Mendocino County Today: Thursday, June 2, 2016

• Weather Shift
• Initiative Signatures
• SMART Questions
• Phone Menus
• Counytryclub Guv
• Freeze Gun
• SF Budget
• Paper Chase
• Neighborhood Watch
• Yesterday's Catch
• Movie Night
• Deer Business
• Tyrants
• Pets!
• Deep Radio
• Top Two
• Kill Anything
• Internet Porn
• War Racket
• Benefit Dinner
• Tunnels Testimony
• Paved Paradise
• Bicoastal Craig

WARMING TREND

A shift in the weather pattern is ahead for much of the country as May ends and June begins. Very warm temperatures are expected to build across the West as the week progresses, just in time for the start of meteorological summer. Temperatures across much of the West have been near to below-average over the past week. However, a warming trend has already begun in some areas as the strong ridge of high pressure is beginning to build into the region. The above-average temperatures will expand across the West through the week and into at least the early part of the weekend. It will also be dry across the region through the week, with the exception of northwestern Washington which may see a few showers return Wednesday night into Thursday. (Weather Underground)

WANNA HELP SHERIFF TOM ALLMAN IN HIS CAMPAIGN TO ADDRESS MENDOCINO COUNTY MENTAL HEALTH ISSUES?

HE NEEDS SIGNATURES

THE SHERIFF WRITES: Ok, Mental Health Warriors, I need your help. We are getting very close to having 2,502 signatures of Mendocino County Registered voters. I need to do a final push so we can wrap this up in two weeks. If you accept my challenge, please send me a PM with your address and I will mail you a petition to sign and return. Each petition can take 10 signatures, but you don't have to fill it up. I will mail you a petition with a return envelope. Can you help? We have almost 2,000 signatures. You can make a huge difference.

SONYA NESCH WRITES: If the Sheriff’s Initiative passes, we can take care of people locally who need inpatient treatment for psychiatric and substance use disorders. This will mean high quality, immediate and ongoing treatment support, AND good jobs for local people. This also offers a good reason for Mendocino College to offer 1 and 2-year Psychiatric Technician Programs at both Coast and Inland campuses. We envision Integrated Treatment with both conventional and alternative treatments that include: acupuncture, neurofeedback to teach self-regulation of brain function, cranio-sacral, neuromuscularskeletal integration, mindfulness and more. I will be gathering signatures near Harvest Market on Wednesday June 8 from 2 to 4 pm. — Sonya Nesch

ACCORDING TO a recent Press Democrat story SMART (Sonoma Marin Area Rapid Transit) is currently planning to charge $12 to take their train from north Santa Rosa to downtown San Rafael when they begin service, like maybe, "before the end of 2016." For a one-way trip. SMART estimates about 3,000 “commuters” will take the train each weekday. And those commuters will take the SMART train because, SMART assumes, it will only take 49 minutes on their train, but 60 to 90 minutes if you drove the same 43 mile stretch of Highway 101 from Santa Rosa to Rohnert Park to Cotati to Penngrove to Petaluma to Novato and end up in San Rafael (or the reverse) during rush hour. The time calculations conveniently exclude the time it takes for you to get from your house to their train station and then from the destination station to your final destination without your car. So you’re supposed to pay up to $12, but you still have to get in your car and drive it to their station, find a place to park, wait for their train to arrive (the plan is for one pair of trains with 130 passenger capacity every 30 minutes, and we all know they’ll be right on schedule all the time), get on with your fancy Clipper Pass (which is the only way you’ll be allowed to pay), ride for 50 minutes among the other heedless iPhone users, get off the train and… And… What? Call a cab? Transfer to another odd-scheduled transit service? Have another car ready? Have your wife pick you up? Get on a bike? Walk?

BACK IN 2007 we printed this amusing transcript of a cop-created parody of a 911 answering machine message which was going around the internet at the time:

“Hello! You’ve reached the police department’s voicemail. Please pay close attention as we update choices often as new and unusual circumstances arise. Please select one of the following options: To whine about us not doing anything to solve a problem that you created, press 1. To inquire as to whether someone has to die before we’ll do something about a problem, press 2. To report an officer for bad manners when in reality the officer is trying to keep your neighborhood safe, press 3. If you’d like us to raise your children, press 4. If you’d like us to take control of your life due to your chemical dependency, press 5. If you’d like us to instantly restore order to a situation that took years to deteriorate, press 6. To provide us with a list of officers you personally know so we will not take enforcement action against you, press 7. To sue us, or tell us you pay our salary and will have our badge, or to proclaim that our career is over, press 8. To whine about a ticket and/or complain about the many other uses for police rather than keeping your dumb ass in line, press 9. Please note your call may be monitored to assure proper customer service and remember, we’re here to save your butts not kiss them. Thanks for calling your local police department and have a nice day.”

