Call 760-348-8808 with any helpful information!
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THE HOMELESS, MORE PRECISELY: The County does a "point in time" count once every two years, using HUD guidelines for who is homeless. It includes everyone who is sleeping on a relative's couch, families doubled up in apartments, everyone staying in a shelter, everyone in "transitional housing" (even though they may have up to two years in transition in contrast to many sharing apartments which are on a month to month basis) and probably a few other categories. And of course it includes everyone sleeping out or sleeping in their vehicles, even though there are those who are choosing to live in the open or in an old motor home or camper. All count equally as homeless. And some are much better at staying below the public radar than others.

THE MOST PROBLEMATICAL HOMELESS are those occupying public space or trespassing on private property. Not counting people in vehicles or someone's couch or backyard, knowledgeable Ukiah people estimate that there are about 100 visibly unsheltered people, mostly men, in the Ukiah Valley. "If we took just 25 of the chronics off the street we would look like paradise," is how a Ukiah resident put it. "We are certainly not overrun with homeless like Eureka and other areas. But if you are a free spirited traveler with no sense of responsibility who wants everything handed to you, then my message is to please keep traveling."

CONTRARY to rumors, Ross Liberty, the Ukiah-based entrepreneur and developer of the old Masonite property north of Ukiah, has not laid off almost all his workers and on his way to bankruptcy. He recently laid off 8 people because the snowmobile market he makes some parts for was way off this year, but he has secured a new non-snowmobile contract and will probably soon re-hire the laid-off 8.

DO IT YOURSELF COLIFORM TESTING? Assistant AV Ambulance Service Manager Aaron/Cob Martin reminded us last week that a company called Micrology Labs (micrologylabs.com) sells a home coliform testing kit called “Coliscan Easygel” which allows a homeowner to easily test their tap water for coliform levels and provides more information about the amount of contamination than the typical Alpha Labs “Yes or No” results. One website we found (weberscientific.com) sells the kits in packs of 50 for about $90, and a 20 milliliter bottle (for about ten tests) for about $14. Mr. Martin estimated the cost himself at around $3 per test. (“Coliscan media incorporates a patented combination of color-producing chemicals and nutrients that mark coliforms and E. coli in differing colors for easy identification and isolation. This means that a test sample of water or other material may be added to the medium, and col­iform bacteria will grow as pink-magenta colonies while E. coli will grow as purple-blue colonies.”) In the wake of the disturbing recent coliform test results for downtown Boonville, this home-method sounds like a cost-effective alternative to the $40-$80 testing available through Alpha Labs in Ukiah. (There’s even an instructional sampling-testing video on YouTube. Search for Coliscan.)

SPEAKING OF BOONVILLE WATER, CSD Board Chair Valerie Hanelt advises us that the State Water Resources Control Board in Sacramento has upgraded Boonville’s planning grant application from “active” to “submitted.” Which apparently means that it will now get processed as a serious application. The Water Board and the potential engineering company that would do the actual planning estimate that if the Water and Sewer system planning is done at the same time, the total cost of the planning would be around $1 million (most of which is for x-number of test wells, apparently). If done separately, the water and sewer system plans would cost much more. Several bureaucratic processes are underway which run more or less in parallel, only one of which is the $1 mil engineering-planning process. Grant and loan applications have to be processed, public hearings and votes have to occur, and Mendo’s Local Area Formation Commission has to approve the CSD’s application to “activate” their “latent power” for Water and Sewer. Even if things go as optimistically as Ms. Hanelt hopes, the process could still take upwards of five years. According to a chart Ms. Hanelt picked up while at the Water Board HQ in Sacramento last week, Boonville’s poverty level statistics mean that Boonville would qualify for substantial subsidies and loans if a water and/or sewer system were ultimately approved for construction.

OPENSECRETS.ORG, Mendo presidential contributions

(We don’t know why Clinton, Cruz, and Walker are listed twice.)

BY CONTRAST: the Contributions for San Francisco and Marin County are:

D'YA FEEL IT? An earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 3.3 shook NorCal Sunday afternoon. The United States Geological Survey recorded the tremor at 3 miles southwest of Kenwood at 12:31 p.m. 8 miles northwest of Sonoma.

ANIMAL SHELTER NEEDS AN AUDIT

To the Editor:

I attended a meeting Monday morning Feb. 8, 2016 regarding the Ukiah Animal Services and the present RFP from Petaluma Animal Services. The public was very eloquent, honest and forthright in their concerns regarding the present living conditions and future of our homeless animals. The meeting felt staged to me. I was bewildered and infuriated to witness the indifference of the Supervisors regarding this issue. What was even more disturbing was to learn that the Body of Supervisors had not even seen the RFP. My questions still go unanswered as to how a decision is made, and the RFP process closed when the BOS had not yet reviewed the proposal? One of the Supervisors spoke of Petaluma Animal Services not having made response to the questions from Ukiah Animal Services. Six months should be adequate time for any questions to be answered. Why did this process take so long? Was the proposal within the budget proposed in the RFP? I am insulted not only at the blatant disregard for the welfare of those without a voice but the lack of respect for those of us who came to show our concern and support for our communities homeless animals. Have any of the supervisors visited the Ukiah Animal Shelter recently? Was an unannounced visit to both Petaluma Animal Services and Mendocino County Animal Services made? I want to know how can an informed decision could be made? The Ukiah Animal Services here in Mendocino County has been an ongoing sense of unease and disgust among the community. We all know that so much more can be done for our community’s homeless animals. The present state of living conditions for our animals is outdated and I believe illegal. There are a large number of cats that are made to live in tiny cubicles. Dogs spend long periods of time in kennels without proper exercise. With an animal “specific” agency in charge these as well as other numerous infractions would not be allowed. The present Animal Care Services is an embarrassment and speaks loudly of the integrity (or lack thereof) of our County’s governing parties. Mendocino County has done the best that they can with antiquated attitude and models. Our homeless animals deserve the lifeline this RFP is extending. I would like to understand why it is being turned away? We as a community are not being given a valid reason? Animals lives and quality of lives are at stake. I (for one) would like to know where the tax payers dollars are going? It is a matter of public record. I strongly feel an unbiased outside audit should take place before this decision is final. I want to be proud to be a Mendocino county resident. Right now, I regret to say, I feel a deep sense of embarrassment and profound sadness.

