Mendocino County Today: Thursday, Apr 28, 2016

• Rodriguez Found
• Bipartisan Oligarchy
• Courthouse Escrow
• Wildlife Management
• Beadwork Exhibit
• Yesterday's Catch
• Ready to Rumble
• Frig Raid
• Winery Backlash
• Cliches
• Moneyhole Radio
• Poetry Celebration
• Malicious Erection
• Life Process

ANGER AND DISBELIEF rocked the Anderson Valley Wednesday afternoon at the astonishing news that Lorenzo Rodriguez was out of police custody, and had been released from the hospital.

RODRIGUEZ was shot Saturday night when, armed with a 14-inch chef's knife, he attacked Lisa Kuny, 42, and her 18-year-old son, Bobby Kuny, 18, a senior at Anderson Valley High School.

BOBBY KUNY, shooting at point blank range, shot Rodriguez, 34, several times with a .22 revolver. The wounded Rodriguez ran from the home he shares with Kathy Gowan, 26, and was eventually located and transported by the Anderson Valley Ambulance to Ukiah and then to Santa Rosa for emergency treatment.

THE SHERIFF'S press release on the event said merely that Rodriguez was "a suspect in a domestic violence incident" but confirmed that he had attempted to assault Ms. Kuny and her son with the knife.

ORDINARILY, in a serious episode like this, the suspect would be released from the hospital into police custody and booked into the Mendocino County Jail while the District Attorney decided what he would be charged with.

THE SANTA ROSA HOSPITAL failed to call Mendocino County prior to them releasing Rodriguez.

SOMEHOW, Rodriguez, who, at a minimum should be charged with felony assault, simply walked out of the hospital. The Kuny family was of course anxious that Rodriguez may pursue them.

REACHED WEDNESDAY EVENING, DA spokesman Mike Geniella said "The DA's office has not received any reports or requested charges for review." Geniella referred us to the Sheriff's office.

SHERIFF ALLMAN had no sooner told us that he had deployed several deputies and a detective to the Anderson Valley to arrest Rodriguez should he re-appear than he called back to announce that Rodriguez was "in custody" on attempted murder charges. He had been out of custody for about four hours.

BOBBY KUNY'S indignant grandfather, Dan Kuny, said late Wednesday afternoon that Sheriff Allman himself apologized to Kuny for the release of Rodriguez, which the Sheriff characterized as "a major screw-up."

THE SHERIFF acted promptly and efficiently in the Rodriguez case at the end of a highly successful week of important arrests in Mendocino County, including a felony burglary, a murderer and, due to meticulous work of Detective Luis Espinoza, the conviction of a woman who had stolen thousands of dollars from the Laytonville market that employed her.

#FEELTHEBERN GOES #UPINSMOKE

by John Stauber

From the moment he announced, it was obvious what newly christened Democrat Bernie Sanders would become: The Great Progressive Hope who would fight to slay Wall Street’s champions and reclaim the party for some long ago or long imagined liberal greatness. And it was obvious how his campaign would end, as it is now wrapping up, with Bernie begrudgingly conceding that he cannot win against Hillary’s oligarchy backing and the rigged process of establishment SuperDelegates designed to make sure no self-proclaimed democratic socialist-type ever wins the nomination.

It’s the Democrat’s political equivalent of the Bill Murray movie classic Groundhog Day, except the progressive candidate never wins the girlfriend, er, nomination, in the end. Instead, the Sanders, Deans, Browns, Kuciniches and Jacksons, the progressive champions of their election cycle, only change themselves from watchdogs and guard dogs to lap dogs, ensuring that cynical and outraged progressives follow their champion-cum-Pied Piper to become advocates for defeating the Republicans in November.

This is the death spiral the Feel the Bern movement, the two million Berners who have forked over time and money, has now entered. The Democratic apparatchiks who run Bernie’s campaign are preparing their masses for the inevitable, pulling them into the ceremony that, not unlike a religious grieving event, prepares them for death and eventual resurrection, post-convention, to transform them into a saintly rationalizing army of supporters for, in this case, Hillary.