WE THEN DID a newspaper office equivalent.

“Hello. You’ve reached the offices of your local newspaper. Please listen to the following options as we try to maintain a more or less viable business while still telling the truth as much as possible: If you'd like free advertising for your silly event, press 1. If you'd like us to print only your version of events, press 2. If you'd like us to complain about somebody you don't like without giving your name, press 3. If you'd like us to run your 2000 word essay about how bad Dump is, press 4. If you'd like to complain about the content of somebody's letter or internet posting which we had nothing to do with, press 5. If you'd like to explain that the letter you sent us about a public matter wasn't intended for publication, press 6. If you'd like to tell us that you're going to put us out of business because of something we said about something you wrote for public consumption, press 7. If you'd like to run an ad in the paper that's going to the printer in less than an hour, press 8. If you'd like to tell us we misquoted you, but you don't know which quote is the misquote, press 9. Thank you for calling your local newspaper and remember, we’re here to keep you informed, not to make you happy.”

RANDOM THOUGHTS from a failing mind: The newscasts I saw last night described Governor Brown as "the progressive governor of California" as he came out for Hillary with a patronizing aside to Bern for Bern's platform. Back in the day when words still had meaning Brown's policies would have been described as moderate Republican or maybe "countryclub" Republican, liberal, more or less, on social issues, fiscally conservative. This time around as Governor Brown has released thousands of career drug addicts via Prop 47 and thousands more career criminals from state prison via so-called "realignment." Brown has never pushed for prison reform, prison education programs or a public jobs program that might put some of the life-on-the-installment plan people to work when they're released from custody. But he gets "progressive" points from "progressives" for reducing prison populations by sending people home to the same contexts that got them put in prison in the first place. He's also saddled the state with a train project leading from nowhere to nowhere only now beginning construction in the Central Valley that will cost billions and may never be fully realized and, as Dan Bacher establishes on a daily basis, Brown's water policies are an ongoing disaster. That Brown has endorsed Hillary should surprise no one. I don't know of any Democrats in NorCal you could call "progressive" as the term used to be understood.

WITH ALL THESE high tech geniuses thinking up amazing but frivolous new gizmos down in Silicon Valley, you'd think some of them would be trying to figure out non-lethal devices for use by the police. The under-the-influence maniacs, and just plain mad dogs, aren't stopped by tasers, they shrug off mace, bean bags and wooden bullets, and the rest of the arsenal, but a lot of people are getting shot to death who, one would think, could be instantly freeze dried or otherwise immobilized.

SAN FRANCISCO'S BUDGET is a proposed $9.6 billion for this coming year, with $221 mil slated to roll back homelessness which, in San Francisco's case, is equivalent to rolling back high tides. When government can no longer cope with the most basic civic problems, well, we have truly lost our way.

* * *

SF BUDGET INCREASE AIMED AT HOMELESS, SAFETY, QUALITY OF LIFE

http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/SF-budget-increase-aimed-at-homeless-safety-7955697.php

KZYX and the paper chase. I think these document requests of KZYX's new management are unfair. And un-chronological because they began under the previous management which, of course, was not only incompetent, but like all incompetent regimes high and low, nuttily secretive. The station's new director, Ms. Dechter, has made it clear the files are available to anyone who cares to look. She's picking up the pieces left to her from the nearly fatal Coate-Aigner years. Give her some time, some breathing room.

BRUCE McEWEN: The trailer park reserved for Seniors on North Main Street, Ukiah, used to be one of the most enviable retirement spots in Ukiah for elderly folk. But since Prop.47 it has become an un-guarded prison yard, w/ thuggish dope addicts and dealers ruling the erstwhile quiet boulevards, and peaceful roads for wheelchairs, where it was all about MEALS ON WHEELS — Now of course it’s METH ON WHEELS and get outta the way, you old fool! The dealers put up “Neighborhood Watch” signs, and co-opt the Rule of the Park, and anybody who don’t like meth can go hang…! Thank you, "progressive" Governor Brown and Lt. Guv. Newsome! Come on back home and see how y’all like it. The parolees and probationers know the old folks can’t stand up to them physically and so they’ve moved in and taken over, bullying around the old people making “suggestions” about maybe kicking down some cans, maybe some spare change, eh, old man– whaddaya say? — and keep yer mouth shut about the meth, you old chump – Or Die!