Sharesa Motta, Potter Valley

ANIMAL SHELTER, BY THE NUMBERS

To the Editor:

The Animal Shelter RFP process has ended, but the gossip surrounding the process has not.

The opportunity now upon the county and stakeholders is to help gather real information to present to the county, as we all try to come up with solutions which will improve the shelter. To that end, here are several facts vs. myths about the Animal Shelter and the RFP process that are being expressed by the group of pro-outsourcing people determined to stall any forward movement.

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 people 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, they 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 folks would simply 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 Supervisors plays during that time.

6) And yet again, if one reads the proposal material, material from PASF, it will become more than understandable why the county felt it could not fork over close to a million dollars of tax payer money. The information presented, after six long months, did not answer many of the questions our county did and should ask any prospective 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 substantial improvements. Time for gossip, social media-induced rhetoric, and personal attempts at undermining the shelter to end.

Kathy Shearn, Ukiah

THE LATEST REPORT from California Drought Monitor says Mendocino County is now drought-free but remains in the “abnormally dry” category, an upgrade from the “moderate drought” category. Sonoma, Napa, Marin, San Francisco, San Mateo, Santa Clara and Santa Cruz counties were also shifted into the “abnormally dry” category this week, which seems to mean while reservoirs have re-filled we remain kindling awaiting the flame. Humboldt County remains “abnormally dry” and Del Norte County remains the only California county considered “normal.”

IN RESPONSE TO THE THREE MENDOCINO TEACHERS SUMMARILY (AND BRUTALLY) FIRED FOR NO STATED REASON THREE WEEKS AGO

To The Editor of the Beacon,

I would like to express my appreciation for the strong editorial in support of teachers in MUSD. I would like to provide some information on how administrators did not follow the certificated contract in evaluating these teachers. It is important to recognize that the contract provides the guidelines for how administrators and teachers are supposed to do their jobs. The contract is posted on the district website and Article 7 spells out the evaluation procedure. It recommends that non-tenured teachers be "observed and debriefed with written feedback by the administrator on three occasions". In the event of a teacher receiving an unsatisfactory rating "the teacher shall be so informed in writing by the evaluator at the time of each conference. Said written comments shall include the identified, specific deficiencies, suggested remedies, and available administrative support and/or assistance." Recommended assistance includes "release time for the employee to visit and observe other classrooms, schools, and workshops". Clearly, this is a collaborative process designed to make a teacher successful in the classroom for the benefit of students. It was not done in any of these cases. Oscar Stedman was never evaluated. Linda Tulley was observed once in January with no followup. Erin Brazill was observed once in December, and once in February. There was no feedback in December and the followup on the February observation was being scheduled after her release. Teachers who give up higher paying jobs and uproot their lives to work in our district bring valuable experience on how things are done in other districts, and administrators need to be receptive to this input. More importantly, these teachers deserve to be treated in a professional and ethical way. For the school board to rally behind the administrators when they have clearly not done their jobs is shameful and irresponsible. Thank you Kathy Wylie for being the only board member to vote in support of the teachers.

Recommended reading: The Teacher Wars, A History of America's Most Embattled Profession.

Don Cruser

Mendocino County Office of Education Board member

MENDO USES A LOT OF THIS STUFF, TOO

It would be a good thing to know how much is being used here.

http://winewaterwatch.org/2016/01/concern-about-herbicide-use-in-vineyards/

CATCH OF THE DAY, March 20, 2016

JIMMY ALLEN JR., Covelo. Domestic assault, robbery, parole violation.

ISAAC APARICIO, Covelo. Leaded cane/blackjack/etc., failure to appear.

KEITH BETTS, Covelo. Probation revocation.

MARK BURLEIGH, Ukiah. Recklessly causing a fire that causes great bodily injury.

MICHAEL CAMP, Willits. Probation revocation.

DAVID CHAVEZ, Ukiah. Vandalism, probation revocation.

ERIC DIAZ-PINEDA, Santa Rosa/Ukiah. Drunk in public.

MATHEW GARDINER, Ukiah. Under influence, probation revocation.

FRANCISCO GONZALEZ, Ukiah. Community Supervision violation.

LAWRENCE JOAQUIN, Covelo. Interference with police communications, suspended license.

JAMES LANE, Fort Bragg. Controlled substance, paraphernalia, suspended license, evasion via wrong-way driving.

DANIEL NEAL, Fort Bragg. Failure to appear, probation revocation.

RICHARD ORTIZ, Redwood Valley. Drunk in public, resisting.

JASON RAICA, Fort Bragg. Under influence, controlled substance, paraphernalia, criminal threats, witness intimidation.

AMELIA REYES, Santa Rosa/Hopland. Drunk in public.

JD SCHMIDT, Willits. DUI, misdemeanor hit&run, controlled substance.

DAKOTA SMITH, Willits. Battery, assault with deadly weapon not a gun, conspiracy, resisting.

JASON SNEED, Sebastopol. DUI.

LORENZO TAPIA-MORALES, Ukiah. DUI.

MARIO ZAPIAN, Ukiah. Drunk in public.

