Mendocino County Today: Thursday, Apr 14, 2016

• Cold Front
• Fjord Burger
• FB Special Meetings
• GJ on PA
• Police Reports
• Radio Finances
• Craig Keiser
• Firefighter Medal
• Coastal Trail Guide
• Yesterday's Catch
• Yes on W
• Cannabis Goals
• Capt Cass
• Merle Haggard
• Hilicon Valley
• Tunnels Meetings
• Reckless Clinton
• Suzi Art
• Verizon Freeloaders

HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK for northwest California:

A passing cold front brought increasing south winds to the northcoast Wednesday evening up to 15 to 25 mph with periods of heavy rain. Thunderstorms were a possibility with the front. Thunderstorms capable of producing dangerous lightning, small hail, and gusts up to 50 mph were possible. Scattered thunderstorms are possible through Thursday. Some thunderstorms may contain small hail. Large west to northwest sea swell will impact the coast on Thursday. Breakers up to 25 feet will be possible.

— National Weather Service

* * *

MORNING UPDATE: Boonville received 0.3" of rain last night; Yorkville 0.5".

THAT LONG ABANDONED Fjord's restaurant at the north end of Ukiah has been bought up by In 'N Out Burger. In the other big news from our county seat, Dunkin' Donuts is also coming to town, location as yet undesignated but insiders say West Perkins.

WELL THIS IS INTERESTING.

'Special' City Council Meeting Monday On City Manager

There was a scheduled "performance evaluation" of Fort Bragg City Manager Linda Ruffing in "closed session" after the City Council meeting Monday, and now they are holding a "Special" meeting NEXT Monday at 3pm on the city manager's "performance evaluation."

Is something up? Compensation (salary & benefits) going up again? It has every year (on file) from 2011 - 2014 according to the "Transparent California" website:

City Manager 2011 - $187,275.21

City Manager 2012 - $192,099.34

City Manager 2013 - $202,051.61

City Manager 2014 - $206,129.00

The "base pay" for the City Manager in 2014 was $145,753, benefits were an additional $43,962 and "other pay" amounted to $16,414.

It's also interesting to note that while City Council members were paid "only" $3,738 in salary, their "benefits" were an additional $24,522.00 for 2014 - wonder what additional benefits the city manager receives for the $19,440 MORE than the city councilors.

(Courtesy, Mendocino SportsPlus)

GRAND JURY REPORT ON POINT ARENA CODE ENFORCEMENT

SUMMARY: Point Arena, the seventh smallest city in California, provides only limited services to its approximately 470 residents. In particular, the City does not have an effective system for code enforcement. Local officials have given preferential treatment to city councilmembers, allowing one of them to reside in an unpermitted structure with no sewer hookups and another to operate a business with no business license. One of these councilmembers has been charged by the District Attorney with violations of both state law and county ordinance, and pled guilty to such offense on April 4, 2016.

Excerpts:

"In another case, however, the City ignored complaints that a City Councilmember was residing in an unpermitted structure in the City lacking sewer hookups and that the Councilmember residing there was disposing of human and other wastes on-site inappropriately and illegally. Specifically, human waste was being disposed of using composting and dishwashing/laundry wastes by means of a “gray water” method that does not meet the definition of acceptable gray water found in the State Health and Safety Code.11 Furthermore, these activities were occurring in close proximity to Point Arena Creek."

* * *

"The County did not become involved again until September of 2015 when the Grand Jury consulted with the Office of the District Attorney (DA) concerning the matter. At that point, Environmental Health staff, at the direction of the Office of the District Attorney (DA), renewed the investigation and issued a violation notice to the Councilmember and partner in residence on the property alleging violations..."

"Subsequently, in December of 2015, the DA filed a criminal misdemeanor complaint against the Councilmember and partner in the Mendocino County Superior Court. On April 4, 2016, the councilmember and partner entered a guilty plea to these charges, under a deferred entry of judgment for 2 years, with restitution reserved. This means that the councilmember and partner cannot violate any laws including sewage laws while inhabiting that property during that period, otherwise the charges will be reinstated. The District Attorney is additionally seeking investigative costs of $4,352, which could be awarded at the judge’s discretion. A restitution hearing has been set for mid-May, 2016."

* * *

In another example of City Councilmembers receiving preferential treatment, one Councilmember has operated a bio-diesel fueling business without having applied for or received a business license. Moreover, some members of the Point Arena City Council have put direct pressure on City staff to contravene portions of the City code and policies concerning land use. One should note that these actions or lack thereof, including the ignoring of complaints of code violations by a Councilmember described earlier, are in contradiction to the Oath of Office taken by City Councilmembers in which they swear to “bear true faith and allegiance to… the Municipal Code of the City of Point Arena…"

THE FULL REPORT:

PointArena.Final

COULD HAVE BEEN WORSE

(This Guy Needs A Gun To Keep Girls Away?)

On April 12, 2016, Officers of the Fort Bragg Police Department responded to 111 S. Franklin Street for an agency assist with ambulance staff, for the report of a female who had been shot with an air rifle. Upon arrival, officers contacted one of the residents of 111 S. Franklin St., who reported her friend “Gypsy” had come to her door frantic, advising she had been shot with an air rifle, and was currently inside her bathroom. The victim, Melody Borg, 30, of Fort Bragg, was located inside the bathroom of the residence, and was in obvious pain. Borg had a small entry wound in her upper left posterior thoracic region [upper left back]. Borg was transported to the Mendocino Coast District Hospital Emergency Room by ambulance, where it was determined that a ‘.177 caliber’ lead pellet had entered her left side, and was lodged in the front of her abdomen. Borg was later flown out to a trauma center in Santa Rosa.