CATCH OF THE DAY, June 1, 2016

ARMANDO ALVAREZ, Ukiah. Controlled substance, false ID, suspended license, court order violation, failure to appear, probation revocation.

TOBIAS BANOS-CISNEROS, Talmage. DUI.

WESLEY BUCKERFIELD, Fort Bragg. Battery with serious injury, resisting, court order violation.

SCOTT CHAPMAN, Fort Bragg. Drunk in public, resisting, probation revocation.

DANIEL DELOSSANTOS, Talmage. Under influence.

CLORISSA DENNISON, Ukiah. Failure to appear.

LUKE JACOBSON, Ukiah. Under influence, controlled substance, suspended license.

SEAN LYKES, Ukiah. Probation revocation.

JORGE NIETO, Willits. False ID, probation revocation.

ALEXANDER RAMIREZ, Fort Bragg. Probation revocation.

WHERE TO INVADE NEXT: REDWOOD VALLEY

This is a reminder that a very inspiring film, "Where To Invade Next" by Michael Moore, is showing at the Redwood Valley Community Guild (new name), 8650 East Road, Redwood Valley on Thursday June 2nd. The doors open at 6 PM, film starts at 7 PM with a discussion from 9-9:30 PM. There is a suggested $10 donation but noone will be turned away; folks that were invited via MoveOn.org were told it is free which we will honor. However, the Guild needs funds to continue operating so the donations will help with that. There will also be refreshments. We have a new screen so if you have seen films there before, you will be happy to see a better quality picture.

— Bill Taylor

UKIAH WOMAN, BOYFRIEND FACE CHARGES FOR ABDUCTING BAMBI

The photo of an adorable fawn snuggled in a blanket is alluring and alarming at the same time. The Craigslist ad Tuesday offered it for sale for $300.

http://www.pressdemocrat.com/news/5680445-181/ukiah-woman-charged-with-trying?ref=most

“IN EVERY AGE it has been the tyrant, the oppressor and the exploiter who has wrapped himself in the cloak of patriotism, or religion, or both to deceive and overawe the People."

― Eugene V. Debs, Voices of a People's History of the United States

GEORGIA

Georgia is a mixed breed, 6 year old female, and she weighs 21 pounds. Being a senior, Georgia is a participant in the shelter's Senior Event--see below! The shelter is currently having two special adoption events from June 1-18. Our Senior Dogs (6+ years old) Event is a chance for you to name your own adoption fee. Our June Special Event is for all dogs 1 year and older: all service fees (spay/neuter, vaccinations, etc) will be waived, and the adoption fee will be only $60. (For both sales, Mendocino County residents pay a $25 license fee.) Call the shelter Adoption Coordinator to find out more about our special events, our dogs and cats of the day, and volunteer, sponsor and foster opportunities. The shelter is located at 298 Plant Road in Ukiah. Check out and bookmark our webpage:

http://www.mendoanimalshelter.com./

KZYX GOES DEEP, CHAPTER 2

Background at:

https://www.theava.com/archives/56787#14

* * *

Mr. Arteaga,

As someone familiar with document requests submitted to the board in the past few years, I have to agree with Doug and Scott.

I find your characterizations of requests from John Sakowicz to be particularly harmful not to him but to the station. I.e., "As if the station has nothing better to do than to hunt down every frivolous demand for this and that document that he extortionately demands! Screw him!"

While treasurer Mr. Sakowicz requested and was denied access to basic financial reporting documents in direct violation of both the bylaws of the organization and of State and Federal law. The refusal to turn over even the most basic paperwork made it impossible for him to meet the standards of due diligence in his role as treasurer and put the station in an untenable position.

As a board member Mr. Sakowicz was denied basic documentation that again, was his absolute right to see as defined by the bylaws of the organization and by proper governance requirements for a non-profit organization operating in California.

Additionally, several document requests that had been made in the last 15 months asked for information that a regular member of the station had rights to see were denied to John while he was still on the board.

