Mendocino County Today: Friday, July 8, 2016

• Dallas Shooting
• Water Tour
• Budget Exam
• Hypocritical Hospitality
• Pit Brawls
• Burglar Nabbed
• CPUC Hearing
• Dead Trees
• Yesterday's Catch
• Homeless Costs
• Scoundrel Trump
• Yellow Submarine
• Spiritual Side
• Acting Workshop
• Cannabis Celebration
• Mixtape Wallet
• Trespass Grow
• Play Me
• Police Shootings
• Hill House Inn

TWELVE POLICE OFFICERS SHOT, FIVE FATALLY, BY SNIPERS AMID DALLAS PROTEST AGAINST POLICE KILLINGS

by David Caplan, Dallas

Eleven police officers were shot ambush-style, including four fatally, in Dallas Thursday night by at least two snipers, amid a protest against the recent police shootings of two black men, Alton Sterling in Louisiana, and Philando Castile in Minnesota, according to the Dallas Police.

Officials said the gunmen aimed to kill as many officers as possible. Among the officers killed, at least one was a Dallas Area Rapid Transit officer and at least one of the wounded was a DART officer.

One suspect is in custody, following a shootout with Dallas SWAT officers, police said, and a suspicious package was found near the suspect's location. Police said the package is being secured by the bomb squad.

Another individual, whom police initially identified on Twitter as a "suspect" and circulated a photo of on Twitter, has turned himself in. In a statement, they referred to him as a "person of interest."

Chaos erupted just before 9 p.m. when a pair of snipers in elevated positions opened fire on officers, who were protecting protesters, police said.

Some of the 11 officers were shot in the back, police said, adding that one civilian was wounded.

In an earlier statement, Dallas Police Chief David Brown said that two of the officers were in surgery and three in critical condition.

Police said the suspects were situated on two different perches or garages.

Marie Saavedra, a reporter with ABC Dallas affiliate WFAA tweeted, "MANY gunshots heard in video I captured in #Dallas, just before 9p as rally marched through downtown."

Following the reports of shots fired, public transportation was suspended in downtown Dallas: "DART rail and bus service in Downtown Dallas has been suspended due to criminal activity."

Witnesses to the mayhem took to social media, including the Instagram user below, who shot video of individuals running frantically, while shots being fired could be heard.

Earlier in the evening, however, the atmosphere was significantly different, as depicted by these images and video the Dallas Police Department tweeted of the demonstration.

In a statement released early Friday morning, Texas governor Greg Abbott said. "Our thoughts and prayers are with the Dalllas law enforcement community and the Dallas Area Rapid Transit (DART) officers killed and injured this evening...In times like this we must remember -- and emphasize -- the importance of uniting as Americans."

(developing… Courtesy, ABC News)

WATER AGENCY ASSOCIATION PROGRAM & TOUR in Ukiah in August: Friday, 08/05/2016

Location: Army Corp of Engineers Facility at Lake Mendocino, 1160 Lake Mendocino Drive, Ukiah, CA 95482

REGISTRATION OPEN!

ACWA Region 1 Program & Tour

Russian River Water Supply System Tour
Friday, August 5, 2016
8:30 a.m. – 4:00 p.m.
Tour Start and End Point:
Army Corp of Engineers Facility at Lake Mendocino
1160 Lake Mendocino Dr., Ukiah, CA 95482
Parking limited – carpooling encouraged.

ACWA Region 1 is hosting a program and tour about the Russian River water system. The itinerary includes visits to Lake Mendocino and Lake Sonoma, the two major reservoirs maintaining water supply and providing flood protection for the Russian River watershed. Tour participants will begin the day at Lake Mendocino for an overview of the Russian River water system and tour of the hatchery. After boarding a bus and traveling south along the Russian River to Lake Sonoma, participants will visit Sonoma County Water Agency’s Dry Creek Habitat Enhancement Project. The tour route will return to Lake Mendocino where the program will conclude. Lunch will be provided. Click here for preliminary agenda.

Registration is available online until July 29th
ACWA Member Pre-Registration Fee: $25.00
Non-Member Pre-Registration Fee: $38.00
A $5 fee will be added to all onsite registrations.
Onsite registrations will be accommodated as space permits.

Registration fee includes: meeting materials, tour transportation, lunch, snacks, and refreshments. Tour participants are required to sign an ACWA Voluntary Release and Waiver, available at www.acwa.com.

Personal Protection Attire for Tour: closed-toed flat shoes, sun hat and sun glasses are highly recommended for these tours.

Online registration deadline is July 29, 2016 or until space is full. Onsite registrations will be accommodated as space permits. Cancellations must be received in writing by 5 p.m. on July 29th, in order to cancel a registration and receive reimbursement. Substitutions can be made by requesting it in writing by July 29th. After that date, substitutions can be handled onsite at the event. Event details are subject to change and registrants will be notified by e-mail if changes occur.

Suggested Overnight Accommodations:

Comfort Inn & Suites
1220 Airport Park Blvd
Ukiah, CA 95482
ACWA Rate: $139 + taxes

Reserve your room by August 3, 2016 to take advantage of the ACWA rate, limited rooms available at this rate. Call the hotel directly at (707) 462-3442 to make your reservation.