Borg was vague and evasive about the circumstances leading up to her injury, and was unwilling to divulge who in fact had shot her. Through a series of questionings, officers were able to determine the incident had occurred inside the residence at 111 S. Franklin Street. Officers then returned to the residence to further question the initial witness and reporting party, and determined that another tenant, Jay Graves, 53, of Fort Bragg, had in fact intentionally shot Borg with an air pellet rifle that he keeps next to his bed. Graves was taken into custody without incident, and is currently being held in the Mendocino County Adult Detention Facility awaiting arraignment on attempted murder and assault with a deadly weapon charge.

* * *

RUB A DUB-DUB

On 4/12/16 at about 1233 hours, a person called the Mendocino County Sheriff's Office to report that he had accompanied three acquaintances from the San Jose area to Albion to dive for abalone. His three friends had left northbound out of the Albion River bay in a very small inflatable boat, saying they would return in two hours. The reporting party said that he had intended to accompany them in the boat, but did not think it prudent due to the rough sea conditions. The divers did not return on schedule and the friend became concerned and called 911. This search was managed by Albion Volunteer Fire Department, with Mendocino County Sheriff deputies, the Mendocino Volunteer Fire Department, U.S. Coast Guard, California Department of Fish and Wildlife also assisting in the search.

A U.S. Coast Guard helicopter located the three men and their vessel, uninjured, stranded on a secluded beach in a bay just north of the Albion River mouth. The three men’s vessel had become disabled and they were unable to climb the steep bluff. Rescuers were able to assist the men off of the beach and remove their boat. The men were in good health and were released to Wardens of the California Department of Fish and Wildlife for investigation into their fishing activities.

JOHN COATE’S GIANT MESS

Open Letter to John Coate [tex@well.com]
Former General Manager of KZYX

Dear Mr. Coate,

As you may know, I’ve been looking into KZYX finances lately. And the giant mess you left behind.

Contrary to your goodbye letter, KZYX isn’t in “far better condition” than you found it. You can see that in a fourteen year financial history.

The work you claim to be “proud of” is documented in 990 tax returns that you filed — and then hid from the public. Along with governing documents. That’s what it says in the tax returns themselves. Toward the end. In “Schedule O.” Filed under penalty of perjury. By you.

Lest you try to blame it on the recession, I’ve attached a financial history for KMUD as well. Their net assets have grown during the time that you spent here. By nearly thirty percent. While the net assets at KZYX shrank. By nearly eighty percent. Instead of adopting the daylight policies at KMUD, you kept everyone here in the dark. For eight long years. Leaving the good people of Mendocino County to clean up your giant mess.

Sincerely,

Scott M. Peterson

Mendocino

PS: You can see more nonprofit nonsense at my weekly video comic strip, Mendopia.

KZYX Financial History

KMUD Financial History

DEPUTY CRAIG KEISER has died from a fast-moving cancer. Keiser enjoyed a long and unblemished career with the Mendocino County department save for a bizarre episode in Covelo when he was a rookie cop. He'd stopped two young men with whom he was soon engaged in a vicious fight. Matt Dalson, then 17 years old, was arrested and charged with attempted murder because it was determined he'd knifed Keiser. Dalson was acquitted by a jury after it learned that the deputy was drunk when he encountered Dalson. Dalson had claimed self-defense. A Willits emergency room doctor testified that Dalson had suffered the worst injuries he'd seen from a beating. This all happened when Tim Shea was Sheriff and rookie deputies from SoCal were being assigned to Round Valley.

FIREFIGHTER MEDAL OF VALOR WINNERS

On Tuesday, seven CAL FIRE firefighters received the prestigious State of California Governor’s Medal of Valor award for acts of heroism extending above and beyond the normal call of duty. The recipients were part of 15 state employees who were honored for their extraordinary acts of bravery and heroism in order to save the life of another.

“Our firefighters put their lives on the line every day,” said Chief Ken Pimlott, CAL FIRE director. “But these individuals had to make decisions to act quickly, without regard to their own safety, which ultimately cost one of them his life.”

Governor Brown’s Cabinet Secretary Keely Bosler presented the Medal of Valor, which is the highest honor that California bestows on its public servants, to the following CAL FIRE employee:

Division Chief Jim Wright, CAL FIRE Sonoma-Lake-Napa Unit

On September 12, 2015, at approximately 2 p.m., CAL FIRE Division Chief Jim Wright, a resident of Cobb, was off duty and at home when he was notified about the Valley Fire. During the initial attack on the Valley Fire, four of the eight member Helitack Base CAL FIRE Copter 104 became entrapped by a significant fire storm and had to use their emergency fire shelters to protect themselves. All four received second and third degree burns to their face, neck, back, legs, arms, and hands. Based on the captain’s description of their location, Chief Wright believed he knew where they were. He drove to the base of an access road and found four uninjured members of the eight member group. They quickly jumped in the truck with Chief Wright as he drove towards the four firefighters who were in danger. Driving through fire and thick smoke, Chief Wright navigated up the road using burned trees as markers until he saw a clearing in the smoke and was able to distinguish the silver fire shelters in the distance. Chief Wright pulled up and the crew that arrived with him quickly loaded the burned firefighters into the back of his pickup. Chief Wright then drove them to a landing zone where the badly burned captain and firefighters were transferred to a CALFIRE helicopter and ultimately flown to the UC Davis Burn Center for treatment. With no regard for his own safety, Division Chief Jim Wright’s heroic act saved the helitack crew of the CAL FIRE Copter 104 crew during the Valley Fire.