As a follow up to one of those requests for documents several members of the organization including former board members and myself went to the station at the requested time for inspection and were met by police who had been called in anticipation of our arrival. At that time acting director Stuart Campbell gave us access to the public document folders that are required to be onsite, up to date, and accessible to members of the public regardless of their affiliation with the organization. Those folders were astoundingly devoid of the information that the CPB requires.

Suffice it to say, these lapses endanger the viability of the station in very real and actionable ways.

The fact that the station was not sued over these violations speaks mostly to the concern the petitioners, Mr. Sakowicz included, had of costing the station more money than that which had already been bled due the mismanagement by former GM John Coates.

Frankly, you should thank Mr. Sakowicz and do whatever you can to make sure the current board is acting according to their legal responsibilities.

Peter Kafin, Fort Bragg

(Ed note: Peter Kafin is an attorney in Fort Bragg. According to the State Bar, he got his California bar card in December of 2014. But he’s no raw recruit.)

* * *

Mr. Arteaga,

You were on the selection committee last Fall after Coate quit. If you have been reading these threads about Stuart Campbell, you are fully aware that Stuart appointed the selection committee with the exception of 2-3 people (I was one of those three); Stuart received the minutes of the meetings; saw the resumes; told the then Board that he was not a candidate to replace Coate, had three of the selection committee members: Eliane, Richard H, and Beth Lang write letters of recommendation for himself, after he announced he was a candidate two days from the cutoff to receive applicants resumes. Then, he was pissed off when a person with experience was selected.

I am unclear as to why you are clueless to this unethical and unprofessional behavior. Stuart should NOT have been permitted to run for anything. Period. Where in the real world non-profit or not, does someone as unethical and unprincipled as Stuart Campbell get to sit on a Board after shamefully manipulating his candidacy for GM?

John Sakowicz has left the board. He has his own show at another station soon to be syndicated with other stations. Stuart would have a cow if John S brought his show back to KZYX - even in a podcast. The bigger questions is this: Why? Why would Stuart have a baby calf if John had airtime at KZYX? Care to respond, Stuart?

I didn't think so.

Until the current Board embraces the obvious problems with the old guard, the station will not move forward.

I have no dog in this fight. You as a Board member are responsible for everything that does or doesn't happen.

Period.

Mary Massey, Mendocino

DUF SUNDHEIM, leading California Republican Politician Predicts Legislature Will Put a Repeal of Top-Two on the 2018 Ballot.

On May 23, Duf Sundheim, speaking at the Commonwealth Club in San Francisco, predicted that the California legislature will put a repeal of the top-two system on the California ballot in 2018. The top-two system is embedded in the state Constitution, so the legislature cannot repeal it, but can only put a repeal on the ballot for the voters to decide.

Sundheim is a past California Republican Party state chair, and a candidate for U.S. Senate this year. He says he still supports the top-two system. In response to the point that it bars minor party and independent candidates from the November ballot, he said they weren’t winning even when they were on the November ballot. Actually several dozen minor party and independent candidates get elected to state office in every general election, around the U.S. Also his point ignores the fact that voters want a free choice of candidates in the election itself, even if many of those choices are not likely to win.

(— Richard Wagner, Courtesy, Ballot Access News)

A READER COMMENTS

re: "Kill anything that moves."... Steve Heilig’s Memorial Day piece.

Thanks, Mr. Heilig, for the titles. Turse's title happens to be a set of words I recall in some detail.

Ft. Lewis, Washington, Fall of 1964. Days before my term of enlistment expired, Lt. G. came in, all talking out the side of his mouth like he did when he was pissed or scared. He flapped a few sheets of paper against his thigh and paced around with determination but no particular aim. He knew I was going home, and that I was relieved to be getting out. (Everything was supposed to be 'Top Secret' but grunts develop a seismic sense, ears perked for the hint of thunder that precedes a Big SNAFU.) Lt. G was small and mean in a good-natured kind of way, with a loud, assertive presence he'd cultivated as a radio pop music DJ in Florida. A bad car wreck had laced a scar down across his face, from above his hairline, down over one ear and an eye, cheek and jaw. He wasn't pretty, but Lt. G was very clear about his not caring very much about that or anything whatever. He flailed himself with the papers and muttered, "I got orders...," his meaning known universally. His usual 'do not give a fraction of a shit about anything' had slipped off to the side; he was worried. Our mutual friend and Prize-Winning plowboy, Lt. F had already departed on orders to rotary-wing school on his way to Nam. Lt. G stopped smacking his leg and looked at me. "I'm telling you: When they give me my little AR15 and point me out the door, I'm gonna kill anything that moves. I'm NOT dyin' over there!"

