Mendocino County Today: Sunday, June 19, 2016

• Trash Talk
• Rosemarie Wells
• Rose
• Colonel Hackworth
• Granny F-bomb
• Caricatures
• Movie Popcorn
• Yesterday's Catch
• Weather Jets
• Election Coverage
• Bernie's Address
• Costco Ukiah
• Neighborhood Bakeries
• Native Photography
• Party Unity
• Progressive Redistribution
• Trump Voter
• WSPA Scummy
• Monk Chat
• KZYX Talk

JOHN FREMONT ON LAST WEEK'S COAST TRANSFER STATION MEETING:

It was not a contentious meeting. No punches, no curses. Sweeney [County trash administrator] read the EIR revisions out loud at a special FB City Council meeting attended by four councilors, three Supervisors and a few dozen residents of Road 409 and Highway 20, site of the proposed $5 million transfer station. The major revision EIR authorized the removal and replanting of selected pygmy, which is ludicrous on its face.

Here's what I had to say to Mr. Sweeney and the attending authorities:

The proposed transfer station on Highway 20 threatens the habitat of the pygmy forest and its denizens and will have a negative impact on the Summers Lane reservoir and downstream properties.

I am particularly concerned with what is not addressed in the new EIR, namely the future of waste management here and elsewhere. Communities will one day be charged with taking responsibility for their own garbage in order to preserve the environment, reduce the carbon footprint, and conserve resources.

A cogeneration plant can provide electricity while burning our trash, and waste management authorities should look into acquiring cost-effective burners, now or in the near future. Controlling our own trash will create jobs that can be paid for by the bottles and cans and electronics we recycle. Presently, we have little control over how much we pay to have our trash hauled or the tipping fee charged self-haulers. A new dump will be paid for by the people in the form of increased taxes or fees, despite the pretense that the dump’s operator will absorb the cost of construction without raising disposal rates.

Expanding the transfer station on Pudding Creek is a better alternative than building a new one on Highway 20. The residents of Road 409 have spoken out about the stench, traffic problems, litter, air and water pollution, and other environmental hazards, and they demand that the joint powers close their station. The same problems will force the early closure of the five-million-dollar boondoggle on Highway 20, and there are even more environmental hazards along the way should the operation proceed.

To assert, as Mr. Sweeney has repeatedly done, that the stench of garbage would be eliminated by fully-enclosed trailers and sweetened with perfume, ignores our olfactory senses and the repugnance many people feel about dealing with stink by sweetening it. Moreover, self-haulers will not be required to perfume their loads.

The proposed acreage on Highway 20 is presently pristine pygmy with rare and endangered plants and nesting birds. There are some 2000 acres of pygmy in the world, most of it in California. We cannot replace our pygmy forest once the land is bulldozed, and hoping the transplants hold won't suffice.

The potential threat to life and limb due to the proximity of the helicopter pad adjacent to the proposed station is unmitigated. The helipad saves lives when the local hospital is mired in fog and landing there is prohibited. The helipad is also used by CDF in times of forest fire or other emergencies. Fatalities may occur if helicopters cannot land or take off because of accidents or spills on the ground.

Fort Bragg’s economy is based on a thriving tourist trade. With the addition of several large trucks a day and heavy construction, Highway 20 may experience logjams and vehicular accidents that will keep tourists away. Self-haulers will litter the highway, undetected by local police but evident to drivers trying to avoid the litter while cruising at or around the posted speed limit of 55 mph.

While Mr. Sweeney claims no water will be leached into the ground, cleanup and restroom effluent will undoubtedly infiltrate, poisoning local wells and the aforementioned reservoir that the city is building less than two miles downstream from the proposed plant.

In order to assess the impact of constructing and operating this plant, many tests must be undertaken. For example, a soils report by a geotechnical engineer based on a minimum of fifteen-foot borings at various locations on site should be undertaken. If the soil is sandy clay with a caliche base at, say, twelve feet, drainage can be sent downhill and the city’s water poisoned.

There are better solutions to our garbage problems. What failed to appease the residents of 409 is not going to please residents and travelers along Highway 20.

ROSEMARIE ANN WELLS

Rosemarie Ann Wells was born in San Francisco on June 21, 1935 and passed away peacefully June 2, 2016 just days shy of her 81st birthday. She was the daughter of George and Hildi Sauer from Germany.