HAPPY TRAILS!

MENDOCINO LAND TRUST LAUNCHES COASTAL TRAIL ‘WEB APP’

We all know how great it is to get out and hike the California Coastal Trail on our rocky and wild Mendocino Coast. Mendocino Land Trust has worked with coastal trail partners throughout our County to develop a free “web app” that residents and visitors to the Mendocino Coast can use to discover hidden beaches, explore new coastal trails, and experience exciting adventures.

This free new “web app” offers coastal trail maps, directions, photos, natural and human history information, types of available recreational opportunities, information on volunteer opportunities, and more. You can find the web-based “Coastal Trail Guide “app at http://trails.mendocinolandtrust.org/trails

Of note, if there is no cellular data service available on a specific trail, there is a pdf data file available for each trail that users can download for use “in the field.”

Partners in this effort include coastal trail managers Bureau of Land Management, California State Parks, City of Fort Bragg, Jug Handle Farms, Moat Creek Managing Agency, Point Cabrillo Lightkeepers Association, Redwood Coast Land Conservancy, Save the Redwoods League, and Westport Village Society. A State Coastal Conservancy’s “Explore the Coast” grant funded this exciting and innovative partnership.

For more information please contact Mendocino Land Trust Project Managers Megan Smithyman or Louisa Morris at (707) 962-0470 or msmithy@mendocinolandtrust.org or lmorris@mendocinolandtrust.org. We hope you will get out on a coastal trail soon and use this new web-based “app!”

CATCH OF THE DAY, April 13, 2016

ERIN BLACKWELL, Ukiah. Drunk in public. (Frequent flyer.)

WILLIAM BOYCE, Ukiah. Community supervision violation.

SEAN DAY, Fort Bragg. Controlled substance possession for sale, probation revocation.

JEFFREY FORD, Ukiah. Reckless evasion, ignition interlock override.

JAY GRAVES, Fort Bragg. Attempted murder, assault with deadly weapon.

DAVID JOHNSTON, Ukiah. DUI with drugs causing great bodily injury, failure to appear, probation revocation.

JACKY KELLEY, Fort Bragg. Battery, probation revocation.

WILLIAM LOCKETT, Ukiah. Domestic assault, robbery, destruction of wireless equipment to prevent call for help, violation of protective order.

SOPHIA LOUMPOS, Ukiah. Failure to appear, probation revocation.

KELLY LOVELACE, Upper Lake. DUI-drugs.

CHARLES MAXFIELD JR., Laytonville. Mandatory supervision sentence.

DWAYNE MCKENZIE, Ukiah. Probation revocation.

RILEY MOLINA, Las Vegas/Ukiah. Pot cultivation, possession for sale.

ROBERT NORTON, Calpella. Leaded cane, billyclub, blackjack, slunshot, sandclub, sap or sandbag; resisting.

DANIEL PEREZ, Ukiah. Domestic assault, probation revocation.

CECELIA REEVES, Ukiah. Drunk in public.

PATRICK STANLEY, Hidden Valley Lake/Ukiah. Failure to appear.

DUSTIN WOOD, Ukiah. Petty theft, paraphernalia.

YES ON W

AVA

A Response to the Employers Council statement about Measure W

The Employers Council of Mendocino County has made some inaccurate arguments against making Mendocino a Charter County. One wonders why the Employers Council did not research the information more thoroughly.

First, the Charter Commission is made up of volunteers who serve without pay of any kind. There is no cost to the county. When the Charter Commissioners have written a Charter for the county--and with a former supervisor, the mayor of Ukiah, a retired English professor and other talented ones among them, one would assume they would do a reasonably satisfactory job of writing--the Charter will be submitted to the County, and the County Counsel will analyze the possible costs--or benefits--to the county.

Second, although it is quite true that only a majority of voters can amend or rescind a Charter, one assumes that the Board of Supervisors or the voters, if they wished to amend the Charter, would schedule the vote during a regular election, as the California Constitution specifies that they should. Therefore there would be no costly special election.

Third, a Mendocino County Public Bank, in which the County could deposit its money and take it out of Bank of America, would not use General Fund money to capitalize the bank, since the General Fund does not have $20 million extra. However, if the money were available, it would be perfectly legal to do so. In l920 the US Supreme Court ruled that it was legal for North Dakota to use its money to create the Bank of North Dakota, although the North Dakota Constitution, like the California Constitution, prohibits the state from lending its credit. And North Dakota's public bank protected North Dakota from the 2008 recession caused by the big banks and their risky and illegal procedures. It therefore would be quite legal for Mendocino Charter County to have a county public bank and capitalize it in the most economical way feasible. The reason that at least two supervisors support the formation of a public bank is because their research indicates that the county will save money and reduce risk by having its money in its own bank to use locally.