Questions?

Contact ACWA Regional Affairs Representative Katie Dahl at katied@acwa.com or call (916) 441-4545.

To Register: http://www.acwa.com/events/acwa-region-1-program-tour

WE WERE STARTLED to see this chart in the County’s recently passed 2016-2017 Budget.

It shows a decline of almost $7 million in the County’s discretionary revenues this year and there’s no asterisk on the chart explaining the drop. But there had to be a reason, so we started reading budget…

BURIED DEEP in the giant collection of numbers, charts, graphs and text we found this: “The Auditor’s projections for discretionary revenue include modest increases in property tax revenue with a slight regression in room occupancy tax revenue due to a number of one time corrections in FY 15-16, and a continued slight decline in sales tax receipts. A detailed breakdown of discretionary revenue projections is included on page 31.”

SO, ON TO PAGE 31: “The Auditor-Controller’s projections are the same as third quarter, with the difference of $6,758,535 being the shift of Proposition 172 funding from Budget Unit 1000 directly to the Public Safety Budget Units: District Attorney - Budget Unit 2070, Sheriff-Coroner - Budget Unit 2310, Jail - Budget Unit 2510, and Probation - Budget Unit 2560. These budget units have also had their Proposition 172 funds decreased from the amounts included in the Department Net County Cost assignments based on the Board direction to provide $564,874 of Proposition 172 funding to support Fire Districts. This funding is appropriated in Budget Unit 4016 - Emergency Medical Services.”

SO THE PROP 172 SALES TAX REVENUE was moved from “discretionary” to specific departmental budgets and in the process about $565k was sliced off for local Fire Departments and Ambulance Service subsidies. There’s no discussion of the impact of the reduction in the DA’s, Sheriff’s or probation budgets and we haven’t heard about any grumbling from those departments after the 8% reduction. There’s also no indication what the fire departments will do with the new money, money that almost everyone thinks is long overdue because Prop 172 was originally supposed to fund not just “law enforcement” but the larger category of “public safety” which obviously includes fire and emergency services.

WE EXPECT that a good chunk of the $565k will go to pay the extortionate insurance rates that Mendo’s approximately two dozen independent fire departments are required to pay, more than half of which is for workers compensation.

IN ANDERSON VALLEY, for example, the Golden State Risk Management Authority, the district’s general insurer, currently charges the local Community Services District about $40,000 a year for “insurance,” more than half of which is workers compensation. (The charge is reduced to about $36k if the District submits a large pile of “loss control” paperwork, which it does.) In the more than 25 years of covering that fire district The Major can only remember two small workers comp claims, both of them stemming from minor injuries to volunteer firefighters, and one or two minor vehicle accident claims. This for an activity that clearly involves major property and personell safety risks. For this the district has turned hundreds of thousands of tax payer dollars meant for fire protection over to the big insurance companies with almost nothing to show for it.

THE POINT: This is yet another example of how the public is ripped off in the absence of national single-payer health care. Whether you’re General Motors (whose Canadian plant right across the border from Detroit pays no exorbitant health insurance comparied to the nearly bankrupting health insurance costs for US workers and retirees) or the little guy with one or two employees or even a small public agency with volunteers, monopolistic health insurance costs are imposed everywhere you look: your auto insurance, workers comp, MediCal, Medicaid, Medicare, private insurance, Obamacare, general liability, group and private insurance, retiree insurance, emergency rooms, medications… It all adds up to a huge and unnecessary burden on commerce, not to mention providing mediocre care at high cost to only a percentage of the population. And even General Motors and their other big business pals can’t bring themselves to lobby for single payer because they dare not buck the insurance mafia.

MY EXPERIENCE AT HOSPITALITY HOUSE

Editor,

I went to the Hospitality House Sept. 3 2013 and received a bed and was told to check in at the Hospitality Center on Franklin St. in the alley to sign up for “services” with in 5 days and to go to the clinic for a TB test (did).

I went to the Hospitality Center to sign up for “services”.

As they where just opening and I believe people need assistance sometimes (you too are eligible) I started ‘being of assistance” as in supporting their programs, sharing Green and Sober Inc. morning check in, I ran the emergency winter shelter December 2013 to April 2014, volunteered for various “public service” activities.

I moved out of the house February 2014 to re-start Green and Sober Inc.

Having a lot of troubles I still needed services and have been denied housing because I will not lie about Cannabis use as my only medication, I still tried to turn to the Hospitality Center for assistance and to complain about the fact they where allowing other people to lie and cheat making what I am doing look wrong when in fact they are the ones who are wrong.

A few of us that openly use Cannabis as a medication started having Green and Sober meetings (peer to peer support) at Dragonfly wellness center.

At our first meeting a client of the Hospitality Center thought it would be funny to go to Dragonfly Wellness Center to get his Cannabis and wait for the meeting to end to rub my nose in the fact that he is allowed to use Cannabis and he is housed, “how’s that honesty working for you?”