Rosemarie attended Lowell High School in San Francisco and went to San Francisco State College where she obtained her teaching credential. Following substitute teaching in both San Francisco and Sunnyvale she moved in 1968 to Sonora, California and became a Social Studies teacher at Twain Harte Elementary.

In 1998 after losing her third husband to cancer while living in New York, Rosemarie followed her brother Paul Sauer to Anderson Valley and bought the house on Estate Drive, Boonville where she spent the rest of her life.

Rosemarie was a substitute teacher at AV Elementary and a former member of the Unity Club, donating many hours to the Library and Christmas Bazaar. She enjoyed sewing, gardening and art projects. She enjoyed all things of Nature, especially birds — her favorites were quail, the western bluebird and hummingbirds. Rosemarie was the occasional conscience of Airport Estate Subdivision.

Alert to the end, she worried about "Whatever happened to citizenship and a sense of community?" Beside her bed was a notebook in which she had copied in a strong, neat hand the following:

“Legends say that hummingbirds float free of time, carrying our hopes for love, joy and celebration. The hummingbird’s delicate grace reminds us that life is rich, beauty is everywhere, every personal connection has meaning and laughter is life's sweetest creation.”

Rosemarie Wells is survived by her brother Paul Sauer and wife Nadine Sauer of Westlake, Oregon; her niece Debbie Sauer of San Mateo, her son Eric Bamford and wife Michelle Bamford and three grandchildren, Jasmine King and Jesse Bamford of Sonora, California and Erica Rose Gilbert of Sacramento.

(— David Severn)

COLONEL HACKWORTH

Some poor boy at the bar, an Aussie by birth, child of a Texan Viet-vet who denounced his country and fled to Australia aprés Viet Nam. A famous author and subsequent syndicated columnist, Colonel David Hackworth led the defection to Australia in much the same way Hemingway founded the ex-patriot community in Paris in the wake of WWI. A lot of American war veterans relocated to places like Brisbane.

Col. Hackworth came home from his self-imposed exile and started a really good column, as the Bushes showed Congress how to put out brush fires in the Arabian deserts. Not that there's anything left to burn in a place where wars have scorched the landscape for ten thousand years, but because there's opportunity in upsetting a beehive.

Hackworth had been used to this since he was a 17-year-old Private, getting hosed off a tank in Korea, by "piss ants" up on the hill with a pair of machine guns that cut Hackworth's company in two, like a pair of scissors.

Third tour for many, fourth tour for a few — you can imagine how thrilled you'd be to drop out of college, take a UA to be sure you were worthy, and go get shot by "a terrorist," as Geo.W. and Tony ‘Blur’ called the folks in the countries we invaded.

Hackworth's last column was directed to the Commandant of the Marine Corps:

"Sir, you promised them each a stripe if they would ship-over, as we say, take another roll of the dice, another year — and we're talking a Naval Year, 13 months, another 31 days in which to ‘buy the farm’ … Semper Fi, Commandant; do the right thing."

Two weeks went by, and there was no Hackworth column in the newspapers. My drinking buddies at the American Legion Post — we began to worry… It was weeks before a friend from the State Department told us the colonel had been found dead in his home.

And no. Those who shipped over on the promise of the stripe were denied promotion by a dictum from our old air hero, the dashing and personable skunk, "Rummy Rumsfeld."

So this kid, an offspring of Aussie ex-pats (it was a Jesus-freak commune, escaping to Botany Bay.) He comes up here and goes to work in the Fields Of Our Lord. (Never mind the marijuana patch, which reminds him of his upbringing, since the pot pharmas have turned their enterprise into a evangelistic sermon they repeat night and day.)

A twenty-something, propaganda is all he knew.

How does this relate?

There are local two lawyers who could help this kid but they are forbidden to take on any new clients.

Why?

Because they both ran for judge and nobody knows who won. So it would compromise their integrity [read Judicial Ethics] if either of them took on a client.

Grouse all you like about attorney fees, but the overhead is high, too. Like any project, a certain balance helps.

The State hath sent Mr. Faulder a congratulatory card, and he shudders as he handles today's daily with 48 point bold headline declaring that less than half the votes have been counted.

"Suspense," Dean Swift said, "is the life of a spider."

The Aussie left the legal bar and gravitated to the barroom.