IT'S CALLED LIFE

Editor:

I saw the following quote from Donald Trump on how to explain vicious behavior to kids: "It's not OK, but it's something you have to live with. It's called life. As you grow older you'll understand." When raising children, being an example of honesty and empathy are key to your child growing up to be socially conscious and a morally and psychologically well-adjusted person. Maybe our children should look to Sen. Bernie Sanders for advice instead.

Josette Brose-Eichar,

Sonoma

WHO WROTE WHAT ABOUT KZYX?

To Stuart [Campbell],

Let's do some fact checking and truth telling.

You write: "John Sakowicz posted an unattributed AVA article that advocated taking over the station by force ("What Would Judi Bari Do? Show up, bull rush Campbell and whatever other dope-soaked marshmallow is in the way, take over the mike, explain live what you're doing, maybe even get arrested. Make a major issue out of it." From Mendocino County Today, October 6, 2015). As far as I could tell, he had written it."

Let me set the record straight: I made no such statement.

I would never make such as statement. I formerly worked in law enforcement for the Mendocino County Sheriff's Office (MCSO), and I have the highest respect for the law. I am also a member of the Grand Jury. This is my third term. I was appointed by the judges of the Mendocino County Superior Court after being vetted by them. Also, I am the appointed public trustee of the county's $445 million pension system. The Board of Supervisors unanimously appointed me. I am serving my second term. I was thoroughly vetted. I am insured as a fiduciary in my role as a public trustee.

In other words, I am as law-abiding and conservative as any person I know. I have strong civic values.

Your response to an unattributed AVA article was hysterical, and it underscored your character weakness. Your hysterical and inappropriate response also underscored your unfitness as the General Manager of KZYX. It's one of the reasons you weren't hired in December.

Another reason, I may add, was your lack of integrity in even applying for the General Manager's position. After publicly stating you would not apply for the position, you, in fact, applied a few days before applications closed. It was a blatant conflict of interest. As the interim GM, you appointed the chair of the search committee, you stacked the search committee with your cohorts, you directed the search committee to copy you on all correspondence, including information about applicants, and you even had some members of the search committee write you letters of recommendation.

And you call yourself a "professor of ethics", Stuart Campbell.

Indeed!

Back to your false allegations about the records inspection incident, allow me to finish.

What you admit was an unattributed AVA article was exactly that — unattributed. You leaped to false conclusions, as you are prone to do, and you embarrassed yourself and KZYX by calling three MCSO patrol cars to our Philo studio.

In doing so, you may have also committed a misdemeanor crime — filing a false police report. At the time of the incident, I encouraged Sheriff Allman to charge you with that crime. You're lucky you weren't charged. You wasted the valuable resources of the MCSO.

Shame on you.

About KZYX's membership numbers, they were, in fact, declining under John Coate.

Coate balanced the station's budget not by increasing membership or underwriting, but by cutting costs -- Coate eliminated the entire news department (three jobs). The public spoke about not having news by not renewing their memberships, nor were underwriters pleased with the "no news" policy.

Indeed, membership and underwriting have been falling until recently. New leadership at the station — and a new attitude of accessibility, openness, fairness, cooperation, and collaboration, along with a commitment to news — only bodes well for the future of KZYX.

Drive and encouraged others to do the same, including friends who are judges, elected officials, and law enforcement officers.

John Sakowicz

* * *

I KNOW WHO WROTE IT, I did, Bruce Anderson. And I know I wrote it because (1) I'm him and I'm writing this and (2) I write all of Mendocino County Today unless otherwise indicated. I also write Valley People unless otherwise indicated. BTW, I have vivid memories of the Judi Bari-led station takeover because I was there, and I'm glad I was there because it was one of the funniest (unintended type) local events I've ever seen. Gordy Black was KZYX's designated marshmallow that day. Gordy had valiantly positioned himself at the door in a vain attempt to hold back the mob, shoving the elderly Norvells off the stairs but soon overcome by the onrushing crowd. Inside he and Bari engaged each other in an unedifyingly prolonged dialogue consisting entirely of Gordy chanting "Fascist-fascist-facist" at Bari while she chanted back "Fuck you-fuck you-fuck you." Station manager Nicole Sawaya had wisely stepped aside, turning over the mike to a series of aggrieved (and often mentally uneven) persons who broadcast live their complaints about recent developments at KZYX, primarily that Beth Bosk had been removed from her talk show. Bari, ostensibly upset over the Bosk firing, soon had her own talk show in place of Bosk, but of course in Mendo cannibalism is never unexpected.

REGARDING recent developments at Mendocino County Public Radio, circa 2016, I don't hesitate in saying that newly appointed station manager Ms. Dechter is the best thing that's happened there since Sawaya. Dechter is smart, capable and, mirabile dictu! she's pleasant. People want to look at the books, Ms. Dechter invites them to look at the books and offers cookies and coffee into the bargain. I predict she will turn the place around, although it won't be easy un-cooking the books and re-growing the membership rolls after the disastrous reign of Coate-Campbell-Aigner.

ON LINE COMMENT OF THE DAY

“Dead Cat Bounce”

Weight of cat
/percentage of fat/muscle

Time of expiration/
degree of rigor mortis

terminal velocity achieved

elasticity of surface struck

angle of cat/surface impact

externals such as humidity/wind

rotation of the Earth if drop height excessive…

Was there a time-line? How high will the cat bounce? Could it appear like a rock skipped over a lake…rising, falling, rising again as velocity bleeds off?

Curiosity did not kill the cat…my Buick did!