Whatever else he did over there, he didn't exactly die. He looked me up immediately when he landed in SF, apparently thinking I needed to know his 'news.' Lt. F, a beautiful hillbilly gentleman we both loved like a favorite Brother, died trying to take his ship into the same LZ another evac ship was coming out of. All were lost.

Lt. G didn't hang around more than a couple hours, just long enough to bring the tidings about Ernie, and to make a couple amazed remarks about the middle of Berkeley in the middle of '65. He wore his dress greens, bloused into spitshined combat boots like Airborne, which he was not. He sported a green beret signifying membership in Special Forces, which he was not, and for which, had he been discovered by a real Green Beanie, he'd have taken a brisk whipping.

After a couple awkward silences, we made farewells, and he disappeared, back to Florida, I guess.

I'd already picked up a couple lessons on the street about what was being perpetrated on Viet Nam in our name, under our flag, with our brothers and sisters, so Lt. G didn't surprise me that much, except with the grief for Ernie. He did help put another little page in my notes on How War Makes Peace, and we oughta be grateful, to the point of the Ultimate Sacrifice and Then Some. This in spite of the glaring fact the sponsors of the Sacrificing never sacrifice a molecule of Nothing...on the contrary, they Make a Killing, as the picturesque saying used to go...

A CONVERSATION WE’RE NOT HAVING ABOUT PORNOGRAPHY

by Alexander Rhodes

Recently, a nonbinding resolution declaring pornography a “public health crisis” passed by unanimous vote through Utah’s state House and Senate and was signed by Gov. Gary Herbert. In response, droves of Internet commenters tore into the legislators and the activists who pushed for its passage. Often, they discounted the resolution as theocracy or moral policing masquerading as public health policy, ignoring any evidence-based merit it might have.

While people are entitled to their skepticism regarding the backgrounds or motivations of those behind the resolution, this does not address the reasoning behind its arguments. In reality, criticisms of pornography transcend religion and morality.

Internet pornography is a very recent development, especially when compared with humans’ evolutionary timeline — and our brains have yet to adapt. Porn producers are hard at work each day developing audiovisual experiences that are ever more abundant, ubiquitous, novel and stimulating. Just as fast food franchises hacked our appetites by developing synthetic flavors, aromas and textures that target our brain’s reward system — leaving us with an obesity epidemic — porn producers are learning to hack our libidos with new technologies like HD video and virtual reality. It’s not unreasonable to pause and ask ourselves how their handiwork might be affecting our lives.

The negative effects of over-consuming Internet pornography is a well-documented phenomenon. Combine this with porn’s wild popularity and you have a recipe for a genuine public health concern. Individuals with porn problems are members of relationships, families, workplaces and communities, so individual porn problems trickle up to become societal problems. After all, we treat drugs, alcohol and gambling as serious issues not because everyone who partakes in them has an addiction but because the problematic few have a deleterious effect on our communities as a whole.

In recent years, discussions on pornography’s effects have been popping up throughout the Internet. The frequency of these conversations has escalated as the first generation of people raised on Internet porn is reaching adulthood and beginning to experience the detrimental effects of going through puberty using porn.

Thousands of individuals, often young and male, are reporting that using porn multiple times per day trained their brains to associate their sexualities with pixels on their computer screens, rather than sexual activity with human beings.

They are reporting that they have a decreased interest in seeking out human partners, and if they do so, they often cannot achieve sexual arousal during partnered sex, have a decreased sensitivity to pleasure or cannot experience an orgasm without porn or porn fantasy. Interestingly enough, when these people remove one variable from their lives — using porn — most of the time their symptoms are reduced or reversed.

Their discussions have finally drawn the interest of researchers, clinicians and journalists. In reaction to their complaints, some good research is underway on the effects of porn addiction, such as the 2014 University of Cambridge study that used brain imaging to show that the porn-addicted brain reacts to porn cues the same way the drug-addicted brain reacts to drug cues. Yet some critics say there’s not enough evidence to support the idea that porn addiction is a public health problem or even a real disorder. While there is already plenty of research available that confirms the existence of porn addiction, further research will require funding, ethics committee approval and willing test subjects.