— Bruce McEwen

BLOODLINE. We've watched two full seasons on NetFlicks and look forward to the third. Although the family saga set in the Florida Keys is poorly written, but the bad writing doesn't ruin an interesting story and the strong acting. The narrative is built around the tragedies ignited in a prominent and respectable family of innkeepers when the the family blacksheep returns. The dialogue, though, is repetitiously vulgar with wayyyyyy too many f-bombs and "What do you mean by thats," as in, "It's raining." "What the bleep do you mean by that?" Not quite that gratuitous, but close. "I'm leaving." "What the bleep do you mean by that?" Even the matriarch, played a little too piously by Sissy Spacek, drops random f-bombs which serve only to throw her character so far off every time she appears on-screen I said to myself, "Uh, oh. Here comes Granny F-Bomb." We all understand, I think, that America is now so immersed in generalized scumbaggery that the writers of this thing undoubtedly think their script is mucho-contempo but it almost sinks the ship of the whole it's so dumb.

GENIUS, the movie. A kind of cartoon look at famous literary people and proves again that Hollywood is at a loss portraying intellectuals with reasonable verisimilitude. It doesn't comport much with what many of us know of the principals, Thomas Wolfe and his editor, Maxwell Perkins, who was also editor to Hemingway and F. Scott Fitzgerald. Everyone is a caricature with Wolfe depicted as tweek-quality out of control and Fitzgerald is more pathetic than he was and Hemingway is posed with a big fish and unkind words for Wolfe. As a period piece — 1930s — it's got a lot of fedoras and a bread line. All-in-all, not very good but good enough to hold my enfeebled attentions.

LIVE AND LEARN, trivia division. On my way out of the theater, the Regency in San Rafael, a woman bought a big barrel of popcorn as she left the theater. I'd never noticed anyone buying popcorn on the way out. Movie popcorn, I understand, is popped in Honduras and is at least a month old with a ten year due date by the time it reaches American consumers. I wondered why this lady would be buying a batch of hundreds of these little gut bombs to take home. Maybe she downed it as she watched tv, imagining herself back in the minimal splendors of the Regency. A friend soon explained: "Some theaters give you a free fill-up if you buy one on the way in. The lady you saw was probably just thrifty."

CATCH OF THE DAY, June 18, 2016

MICHAEL BAUGHER, Ukiah. Controlled substance, suspended license, failure to appear, probation revocation.

ELIJAH FLEISHMAN, Arcata/Ukiah. Pot possession, pot sales, suspended license.

KENNETH HAMIK, Berkeley/Ukiah. DUI.

CHARLES HENSLEY, Ukiah. Drunk in public, probation revocation. (Frequent flyer.)

ANDREW HILL, Pleasant Ridge, Michigan/Ukiah. Vehicle theft.

TANCHANOK KONRIAN, Ukiah. Domestic battery.

ADAM LAFLIN, Fort Bragg. Suspended license.

STEPHANIE MAESTAS, Salem, Oregon/Ukiah. Probation revocation.

SKYE MARTIN, Redwood Valley. Drunk in public.

RAYMOND OWEN, Hopland. Shoplifting, receiving stolen property, conspiracy.

CATHY PARNASS, San Pedro/Mendocino. DUI causing injury.

PAUL PINO JR., Ukiah. Probation revocation.

GRADY POWERS, Hartfield, Virginia/Fort Bragg. Failure to appear.

CHARLES RAINES, Laytonville. Court order violation.

MONTE ROSE, Boonville. Grand theft, under influence, driver with concealed weapon, ex-felon with firearm.

OWNING THE WEATHER

Letter to the Editor

Thanks to David Severn for daring to breach a very troubling topic that has been rendered ridiculous by massive smear campaigns from on high.

The document he was referring to is actually titled; "Owning The Weather 2025”. It is a layman’s version of the USAF bragging about their ability to manipulate the earth’s atmosphere to a level that eliminates the arbitrary whiles of the bitch earth when the Imperial assholes are trying against all odds to cement their self approved dominion over less advanced peoples.

I’ve been saying it in this old school news PAPER for a long time now without so much as a peep from any of you supposedly liberal thinking folk. So, once again; all those giant jets that you hear if you still have ears to hear, are in FACT US military tanker planes. At this time in reality there are no, as in, none, as in zip, as in nada! No commercial flights crossing over our fine spaced out county. Hello all you supposedly free thinkers. What are these tanker planes that you are in denial of carrying in there massive tanks anyway!

I dare you to collect samples of your rain runoff and send it to a lab that hasn’t been corrupted by business as usual. If you had the proverbial balls to do that, you would have to stop your unfounded skepticism, which from where I sit is a total bore!