All this I predicted (as could any objective fool) the day of Bernie’s announcement. Yes, it has been heartening to see the extent of his support as he attacks the banks and the Democratic establishment. But, of course, it is all for naught. In four months Hillary’s army will command Bernie’s list of two million, and Bernie and his loyal Democratic minions will be weaving memes of how the Party will soon be in the hands of the FeelTheBern rebellion. Not this year, not next, but soon, brothers and sisters, soon, the revolution will occur!

As frustrated nationalist populism tears apart the Republican Party, the coopting power of the Democrats ensures that there will be no similar rebellion from the true believing Progressives in the Democratic Party.

Bernie is an old man. He has lived a fine and worthy public life, but unfortunately he will fade into the sunset without taking the brave step of leading his supporters into finally forming a viable left party in the United States. That would be a true legacy and accomplishment. Even the right wing oligarchs of the Republican Party have realized that the shared monopoly both corporate parties wield over the political process makes a viable third party almost impossible.

Yet, for all the noble tirades of the Progressives from Bill Moyers to Bernie Sanders about the power of money and how it must be removed from the process, it is the process itself that is the problem. Two parties, both pro Wall Street and pro military-industrial complex, control the political system. A majority of voters opted out of this farce democracy long ago, so only a minority votes for these parties. Big money has ensured ever tighter domination by the super rich, but even with the dream of meaningful finance reform, the shared monopoly that corporate oligarchs control with their phony two-party system is the real problem.

So thanks Bernie, you ran a good race, and now you can hop onto Hillary’s pant suit and become the latest kept progressive champion, the Pied Piper, trying to convince the left and progressives that real change is possible within the Democratic Party. And the tragedy is that 95% of your supporters, the Feel the Bern Movement, will follow you down that Blue Brick Road past the intoxicating poppies on to celebrate the great achievement that electing Hillary shall be deemed.

And so the same damned movie script plays out again, and the bipartisan oligarchy wins again, as brilliantly planned. Just ask Charles Koch if he can live with Hillary, because he already has said he can. A neoliberal neocon in the White House may not be the Koch Brothers’s favorite choice, but they and their money can live with it very well!

(Courtesy, CounterPunch.org)

ESCROW COMPLETED ON PROPERTY FOR NEW UKIAH COURTHOUSE

by Justine Frederiksen

Escrow has been completed on the property near the Ukiah Railroad Depot that will become the new home of the Mendocino County courthouse, Court Executive Officer Chris Ruhl announced Tuesday.

The Judicial Council of California (JCC) is buying just more than four acres from the North Coast Railroad Authority near East Perkins Street and the railroad tracks with the plan of building a “modern, secure building to house eight courtrooms as well as … adequately sized jury assembly and deliberation rooms, and separate holding facilities and elevators for in-custody defendants.”

One of the biggest concerns about the current building at 100 N. State Street is that defendants are walked to courtrooms via public hallways and elevators, causing potentially unsafe situations.

The state paid $3.65 million for the four acres, but only about half of that was for the property. The other half will be for infrastructure improvements that will facilitate the use of all of the surrounding property.

Those improvements include extending Clay Street and Hospital Drive and adding lighting, sidewalks, as well as sewer and water and other utilities. They are expected to take 16 months.

The City of Ukiah worked closely with the NCRA and the JCC in an effort that city staff described as a way to ensure that all 11 acres owned by the NCRA, as well as city-owned parcels along Leslie Street, could be used to their fullest potential.

The city also paid for extensive clean up of the site, after signing an agreement with NCRA to be reimbursed once the sale of the property is completed.

“What I’m particularly proud about that project is that we were able to work with our partners to take a blighted, contaminated property right along one of our major corridors and put it back into use,” said City Manager Sage Sangiacomo when the sale of the property was announced, commending staff members Guy Mills and Shannon Riley on their years-long effort to make the property usable again.