Fourth, in regard to foreclosures, the Recorder of San Francisco audited their foreclosures and found that 84% of them contained illegal practices. (The big banks were fined billions by the US government for their fraudulent practices.) Nevada's Recorder quite legally required an affidavit of authenticity from foreclosing entities and stopped 70% of the foreclosures because the big banks couldn't swear under threat of perjury that they had the right to foreclose. And I guess the Employers Council didn't read about the family that was foreclosed upon by a big bank -- though the family did not even have a mortgage. Those big, greedy banks did make some mistakes in their rush to evict people from their homes.

In short, please VOTE YES ON MEASURE W AND HELP PROTECT OUR COUNTY, ITS FINANCES AND ITS ENVIRONMENT.

Ellen Rosser, Charter Commissioner Candidate

Point Arena

CANNABIS & THE MENDOCINO GENERAL PLAN

Dear Editor,

In 2009 the Mendocino Board of Supervisors approved the Mendocino General Plan. The following excerpts, interspersed with commentary from the Cannabis Community, demonstrate how legalization and regulation of the cannabis industry will help fulfill these policy goals.

MENDOCINO COUNTY GENERAL PLAN, Approved: AUGUST 2009

Chapter 2: Planning Principles

The Principles in this chapter are statements of County policy, and have the same legal effect as the Goals, Policies, and Action Items contained in other sections of this General Plan.

Principle 2-1a: Conservation of Mendocino County’s natural resources, farmland, forest land and open spaces is essential to the rural quality of life desired by residents and visitors alike.

Cannabis cultivation as an agricultural product is proper use of natural resources, farmland and forest land when performed in compliance with county zoning laws allowing horticulture and row and field crops. State law currently limits the size of these crops to maximum of one acre. County Law should enact the same limits, to control legal growth and protect the rural way of life that cannabis farmers prefer. Principle 2-1b: Mendocino County’s natural, scenic, recreational, historic and archeological resources are vital to the quality of life and shall be protected for the enjoyment and economic prosperity of present and future generations.

: Protection and enjoyment of the outstanding scenic recreational and natural qualities of Mendocino County require long-term supportive economic and social systems.

The rarely acknowledged, but well known truth is that the “long term supportive economic system” of Mendocino County (e.g.: 40 years since the demise of the Lumber industry) has been Cannabis cultivation. Thus it also has historic value, for Mendocino is the place where new techniques of cannabis cultivation, the development of potent new seed strains, methods of concentrate production, formulas and recipes for salves, ointments, creams and edibles were and continue to be created. The economic prosperity of the present and future depends on supporting and encouraging this vibrant creative sector of the local economy.

Principle 2-1c: Emphasize compatibility between human activity and environmental resources and processes at all levels from regional planning to site design.

The recently passed MMRSA legislation requires those in the cannabis industry to register and work in cooperation with the various Waterboards and with the Dept. of Fish and Wildlife, as well as with the various state and county Departments and Agencies tasked with its regulation. Permitting and licensing of the cultivation, manufacturing, dispensing and other aspects of the cannabis industry will enable the Cannabis Community to participate in the planning processes which emphasize compatibility between human activity and environmental resources.

: Encourage safe, cost-effective and environmentally sound community planning and land use decisions.

This is what we are participating in.

: Emphasize development patterns, sustainable practices and materials that are compatible with natural environments and processes and that protect air and water quality.

Cannabis farmers are in the forefront of developing sustainable and perm-culture practices of agriculture. There is a Clean Green certification program that validates organic and hygienic practices. The MMRSA puts cultivation under the Food and Agriculture Department, Mendocino County should do the same, so that the Agricultural Commissioner can carry out his mandated task to inspect and certify farms, and so protect air and water quality.

: Discourage development at risk of natural or man-made hazards.

Under County Zoning Laws, this would be monitored and minimized.

: Ensure that the existing database of County resources, including, but not limited to soil information, slope analysis, sensitive habitat, water resources, air resources, wind energy, solar energy, and hydro energy, is available to guide planning decisions and is kept current as new data is developed.

As Cannabis farmers, manufacturers, dispensaries and others in the cannabis industry come into compliance with various laws and obtain permits for their operations, the County will reap a cornucopia of data on all of these systems, which are currently in the underground economy and hence unreported.

Principle 2-1d: Mendocino County is committed to the health and well-being of all its residents, and shall implement land use plans, policies and programs that promote health.

: The County will strive to promote community health for all neighborhoods, with particular attention to disadvantaged communities and those that have been identified as lacking in amenities.

Allowing cannabis cultivation in permitted row and field crop areas will enable lower income residents to grow their own medicine. Licensing more dispensaries will increase the local availability of this sustainably renewable medicine and all its various preparations, as well as provide jobs for local residents. Thus the money stays in the community rather than going to the big pharmaceutical companies.

* * *

It appears as if the Supervisors foresaw the importance of the Cannabis Community to the health and well-being of the County.

Swami Chaitanya,

Mendocino Cannabis Policy Council

Laytonville

JUSTICE FOR ALL?

Editor,

I am Capt. Cass Forrington of the Sea Glass Museum in Fort Bragg.