As this became an on going pattern, I reported this behavior to the Hospitality Center staff including Anna Shaw and asked them to tell their client not to stalk and harass me at the Cannabis club.

They told me they can’t tell their clients what to do, as a matter of fact they leave what they believe clients can do up to the clients.

As what I see as a slap in the face, this client that I have been making formal complaints about was used as a hospitality center success story on the front page of the Advocate News (July 24 2014).

Finally after talking with a local police officer about what was going on, the harassment stopped.

I started re-filing formal complaints with patient’s rights which at first seemed to be disregarded.

When my formal complaints where finally responded to I was blown away at their response which stated:

“Dear Mr. Mack,

“This letter is to follow-up on the grievance you submitted on June 15 and 17, 2015, regarding your report that you were denied services and you concerns about your medication. Mendocino County Mental Health Improvement did investigate your grievance.

“Per conversations with the Patients Rights Advocate and Connie Drago, compliance manager from Ortner Management Group (OMG), who spoke with your case manager at MCHC as well as yourself, we learned more about your concerns. Your case manager corroborated your statements, and you won’t compromise your ethics. You are not being denied services. Your case manager, ***** ******, will continue to work with you on overcoming your housing barriers. OMG and Mendocino County will also continue to support you in your efforts.”

This letter was dated June 25th 2015 and I still have the things to deal with that I have been asking for help on for over 2 years.

I even put in an application for employment on 2 occasions which must get buried also.

So I just want to let the people and agencies that refuse to help me know that since I can not get help to get housing from Mendocino Coast Hospitality Center, Patients Rights, Disability Rights, ACLU, local Board of Supervisor, Fort Bragg City council, various attorneys and the ones I do not want to mention due to fear of retaliation.

I am being forced lie & cheat (as many do), quit Cannabis (risk seizures) or get back on prescription medication to get housing.

All of this is completely wrong! Cannabis is my ONLY medication.

This is what I have been sending and saying to the various agencies.

I am missing part of my frontal lobe and was on many prescription drugs (2 being anti-seizure).
 I have been able to successfully replace ALL of the prescription drugs with Cannabis (no seizures).

Using Cannabis and not prescription medication has kept me locked out of many mental health services such as housing (Mendocino Coast Hospitality Center).

In order to receive the most important component of homeless services, housing, I would have to lie & cheat, quit Cannabis (risk seizures) or get back on prescription medications (seems wrong to me). This is a blatant violation of my civil rights!

All of this is completely hypocritical considering the Department of Health and Human Services holds the patent on Cannabinoids (6630507). I am really disturbed by all of this.

The mental health system on the coast has given me more mental health issues then I have ever had.

Thank you

Richard E. Mack, Fort Bragg

PITTIES BRAWL IN UKIAH

Several pit bulls in Ukiah are looking for a few homes this week after a fight between the animals led the owners to give them up, the Ukiah Police Department reported.

According to the UPD, officers responded to a home in the 1300 block of Berkley Way around 12:30 p.m. July 3 when it was reported that multiple pit bulls were fighting and the owners had been bit.

When officers arrived, they learned that three male adult dogs, three female adult dogs and six puppies, all pit bulls, were living at the residence.

A fight had broken out between two of the male dogs, and the third male, who was reportedly tied up, broke free of his harness to join the fight. While trying to stop the fight, both of the owners were bitten.

The officers took custody of the three males dogs, two of whom were severely injured and taken to a local veterinarian for medical care. The third male who was uninjured was taken to the animal shelter on Plant Road to be quarantined.

The owners reportedly admitted that they were unable to care for the dogs and relinquished ownership. The remaining three females and six puppies were then transported to the shelter as well.

Anyone interested in adopting the dogs or other animals can contact visit the shelter at 298 Plant Road, or call 463-4427.

GOTTA HAVE THAT TWEEK

On July 6, 2016 at approximately 8:15 a.m., Mendocino County Sheriff's Deputies were dispatched to a burglary at the Point Arena Elementary School located at 20 School Street in Point Arena. After arriving and investigating the incident, Deputies determined that the person(s) responsible had forced entry to gain access inside the complex before stealing various items from within. School officials were able to immediately provide Deputies with a detailed list of property stolen from the location.

At about 11:19am, Deputies contacted suspect Peter Rose Jr., 22, of Point Arena, in the 100 block of Main Street in Point Arena. During that contact, Deputies determined Rose was wearing an article of clothing and in possession of other items, all stolen from the elementary school. Further investigation revealed that Rose was solely responsible for the burglary at the elementary school and he was arrested for burglary and possession of stolen property. Rose was transported to the Mendocino County Jail where he is being held on $50,000 bail. During the course of the investigation, Deputies were able to link Rose directly to five other previous burglaries and attempted burglaries in the Point Arena area that were reported to the Sheriff's Office between 06-22-2016 to 07-05-2016. Those victims included the Saint Paul's Methodist Church at 40 School Street, a residence located in the 100 block of School Street, the Point Arena School District Office located at 45 Lake Street and Fanny’s Cup and Saucer located in the 200 block of Main Street, and a previous burglary of the Point Arena Elementary School, 20 School St. These investigations were submitted to the District Attorney's Office for additional complaints, including two counts of burglary and three counts of attempted burglary.