“Eleven acres of property like that is hard to come by, and the City Council, our staff and our local partners deserve a lot of credit for actually seeing that through,” Sangiacomo said. “From getting it cleaned up, to the acquisition of the property that’s going to lead to the build out of the property and the infrastructure that’s going to ensure that happens.”

The $95-million project is expected to be completed in 2020.

(Courtesy, the Ukiah Daily Journal)

* * *

OF ALL THE MURKY deals that go down among our County’s overpaid, underworked leadership, this new County Courthouse is the murkiest since, I dunno, DA Susan Massini mysteriously allowed a couple of Fort Bragg crooks to burn down the old Ten Mile Court and adjacent library and a landmark downtown hotel, and, poof! in one brazen hour much of Fort Bragg’s history was in the wind. That was some major murk. The upshot? A murky new Ten Mile Courthouse owned at extortionate rents far, far into the future by Dominic Affinito, a private individual.

THEN there was the hurry-up County Courthouse our over-large delegation of Superior Court judges said we really, really, really needed for Willits “to better serve the north county.” The Willits courthouse, the ugliest structure its size ever erected in Mendocino County, was used for about a decade before being permanently abandoned, and it sits to this day in the middle of town, a rotting hulk so malignant even the barn swallows avoid it.

WE’VE LISTED the myriad reasons why the new County Courthouse is already a disaster, but the major disaster is for Ukiah, because by establishing the Courthouse three long blocks from the center of town where the present and perfectly adequate County Courthouse is located, Ukiah will be left with a second white elephant in what’s left of its downtown center, the abandoned Palace Hotel being the first.

WE’RE TRYING to find out what the Northcoast Railroad will do with the money it will soon receive for selling the Courthouse property. The NCRA runs a railroad with no trains, but it is staffed with featherbedding Democrats well paid to do whatever it is that a railroad with no trains does all day.

AND, count on it. This structure will cost at least twice the hundred million the judges are claiming it will cost.

* * *

THE REASONS given for a new County Courthouse include a claim that it’s impossible to install handicapped accessibility to such an old structure, nevermind that it's been done everywhere in the United States in old structures, including the state capitol. The present County Courthouse could be made entirely accessible for the handicapped at much less expense than a whole new structure can be erected.

IF THE JUDGES say they have to sit around "twiddling their thumbs" while waiting for their victims, er, defendants, to be driven over from the County Jail, then there must be too many judges here in Mendo, a county with 9 of them for a population of 90,000 the largest ratio of black robes to population in the state. Also, one of their honors could be permanently posted to the jail to do a lot of routine stuff there instead of hauling people back and forth.

JUVENILES and The Catch of the Day exposed to potential jurors as their coffles shuffle in and out of the present County Courthouse? Unsafe? There was one episode many years ago where a mommy tried to hand off a pistol to her killer son. Possible prejudicial exposure to jurors is obscure to the point of irrelevance. Thank the goddess for juries, the last dependable part of a justice system long gone over to injustice.

AND WHEN ALL OTHER arguments fail, haul out earthquakes.

THIS THING boils down to a major misdirection of public money. The judges say it won't cost the taxpayers anything. More bullshit. They and their buildings are funded out of public money and fine money (ever more exorbitant and disproportionate), and this thing has already cost Ukiah in site prep. And Ukiah needs another ugly building like Boonville needs another winery.

AND NOWHERE do the judges mention all the disruption to the County’s supporting offices — (DA, Public Defender, Probation, Jail, private attorneys, staff, etc.) that the new courthouse will cause. That’s not their problem, not their responsibility, not even mentioned in their cost calculations. The County will be stuck with that bill after several years of chaos after the new courthouse is occupied.

MENDOCINO COUNTY DUMPS FEDERAL KILLINGS OF LIVESTOCK PREDATORS

by Peter Fimrite

Wildlife advocates scored a major victory Tuesday when Mendocino County agreed to terminate its contract with the federal agency that helps ranchers kill predators such as mountain lions and coyotes that feast on livestock.

Environmental groups have long crusaded against what they characterize as indiscriminate killing of wildlife by an agency whose philosophy amounts to “the only good predator is a dead predator.” The decision by Mendocino County supervisors to sever ties with the division of the U.S. Department of Agriculture marks a rare instance of a California county opting to consider nonlethal methods of carnivore control.