The fact of the matter is, we are in one of the main arteries of the geoenineering assaults which affects the entire pacific coast region. The main target being the Gulf of Alaska and the jetstream. SRM is the story for you who are unawares. Solar Radiation Management, Get used to it! It’s not a conspiacy theory, but rather a fact of conspiratorial scheming by the very bastards that have created the need for such remedial intervention!

Remember paper? You know, paper? Paper that doesn’t need a goddamned battery charger! If you lose touch with paper, you die sooner than you might have..

Thanks for listening, and fuck you too!

In Sympathy + Peace,

Marvin Blake

BERNIE'S ADDRESS

https://youtu.be/RzHSNjctOCk

A READER COMMENTS

Costco Ukiah…

I imagine I’m not the only one in the county who thinks these hand ringers and saviors of the greater Ukiah enviro and mom and popism… should not be allowed to keep me from my free Cheese Whiz samples at Costco Ukiah…

Rise up free sample lovers, let your voice be heard, run these foot stompers and red faced breath holders out… let the tractors roll, the concrete pour and the steel be strung… build that Costco, build it now…!

Never has the phrase “Money talks and bullshit walks” been more clearly defined than in the 2016 U.S. Presidential election. — Stephen Rosenthal

THERE ARE NO BAKERS ANY MORE

By Louis S. Bedrock

The miller's wife had waited long,

The tea was cold, the fire was dead;

And there might yet be nothing wrong

In how he went and what he said:

"There are no millers any more,"

Was all that she had heard him say;

And he had lingered at the door

So long that it seemed yesterday.

("The Mill" by Edward Arlington Robinson)

* * *

I.

Alvin Benstein, proprietor of Benstein's Bakery, was a fireplug of a man. He had played football at Abraham Clark High in Roselle along with New York Giant legend Roosevelt Grier. There were autographed photos of "Rosey" with his arm around Alvin on the walls of the bakery.

Alvin was a registered pharmacist and used to work part-time at the pharmacy of nearby Union Hospital on Galloping Hill Road. He loved to tell the story about a surgeon who worked in the hospital and who was a loyal customer of the bakery.

One day, Doctor K passed by the hospital pharmacy and was astonished to see Alvin behind the counter.

—Alvin—what the hell are you doing here? You're a baker!

—Shhh. Please don't tell anyone, Dr. K. I really need the money.

That's the end of the story. Alvin would leave the rest to the imagination.

Benstein's Bakery had the best pumpernickel, rye bread, hard rolls, and honey cake. The honey cake was only available during major Jewish holidays like Rosh Hashanah, Pesach, and Hanukkah. However, I would stop in during obscure holidays like Shavuot and Sukkot and ask Alvin why there was no honey cake available.

—Because not even the Mekubbal or the Hassids celebrate Shavuot any more. What do you do? Do you look up all these holidays on line?

—Alvin, we Honeycakists celebrate all the holidays—even Christmas and Ramadan.

Sometimes he would find a few frozen honey cakes in the bakery's huge freezer and sell them to me at a discount. Who knows how long they were in the freezer? But they tasted fine when I defrosted them.

Alvin and I would do schticks in front of other customers. All absolutely deadpan.

—Mr. Benstein: the pumpernickel you sold me yesterday was so hard that it broke several bones when I dropped it on my foot.

—Well if you can't eat it, you can use it as an anvil.

—Mr. Benstein. My cat ate a few crumbs of the streusel you sold me yesterday, then keeled over and died.

—If you throw it on the weeds in your garden, it will kill them too. It's triple purpose. That's why I charge so much.

Alvin died several years ago without even the courtesy of saying goodbye. A few months later, the bakery closed.

II.

Carmen's bakery offers twists—crusty Italian bread that looks a little like a large pretzel. Carmen and Bobby—it's a family business, also have great Italian rolls and crescent shaped pecan cookies that are scrumptious. I used to eat an entire half-pound of them in one day—and then run three miles on three consecutive days to expunge the sin and the butterfat.

The twists dipped in olive oil are so good before meals, I have to assure that my guests and I don't fill up on the bread and forget about the meal.

—You know, Carmen, there's no Italian bread anywhere as good as yours.

—There's no reason for you to look for Italian bread anywhere else.