— 
National Lampoon

LINCOLN REPUBLICANS were a party of national unity — they fought first and foremost to preserve the Union, and only evolved, through necessity, into a straightforward battle against slavery itself. Furthermore, their concept of national unity traced back to the Whig and Federalist parties before them, to Henry Clay’s “American Plan” and the commitment to internal improvements as a means for promoting national identity and economic progress. In the midst of the Civil War, they began the project of building the transcontinental railroad, and financing the system of state land-grant colleges. This party was still very much alive when Eisenhower pushed the Interstate Highway System, and it’s very much dead today, when the Democrats’ attempts to seek bipartisan agreement on infrastructure spending have been repeatedly foiled. If Trump doesn’t belong in the “party of Lincoln,” neither does anyone else in the GOP political universe today...

— Paul Rosenberg puts the Republican party in historical perspective.

CHERNEY’S LATEST PLOY

Every few years, desperate for attention, Darryl Cherney pops up with a new bombing suspect…

* * *

From: Bob Martel at bobmartel@hotmail.com
To: list
Re: Cold case/new suspects, 1990 Judi Bari Bombing, Radicalization of anti-abortion activists, Army of God, Domestic terrorism

March 15, 2016

Since the 1990 car bombing that injured Mendocino County, California, resident and activist Judi Bari, dozens of articles, a number of websites, some books and a movie have been published speculating about who the bomber may have been. Over the 25 years plus since the explosion, there have been accusations against both individuals and conspirators. None of the accusations have survived close scrutiny. Until March 2015 there were still no credible suspects available to blame until recently when photographic evidence was discovered possibly linking convicted attempted murderer Rachelle Renae Shannon [aka Shelley Shannon] to the crime. Shannon is in a federal prison until 2018 for a 1993 shooting that wounded an abortion doctor in Kansas.

One of the problems of the investigations has been a lack of evidence. There are the bomb fragments and a letter sent to a regional newspaper just days after the bombing claiming responsibility. The letter has a set of female DNA. The female DNA appears to be the most interesting since no female other than Judi Bari has been a suspect. Bari was accused by the FBI but after an exhaustive attempt to develop evidence to support their claim the FBI gave up their effort to indict her. Notably the FBI and local police officials were successfully sued for their false accusations by Bari and her fellow victim Darryl Cherney.

In May of last year Cherney announced that a Mendocino County investigation was re-opening to identify the female DNA by comparing the DNA to Shannon’s. The reason Shannon is possibly linked to the 1990 bombing is based on the content of the letter and a 1988 photo showing her in Ukiah, the county seat of Mendocino County on a significant date. If the DNA on the letter matches Shannon’s DNA then we know something more, but without a context for her involvement it means little.

By chance a photo surfaced of a small group at an anti-abortion demonstration and counter demonstration. The photo shows Shannon and three others protesting in Ukiah at a woman’s clinic in November 1988. The four people in the photo are believed to have been radicalized following their arrests in Atlanta in the early fall. They were jailed together with dozens of antiabortion activists isolated from the other inmates but housed together. They thought of themselves as a school for radicals espousing the use of violence. Shortly after their release they traveled to Ukiah to join an ongoing protest. One of the four in the photo is Shannon; another identified by matching photos is her mentor Andrew Burnett. The two other women are believed to be Cathy Ramey and Dawn Stover. All four from Oregon are self-identified as members of the domestic terror organization Army of God.

The letter claiming responsibility for the bombing is of interest for many reasons. It contains two bomb descriptions. The FBI is quoted as saying that the detailed descriptions match the car bomb and another earlier bomb found at a local lumber mill. The FBI’s opinion is based on examining the surviving bomb components. The letter is signed “The Lord’s Avenger” [LA] who in the letter takes responsibility for building the two bombs. The FBI confirms that the writer either built the bombs or knew how they were built.

The letter is also a religious thesis and a history of the LA’s relationship to Bari. ‘He’ did not mention Cherney by name, but was apparently considered an accidental victim. The religious thesis was not recognizable in 1990. Today it is seen as a Dominionist argument built on the so-called “Wise Use” notions of resource exploitation and fundamentalist ideas about abortion and the role of women in society. The letter also contains a history of the two bombs detailing where and how each was placed and the results.

The letter provides a motive. The LA saw Bari singing at a counter protest in Ukiah on the day the photo of the four Army of God members was taken. The LA was angered by Bari’s performance, so much so that ‘he’ took vengeance on her for ‘his’ god. The argument the LA makes traces ‘his’ radicalization demonstrating that over the course of the year and a half between the 1988 Ukiah protest and the 1990 bombing the LA evolved ‘his’ thinking from hoping god would kill her, to placing a bomb to indirectly harm her to deciding and carrying out a direct attempt to kill Bari. This phenomenon is called a philosophical shift. Shannon and the others in the photo shifted from protester to murderer, giving credence to notion that the four or some of them were involved in the bombing. This philosophical shift was the nature of their radicalization of parts of Operation Rescue beginning in 1988 and ending in the first murders of abortion providers in 1993. This letter describes the shift but examples of the shift beyond its mention by the LA were not known until mid-1993.

Following Shannon’s attempted murder of Doctor George Tiller, the doctor returned to work and in an August 1993, New York Times article reporting on the event we find that this philosophical shift had indeed occurred:

“I'm supportive of what [Shannon] did," said Andrew Burnett, the leader of Advocates for Life Ministries. "It was a courageous act."

Another leader of the group, Dawn Stover, said the anti-abortion movement had reached a turning point in its philosophy.

"We have been saying abortion is murder, but we have been hypocritical in not treating it that way," she said.

http://www.nytimes.com/1993/08/21/us/an-abortionist-returns-to-work-after-a-shooting.html

This exemplifies the philosophical shift aka radicalization identifying the lead proponents of political and/or religious murder, aka terrorism. It also gives credence to the group being the LA. They share the same philosophy, supporting one another through their transition from citizens to murderers. At least they are among the ones who could have been the LA. Until recently they have been ignored.