We’ve got a big problem here with the police stomping on rights. I am running the below ad in the Advocate and Beacon this week and have attached a copy in case you want to run it in the AVA.

I know you feel like I do about the government.

The more people call the FBI, the more likely they will actually do anything.

Thanks,

Cass Forrington

ATTACHED: HANDS OFF OUR BEACH

A woman from Thornton, Ca, was issued a $500 ticket on 4/6/16, WHILE ON GLASS BEACH, for taking glass, by a hopefully uninformed officer. She hadn’t even left the beach with the glass. It was in a small cup. This is terrible for tourism. An “unfriendly town” reputation on social media would be disastrous for the businesses all along the coast.

The poor woman’s vacation was ruined as she came here just for the glass and is now afraid to return to the beach. As she works for the Stockton police department, if convicted of stealing she could lose her job for a crime she did not commit!

Last year I was in court for either jury duty or a small claims action against the city and Marie Jones for libel, and a man came before the judge. He had been running his dog on the beach at the end of Ward Ave. in Cleone and a group of riders from Richochet Ranch came along and his dog spooked one of the horses. No one was injured, but people and horses got frightened. The judge fined him the $375 for having his dog off its leash and gave him 1000 hours of community service. This for a crime he did not commit!

He did not commit a crime because Article #10 of the state constitution has all entities ending at the Mean High Water Mark (MHWM). All municipalities; cities, counties, private property, parks, et. al., end at the MHWM. Locally, this is a 5.2 foot tide. On an average sea, about 12 feet, no part of any beach in Mendocino county is in any jurisdiction. When you are on the beach, you are legally at sea. The beach is the boat-less person’s boat: state Public Domain property between the MHWM and the nautical chart base tide. Beyond that is Federal land.

The beaches are public domain. No one can legally tell you you can’t run your dog off its leash, have a fire, camp, drink a beer, smoke, collect sea glass and empty shells, or set off fireworks pointed towards the sea, but, please, don’t run around “nekked” – it is against State law.

Laws telling you you can’t legally do something when you actually can, are a Federal crime; felonies. The crime is called, “a denial of rights under color of law”; people in governmental power denying people their rights by asserting jurisdiction where they have none.

The Fort Bragg city council, City Manager Linda Ruffing and City Development Director Marie Jones openly conspired at a city council meeting last May, with Chief of Police Lizarraga present, to illegally deny people their rights by asserting they had jurisdiction on our glass beaches when they know they do not.

They passed a fraudulent municipal code implying smoking, drinking alcohol, running your dog without a leash and collecting glass on our beaches is illegal, posting a sign saying it is a $500 fine to remove the glass. They have absolutely no authority to impose such restrictions on public domain property or at sea. Doing so is criminal activity, which they fully realize.

People spend a lot of time and money coming here expecting to find a treasure as sea glass collecting is legal everywhere. Sea glass artists come from all over the continent. To tell them they cannot legally collect, when they legally can, is defrauding them of all their time and money coming here.

Conflicts are arising on the beaches between those legally collecting and those who believe it is illegal. Visitors are coming into the museum regularly upset over confrontations on the beach.

We currently truck the glass we can’t recycle to a landfill in Nevada, at a huge environmental and economic cost. We could simply tumble that glass in a cement truck for 12 hours, put it on our beaches, and people will just take it home and recycle it because it is pretty We should focus on colored glass and pottery. Using local glass maintains the historical aspect of the glass on our beaches.

Locals have been taking the glass since the beach was an active dumpsite. It doesn’t need to be jewelry quality to be usable. The Guest House Museum has sea glass in its path. School children made it into beautiful mosaics (I think there is one in the Masonic Temple – if not, one of our churches). People used it in bird baths, fish tanks, flower pots, pathways, gardens, and just put it in jars in their windows, etc. Everything that was non-biodegradable that was placed in our dumps was recycled as scrap or used in art, and it has been an ongoing process with the glass. It is all a recycling process and it is environmentally enhancing to recycle our glass through our beaches.

The beaches are vital to our local economy, drawing about 60,000 visitors a year, and vital to our extremely rich marine environment it is sustaining.

Even grandmothers tell me, “I know it is illegal, but I still took a few pieces.” At that rate, 2,000 visitors/day = 6,000 pieces/day.

The illegal city approach is not working. All day I hear stories of people taking bags and buckets full. I told the city council 11 years ago they needed to take an environmental approach as there was a run on our beaches and collecting could not be stopped due to Art. #10 of the constitution.

The only way to keep our glass beaches is to resume recycling some of our glass on them.

Simply posting signage saying, “The glass and pottery has created, and is sustaining, the richest marine environment in at least northern California. Removing the glass and pottery harms the environment. PLEASE don’t take the glass and pottery.” will greatly reduce depletion as everyone has an environmental conscience these days. That coupled with a modest, selective, replenishment program using locally generated glass will keep our marine environment exceptionally healthy and keep the tourists coming for decades.

Over a ton of recycled, pre-tumbled, landscaping glass has been placed on our beaches over the last 3-4 years. If you go to the beach you will have a hard time finding any of that glass because it is pretty and the tourists take it right away.

We need tourist education and a proactive, environmentally responsible approach, not an illegal, reactive, nearly totally ineffective approach to save our beaches and future tourism. The park rangers tried banning collecting and failed. They put up “Collecting Prohibited” signs twice, and twice people just took the signs down.