MENDOCINO COUNTY TO HOST CALIFORNIA PUBLIC UTILITIES COMMISSION (CPUC) HEARING – July 15, 2016 - Board Of Supervisors Chambers

On July 15, 2016, the County will be hosting a California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) Public Participation Hearing (PPH) regarding the Rural Call Completion and Dial Tone Access Proceeding. This hearing will be held in the Board of Supervisors Chambers at 501 Low Gap Road, Ukiah from 2:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. The Hearing will focus on recent call completion issues, including outages that compromise access to 911 services in our area.

This is a unique opportunity for Mendocino County. CPUC Commissioner Catherine J.K. Sandoval is traveling around the state to hear directly from rural citizens about their telecommunications concerns, specifically problems associated with Rural Call Completion and Dial Tone access and the inability to connect to 911. It is critically important that residents who have experienced such problems attend and provide comments to this regulatory agency. Comments from the public can help the CPUC reach an informed decision.

The County of Mendocino is encouraging all residents that have experienced call failures for whatever reason (including outages), and those public safety agencies impacted by such failures, to plan to attend this important public hearing and provide input!

For more information please contact the CPUC News & Outreach Office, (415) 703-1366 or news@cpuc.ca.gov; or Trish Steel with the Mendocino Broadband Alliance, chairman@mendocinobroadband.org.

Released by:

Carmel J. Angelo

Chief Executive Officer

DO DEAD OR DYING TREES RAISE WILDFIRE RISK?

Focus: Do dead or dying trees raise wildfire risk? [San Diego Union-Tribune] As a record number of trees stand dead or dying in California’s forests due to drought and beetle infestations, concerns are mounting that the die-off is creating an abundance of fuel likely to trigger wildfires that could threaten homes and lives. However, an emerging body of science finds little evidence to support these fears. Researchers studying wildfires across the western United States during the past decade have increasingly concluded that forests ravaged by bark beetles and other insects aren’t more likely to burn than healthy expanses of forest. Forestry officials dismiss such scientific assessments as premature and inconclusive. They said active forest management will continue in an effort to prevent the worst consequences of wildfires.

http://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/2016/jul/06/pines-oaks-dead-wildfire-risk-forests-science/

CATCH OF THE DAY, July 7, 2016

ANTONIO COLLINS, Fort Bragg. Probation revocation.

KATIE CRONIN, Fort Bragg. Domestic battery.

BRITTANY DAVIS, Ukiah. Probation revocation.

JONATHAN FRED, Nice/Ukiah. Failure to appear.

CESAR GARCIA, Ukiah. Pot cultivation, possession for sale.

KENNETH JAMES-HORTON, Clearlake/Ukiah. Failure to appear.

MODESTO MATEO-MARTINEZ, Ukiah. Pot cultivation, possession for sale, resisting.

SERGIO MEZA, Willits. Rape of person under 18, soliciting prostitution, acting in concert with another by force or violence or by aiding & abetting, conspiracy.

ISMAEL RODRIGUEZ, Point Arena. Pot and meth possession for sale, probation revocation.

PETER ROSE JR., Burglary, receiving stolen property, drunk in public, probation revocation.

BULMARO SANCHEZ, Covelo. Pot cultivation, possession for sale.

BRADLEY SAUNDERS, Ukiah. Probation revocation.

TRACY STONE, Sacramento/Ukiah. DUI.

STEPHEN THOMAS, Ukiah. Possession of ammo by prohibited person, offenses while on bail, probation revocation.

ELMER VICHI, Fort Bragg. Domestic battery.

HOMEWARD BOUND, the Navigation Center, & "Better Outcomes"

The recent Controller's report on the Navigation Center for the homeless has an odd critique of the Homeward Bound program:

The Homeward Bound program’s involvement with the Navigation Center is premised upon the assumption that clients will have greater success getting on the bus when they are housed overnight and given additional time and assistance to prepare for departure. However, because the Homeward Bound program does not track the outcomes for non‐Navigation Center clients, it is impossible to determine whether the Navigation Center contributes to better outcomes. Further, the data on page 15 of this report show that the Navigation Center has been increasingly used as a resource for Homeward Bound Clients (page 26).

On page 15 we learn that 38 homeless people have stayed for one or two nights in the five beds reserved in the Navigation Center for Homeward Bound clients before they get on a bus out of San Francisco. How is that not a "better outcome" than living on city streets or in city parks, which costs the city $80,000 a year?

According to the numbers provided in a recent SF Examiner story, since February, 2005, 9,917 of the city's homeless population have been given a bus ticket out of town at a total cost of $1,844,070. That works out to only $186 per person bused outahere, which is a bargain compared to the $16,000 per person the city spends to actually house the homeless that pass through the Navigation Center, as reported in an item in a recent Matier & Ross column (below).

Navigating the numbers: It cost San Francisco about $16,000 for each homeless person placed in permanent housing in the city through the highly praised Mission District Navigation Center during its first year-plus of operation.