I have been investigating the bombing since 1990 and identified Burnett in 1996 and Shannon in 2013 as suspects. There is a website findthelordsavenger.com that has a more fleshed-out allegation with supporting arguments for Shannon and Burnett as well as the Army of God. It will be updated with a new outline over the next months as time allows. Much research has been done but key information is still outstanding, and may still be retrievable.

Appendix A

The following represents background information about the four suspects to help place them in the context:

Planned Parenthood filed a suit in 1999 against a group of anti-abortion activists. The targets are named in a PP lawsuit. Note the quote below is from one of the targeted organizations.

Defendants included a relatively new First Amendment protest group, the American Coalition of Life Activists (ACLA) based in Norfolk, Virginia and well-established Advocates for Life Ministries (AFLM), publishers of Life Advocate magazine based in Portland, Oregon.

Individual defendants included some of the most well-known anti-abortion movement figures, leaders like Dr. Monica Migliorino-Miller (Milw. WI), Michael Bray (Bowie, MD), and Donald Treshman (Baltimore, MD). Two more, Andrew Burnett (Portland, OR) and Joseph Foreman (Skyforest, CA), were co-founders with Randall Terry of Operation Rescue, a national group involved in doing sit-ins at abortion facilities in the late 1980s and early 90s.

The group was rounded out by other prominent leaders, two Oregon women, Dawn Stover and Cathy Ramey, Roy McMillan of Jackson, Mississippi, Timothy Dreste of St. Louis, Missouri, Michael Dodds from Wichita, Kansas, Stephen Mears of New Hampshire, and Bruce Murch of Windsor, Massachusetts.

Cite: http://www.lifeadvocate.org/3_99/cover_s.htm

AOG member Rachelle Ranae “Shelley” Shannon was a Christian Pro-life activist from Grants Pass, Oregon. She attempted to shoot and kill Dr. George Tiller outside his abortion clinic in Wichita, Kansas on August 19, 1993, shooting him in both arms. She is serving time in Federal Correctional Institute Dublin. Her projected release date is November 7, 2018.

At the time she attacked Tiller, Shannon had been a pro-life activist for five years (AOG) and had written letters of support to Michael Griffin (AOG), who murdered David Gunn in Florida. She called Griffin “the awesomest, greatest hero of our time.” She traveled to the Wichita clinic, a site of frequent demonstrations by abortion-rights and pro-life activists, and shot Dr. Tiller with a semiautomatic pistol in 1993.

Cite: Wiki

Michael Bray, a former midshipman at the U.S. Naval Academy and a Maryland native who now lives in Wilmington, Ohio. In 1985, Bray was convicted of two counts of conspiracy and one count of possessing unregistered explosive devices in connection with 10 bombings of women's health clinics and offices of liberal advocacy groups in Maryland, Washington, D.C. and Virginia. The author of a Bible-based book titled "A Time to Kill: A Study Concerning the Use of Force and Abortion," Bray has said he believes that homosexuality and adultery should be punishable by death.

Bray, who has been called the chaplain of the Army of God, is the host of the annual White Rose Banquet that honors anti-abortion extremists. Named for a German secret society that opposed Hitler, the banquets are held on the eve of the Jan. 22 anniversary of the Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision that legalized abortion.

After the murders of Drs. Gunn and Britton, members of the Army of God circulated petitions calling the actions "justifiable." Among those who signed the petition were Hill, Spitz and Leach. Other signatories include

Below is a list of the signatories of the two petitions and their cities of residence at the time they signed the petition(s). The numbers indicate if they signed the first and/or second petition.

Michael Bray — Bowie, MD, I and II

Roy McMillan — Jackson, MS, I and II

Andrew Burnett — Portland, OR, I and II

Cathy Ramey — Portland, OR, I and II

Matt Trewhella — Milwaukee, WI, I

Paul J. Hill — Pensacola, FL, I

Paul deParrie — Portland, OR, I and II

Regina Dinwiddie — MO, I and II

Michael Dodds — Wichita, KS, I

Henry Felisone — Queens, NY, I and II

Tony Piso — Forest Hill, NY, I

Jacob Miller — Tampa, FL, I

Dan Bray — Bowie, MD, I

David Crane — Norfolk, VA, I

Donald Spitz — Norfolk, VA, I and II

Michael Jarecki — Brushton, NY, I

Bill Koehler — North Bergen, NJ, I and II

Kenneth Arndt — Windham, NH, I

Dave Leach — Des Moines, IA, I and II

Mike Walker — AL, I

Thomas Carleton — Billerica, MA, I and II

Valerie Zvskowski — Pittsburgh, PA, I

Joseph F. O’Hara, Wilkes-Barre, PA, I and II

David Graham — Olathe, KS, I and II

David Trosch — Mobile, AL, I and II

Rev. Dr. Michael Colvin — Bowie, MD, II

Thomas G. Hammond — Senatobia, MS, II

Betty L. Hammond — Senatobia, MS, II

Dr. Ronald Graeser — Freemont, MI, II

Dawn Stover — Portland, OR, II

Fr. Robert Pearson — West Long Banch, NJ, II

The National Abortion Federation (NAF) is the professional association of abortion providers in North America. Our work supports the dedicated health care professionals who make reproductive choice a reality, as well as the women they serve.

http://prochoice.org/education-and-advocacy/violence/anti-abortion-extremists/

Cite: Wiki

The following is from a biography of Shannon written by another murderer, Scott Roeder, who killed Dr Tiller years after Shannon wounded him:

The “non-violent” direct action movement which Shelley had entered was to reach its apex in 1988 with the Atlanta “siege.” She became a subscriber to Capitol Area Christian News and paid attention to its reports. She was, eventually, to be responsible — as was soon revealed — for some of the deeds reported in the clippings of news accounts she sent by mail to CACN. But for four years she pressed onward with “non-violent” rescue efforts which became increasingly ineffectual and costly in terms of both actual lives saved and the expenditure of personal time and money. How could she most effectively and successfully use her life for the cause of the innocents? Shelley Shannon’s “rap sheet” reveals a lengthy “criminal history” of “trespassing” at abortion facilities. In Portland she was sentenced to 24 hours community service on June 29, 1988. On October 23, 1988, she was sentenced to 30 days in jail in Atlanta along with hundreds of others. On April 7, 1989, in Seattle she was sentenced to $50 in court costs and commanded to perform community service along with 58 others. Trespassing violations from March and May were reduced to Attempted Criminal Trespass with fines of $100 each. Two months later in Portland on July 15, she was fined $100 (which was converted to two days in jail). On March 29, 1990, she and 28 others were sentenced to 30 hours of community service in Portland. On June 14, 1990, she and 17 others were sentenced to fifteen days in jail in Redding, California. On September 25, 1990, she was sentenced to 30 days in jail along with nine others in Portland. She “trespassed” in San Francisco on March 29, 1991 and never went back to court. An outstanding warrant dated September 16, 1991 has bail for her set at $10,000 17 (This biographer has not pursued the question as to whether the San Francisco County Municipal Court has filed a writ of habeas corpus to have her sent there for trial when she is released on November 7, 2018, Anno Domini.) And in Fargo, North Dakota on November 18, 1991, she was sent to jail for nineteen days along with 12 others.

Cite: http://www.scottroeder.org/warning.pdf

But Dianne Alves, a spokesman for All Women’s Health Services, a Portland clinic where abortions are performed, said she is certain that an underground network exists.

And she said DeParrie and Andrew Burnett of Advocates for Life Ministries in Portland are visible national leaders who encourage covert violent acts. Burnett was at Shannon’s hearing.

“There definitely is (a movement), and they are very organized,” Alves said. “Obviously, if Shelley Shannon were a lone person, she wouldn’t know what other people were doing.

http://www.spokesman.com/stories/1995/jun/18/anti-abortion-shooter-warns-cohorts-of-fbi/

Note: read Shelley’s Warning at http://www.armyofgod.com/ShelleyWarning.html. In this piece Shannon demonstrates what Alves says above.

As a personal note, I have reached the grand age of 71, which has two consequences. The first is I may be the only one who understands who bombed the car. That may not be true but it compels me to try to hurry the storytelling along nonetheless. The second is I am dreaming of someone who can adopt this project and see it to its completion.

* * *

ED NOTE: Every few years, desperate for attention, Cherney pops up with a new bombing suspect, as ever frantic to avoid naming the only person who combined motive and viable opportunity since he lived literally one plywood wall from his intended victim in Redwood Valley. That person is, of course, Bari's ex-husband, Mike Sweeney, whose three alibis for the window of opportunity to place the bomb only add to the mountain of suspicion pointing straight at him. He clearly wrote the Lord's Avenger Letter as confirmed by some ace research by Joe Paff of Petrolia. That hurry-up Concordance job was necessary because Sweeney's bomb didn't kill Bari. If the bomb had worked as designed she and Cherney would have been assumed to have been knowingly carrying the device. End of story. I've always enjoyed the image of Sweeney frantically at work to divert attention from himself. "Jesus! Can't I do anything right? This is the third bomb I've screwed up lately. Now that she's alive I've got to expand the suspect pool to include every man on the Northcoast! Religious nuts? Check. Male chauvinists? Check. Loggers? Check. Free range male psychopaths? Check." Hence the Lord's Avenger Letter. Cherney (and you, Bob) could have looked at this Shannon nutpie at the time of the bombing, but Cherney (and Bari, reinforced by the Bari Cult at KPFA and KZYX and the droolingly credulous everywhere) were busily trying to pin Irv Sutley as the bomber.

Bottom line remains: The known dna can be matched any time to the handful of likely suspects if a DA or a federal agency like the FBI or ATF subpoenas the likelies, beginning, natch, with Sweeney. But the FBI has declared the case closed because — get this — "No one would talk to us." (!) There's no interest in Mendocino or Alameda counties, and the whole implausible show remains a matter of why the FBI failed to pursue The Biggest Elephant Ever In The Smallest Room Ever. The answer to that one, I should think, is obvious, especially given Sweeney's history all the way back to his membership in Venceremos, a cop-killing cult based at Stanford that placed bombs all over the Bay Area. How many ex-husbands have a forty year history of pipe bombs, including the one he and Bari exploded as a joint honeymoon project soon after they were married? That one blew up a hangar at the old Navy Air Station west of Santa Rosa, nearly killing a young man asleep inside it. The plan was to blow up both hangars but Sweeney's second bomb, as usual with his bombs, didn't work. Within a couple of weeks of her client's near-immolation in Oakland, Bari's attorney, the late Susan B. Jordan, applied on Bari's behalf to the FBI for limited immunity from prosecution. Gosh, do you think Bari knew something about what happened to her? Ms. Shannon, by the way, as a federal inmate, would have her dna on file. Why doesn't Cherney match it against the known dna taken from the Lord's Avenger Letter? Because he knows Shannon, homicidal lunatic that she is, is merely one more red herring. The Northcoast — especially Mendocino County, is the perfect place for sixties "radicals" like Sweeney to re-invent themselves, because history here starts all over again every day, and you are whatever you say you are. And Sweeney says, "Shucks, folks, I'm just a Stanford guy who wants a big redwood house in the hills like all us Stanford guys deserve, so Mendocino County pays me a hundred thou-plus a year to take out the trash and no one's the wiser. Or likely to be.