These things require public interest, which requires open discussion about the subject — discussion that has been previously restricted to online forums and confidential sessions between clinicians and porn-addicted clients. If “Internet gaming disorder” is documented in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, why not “Internet pornography addiction”?

Utah’s resolution doesn’t call for an explicit ban on porn, but the open language calling for “policy change” is sufficiently vague to leave us all wondering. Is the best approach to porn addiction through legislation? Certainly not, if that legislation leads to outlawing people’s right to consume pornography. Intimacy, sex, love and what we do with our genitals during our free time aren’t areas for a government to regulate. However, legislation aimed at raising awareness, facilitating open discussion and enabling research is worth exploring.

Pragmatically, the resolution in Utah is great for the porn-recovery community. It served its purpose of sparking discussion about this under-discussed topic. While Utah’s declaration may cause disagreement, at the end of the day we don’t serve society when we avoid complicated, taboo subjects for the sake of comfort. We need to talk about these things openly to solve problems and progress as a species. And yes, that includes porn.

(Courtesy, the Washington Post)

ON LINE COMMENT OF THE DAY

Smedley Butler made the point that WAR was the racket and spread that message in a nationwide speaking tour during the 1930s. For him the realization came too late, by that time his career was over. (In all likelihood, he came to the conclusion gradually over time, long before the end of his career. However, he must have realized that his status as a Major General and the most highly decorated Marine in Marine Corps history gave him the credibility and a platform to be able to speak out after he had retired.)

The war is a racket business is what has NOT changed. What Eisenhower dubbed the military-industrial (we should add congressional to the phrase) complex in his farewell address to the nation in 1960 has only grown larger to the point that armaments is now the biggest part of America’s industrial base.

We add congressional to the mix because defense contractors OWN congressmen, who in turn, make sure the funds keep flowing. At the same time, the neo-con war mongers in the think tanks and the K-Street lobbyists stay busy manufacturing the rationale for perpetual warfare while the NSA and the rest of the security state work hard to keep the public worried in an ongoing effort to justify their own existence and grow their own budgets.

Meanwhile, as always, is the young, dumb, ’11 bravo’ grunt, walking point at the tip of the spear, oblivious to the racket which envelopes him. That has been constant throughout recorded history, unlikely to change anytime soon. As long as the politicians have the steady supply of new recruits, and the funds to keep the defense contractors paid, the rationale for the wars and the long reach of the empire, will continue according to plan.

“The soldier, above all other people, prays for peace, for he must suffer and bear, the deepest wounds and scars of war.” — Douglas MacArthur

TWELFTH ANNUAL GOLDENEYE WINEMAKER DINNER

benefiting the Cancer Resource Centers of Mendocino County

On Saturday, June 18, 2016, Goldeneye Winery will once again host a gourmet winemaker dinner to benefit the Cancer Resource Centers of Mendocino County (CRCMC). This event will pair the craftsmanship of Goldeneye Winemaker, Michael Fay, with the culinary skills of Shannon Hughes, chef and owner of notable Point Arena, CA restaurants Pangaea (1994) and Lorca (2006).

Guests will enjoy a casual reception beginning at 5:30 p.m., followed by a delicious, multi-course meal. Each course will be paired with one of Goldeneye’s notable Pinot Noir’s.

Tickets for the dinner are $150 per person, with 100% of all proceeds going to fund local services provided by the Cancer Resource Centers of Mendocino County free of charge. Inland, valley and coastal residents are invited to come together for an extraordinary meal in support of all community members facing cancer.

Door to door transportation is available from the coast for an additional fee. Select your preferred pick up location and enjoy a worry free ride to and from the event in our eight-passenger van. Seating is limited, so call to reserve yours today.

For event tickets or for more information about the Cancer Resource Centers of Mendocino County and our services, please call either the Coastal office: 707-937-3833, or the Inland office: 707-467-3828, or visit our website: http://www.crcmendocino.org.

DELTA ADVOCATES CHALLENGE BROWN ADMINISTRATION'S CASE FOR TWIN TUNNELS

by Dan Bacher

The state and federal governments pleaded their case for Governor Jerry Brown’s controversial Delta Tunnels plan in testimony submitted to the State Water Resources Control Board on May 31 and in a media teleconference held on June 1, claiming that the planned new water diversion points won't endanger other water users.