When the council pretended to consider replenishment last year so I would drop my libel suits, Marie Jones opened the topic by saying they would need an environmental study that would cost $100,000 and they would only have a 20% chance of getting it through the Coastal Commission. Neither of these statements is true. The environmental study was done by the state Water Quality Control Board when they cleaned up Glass Beach. I spoke to the head man and he told me they consider the glass benign. I also spoke with the Coastal Commission and they told me the city council is the local Coastal Act Authority and they can do whatever they want. This means they could have put safe steps down to Site #2 instead of the lawsuit waiting to happen they did.

After putting in such a beautiful coastal trail, why aren’t they opening accesses to the all the accessible beaches along the trail for the fisherman, divers and other recreationists? This is more than ridiculous. Why aren’t the people being given access to THEIR beaches?

The Sea Glass Museum is now listed as #5 out of 36 things to do on the coast by Trip Advisor. We had over 18,000 visitors last year, compared to the Kelly House’s 2,000. It has been featured on Australian and German TV. No one from city government has been in to see what the attraction is. What does this tell you about the people in city government? There are now in the vicinity of 3,000 signatures on the petition to replenish our beaches. They don’t care.

It is time to draw a line in the sand, pun intended. I am encouraging you, and as many Sea Glass Museum visitors as possible, to call the FBI in Santa Rosa at 707-566-6140 to add their names to the list of people complaining about what is going on in Fort Bragg. I am spending over $2,000 on this ad. What will you do to protect your rights and the future of this town? The last place you are truly free is on a beach, where you are legally at sea in a boat. Don’t let these petty tyrants, who would impose powers they don’t legally have, and punish people illegally for crimes they did not commit, steal that from you.

Are you old enough to remember being free and able to celebrate life? I am and I am sorry for our children who have never known that freedom.

Last year they illegally shut down the completely legal traditional July 4^th celebration on Noyo beach. They illegally stopped people from leaving town with legally possessed items to legally enjoy those items outside the jurisdiction of the city on the beach. This is illegal detention, search and seizure. They didn’t go to the marina and tell people they couldn’t get on their boats unless they agreed to be searched for, and agreed to surrender, alcohol and fireworks, or be turned back. They only denied the non-boat owners their rights to enjoy their items legally on the people’s boat, the beach. The day before they had the convicts remove all the driftwood from the beach so people couldn’t even have a warming fire or a cook out or toast marshmallows with their kids. It was a sad, dark beach with just a few families and some glow sticks for the kids.

Instead of protecting public safety, they endangered public safety as the people with fireworks from the beach set off their fireworks in unsafe places, in a deep drought, with no fire truck or emergency medical aid available, as there is at the beach.

I want to break the city’s illegal actions regarding the legal, traditional July 4^th celebration on Noyo beach. Denying people’s rights on July 4^th is intolerable. Please email me at captcass@captcass.com: Subject; “Noyo Resistance” to confirm you will show up at the beach with bags galore (bring fire wood for your fires) and refuse to be illegally searched or denied the right to leave town unmolested by the police. If enough people respond I will personally pay to have a lawyer present to ensure our rights are respected. I intend to PAY FOR PROTESTORS if I do not get enough volunteers to make this effective. Email me for details and to get on the list! The more kids included the better.

Because the city is so obviously breaking the law, we have been given a unique opportunity to make a stand for our rights in Fort Bragg that will have far reaching consequences state and nationwide. The issues here are significant, involving the very future of the town. Please stand with me to defend our rights and liberties. Call the FBI at the number above. If they get enough complaints, especially from locals, they will have to take action against the criminals in City Hall. Also call the Chief of Police Fabian Lizarraga at 964-0200 and tell him you expect him to uphold the constitutions of California and the United States and that the law must be applied equally to all. If the law only applies to some, we have no law. If the constitution is enforced selectively, we have no constitution. Tell him he has to arrest the people in city government for the crimes they have committed. OUR SOLDIERS ARE DYING TO PROTECT THE RIGHTS these arrogant petty tyrants are trying to illegally take away and our police have sworn to uphold the law and defend those rights. Do your citizen’s duty, CALL THE FBI at the above number Call CBS, NBC and ABC. Take this viral on social media.

The man with the unleashed dog on the beach in Cleone should sue to have his conviction overturned and for restitution of his fine and monies due for falsely imposed community service, false arrest and other damages. The horseback riders could have dismounted or called out to the man to restrain his dog. The beach is not theirs, it is “ours”. It is shared communal ground and it is the freedom of the sea, something I have known and enjoyed my entire life. It is also, “Use at your own risk”. Perhaps we should have signage: “Danger! Public Domain!”

Yours in Solidarity

Capt. Cass Forrington, SGM

THE OTHER SIDE OF MERLE HAGGARD

by Steve Earle

In late 1969 and early 1970, when “Okie From Muskogee” was blaring from every jukebox in every beer joint, truck stop and restaurant in my hometown, San Antonio, I wanted, sometimes very much, to hate Merle Haggard.

I say blaring because that’s the kind of record “Okie” was. The kind that, when it dropped into place on an automated turntable or crackled from the speakers of an AM radio, you wanted to turn it up.