IS BROWN ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL ADMITTING DELTA TUNNELS PLAN IS COLLAPSING?

by Dan Bacher

In the video from a recent hearing in the California Legislature, it appears that a Brown administration official is admitting that financial support for Governor Brown’s controversial Delta Tunnels Plan is rapidly collapsing.

On March 11, Secretary of Natural Resources John Laird spoke on behalf of the administration during a hearing in San Francisco by the Senate Select Committee on the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta entitled, “Pending Delta Decisions and their Potential Economic and Other Impacts on San Francisco & the Bay Area."

Laird responded to the news that the Westlands Water District, the largest agricultural water district in California and longtime proponent of the tunnels, used “Enron accounting” to mislead investors about a $77 million bond sale, resulting in a settlement with the Securities and Exchange Commission over civil charges. He described the news as "disturbing" - and then admitted that "it (the California Water Fix to build the Delta Tunnels) won’t move ahead unless people, it pencils out for people and they sign up and they pay.”

Westlands agreed to pay $125,000 to settle the charges, making it only the second municipal issuer to pay a financial penalty in an SEC enforcement action. The district’s general manager Thomas Birmingham agreed to pay a penalty of $50,000 and former assistant general manager Louie David Ciapponi agreed to pay a penalty of $20,000 to settle the charges against them.

“It is disturbing,” said Laird during the hearing. “It’s disturbing to us. We found out about it just as you did, from the press reports of the SEC decision.”

“And, overall, this is, as you say, a beneficiary pays project, where the beneficiaries themselves have to decide to do it,” Laird continued. “[I]t really depends totally on their ability and their willingness to pay for the project. And I think it is totally clear that the urban users have the financial wherewithal to do it.”

“I think the real question is how does it pencil out in the agricultural regions? But the Governor has been really clear. It’s beneficiary pays and that’s what it takes to go ahead and I think it’s just a law of economics that it won’t move ahead unless people, it pencils out for people and they sign up and they pay," he concluded.

Senator Wolk made the full hearing available to view online. Laird’s comments come up about 1:04 on the hearing video: http://sd03.senate.ca.gov/news/2016-03-11-select-committee-sacramento-san-joaquin-delta

You can read the SEC decision here: http://www.sec.gov/litigation/admin/2016/33-10053.pdf

Barbara Barrigan-Parrilla, Executive Director of Restore the Delta (RTD), responded to Laird’s comments, noting that financing the tunnels will be difficult even for “wealthy urban water agencies.”

“Paying for the tunnels in a drought, when water revenue sales are low, will be difficult even for wealthy urban water agencies,” she said. “What will make it even worse is when their agricultural partners begin to miss payments. “

“Even this year, El Niño has not eradicated the drought. Dry is becoming the new norm. The tunnels are not the solution for water reliability,” noted Barrigan-Parrilla.

Several experts testified at the hearing that the Water Fix, a controversial proposal to build two huge tunnels to divert water from the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta and the Bay Estuary for use by corporate agribusiness interests, would have a disastrous impact on the Bay Area’s environment and economy, including the region’s tourism and fishing industries.

“California’s world class economy relies on the sustainability of the state’s own natural water conveyance system, the entire San Francisco Bay Delta system,” said Senator Wolk in a statement. “In fact, two-thirds of Californians and millions of acres of farmland rely on the Delta for its water supply. Yet the connection between pending Delta policy decisions, specifically the Delta Tunnels proposal, and the State of California—its ecosystem and economy—is often lost, overlooked or completely ignored.”

The hearing finished off with the question of “What, then, is Plan B?” marking a “starting point to explore viable alternatives that will not damage the integrity of the Delta economy and ecosystem,” Wolk’s Office noted.

Laird’s comment comes as opposition to the Tunnels by ratepayers in Southern California, the Livermore Valley and Santa Clara Valley is mushrooming. Faced with massive opposition to the Delta Tunnels by ratepayers packing a hearing room in Livermore on Wednesday night, the Zone 7 Water Agency Board, a State Water Project contractor, rejected a request to pass a resolution supporting Governor Brown’s Delta Tunnels (WaterFix) project. (http://www.contracostatimes.com/breaking-news/ci_29649995/tri-valley-water-supplier-wont-endorse-states-delta)

“Board members noted the lack of key information including environmental impacts, costs, and willingness of agricultural contractors to pay their share,” according to Restore the Delta.

The construction of the Delta Tunnels would hasten the extinction of winter-run Chinook salmon, Central Valley steelhead, Delta and longfin smelt, green sturgeon and other fish species, as well as imperil the salmon and steelhead runs on the Trinity and Klamath rivers. It would cost taxpayers and ratepayers up to $67 billion — and not create one drop of new water.

The California Water Fix Plan to build the Delta Tunnels makes no financial, economic, environmental or scientific sense. When will Governor Jerry Brown finally admit that the tunnels proposal is doomed to fail — and withdraw all support for the plan?

MILKSHAKE, YARD, IMAGE. Milkshake, oil business, image. Milkshake, Jupiter, image. Etc.

'Words don’t have to mean anything to be funny. Pre-eclampsia. Say it.'