Carmen was never in the bakery on sunny mornings when the temperature was above 45º Fahrenheit: he was out on the golf course. Bobby or Bobby's daughters would run the place then. They are incredibly sweet natured women who call everyone "Honey" or "Sweetie" and mean it. I always throw a buck or two in the can for tips and they never fail to thank me.

You can call your order in and when you arrive it will be waiting for you, the brown paper bag emanating the aroma of freshly baked Italian bread.

Carmen retired about five years ago. His family tells me he's in Florida where he can play golf every day. Bobby and his family run the place now. There are still lines of people outside the bakery in the morning—especially on weekends and holidays.

Carmen's Bakery used to be closed on Mondays, but is now open seven days a week. Bobby has lost a ton of weight and looks great, but he's aging like everyone else. His daughters have their careers and their own families to worry about. When he closes the place, there won't be any more bakeries in my neighborhood except as departments in supermarkets.

I will miss Carmen's as much as I miss Benstein's.

THE WHOLE PICTURE:

Panel considers state of Native photography

On 2 to 4 p.m. on Saturday, June 25th, the Grace Hudson Museum will host a panel discussion on the state of contemporary California Native photography. It will be moderated by Pomo artist Meyo Marrufo, and feature Dugan Aguilar, whose photography is the subject of the Museum's current exhibit, along with Theresa Harlan, exhibit curator and catalog editor, and California Native artists L. Frank and Austin Stevenot. The artists will be bringing prints of their work, which will be available for sale following the panel, as will special California Indian treats. The event is free with Museum admission. The Grace Hudson Museum is at 431 S. Main St. in Ukiah. The Museum is open Wednesday through Saturday from 10 am to 4:30 pm, and Sunday from noon to 4:30 pm. General admission is $4; $10 per family; $3 for students and seniors; free to all on the first Friday of the month; and always free to members. For more information please go to www.gracehudsonmuseum.org or call (707) 467-2836.

Roberta Werdinger
Writer, Publicist, Editor
RWerdinger@Yahoo.com
(707) 354-1374
http://www.FlyingFishWordWorks.com

PROGRESSIVE REDISTRIBUTION WITHOUT GUILT

http://www.epi.org/publication/progressive-redistribution-without-guilt-using-policy-to-shift-economic-power-and-make-u-s-incomes-grow-fairer-and-faster/

WHAT IT LOOKS LIKE TO A TRUMP VOTER

The government is recording your phone conversation with the baby sitter. 
A guy who can’t speak English is making your 85 year old grandmother take off her shoes at the airport. 
An 8 year old kid with a water pistol is handcuffed and taken to jail. “Teens” are turning major cities into free fire zones and battlefields. The first amendment is now called “hate speech”. School teachers are being beat up and raped. Anyone who still uses cash is considered suspicious. People are being stomped and shit kicked at political rallies. Anyone who mentions that America is turning into a third world shit hole is a racist and bigot. 
The education system and universities are turning out brain dead morons who still live at home with mommy. Combat veterans are homeless and living on the streets. In large parts of the country the American flag is a symbol of racism and oppression. The government has a file on every book you ever bought and web sight you have visited.
 The elections are rigged.
 Crooks and sex perverts are running the country.

Chicks with dicks now share your daughter’s locker room. Pedophiles are now normal people who just happen to be misunderstood. The new car you just bought will fall apart in five years. The food you eat is toxic. Eight year old kids are on meds. Your new Section 8 neighbors have a meth lab in the garage. Your kid’s math teacher is a drag queen. Our army generals are lesbians and gays. We have 20 million dollar jet plans that don’t fly. Peoples brains are being eaten alive with their micro-wave phones and ovens. The gun grabbers want to disarm you so you will be “safe.” Crime is at an all time high. The Mexicans are taking over a fourth of the country. The factories have moved to Communist China.

High-tech computer workers are being replaced by people from India who work for $8.00 an hour. Robots will be running the fast food joints and driving city buses. Americans are becoming mind controlled zombies. Sport heroes are nothing but ex street thugs. Movie stars are degenerate perverts and coke heads. The middle class is disappearing. The protesters who can barely read and write are now running the universities. The third world invaders are collecting welfare. The country is swimming in heroin. Criminals are being paid not to rob and rape people. The Justice Department spends its time investigating cops instead of criminals. Two major cities have been set on fire. Your therapist is saving his money for a sex change operation. People are “texting” each other while driving at 75 miles per hour. Street gang members and dope dealers have more rights than the average working man. Having a garden in your back yard will soon be against the law. The “medicine” your doctor is giving you has toxic side effects and causes Cancer. Americans are getting so fat they can hardly walk. The entire political system is totally corrupt. Greed is the God of Washington.