Well, not me. I was pretty much a rock-and-folk guy, but this was Texas at the height of the Vietnam War, and San Antonio was a military town boasting five Air Force bases and an Army post, so I’m pretty certain I was in the minority. There were kids in my high school who took pride in listening to nothing but country music. Whether Hag intended it or not, his blue-collar anthem became a battle cry for Vietnam-bound working-class youths with a snowball’s chance in Saigon of a student deferment. Music to kick some hippie butt by.

I, on the other hand, was an easy target, a skinny kid who couldn’t fight his way out of a wet paper bag. “We don’t let our hair grow long and shaggy/Like the hippies out in San Francisco do,” Hag sang. So it didn’t help that I wore my hair in a ponytail halfway down my back, and it only partially obscured the embroidered flag patch that my girlfriend had sewn upside down on my military surplus jacket.

I mean, I listened to some country music myself: Buck Owens was played on the same stations as the Beatles in South Texas, and I never missed “The Johnny Cash Show,” but the records in heaviest rotation on my changer were “Let It Bleed,” “Abbey Road,” “Crosby, Stills & Nash,” and I’m fairly certain that when I lost my virginity, “Led Zeppelin II” was the soundtrack. But whenever I got my butt kicked, which was a lot — in between the thud of cowboy boots slamming into my ribs as I rolled myself up into a ball like an armadillo to protect my vitals — there was only one song that I heard in my head. So, like I said, I tried hard to hate Merle Haggard.

But I couldn’t. He was simply too damn good.

Merle Haggard was, undeniably, a great singer, some say the best that country music has ever produced. But it was the songs that got me. When I discovered, at an early age, what that line in parentheses beneath the title of a record meant, as in (Jagger/Richards) or (Dylan), I immediately attempted to write songs of my own. By ’69 the deceptively sophisticated chord structures of Haggard songs like “I’m a Lonesome Fugitive,” “Mama Tried” and “Silver Wings” were not lost on me. To my ear they had more in common with the work of John Lennon and Paul McCartney (you can imagine the early Beatles playing “Mama Tried”) or Paul Simon than anything else I heard on the country radio stations.

So I just kept listening and pretended that was some other singer on the jukebox singing about “The Fightin’ Side of Me.” Denial, I suppose, was as close to transcendence as my teenage self was going to get. I kept writing, and it would be many years and a couple of hundred songs later before I realized that, maybe, sometimes the songwriter is not always the same person as the characters he or she creates. And Merle Haggard’s songs were nothing if not transcendent.

Steve Earle is a singer and songwriter whose new album, a collaboration with Shawn Colvin, is called “Colvin & Earle.”

(Courtesy, the New York Times)

HILLARY IN SILICON VALLEY

http://www.lrb.co.uk/v38/n07/terry-castle/diary

STATE WATER BOARD SCHEDULES CLOSED MEETINGS ON DELTA TUNNELS

by Dan Bacher

The State Water Resources Control Board on April 11 announced a schedule of meetings that it may hold regarding the state and federal government petition to divert water on the Sacramento River for Governor Jerry Brown's Delta Tunnels, but these meetings will be closed to the public and the media.

The "notice of meetings in closed sessions" was issued the same day that the Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER) revealed that the Department of Interior’s Inspector General has opened an investigation into the possible illegal use of millions of dollars by the California Department of Water Resources (DWR) in preparing the Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for the Delta Tunnels Plan, called the "California Water Fix" by the Brown administration. (http://www.counterpunch.org/2016/04/12/feds-to-probe-misuse-of-state-funds-for-jerry-browns-delta-tunnels/))

The State Water Board or Board "may meet in closed session on the following dates beginning at 1:00 p.m. at the CalEPA building, Conference Room 2510, 1001 I Street, Sacramento, California," according to the notice.

"These meetings will consist exclusively of closed sessions to deliberate on procedural or substantive decisions to be reached in the proceeding to consider the joint water right change petition filed by the California Department of Water Resources and the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation regarding specified water right permits for the State Water Project and the Central Valley Project associated with the California WaterFix Project," the notice states.

"Please visit the State Water Board’s California WaterFix web page at: http://www.waterboards.ca.gov/waterrights/water_issues/programs/bay_delta/california_waterfix

/water_right_petition.shtml for more information regarding the project and petition. At least one Board Member will be physically present in Conference Room 2510, but individual Board Members may attend some or all of these meetings by telephone conference," the announcement said.

What was the reason for the closed meetings? "The closed sessions are authorized by Government Code section 11126, subdivision (c)(3). Closed sessions are not open to the public, but any decisions reached in closed session will be communicated to the public through a subsequent written ruling or alternative method of communication."

You can find more information about section 11126, subdivision (c)(3) at: http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/cgi-bin/displaycode?section=gov&group=11001-12000&file=11120-11132

The closed meeting dates are as follows:

April 25, 2016 May 9, 2016 May 23, 2016 June 13, 2016

June 27, 2016 July 11, 2016 July 25, 2016 August 8, 2016

August 22, 2016 September 12, 2016 September 26, 2016 October 10, 2016

October 24, 2016 November 7, 2016 November 28, 2016 December 12, 2016

For more information, please contact Jeanine Townsend, Clerk to the State Water Board, at (916) 341-5600.