The Department of Water Resources (DWR) and Bureau of Reclamation submitted their testimony and evidence as required for upcoming public Water Board hearings regarding their request to add three new points of diversion on the Sacramento River for the "California WaterFix." That's the new name for the plan to build two tunnels under the Delta to export water to agribusiness interests on the west side of the San Joaquin Valley and Southern California water agencies.

In response, Restore the Delta, a coalition opposed to the project, described the testimony as “largely a rehash of unsubstantiated claims about the Delta Tunnels project that have not been proven, despite more than 40,000 pages of environmental review that the US Environmental Protection Agency has declared is still inadequate (a failing grade.)”

Part 1 of the hearings, scheduled to begin July 26, focuses on two questions: Does the new point of diversion alter water flows or affect water quality such that there would be injury to any legal user of the water, and does the project in effect initiate a new water right? (http://www.waterboards.ca.gov/waterrights/water_issues/programs/bay_delta/california_waterfix/docs/cwfnotice_pet_hrg.pdf )

In Part I of the hearings and with the submitted testimony, DWR claimed it will “present evidence” to show that the proposed change “will neither initiate a new water right nor injure any other legal user of water.”

John Laird, Secretary for the California Natural Resources Agency, touted the alleged water supply reliability and environmental benefits of the Delta Tunnels Plan.

“With California WaterFix, we seek to improve upon the unreliable way water is now conveyed through the Delta, reduce or eliminate costs to the environment and economy from our aging water infrastructure and better prepare the state for effects of climate change,” said Laird. “The key elements of California WaterFix have long been part of the State’s comprehensive vision for the Delta, and the Water Board hearings are an important step in the advancement of the project.”

In the conference call, Laird claimed the Delta Tunnels plan "protects and restores" the Delta ecosystem.

“We believe that WaterFix mitigates the risk to our water supply due to climate change and earthquakes, and protects and restores the Delta ecosystem, and offers clean and secure water for much of California,” Laird said. “Without this, California and the state’s economy risk devastating losses of water supply.” (http://www.sacbee.com/news/state/california/water-and-drought/delta/article81209072.html#storylink=cpy)

Mark Cowin, Director of the Department of Water Resources, contended that the California WaterFix would not establish a new water right.

“Through hundreds of pages of testimony submitted yesterday in advance of the hearings, DWR’s team of engineers, lawyers and water experts shows that WaterFix will not establish a new water right, will not injure any other legal user of water and will not negatively impact flows or water quality,” said Cowin.

DWR also claimed in their testimony, “New, properly screened intakes, as proposed in the California WaterFix, would better protect fish and allow us to use the existing south Delta pumps in a strategic and flexible manner in a dual conveyance system with the proposed north delta diversions.”

“To this we say, prove it!” Barbara Barrigan-Parrilla, Executive Director of Restore the Delta (RTD), responded. “The environmental impact report for the project already tells us you can’t! Show Californians, and federal wildlife agencies, proof that the Delta Tunnels plan will protect West Coast fisheries, because that proof is certainly not found in the environmental impact report.”

In fact, the CalFed Record of Decision of 2000 required the installation of state-of-the-art fish screens to protect salmon, steelhead, striped bass, Delta and longfin smelt and many other fish species, but the water contractors have refused to pay for these new screens to stop the massacre of millions of fish at the Delta pumping facilities every year. Delta advocates are very skeptical that effective new fish screens would ever be installed at the new intakes when the mandated screens were never built for the South Delta pumping facilities.

“And when it turns out the Tunnels are not protective of endangered species, what then? Will the Delta Tunnels remain dry from ongoing drought?” Barrigan-Parrilla asked. “If not, where is the proof with a water availability analysis?”

“The CA WaterFix is nothing more than a very expensive gamble based on cherry picked science. But now we have the opportunity to get at the facts in a formal hearing process. We relish the opportunity," she said.

Tim Stroshane, policy analyst for RTD, challenged DWR’s contention that their petition is “not a new water right.”

“DWR’s case-in-chief maintains that an old diversion point in their permits at Hood in the north Delta is ‘close enough’ to the new Tunnels intakes at Clarksburg and Courtland to justify the Board deciding this is a small change in their permits," said Stroshane.

“Instead we think Hood is a different location than either Clarksburg or Courtland. Board rules require that water availability analysis is done for new water right applications. And the outcome of this decision could result in the Tunnels getting water rights that are over fifty to seventy years junior to the rest of the State Water Project," he stated.