That’s the big takeaway of a report by the city controller’s office that looked at the costs and benefits of the center — a different type of homeless shelter, one that takes in entire encampments and lets people sleep with partners, bring in all their possessions and even their pets, and gives them direct access to services designed to enable them to transition into permanent housing.

In a 13-month period starting in March 2015, 399 homeless people passed through its doors, the report found. Men outnumbered women by more than 2 to 1, and the median age was 43.

According to the report, close to half of those served by the Navigation Center — 168 people — were there only briefly before being put on buses out of town under Homeward Bound. That’s the long-standing city program under which a homeless person gets a free bus ticket if a friend or relative is waiting at the end of the line.

“These clients typically stay one to two days,” the report said, “and do not receive the same intensive case management services as other clients.”

Translation: Most of what the city spends at the Navigation Center doesn’t go toward them.

Those costs — amounting to $2.2 million in the 13 months studied, according to the report — are spent mainly on the people placed in permanent housing. There were 142 of those during the time the report looked at the Navigation Center — which comes to about $16,000 per placement.

A chronically homeless person on the street costs the city about $80,000 a year in emergency services, law enforcement expenses and the like, the city estimates. So $16,000 to get someone ready to go into supportive or affordable housing is a relative bargain.

But by no one’s definition is it cheap. Getting one chronically homeless person ready for housing costs taxpayers $2,600 more than it costs for a year’s worth of tuition and fees at the University of California.

(Rob Anderson, Courtesy, District5Diary)

HOW UNPATRIOTIC IS DONALD TRUMP?

by Ralph Nader

Samuel Johnson famously considered patriotism “the last refuge of a scoundrel.” His biographer James Boswell, who passed along that judgment, clarified that Johnson “did not mean a real and generous love for our country, but that pretended patriotism which so many, in all ages and countries, have made a cloak for self-interest.”

This could be describing Donald Trump. And yet the Wall Street Journal’s Peggy Noonan theorized in an April 2016 column that Trump’s major appeal to Republican voters came not from his adherence to any political ideology, but rather from his radiant patriotism which has, in her view, been absent from the political status quo. “What Trump supporters believe, what they perceive as they watch him,” she wrote, “is that he is on America’s side.”

There is little in Trump’s rambling off-the-cuff speeches and media interviews, or in his reactionary stream-of-conscious tweets, that demonstrate his understanding of patriotism. Trump is a snake oil salesman, and he is arguably in the midst of his greatest pitch to date. Smart consumers should do their research to find out the truth about the “product” they are being sold by Mr. Trump.

Here are some examples of where the real estate plutocrat comes up short on patriotism.

* Peeved by The Washington Post’s coverage of his presidential campaign and their investigation of the details surrounding his grand claims, Trump has revoked the paper’s press credentials for attending his rallies and political events. He has also banned reporters from Politico, Univision, Mother Jones, The Daily Beast, The Huffington Post and others. What’s patriotic about muffling the free press when you are running for the highest office in the land?

* Despite lofty rhetoric about “bringing jobs home,” Trump has used cheap foreign production in China and Bangladesh for his signature clothing brands. “They don’t even make this stuff here,” the ever-defensive Trump told ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos when questioned about it. Stephanopoulos informed Trump that Brooks Brothers clothing does, does, in fact, “make this stuff” here. What’s patriotic about making profits on the backs of poorly paid foreign workers who are often suffering under dictatorial rule?

* Big talker Trump has claimed to have given millions of dollars to many different charities over the years. According to a recent Washington Post investigation, he’s given far, far less than he’s boasted ― and far less than other billionaires of his (alleged) comparable wealth. Most of his donations have come through the Trump Foundation, to which he has donated little of his own fortune. All in all, over the past seven years, the Post reports that Trump has personally given less than $10,000 to charities. What’s patriotic about lying about your own philanthropy?

* One of Trump’s more preposterous statements has been calling for a “total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States.” Drawing much justified criticism, Trump has been pressured into clarifying and restating his position. He now claims that only immigration from “terrorist countries” would fall under his proposed ban. He also stated last fall that he was “open” to the idea of creating an Orwellian database of all Muslims living in the United States. Is accusatory language of ethnic stereotyping reflective of our patriotic traditions? The inscription on the Statue of Liberty is: “Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free.” Is repudiating Lady Liberty patriotic?

* Donald Trump’s bid for the presidency has been based upon the supposed strength of his talent and judgment as a businessman and dealmaker. These skills, however, are not totally verifiable, since Trump refuses to release his tax returns. Trump has managed to avoid any severe blows to his personal wealth by strategically insulating himself from failed corporate business endeavors. He has bragged that he “used, brilliantly,” corporate bankruptcy as a competitive advantage. When Trump fails, only the little guys suffer. Not exactly reflecting the last words of the pledge of allegiance ― ”with liberty and justice for all.”

* Last year, Donald Trump shamefully criticized Senator John McCain who spent over five years as a prisoner of war in North Vietnam. The ever-brash Trump dismissed McCain’s extraordinary ordeal, claiming: “He’s not a war hero.” Trump continued, “He was a war hero because he was captured. I like people who weren’t captured.” Is degrading the suffering of an American veteran patriotic? Unlike McCain, Trump did not serve in the Vietnam War. He has gone on the record, however, for making a different kind of sacrifice. Trump described his romantic escapades in the 1980’s as his “personal Vietnam” due to how he put himself at risk of sexually transmitted diseases. He told Howard Stern that this made him feel “like a great and very brave soldier.”