The working class is getting screwed on a daily basis. The welfare class is driving around in new cars while being paid to breed cannon fodder for the street gangs. Blacks have declared war on white people. The Mexicans have declared war on Blacks. The Muslims have declared war on everybody. The cities are nothing but cesspools and death traps. Enter at your own risk. How many people in this country have never come home alive after a visit to the local mall? Classes in “white privilege” are being taught at major universities. Campus riots are part of the course. The average American gets dumber by the day. Political protesters are professionally paid agitators and thugs who enjoy beating on people.

WESTERN STATES PETROLEUM ASSOCIATION WINS THE PRESTIGIOUS ‘SCUMMY’ AWARD

by Dan Bacher

The Western States Petroleum Association (WSPA), the lobbying organization for Big Oil in Arizona, California, Nevada, Oregon and Washington, received the prestigious “Scummy Award” from the environmental group “Stop Fooling California” (stopfoolingca.org) on June 17 for “fighting for the oil industry’s right to pollute.”

In every edition of Stop Fooling California’s “The Crude Truth” newsletter, the group gives the “Scummy Award” for “who’s the best at being the worst.” I love these awards because they offer a creative and humorous way to point out the latest transgressions of the oil industry.

“Remember that time the Richmond Chevron refinery sent thousands to the hospital when it caught fire and covered the community with heavy, toxic smoke?,” the group recalled. “ Well, understandably, the local air quality management district didn’t like that one bit. So, officials set up five rules designed to reduce refinery emissions and ensure Big Oil doesn’t poison its neighbors. Seems reasonable, right?”

“Well, not if you’re elite scum bag,” the group said. “The Western States Petroleum Association filed a lawsuit, with their lawyers calling the rules ‘arbitrary and capricious.’” (www.mercurynews.com/...)

“Meanwhile, climate justice groups like the Asian Pacific Environmental Network, support the rules, saying they’re needed to protect our climate and health especially for disadvantaged communities, who shoulder the brunt of pollution,” the group concluded.

In an opinion piece in the San Francisco Chronicle cited by Stop Fooling California, Andres Soto and Sandy Saetern pointed out the enormous hazard that oil refinery emissions pose to human health and the environment. (www.sfchronicle.com/...)

“East Bay residents know what it’s like to rush, choking, to the emergency room when a refinery fire poisons our air because oversight is too lax,” Soto and Saetern wrote. “ We know that from Chevron’s 2012 Richmond refinery fire, which sent 15,000 people to seek medical help after a corroded pipe failed and caught fire. The Bay Area knows we need air pollution reductions to protect our climate and our health.”

This is not the first time that Stop Fooling California has bestowed its “Scummy Award" upon WSPA or its President, Catherine Reheis-Boyd. After hearing that the “Women's Empowerment Summit" was going to honor Reheis- Boyd, with the 2016 "Distinguished Woman and Petroleum Advocate of the Year" award on May 7, the group decided to give Reheis-Boyd the "Scummy Award.” (www.indybay.org/...)

"Catherine Reheis-Boyd, president of the Western States Petroleum Association (WSPA), is receiving TWO awards this weekend!," the group proclaimed. “She’ll receive the first annual Distinguished Woman and Petroleum Advocate of the Year award (because she leads the most powerful corporate lobbying group in Sacramento) AND our prestigious Scummy (because she’s an oil industry shill)." (us8.campaign-archive2.com/...)

The oil industry, including WSPA, Chevron, Phillips 66, AERA Energy, Exxon and Shell, have spent more than $25 million so far in the 2015-16 legislative session. WSPA has spent $12.8 million so far in the session, making them, as usual, the top California lobbying spenders of the session.

In a huge conflict of interest that the mainstream media has refused to discuss, Reheis-Boyd chaired the South Coast Marine Life Protection Act (MLPA) Initiative Blue) Ribbon Task Force that created the so-called “marine protected areas” that went into effect in Southern California waters on January 1, 2012. She also served on the MLPA Blue Ribbon Task Forces for the North Coast, North Central Coast and Central Coast. (www.dfg.ca.gov/...)

The “marine protected areas” created under her leadership fail to protect the ocean from fracking, acidizing, other offshore oil drilling, pollution, military testing, corporate aquaculture and all human impacts on the ocean other than sustainable fishing and gathering.