Environmentalists had accused the county of violating the California Environmental Quality Act by hiring the Agriculture Department division known as Wildlife Services. Six environmental and animal protection groups claimed in a lawsuit that the county failed to consider nonlethal methods of animal control and should have done an environmental study on the effect that killing predators would have on the ecosystem before signing a contract with Wildlife Services.

“We’re thrilled,” said Jessica Blome, senior staff attorney for the Animal Legal Defense Fund, one of the plaintiffs in the case. “This is the first lawsuit in the country that attacks Wildlife Services based on its relationships with local governments.”

Todd Smith of Oakland’s Thomas Law Group, which represented Mendocino County, said the Board of Supervisors had agreed to set aside the contract while conducting an environmental study.

“The county is happy to undertake this analysis so the members of this community can understand the benefits and the impacts associated with the wildlife management program,” Smith said. “The program has been effective for almost 30 years, so the county was a little surprised (by the lawsuit). That said, the county wants to comply with the law. In the end, the analysis will drive what the program looks like in the future.”

The issue has exacerbated tensions between ranchers and conservationists. Livestock owners in the far northern part of the state have threatened to use the “three S’s” — shoot, shovel and shut up — when confronted with environmentalists’ efforts to protect wolves, coyotes and other “vermin.”

Ranchers’ concerns

There are as many as 700,000 coyotes in the state, according to the California Department of Fish and Wildlife. Mountain lions are also abundant, and both predators kill a lot of livestock, which are commodities that contribute to the state and local economy, said the California Cattlemen’s Association.

The recent discovery of a wolf pack in Siskiyou County has turned the issue of predator control into a major area of concern among ranchers. The USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, which oversees the wildlife management program, told The Chronicle last year that agency trappers use nonlethal techniques when appropriate.

Some 47,000 animals were nevertheless killed by Wildlife Services trappers in California in 2014, while 2.7 million animals were done away with nationwide, including wolves, coyotes, bears, mountain lions, beavers, foxes and other animals deemed pests, federal records show.

In Mendocino County, federal wildlife specialists working under a $144,000 contract used traps, snares, poison and other devices to kill hundreds of coyotes, mountain lions, bears, bobcats and other wildlife last year, according to the plaintiffs in the case.

Paul Trouette, president of the nonprofit Mendocino County Blacktail Deer Association and a former county Fish and Game commissioner, said guardian dogs, fencing and other nonlethal methods aren’t always appropriate in the county because of the rugged terrain. Many predators climb fences, he said, and coyotes and cougars have been known to run sheep and other prey into them for easy kills.

“I think we have a perfect program right now. These guys who make a living can’t be out there shaking noisemakers all night” to scare away predators, Trouette said.

He argued that Wildlife Services trappers are the best available experts on predation, the spread of wildlife diseases and protection of livestock. “Who is going to handle all the sick animals and the rabies or other diseases and provide technical assistance to ranchers if they get rid of the professionals?” he asked. “The county doesn’t have any programs set up for that. It’s going to be a nightmare.”

Environmentalists skeptical

Wildlife advocates say the current system is both immoral and unnecessary. “What we’re really talking about is the legitimacy of our federal government using American tax dollars to kill wildlife and ecologically valuable predators in huge numbers every year to benefit a tiny minority of ranchers and the agricultural industry,” said Camilla Fox, executive director of Project Coyote, a wildlife advocacy organization that was also a plaintiff in the lawsuit. “That’s the crux of this case.”

The county must now complete an environmental report that evaluates nonlethal predator control methods before it can enter into a contract with Wildlife Services in the future. Blome said the settlement could serve as a precedent for wildlife management programs in California and around the country.

“It’s a monumental achievement that we plan to use as a model,” she said. “We’ll go county by county if we have to, to force these counties to evaluate whether lethal control is necessary.”