* “I believe that Trump University was a fraudulent scheme,” Ronald Schnackenberg, a former employee of the unaccredited Trump University, stated in testimony, “and that it preyed upon the elderly and uneducated to separate them from their money.” Indeed, much of the information that has come to light about Donald Trump’s “university” reveals that it was little more than a scam meant to drain people of their money while promising them success. Cornered by the allegations, Trump resorted to accusing Judge Gonzalo P. Curiel, who is scheduled to hear the class action suit in November, of being “a hater” of his due to his Mexican ethnicity. Are these the words of man who loves America or those of a con man caught with his hand in the cookie jar?

* Since starting his bid for the presidency, Donald Trump has produced a veritable Trump Tower of outrageously false statements. According to the nonpartisan Politifact, nearly 80% of the statements made by Donald Trump fall under the categories of Mostly False, False, or “Pants on Fire.” His campaign won the distinction of 2015 Politifact Lie of the Year for its entire spider web of deceptions. What’s patriotic about chronically lying when you’re running for the presidency of the United States?

So what does it truly mean to be patriotic? My parents defined it quite simply. They taught my siblings and me that loving one’s country meant working hard to make it more lovable. This means working to end poverty, discrimination, corruption, greed, cheating and other injustices that weaken the promise and potential of America.

See this video that explains how my father, an immigrant, viewed patriotism.

(Ralph Nader is a consumer advocate, lawyer and author of Only the Super-Rich Can Save Us!)

THE YELLOW SUBMARINE

by Miguel Lanigan

When I was earning my living fishing, I, just as you, got pretty good at predicting weather by looking at clouds, waves, the behavior of birds, and wind direction. But, what I really set my clock by was Betancourt, an old-timer fisherman whose arthritic hands and knees never failed to tell us when weather was upon us. I only fished the big boats a few times, preferring to fish the small boats of the “mosquito fleet” – twenty to thirty feet in length. So, for us, it was even more critical that we not get caught too far off shore, or too far down the coast away from the safety of our harbor. One of the mosquito fleet guys was Admiral Bullshit – I forget his given name, no one used it anyway. He was an alcoholic survivor of the massacre of most of his unit in Vietnam. He was a unique and ballsy guy, but his courage and hardheadedness sometimes put him, his deckhand and boat at risk. One morning I was working on rebuilding my little boat I had named “VOLT” in the Village Boat yard.

A few boats over from me the Admiral came out of his tool shed, fired up a chain saw and began sawing the wheelhouse off his boat. This, of course, aroused the curiosity among us water folk, but in our little costal village, Princeton by the Sea, people were all the times doing weird shit, so we watched and debated. He finished chopping it down to deck level, then began replacing it with a very small, but sturdy built, wheelhouse just big enough for two people to stand in side by side. It now was a weird looking boat: all hull with this tiny conning tower of a wheelhouse. For reasons, known only to him, he painted the boat a vivid bright yellow from stem to stern including the telephone booth like wheelhouse. When she slid down the boat launch tracks into the harbor, she immediately was dubbed “The Yellow Submarine” and was known throughout the fishing fleet by that name for as long as I was still in the harbor. Later on it was proven prophetic. . . . It was winter fishing and the albacore tuna were running 120 miles off Half Moon Bay. Many of the big-boat guys, and several of the mosquito fleet, stripped the salmon gear from their boats, rigged for albacore trolling, and motored out to fish for these incredibly beautiful albacore tuna. The Admiral, and his hard drinking deckhand Slim, rigged up the Yellow Submarine and followed the big guys out to where the money swam in what was reported to be a very large school of fish. After twelve hours running, they found the tuna and dropped the gear. To their delight, the tuna were ravenous; the storm had put the fish into a feeding frenzy and they jumped on the hooks as soon as they hit the water. Slim and the Admiral pulled and pulled till their hands bled, but they didn’t mind, they were having orgasms of monetary dreams coming true, as they filled their hold with albacore dollar bills. Greed pushed caution aside; they kept on pulling in dollar bills long after they should have pulled their gear and run for safety.

They didn’t heed the increasing wind, which by now had shifted to the southwest and was pushing the ugly, black storm right at them. We all knew that ugly storm was coming from reading the clouds, the gulls running for cover, the barometer falling, the weather reports and old man Betancourt’s knees, but, these were lean times: the salmon fishing had been sparse, but the bills weren’t. So, once again, economics trumped caution and pushed many fishermen who knew better, to chance a quick run out to get in on the bite before the heavy weather set in. That was why the Admiral and Slim were out there chancing it in The Yellow Submarine. Finally the Admiral came out of his greed stupor: they pulled the gear, went about the boat securing everything as best they could, and headed for the barn. It was too late -- the storm was upon them.

They knew they had waited too long and were going to be slammed hard. The old boat could only do nine knots and they were 120 miles from the harbor running with an increasingly heavy following sea.