While Reheis-Boyd served on the task forces to "protect" the ocean, the same oil industry that the "marine guardian" represents was conducting environmentally destructive fracking operations off the Southern California coast. Documents obtained under the Freedom of Information Act and media investigations by Associated Press and truthout.org in 2013 reveal that the ocean has been fracked at least 203 times in the past 20 years, including the period from 2004 to 2012 that Reheis-Boyd served as a "marine guardian.”

Besides exerting enormous influence over state regulators, WSPA and Big Oil also wield enormous power over federal regulators. Claiming that fracking poses “no significant impact” to the environment, Obama administration officials on May 27 finalized their plans to allow oil companies to resume offshore fracking and acidizing in California’s Santa Barbara Channel after a moratorium on fracking was temporarily imposed as the result of a Center for Biological Diversity lawsuit. (theecoreport.com/...)

As expected, Reheis-Boyd applauded the Environmental Assessment (EA) report by the U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management and the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement that ended the moratorium on offshore hydraulic fracturing in California:

“Today’s final report continues to reaffirm the sound science behind our safe energy production practices,” Reheis Boyd said in a statement on May 27. “Offshore producers in California will continue to adhere to the strictest safety and operational standards in the world while delivering affordable and reliable energy to U.S. consumers.” (www.wspa.org/... )

WSPA and Big Oil wield their power in five major ways: through (1) lobbying; (2) campaign spending; (3) getting appointed to positions on and influencing regulatory panels; (4) creating Astroturf groups: and (5) working in collaboration with media. For my in-depth investigation on the five ways WSPA and Big Oil have captured California politics, go to: www.dailykos.com/…

BUDDHIST MONK TEACHING MONDAY IN FORT BRAGG

This coming Monday 6/20 between 7:00 and 8:30 p.m., a monk from Abhayagiri Monastery will lead meditation, teach, and answer questions at Three Jewels Dhamma Hall in Fort Bragg. All are welcome, regardless of experience. There is no charge, but donations to support the Hall are gratefully accepted. For directions and more info, see www.threejewelsfortbragg.org

— John Gilmore

KZYX ACCORDING TO THE GRAY GHOST

(Kzyxtalk required reading)

Dear Mr. Coate,

Your website is required reading: http://johncoate.com/

In particular, I loved reading your narrative about KZYX. Here it is: http://johncoate.com/Coping_with_Meltdown_by_John_Coate.pdf

On page seventeen, you said, "Managing meant constant dialogue with the listeners, who elected the Board of Directors that hired me as GM. It was difficult work, made harder by the constant bickering and sniping of people with socio-political agendas who wanted access to the Big Microphone so they could broadcast their views to everyone. Very few of ever did any actual work. Despite that, in my seven years there we improved it financially, technically, and with the programming itself."

There's another narrative, however, Mr. Coate. A narrative supported by records filed under penalty of perjury. By you. While they were being hidden from Board members like Doug McKenty and John Sakowicz.

Your narrative is that nothing was being hidden. And that nobody was asking for for them. That's contradicted by Doug McKenty's visit to your office along with his attorney. To look at the public inspection file. And how you reacted. You reacted by calling the police and refusing the inspection.

There's another narrative, Mr. Coate. That you're a bullshit artist. And that running KZYX into the ground was the apex of your career.

There's no doubt that you destroyed KZYX, Mr. Coate. That's evident in the Form 990s you were hiding. Along with the so-called audits. And the State filings. And swearing those audits didn't exist under penalty of perjury.

In the seven years that you were here, KZYX lost 75% of its net assets, Mr. Coate. That's not a narrative. Or an opinion. It's fact. Supported by Form 990s filed by you. Under penalty of perjury.

Your narrative is that you cut KZYX's debt in half while you were here. But that's contradicted by the Form 990s.

Before you arrived, the debt was $45,860. You can see that here: http://990s.foundationcenter.org/…/680050440/680050440_2007…

At the time of your departure, the debt was $82,121. You can see that here: http://kzyx.org/Board/audits/MCPB-Audit-Report6-30-15.pdf

Once again, the facts support the other narrative — the true narrative. Which is also the narrative that you're a bullshit artist.

Your narrative on your website is illustrated by fifty-two slides. One of them is dedicated to a particular, so-called achievement of yours. Where you spent two years as a cartoon character named "Brojo". In a chat room called "Habbo Hotel".