DWR also argues that their petition is not a new water right because they claim that several operational aspects of the Tunnels, including upstream storage, and overall Banks/Jones pumping, will not change materially; this is merely a “modification” of the existing CVP and SWP permits.

“Delta advocates beg to differ," said Stroshane. “Any added diversion point requires issuance of a new water right permit. If the State Water Board agrees with Delta advocates and decides it’s a new water right, Tunnel backers would need to do a water availability analysis to follow their procedures.”

“We doubt they would find enough water to sustain the Tunnels project. They already don’t have enough," Stroshane said.

Stroshane also noted that DWR provided no costs-benefits analysis in its submissions.

“While DWR submitted over 5,000 pages for its case to the Board, they submitted no exhibits addressing why the economic benefits and costs of the Delta Tunnels proposal are in the public interest. This is a huge omission,” he emphasized.

“It appears likely that the agency has refined its modeling to buttress their existing talking points, such as the alleged benefits of dual conveyance providing flexible response to listed fish for real time operation of diversions. They also continue to claim that water rights holders will not be injured by Tunnels operations, without specifics,” Stroshane stated.

Tunnel opponents say the construction of the two massive water diversion tunnels would hasten the extinction of Sacramento River winter run Chinook salmon, Central Valley steelhead, Delta and longfin smelt and other species and endanger family farms on the Delta. The project will also imperil salmon and steelhead populations on the Klamath and Trinity rivers, since massive quantities of Trinity River water are diverted every year through a tunnel through the Trinity Mountains to the Sacramento River watershed every year.

Part II of the hearings is expected to take place in early 2017 and “will focus on the extent to which fish and wildlife and other beneficial uses will be affected by the requested change in point of diversion and any measures needed to protect fish and wildlife from any unreasonable impacts of the change,” according to DWR.

DWR’s testimony regarding its petition for change to its water right permit is available here:http://cms.capitoltechsolutions.com/ClientData/CaliforniaWaterFix/uploads/CWF_ChangePetition_TOC_V21.pdf

The petition for the new points of diversion can be found here:http://www.waterboards.ca.gov/waterrights/water_issues/programs/bay_delta/california_waterfix/docs/ca_waterfix_petition.pdf

On the same day that DWR and the Bureau submitted their testimony, Governor Jerry Brown endorsed Hillary Clinton in the Democratic presidential primary. It is believed that one of the key reasons why Brown endorsed Clinton is to get her to support the Delta Tunnels and his other controversial water policies. (http://www.jerrybrown.org/an_open_letter_to_california_democrats_and_independents)

 

"BIG YELLOW TAXI"

by Joni Mitchell

They paved paradise

And put up a parking lot

With a pink hotel, a boutique

And a swinging hot spot

Don't it always seem to go

That you don't know what you've got

‘Til it's gone

They paved paradise

And put up a parking lot

 

They took all the trees

And put them in a tree museum

Then they charged the people

A dollar and a half just to see 'em

Don't it always seem to go,

That you don't know what you've got

‘Til it's gone

They paved paradise

And put up a parking lot

 

Hey farmer, farmer

Put away that DDT now

Give me spots on my apples

But leave me the birds and the bees

Please!

Don't it always seem to go

That you don't know what you've got

‘Til its gone

They paved paradise

And put up a parking lot

 

Late last night

I heard the screen door slam

And a big yellow taxi

Come and took away my old man

Don't it always seem to go

That you don't know what you've got

‘Til it's gone

They paved paradise

And put up a parking lot

 

I said

Don't it always seem to go

That you don't know what you've got

‘Til it's gone

They paved paradise

And put up a parking lot

 

They paved paradise

And put up a parking lot

They paved paradise

And put up a parking lot

CALIFORNIA HERE I COME

Leaving for San Francisco on Friday...

Greetings from Gainesville, Florida, Please know that responses from east coast rads indicate that the big energy companies, states and landowners, and the Federal Government are now locked into an epic-sized court battle. Conventional protests are presently at low ebb. Therefore, I may leave the eastern seaboard with no regret...everything has been written up and published. I leave Gainesville on American Airlines via JFK, arriving SFO 8:51 P.M. Friday night June 3rd. Will then go to Green Tortoise hostel on Broadway in North Beach, where I have reserved a mixed-dorm bed for one week. The future is ours!

Craig Louis Stehr
June 1, 2016
Email: CraigStehr@inbox.com