The recording of last night's (2016-03-18) Memo of the Air: Good Night Radio show is available to download free, via http://MemoOfTheAir.wordpress.com

Recently MediaFire changed things so you can’t any longer just click on Listen and start listening immediately. You can still click on Download and download the file and listen to it then. It’s actually been better all along to do it that way. I’m just letting you know so you don’t get there and go /What? Differerent! Aaaaugh!/ and flee without the great free thing you came for, that you deserve to have and enjoy, because you are a good person, and you don’t ever have to worry that you aren’t appreciated, because people appreciate you.) (I remember I had a new neighbor once, back when I lived in Caspar, who had little notes that sounded just like that, except without the part about MediaFire, made with an old-style Dymo label-maker in all the different colors of thick plastic strips they used to come in, stuck all over the inside of her car, and one day in the shared driveway I noticed it aloud and she looked daggers at me, jumped in, peeled out and sped away.) (When I was little my favorite toy, besides books, and my sit-in car-house, and Supsups the rat-size raggedy bear-sheep-thing, was a Dymo labelmaker. But you never have time to explain things like that when someone’s already mad at you. Meaning me; you’re the one people appreciate.)

Molly B and John, newlyweds freshly back from their triumphant honeymoon theatrical tour of Costa Rica, hobnobbing with the great and the near-great and performing before the crowned heads of the Central American Riviera, showed up at the station and we sat around and talked for two hours (!), and Molly read her stories and poetry. John’s a fine-arts photographer and you might know Molly from her poetic announcements on the MCN Announce listserv. She has a calm, natural presence and I think she’s going have a show of her own soon on KNYO. Meanwhile, John has a show of his photography just a couple of storefronts north. Stop by.

Also at http://MemoOfTheAir.wordpress.com you'll find thousands and

thousands of links to not necessarily radio-useful but nonetheless

interesting things to see and do and learn about, such as:

Ylvis — The Language of Love.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MCxDJnHiLqs

'Give me a lever and a place to stand, and I will break my lever.'

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tD5ees4e8FI

The first ever I Love Lucy episode, lost, found and repaired.

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x3ez1e5_i-love-lucy-the-lost-pilot-episode_tv

Fascinating twins.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MtEdP267TZ0

And Ernst Chladni's eponymous figures.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CR_XL192wXw

Marco McClean

memo@mcn.org

http://MemoOfTheAir.wordpress.com

TSUNAMI WARNING COMMUNICATIONS TEST

Del Norte, Humboldt, and Mendocino Counties

WHEN: Wednesday, March 23, 2016, between 11:00 a.m. and 12:00 Noon

WHERE: Del Norte, Humboldt, and Mendocino counties.

HOW: Interruptions of TV* and Radio Stations, and activation of NOAA Weather Radios and Outdoor Sirens.

(*Not all Cable and Satellite TV Stations may be able to participate.)

WHY: To test the Tsunami Warning System to ensure it works properly during a real tsunami emergency.

HOW THIS TEST WILL AFFECT YOU:

If you are watching television between 11:00 a.m. and 12:00 Noon on Wednesday morning, expect to see a crawler at the bottom of the screen indicating that a tsunami warning has been issued and hear a voice indicating that it is only a test. If you don’t hear the TV audio, please remember that this is only a test. If you are listening to the radio, you will hear alerting tones followed by a voice announcing that the test is occurring. If you have a NOAA weather radio with the Public Alert feature, the radio will automatically turn on and you will hear the same message as broadcast on radios. In some areas, you may also hear the sounding of a tsunami siren, an airplane testing its public address system, or receive other communication tests in some local jurisdictions. The Wireless Emergency Alert (WEA) system that comes across smart phones will NOT be activated for this test. Please help us by providing any feedback for this test by emailing:

ryan.aylward@noaa.gov

When you hear or see the warning test on March 23 between 11:00 a.m. and 12:00 Noon:

You do NOT need to take any action

Do NOT call 911 or local authorities

Do NOT evacuate your home or business.

THIS IS ONLY A TEST!!

PREPARE: Find out more about preparing for earthquakes, tsunamis or any other disasters on the North Coast at

http://MendocinoSheriff.us12.list-manage.com/track/click?u=d58e8d47c32727a999b3dde01&id=171956ce90&e=a2dbdf4de8

or contact the American Red Cross: Humboldt, Del Norte, Lake, and Mendocino counties (707) 443-4521. America’s PrepareAthon! website

(http://MendocinoSheriff.us12.list-manage.com/track/click?u=d58e8d47c32727a999b3dde01&id=b36876482a&e=a2dbdf4de8)

is a great place to get preparedness information for any natural hazard.

The test is conducted by the National Weather Service, the California Office of Emergency Services, the Offices of Emergency Services for Del Norte, Humboldt, and Mendocino Counties, and Tribal Governments. For more information, contact: National Weather Service (707) 443-6484.

IT MIGHT AS WELL BE SPRING

Margy:

The things I used to like

I don't like anymore.

I want a lot of other things

I've never had before.

It's just like mother says...

I sit around and mope.

Pretending I am wonderful.

And knowing I'm a dope.

* * *

I'm as restless as a willow in a windstorm,

I'm as jumpy as a puppet on a string.

I'd say that I had spring fever,

But I know it isn't spring.

I'm starry-eyed and vaguely discontented

Like a nightingale without a song to sing.

Oh, why should I have spring fever

When it isn't even spring?

I keep wishing I were somewhere else,

Walking down a strange new street.

Hearing words that I have never heard

From a man I've yet to meet.

I'm as busy as a spider spinning daydreams,

I'm as giddy as a baby on a swing.

I haven't seen a crocus or a rosebud

Or a robin on the wing.

But I feel so gay, In a melancholy way,

That it might as well be spring,

It might as well be spring.

 

In our air-conditioned, patent leather farmhouse,

On our ultra-modern, scientific farm,

We'll live in a stream-lined heaven,

And we'll waste no time on charm!

No geraniums to clutter our veranda,

Nor single little sentimental things,

No virginia creepers, nothing useless!

— Oscar Hammerstein