Later on, in between gulps of the Gallo white port that eventually killed him, Slim and I sat in the abandoned boat he was calling home, and told me about their fearful return trip. As they ran for home, waves from astern kept building. Some, he estimated, were cresting at thirty feet. As the hours passed, the period between crests got closer and steeper like those in the movie ‘The Perfect Storm’. Slim said he looked back and, to his horror, saw a monster steamer wave coming right at them with spray flying off its crest. He dove to the deck and grabbed hold of something. It was later agreed that the only thing that saved them when they pitch-poled [somersault, as the stern pitches forward over the bow], was the tiny wheelhouse made of stout Douglas fir timbers. The boat did a 360, but because there was so little weight to the wheelhouse above the waterline, she rightedherself with her diesel engine still chugging faithfully along. The interior was a slimy mess of broken gear, smashed electronics, and broken batteries, but the tired old girl kept on heading for her Pillar Point sanctuary. One pitch pole in a waterman’s life is quite enough, but TWO on the same trip . . . As they approached the coastal shoaling waters, they were hit with yet another monster and over they went for a second time. The old girl did another 360 and again righted herself.

Never did the harbor entry buoys look so welcoming. They waited outside the reef for a large wave, then surfed it through the narrow opening in the Pillar Point reef and on to the safety of our harbor. They tied up to the pier and didn’t even think of selling their fish that night — there was always tomorrow – besides they had much more important things to do. They top iced the fish, locked up and hurried to the Ketch Jo Ann harbor bar at the end of the pier, and to many rounds to celebrate still sucking in air and not having their names engraved on the dead pole by the harbor master’s office. From then on, we all looked at the Yellow Submarine with grudging respect, and would point her out to visitors and tell the story. Never again did any of us make fun of the faithful yellow ugly duckling.

ON LINE COMMENT OF THE DAY

Since the nation has selected a reality T.V. host as it’s Republican nominee..Let’s talk Truth or Consequences, that game show. Remember, ‘Cept now it may be Truth and Consequences.

Truth #1 Half the country is on fire
 #2 The other half is under water, my heart goes to W. VA. 
#3 Leonardo DiCaprio cares about climate change as long as 
it doesn’t interfere with his flights back and forth from NY-LA

Now for something completely different, in a thrift book store the other day, shelves and shelves of books, walked right up to one written by author Sylvia Browne, who I believe was a gifted spiritualist. The title had to do with the days we are living in. What a beautiful work! It’s not for the narrow minded. In it she writes that the veil is getting thinner between this world and the other side. In the coming decades many people, by various means, will gain knowledge of their past lives. It could account for the increase in psychic experiences, if the veil is getting thinner. Many women, educated ones even, believe that it is. Laugh, consider, deny, call her a nutcase, call whoever one, but the song remains the same. And then there’s the individual who had a near death experience and to this day maintains they felt more alive when they were “on the other side” There you go again. ah yes, always has to be the spiritual side of things.

ACTING WORKSHOPS with New York City director Stephanie Cunningham! The Mendocino Theatre Company is offering three workshops -- Audition Technique, Scene Study, and Basics of Directing -- with the talented New York-based director and educator Stephanie C. Cunnigham, beginning July 21st. This is a wonderful opportunity for teen and adult actors of all levels and for anyone aspiring to direct a play on our stage! For class descriptions and prices, please see our website: http://mendocinotheatre.org/workshops/.

TRIM SCENE

On Sunday, July 10th, Humboldt Local, Inc., and Trim Scene Solutions present the 710 Oil Spill and Casual Crop eXchange at the Trim Scene Solutions store in Southern Humboldt. This 215 farmers market and concert is a celebration of our Emerald Triangle Medical Cannabis Community with music headliners Rocker-T and Dubsmashers. The market runs from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. and music runs from 4:20 to 9 p.m. with DJ Chalice and Humboldt Hip Hop favorites the Mumu Crew opening, followed by dancehall legend Rocker-T with his positive vibes.

The Casual Crop eXchange (215 farmers market) features extraction demos, educational speakers, trimming machine demos, great food, local craft artists, clothing vendors, a 215 doctor on site, and a concentrate and flower competition judged by attendees with a free dab bar! Plus live glass blowing demos and local non-profit booths. All leftover meds from the competition will be donated to our Humboldt Local, Inc., compassionate care program for Seniors, Veterans and low income patients.

Perhaps the most unique feature of the 710 Oil Spill is "Demo Row," where a farmer in attendance can watch his or her own product get trimmed, kiefed and pressed with the most cutting edge equipment, all within the span of half an hour. This is especially valuable to the small farmer that may be considering making an investment in some big-ticket item, like a trimming machine or a rosin press, for example.

Plus, the Trim Scene Solutions store is right there, on-site, with our dedicated and knowledgeable staff ready to answer questions and to direct people to vendors and demos that suit their specific needs all throughout the day!

Come join us and bring your 215 to shop and enjoy our community’s best crops of all kinds! The $5 entry fee will be donated to non-profit Humboldt Area Foundation. The 215 area is 21 and over. NO DOGS PLEASE. VIP access available. More information @trimscene.