Wildlife advocates are pushing for government support for a variety of nonlethal management techniques, including the use of guardian dogs, fencing, hazing of carnivores using lighting and flag techniques, night corrals and the placing of sheep in lambing sheds at night.

Fox cited research suggesting ways in which the killing of native predators harms the ecosystem. Coyotes, for instance, provide poison-free rodent control, while mountain lions can keep populations of other carnivores down.

In addition, wildlife advocates said, killing predators can make things worse — such as when trappers kill an alpha pair of coyotes. That ruins the pack structure, leaving coyote pups and young adults on their own. The result is a lot of coyotes that don’t have hunting skills going after the easiest prey they can find, which is livestock.

There is an example in the Bay Area of how a kill-as-a-last-resort predator control program can work. In Marin County, a nonlethal control program was adopted in 2000. It essentially used the money once paid to federal trappers to help ranchers build fences, night corrals and lambing sheds and purchase guardian dogs.

Financial assistance key

At the time, coyotes were killing hundreds of lambs and ewes every year in Marin County. Most sheep ranchers in Marin purchased guardian dogs, which naturally bond with sheep and goats and aggressively protect them. Ranchers credit the dogs with reducing predation.

County financial assistance was crucial, according to many ranchers, given that a guard dog can cost $1,000 or more. The program also helped pay for fences, electrification, noisemakers, lights and motion sensors — all at one-third the cost of predator control under the Wildlife Services program, according to county agricultural officials.

“It’s very easy to convince people that nonlethal predator control works when you look at the research that has been done,” Blome said. “Without exception, every rancher that has converted to nonlethal predator control is an advocate of it.”

(Courtesy, The San Francisco Chronicle)

EXHIBIT OPENING + BEADWORK DEMO AT GRACE HUDSON May 6: First Friday

Skill & Survival

Photography exhibit and beadwork demonstration emphasize California Indian resilience

On Friday, May 6, from 5 to 8 pm, the Grace Hudson Museum will host an opening reception for a new exhibit, She Sang Me A Good Luck Song: The California Indian Photographs of Dugan Aguilar, as part of Ukiah's monthly First Friday Art Walk. The evening will also include a beadworking demonstration by master beadworker Stewart Wilburn, who will be signing copies of a new book about his life. The event is free and refreshments will be served.

Born and raised in Susanville, at the foot of Mount Lassen, Dugan Aguilar (Mountain Maidu/Pit River/Walker River Paiute) was brought up by parents and a community immersed in Native culture. He has documented those cultures for over 40 years, and has exhibited his work throughout the United States and in Europe. For 30 years, he was the staff photographer for the California Indian Basketweavers Association and the California Indian Storytellers Association.

As Larry McNeil, Tlingit photographer, scholar, and professor of photography at Boise State University notes, “Dugan’s photography embodies the ancient spirits of giving and sharing: it’s visual poetry that resonates through time with the land and the people gently, yet assertively… Beautiful and insightful photographic storytelling for all people of the world.”

She Sang Me A Good Luck Song: The California Indian Photographs of Dugan Aguilar is a partnership with Exhibit Envoy, Heyday Books, and the Native Fund, curated by Theresa Harlan and artist Dugan Aguilar. Support from Janet King and the Sun House Guild have enabled its Ukiah venue. Dugan Aguilar's photos from this exhibit and many more can be explored in the Heyday Books publication of the same name, edited by Theresa Harlan (Kewa Pueblo/Jemez Pueblo), on sale in the Grace Hudson Museum Gift Shop.

Unlike Dugan Aguilar, Stewart Wilburn (Wailaki/Tolowa/Pomo/Wintu) grew up separated from his Native roots. Raised in the Sherwood Valley Rancheria by parents who were sent to boarding school and forbidden to speak their native language, Wilburn has, in a way, dreamed his way back to a place in Native culture. He learned beadwork by watching other Natives do theirs, then incorporated his own colors and designs. He now sells his work nationwide and travels throughout California, attending powwows and selling his original designs — belts, jewelry, shoes, and more — to those attending.