About the Delta Tunnels:

The Delta Tunnels, the multi-billion dollar project that Governor Jerry Brown want to build as his legacy," won't create one drop of new water. Yet it will hasten the extinction of winter-run Chinook salmon, Central Valley steelhead, Delta and longfin smelt, green sturgeon and other species, as well as imperil the salmon and steelhead populations on the Trinity and Klamath rivers.

The California Water Fix will divert water from the Sacramento River to be used by corporate agribusiness interests on the west side of the San Joaquin Valley, Southern California water agencies, and oil companies conducting fracking and extreme oil extraction methods in Kern County.

PRESIDENT KILLARY:

Would the World Survive Hillary Clinton?

by Paul Craig Roberts

Hillary Clinton is proving to be the “teflon candidate.” In her campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination, she has escaped damage from major scandals, any one of which would destroy a politician. Hillary has accepted massive bribes in the form of speaking fees from financial organizations and corporations. She is under investigation for misuse of classified data, an offense for which a number of whistleblowers are in prison. Hillary has survived the bombing of Libya, her creation of a failed Libyan state that is today a major source of terrorist jihadists, and the Benghazi controversy. She has survived charges that as Secretary of State she arranged favors for foreign interests in exchange for donations to the Clintons’ foundation. And, of course, there is a long list of previous scandals: Whitewater, Travelgate, Filegate. Diana Johnstone’s book, Queen of Chaos, describes Hillary Clinton as “the top salesperson for the ruling oligarchy.”

Hillary Clinton is a bought-and-paid-for representative of the big banks, the military-security complex, and the Israel Lobby. She will represent these interests, not those of the American people or America’s European allies.

The Clintons’ purchase by interest groups is public knowledge. For example, CNN reports that between February 2001 and May 2015 Bill and Hillary Clinton were paid $153 million in speaking fees for 729 speeches, an average price of $210,000.

As it became evident that Hillary Clinton would emerge as the likely Democratic presidential candidate, she was paid more. Deutsche Bank paid her $485,000 for one speech, and Goldman Sachs paid her $675,000 for three speeches. Bank of American Morgan Stanley, UBS, and Fidelity Investments each paid $225,000.

Despite Hillary’s blatent willingness to be bribed in public, her opponent, Bernie Sanders, has not succeeded in making an issue of Hillary’s shamelessness. Both of the main establishment newspapers, the Washington Post and the New York Times have come to Hillary’s defense.

Hillary is a war-monger. She pushed the Obama regime into the destruction of a stable and largely cooperative government in Libya where the “Arab Spring” was a CIA-backed group of jihadists who were used to dislodge China from its oil investments in eastern Libya. She urged her husband to bomb Yugoslavia. She has pushed for “regime change” in Syria. She oversaw the coup that overthrew the democratically elected president of Honduras. She brought neoconservative Victoria Nuland, who arranged the coup that overthrew the democratically elected president of Ukraine, into the State Department. Hillary has called President Vladimir Putin of Russia the “new Hitler.” Hillary as president guarantees war and more war.

In the United States government has been privatized. Office holders use their positions in order to make themselves wealthy, not in order to serve the public interest. Bill and Hillary Clinton epitomize the use of public office in behalf of the office holder’s interest. For the Clintons government means using public office to be rewarded for doing favors for private interests. The Wall Street Journal reported that “at least 60 companies that lobbied the State Department during her [Hillary Clinton’s] tenure as Secretary of State donated a total of more than $26 million to the Clinton Foundation.”

According to washingtonsblog.com, “All told, the Clinton Foundation and its affiliates have collected donations and pledges from all souces of more than $1.6 billion, accoring to their tax returns.”

According to rootsactionteam.com, multi-million dollar donars to the Clinton Foundation include Saudi Arabia, Ukrainian oligarch Victor Pinchuk, Kuwait, ExxonMobil, Friends of Saudi Arabia, James Murdoch, Qatar, Boeing, Dow, Goldman Sachs, Walmart, and the United Arab Emirates.

According to the International Business Times, “Under Hillary Clinton, the State Department approved $165 billion worth of commercial arms sales to 20 nations whose governments had given millions to the Clinton Foundation.”

Hillary Clinton has escaped unharmed from so many crimes and scandals that she would likely be the most reckless president in American history. With the arms race renewed, with Russia declared “an existential threat to the United States,” and with Hillary’s declaration of President Putin as the new Hitler, Hillary’s arrogant self-confidence is likely to result in over-reach that ends in conflict between NATO and Russia. Considering the extraordinary destructive force of nuclear weapons, Hillary as president could mean the end of life on earth.

(Paul Craig Roberts is a former Assistant Secretary of the US Treasury and Associate Editor of the Wall Street Journal. Roberts’ How the Economy Was Lost is now available from CounterPunch in electronic format. His latest book is The Neoconservative Threat to World Order. Courtesy, CounterPunch.org)

SUZI! FINE ART!

http://suzilong.com/

FACTOID

Lowell McAdam, CEO of Verizon, made over $18,000,000 last year. He made $28,000,000 in 2011 and 36,000,000 in 2012. Verizon made $19.3 billion in US pretax profits from 2008 to 2012, yet didn’t pay any federal income taxes during the period. Instead, it got $535 million in tax rebates. Verizon’s effective federal income tax rate was negative 2.8 percent from 2008 to 2012.

— John Redding, Mendocino (MCN-Listserve)