Your resume describes Habbo Hotel as a Massive Multiplayer Online Game (MMOG). It is a virtual world used primarily as a social gathering place for teenagers. The emphasis is on self-expression, non-violence and personal creativity. You say, "it has seen explosive growth in the past 4 years."

The narrative there in your resume is that Habbo Hotel is good clean fun. But there's another narrative. That it's full of pedophiles, hate speech and cyber bullies.

You can see that here: https://www.commonsensemedia.org/websi…/…/user-reviews/adult

The character named 'Brojo' was known for hiding cabbages and farting in teleporters. You can see that here:http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php…

All this is described in your resume, which is found here:http://cervisa.com/resume.html Your resume is also required reading for those who would plumb the depths of your dark mind.

Getting back to your website, your narrative is titled: "How to Cope with Meltdown in Communities". But the communities you talk about are mostly chat rooms. With two possible exceptions. "The Farm", a hippie commune in Tennessee from which you were almost expelled for hitting on single mothers. And the other exception, of course, is KZYX.

According to your narrative, The Farm had "too much poverty" it was "too leader-oriented" and had "too many rules that became dogma."

It sounds like The Farm was the exact opposite of Habbo Hotel. Habbo Hotel. Where you can hide cabbages, fart in teleporters, and get paid for it. i.e., profitable chaos for John Coate.

The narrative that you 'improved' KZYX is certainly accurate in that way. Profitable chaos for John Coate. Only the "cabbages" you hid from the KZYX Board and the station's members were the Form 990s. And the "fart" you left is still here. All that terrible debt. It still stinks, Mr. Coate.

There's another narrative of yours, Mr. Coate. That's even more important according to your resume. It's on your website here:http://johncoate.com/porchlight_story.html

It's the story about The WELL.

According to that narrative, "I dropped out so far that later in 1983, I got a statement from Social Security saying that from 1968 to 1983 I had made a grand total of $3000."

That's about the time when you started your chat room career. First at "The WELL". An enterprise written off by its owners just last year because it 'did not bear financial promise.' You can see that here:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_WELL

Let's continue. There's more bullshit.

According to your narrative, a U.S. Army psychiatrist rejected you for being a "mystic nomad" around 1970. That doesn't square with U.S. Army policy, Mr. Coate. You can see that here:http://history.amedd.army.mil/…/Neuropsychiat…/appendixa.htm

The only way to get rejected by a U.S. Army psychiatrist is for being psychotic. Psychosis is a disability, Mr. Coate. It's nobody's fault. And it's nothing to be ashamed of. But it tends to explain the difference between narratives. Your narrative. And reality. It also explains statements like the one you made here here:http://johncoate.com/John%20Coate%20Resume%202016%20-%20Web…

Statements about not only about the financial condition of KZYX. But also statements about who was running the station. You said, "[At KZYX] I am the head of the nonprofit organization and I manage the radio station."

I'm not calling you a liar, Mr. Coate. Far from it. I think that you actually believed that you were running Mendocino County Public Broadcasting.

And that you were actually cutting KZYX's debt if half. While you were nearly doubling it.

Your apparent disability doesn't exclude the other narrative. About your being a bullshit artist. I think you're bullshitting yourself. The story" you believed was easiest to believe. Or something like that. "John Coate who saved KZYX" — the story easiest for John Coate to believe. "Delivered in language easiest to digest," as you cryptically write in your note below.

There's no harm in publishing your narrative online as how you made up, Mr. Coate. No. Not as long as it's balanced by other, truthful narratives.

So I'm not really "fishing" for anything as you suggest. I've already got everything I need to do what needs to be done. Which is balancing your narrative. And by giving you the opportunity to respond.

Sincerely,

Scott M. Peterson

Mendocino

* * *

If you think that line from the auditor constituted a “policy” then I imagine it was a standard statement pertaining to his audit, not other MCPB policies. As for me, I didn’t think about it much one way or another because the goals of such scrutiny were served in other ways. If the Board asked for it, I gave it. But even when they didn’t ask me for information, I supplied as much detail in all areas of the organization that I thought merited it, delivered in language I believed was easiest to digest.

I still think you are fishing for something you aren’t coming clean about. And by the logic you supplied, one could surmise that the EFF does better than MCPB because they appoint, rather than elect, their Board members.

Anyway, have a good life. Over and out.

John Coate
tex@well.com
john@edgeryders.eu
johncoate.com
707-357-2223