Ethnoecologist Dr. Jeanine Pfeiffer comments, "His beadwork is known for its tremendous precision and beauty. People seeing it for the first time are known to widen their eyes, stop still in their tracks, and hold their breath." In the fall of 2015, Dr. Pfeiffer organized a group project for the Nature and World Cultures class she taught at San Jose State University, centering on Wilburn's work. The result is a book of photos, quotes, and an interview with Wilburn that is available in both hardback and paperback. Copies will be on sale at the Grace Hudson Museum Gift Shop, and Wilburn will be signing copies at the beadworking demonstration.

The Grace Hudson Museum is at 431 S. Main St. in Ukiah and is open Wednesday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., and Sunday from noon to 4:30 p.m. For more information please call 467-2836 or go to gracehudsonmuseum.org.

— Roberta Werdinger

CATCH OF THE DAY, April 27, 2016

CHRISTOPHER BUENROSTRO III, Ukiah. Meth for sale, meth sales, under influence, more than an ounce of pot, suspended license, evasion, offenses while on bail.

RICHARD CAUCKWELL JR., Ukiah. Failure to appear, probation revocation.

TINA CORNWALL, Willits. Failure to appear, probation revocation.

MARC CORSON, Fort Bragg. Drunk in public, probation revocation.

KYLE FIELD, Covelo. Firing a gun into an inhabited dwelling or vehicle, probation revocation.

LANCE FOX, Fort Bragg. Probation revocation.

SEAN HAMMON, Talmage. Criminal threats.

SARA HEITZ, Fort Bragg. Assault with deadly weapon not a gun.

BRETT HOAGLEN, Covelo. Suspended license, probation revocation.

MARRIO NEIL, Philo. Domestic battery.

OLEGARIIO ROBLES, Arizona City, Arizona/Ukiah. Resisting.

ZACHARIA ROZEK, Redwood Valley. Under influence, probation revocation.

STEVEN SUITS, Sonoma/Ukiah. Probation revocation.

EARTH SUN, Santa Rosa/Ukiah. Controlled substance, suspended license.

PATRICK TAYLOR, Ukiah. Paraphernalia, probation revocation.

ALI WALKER, Fort Bragg. Failure to appear, probation revocation.

ON LINE COMMENT OF THE DAY

I get the whole “calm before a storm” proverb. Now that tax season is over (except for those with extensions) and most people have their returns and the weather is mild…why not splurge it on Vegas or your favorite presidential candidate? There’s not much of a difference in those two options, is there? Hillary is looking more like a power hungry lunatic every day more delegates start rolling over for her and Trump is priming himself for the biggest bid for Washington D.C. real estate in his life…are you ready to rumble? We can discuss men and women and birds and bees, too. Trump is for protecting Ms. U.S.A and Hillary is uplifting women’s suffrage to never before seen heights. An alpha male vs. an alpha female…can’t get much better than that. Like in nature, someone is going to be destroyed, not just lose.

I HAVE EATEN

the plums

that were in

the icebox

 

and which

you were probably

saving

for breakfast

 

Forgive me

they were delicious

so sweet

and so cold

— William Carlos Williams

KRASNY TO HOST GRAPE BACKLASH FORUM

KQED’s radio program, “Forum” with Michael Krasny, will be broadcast live from Sonoma State University on Wednesday morning, as the program discusses the community backlash against winery expansion.

http://www.pressdemocrat.com/news/5547830-181/kqeds-forum-at-sonoma-state?ref=menu

GARNERING MYRIAD SINGLE WORD CLICHES

Add "garner" and "garnering" to our growing list of single word cliches. Both of these inelegant variations on plain old "get" appear mostly in our written language. From an internet story we get two garners in two paragraphs: “Clinton’s Democratic primary rival has consistently garnered 70-80% percent with young voters…a new Latino Decisions poll released last week finds Trump only garnering 11% support from Hispanic voters against Clinton’s 76% support.” We are now resigned to seeing our world turned into a "globe" and even mild assent "absolutely" agreed "upon." In this morning's Chronicle, a story on the Warriors' deep bench: “Depth has been their strong point for the past two seasons, and it will be called upon now. But the task will be difficult.” It might be a little easier if the Warriors just called on it.

Rob Anderson, District 5 Diary

WHAT TO DO ABOUT KZYX

If Lorraine and Raoul want to do the right thing, why are they still sucking all the membership money out of KZYX and into their own personal bank accounts? I hate to sound like a broken record, but if Lorraine is getting $60K a year and Raoul $40K, that's the equivalent of 2000 $50 yearly memberships, and that's more paid memberships than MCPB even has. So when the airpeople, who are not being paid at all, are dragooned -- or bamboozled, rather -- into giving their airtime over to begging listeners for money "to keep the great shows on the air", that's a big fat lie every time they repeat it. None of that money is doing the station any good; it's sliding though the station and out the other side like crap through a goose.

All the paid-for syndicated shows don't add up to $30,000 as an expense. The electricity for the transmitters and studios, and the phone and internet bills and music publishers' fees and tower space and studio rent and overhead and all the other expenses all put together come to less than $100,000. In short, all along, the station could easily have been entirely supported for less than a fourth of the way more than half-a-million-dollars that get processed in MCPB's mysterious bookkeeping system every year. Uncle Sugar has already given MCPB four million dollars to date, in six-month installments that so far have vanished as quickly as they appeared because of crooked and/or stupid management by MCPB from the beginning.

There's an old Chinese saying: "The best time to plant a tree is twenty years ago. The second-best time is right now." The so-called enlightened new regime can do the right thing right now. That would be for Lorraine to fire freshly-hired "program director" Raoul -- he's got a lovely stereotypical avuncular FM radio voice and I'm sure he does a competent job of inserting a jazz CD in a slot and pressing "play", but he's entirely unnecessary in the office; and she can fire David Steffen -- also a superfluous chair-filler -- and take at least a 50% pay cut herself by offering to be paid by the hour for hours actually worked for the station, and use the fountain of money freed up to pay the airpeople for their shows and for prep time, the way the NPR airpeople are all paid for their shows, the way all the airpeople at KMFB were paid for our independently produced shows by a manager doing a manager's job. And that's just the most self-evidently obvious right thing on a long list of right things to do, right up there with figuring out and exposing to public view where all the rest of those millions and millions of dollars went, because they didn't just vanish into a crack in the time-space continuum, having never existed; they existed, and someone took them. Someone is still taking them, and it can't hurt the station to find out who they all were and are; it can only help.

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

MENDOCINO SPRING POETRY

Sunday, May 22, 2016

41st Anniversary

Mendocino Spring Poetry Celebration

at the Hill House in Mendocino town on the coast.

This event draws some 40 poets from northern California and beyond. Two open readings: afternoon, and evening.

Noon: sign up and mixer up; afternoon reading at 1:00.

Break: enjoy the town, the sea and the headlands.

5:00 PM: sign up and mixer up; evening reading at 6:00.

Choice comestibles. Open book displays. Contribution requested.

All poems considered for broadcast by Dan Roberts on KZYX&Z.

Info: Gordon Black, (707) 937-4107, gblack@mcn.org

DIVORCÉE BUILDS PIE-SHAPED HOUSE TO SPITE EX, runs afoul of laws against 'malicious erections'

http://www.oregonlive.com/hg/index.ssf/2016/04/seattle_spite_house_tiny_divor.html#incart_most-read_

GETTING OLD IS NOT FOR SISSIES

I am now 82 years old, which gives me a tad of credibility to talk about getting old. I have had a "good life", notwithstanding the death of my first wife at 51 from cancer and the death of my daughter at 38 from drug abuse.

The time to insure a relatively benign old age is when you're young. What happens to you after 60 is a direct result of what you did or did not do when you were 20 to 60. Old age happens, but how it happens to you is created.

There are three main contributing factors: first, the constitution you are born with. We all know people who have drunk alcohol a lot, eaten trash foods, smoked a lot and never exercised much who live a long and relatively healthy life. The luck of the draw.

The second factor is genetics, beyond one's general constitution. A pre-disposition to cancer, or diabetes, or any one of many diseases that medical science now attribute to one's genes. This is different from one's general constitution.

The third factor is life-style. Even if a person has a great constitution and no malevolent genetics, how you live has a big impact on what happens when you get old. This involves what you eat, when you eat it, and how much you eat. It also involves how much sleep you get and how much or little exercise you get.

Unfortunately we do not have any control over the first two factors of our constitution or genes. That leaves life style. Given the epidemic of obesity and diabetes in our culture it is clear that we eat much too much sugar, fat, and salt in our modern diet. There are plenty of different diets recommended, plenty of different drugs recommended, and plenty of books to read about it.

What is critical is the level of commitment. Lots of people "try" to eat better and eat less, or quit drinking or smoking. But, trying does not work. The reason why is simple; there is no commitment. Until and until a person makes a full and complete commitment to doing anything it will not happen.

For example, millions of smokers try to quit. They get the patch, then the pill, then the filter, then, then, then, and they do not kick the habit. They have not made a full commitment. The only way to do that is to say, "I will do whatever it takes, because what I am trying to stop doing is worse than what it will take to stop.

It takes some courage to deal with getting old. The three factors come back to bite one. Aging brings on the aches and pains from arthritis, lumbago, bursitis, etc. Aging brings on diseases, from cancer to degenerated disks to organ deterioration, etc.

There comes a day, when one is around 60 or 65 when you look in the mirror, and for the first time you say to yourself, "Oh my God, I'm old. When are you old? Well, that is culturally determined. A study asked people who were 40 when is somebody old? They said at 63, that's when you are "old". People who were 50 responded that you are old at 68. People who were 60 said, when asked, you are old at 73, and those who were 70 said you are old at 75.

We do not want to get old and we do not want to look old and we do not want to feel old. People spend lots of money to prevent looking and feeling old. That is partly for ego reasons and also because we are a youth worshipping culture. We do not show respect for old age nor do we venerate it like many cultures do.

Given all of the above, getting old is a challenge, and it takes some courage to meet the challenge. The biggest challenge is to be willing and able to adjust one's self-concept to the changes. To accept old age gracefully and to be patient with its creep to the grave is necessary if one is to remain grounded and balanced mentally and emotionally.

Notwithstanding the promises of an afterlife from religion, dying and death or not fun to contemplate. The fear of dying is not the same as the fear of death. The fear of dying is reasonable; who wants to suffer from disease, and operations, and prescription drugs expense and mental dementia and confusion. Nobody.

Fear of death is not reasonable. It cannot be avoided; it can only be accepted. The universe cares not if you or I die. The planet cares not if you or I die. If one is fortunate there are some relatives and friends who care. For most of us, that's about it. Most of us are not even remotely famous and may not even have had our fifteen minutes of fame.

A good life-style from youth to old age helps a lot. But none of us have total control of the process of aging. What is really boils down to is attitude. Acceptance is an attitude. Those who fear death die 7.5 years sooner than those who do not fear it. Attitude is more important than life-style.

Fear is an emotion, but it is also an attitude. Do I live each day making a positive contribution to myself and to others? Do I deeply accept my own mortality? Or, do I try to pretend it is not going to happen? Do I go to delusion and fantasy to deflate the fear? Do I beg and barter with a god to deflate the fear?

Acceptance of the maladies of old age is not easy. Getting old sucks. One thing one can do is to realize that there are others who have far graver problems than yourself. Another thing to do is to see whatever issues and problems you are experiencing as not as bad as being dead already. "It's a good day, since I'm still above ground". Another is to get all of your affairs in order, both legally and socially; this brings peace of mind. Perhaps the most helpful thing to do is to avoid holding it all in and letting the fear eat you up. Let it out, in any way you can that is not self-destructive.

Death is as much a part of life as is birth. It's all a process, and wisdom argues that it is to be embraced and accepted. You cannot do what you used to do as you age. You couldn't do those things before you were grown up either. So?

Lee Simon

Round Hill Farm, Virginia