Hit us back with any questions through email: media@trimscene.com or anthony@trimscene.com (vendor coordinator). Or you can call the store at 707-923-9319.

Keep it casual.

MAKE A MIXTAPE WALLET (for teens and adults), July 13th 2-4 pm Get Retro at the Library! Make a mixtape wallet from old cassette tapes! All materials will be provided but feel free to bring your fave old cassette to use if you wish. This makerspace is part of our Summer Reading Club, & attendance can be counted toward earning prizes. Sponsored by Friends of the Ukiah Valley Library. Please call 463-4490 to sign up! For more information about the Ukiah Library Summer Reading Program, please contact: Melissa Eleftherion Carr at 707-467-4634 or carrm@co.mendocino.ca.us.

11,030 PLANT 'TRESPASS GROW' ON HUMCO TIMBER COMPANY LAND

The following press release was issued by the Humboldt County Sheriff Department Thursday @ 9:34 am:

"On Wednesday, June 6, the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office Drug Enforcement Unit (DEU) along with CAMP (Campaign Against Marijuana Planting) personnel, and Fish & Wildlife (F&W) Officers conducted a trespass marijuana investigation on Timber Company Land in the Atwell Creek Drainage system, east of Rio Dell.

DEU attempted to contact three suspects on scene who fled on foot. Deputies were unable to apprehend the suspects. Deputies located evidence of chemical pesticides and rodenticides used within the marijuana grow. F&W investigated the large scale water diversion from Atwell Creek. A total of 11,030 marijuana plants were eradicated.

The investigation is ongoing.

Anyone with information for the Sheriff’s Office regarding this case or related criminal activity is encouraged to call the Sheriff’s Office at 707-445-7251 or the Sheriff’s Office Crime Tip line at 707-268-2539."

(Photos courtesy of the Humboldt Sheriff Department.)

DEAR ALICE

To: Alice Woelfle-Erskine, program director, KZYX

cc: to KZYX board <BOD@kzyx.org>, kzyxtalk@lists.mcn.org

Dear Alice Woelfle-Erskine:

Think of this matter as an unconscionably neglected repair ticket and address it.

I have been working hard for real media (radio, teevee, print publishing) in this county for over thirty years. In addition to my day jobs -- construction and theatrical work and maintenance and electronics, and so on -- I put twenty-plus hours into getting my show together and then do my show live every week on KNYO and KMEC, and before that I worked at KMFB for almost fifteen years -- maintenance and repair and solving problems as well as doing my weekly all-night show there, which, by the way, had no trouble paying its own way and paying me. I have never missed an airdate, nor caused a single legal problem for a station manager or with the FCC. I'm that reliable at what I do, and that experienced, and that proven. And I've been waiting for four-and-a-half years for my show to be scheduled on KZYX, where it will be one of the best shows there, and will fit KZYX' educational-band community broadcasting mission like a glove.

Months ago Lorraine Dechter told me that things at KZYX are different now from the bad old days, and she gave me to understand that all the people frustrated by the tone-deaf insular paranoid management of the past will finally get a fair shake. She told me to send a show proposal to then-brand-new program director, Raoul van Hall. I did that, and I wrote Raoul every week about it, providing explanations and links to samples of my work, and he never wrote nor called back. Then he vanished and somehow you became the program director, Alice. I wrote you. You took weeks to write back and then told me that my show sounded cool and that there's a new process for scheduling shows on KZYX. I wrote to ask you to describe that process and tell me the names and contact info of the people involved in it, so I can push it forward. That was a month ago. I've heard nothing from you since.

So I'm telling you now: pretend that I'm a paying member and so part owner of so-called Mendocino County Public Broadcasting Corporation, which I actually am, and I'm a taxpayer, one of the many whose federal tax money has been going to bail out KZYX to keep it from failing every year of its existence including this year -- and that's another fact: without the tax-derived CPB grant, KZYX would have been six figures into the red every single year since 1989; it started out that badly managed, and nothing has changed in that regard; the budget for the current year is as absurdly high as last year's and every year's (at least six times what it should cost) -- but further, and imaginatively, Alice, pretend that I'm one of the secret wealthy persons who step in to make up the difference when the pledge drive is failing, so the station always has just enough money to pay just the manager $5,000 a month (!), where the local airpeople on KZYX are paid nothing (!), while recorded and syndicated NPR shows are all paid enough for every one of their show people to eat steak and take summers off while they save for a year or two to buy a big fine house with cash. (Speaking of which, the MCPB budget has been hovering around $600,000. That's enough to pay cash for another brand-new pretty nice house on its own acre of land every year, when the total drain of running all three transmitters and all the equipment in all the studios and all the tower fees and publishers' fees and internet, phones and overhead and pencils and bottled water should come to less than $10 an hour -- around $80,000 a year -- at the absolute outside, just to give you some perspective, and I'm including this section because I'm copying this to the board, so they know everyone knows all this when they trot out, with a row of straight faces, another faked-up $600,000 budget to, you know, keep a couple of computers and transmitters switched on and a microphone plugged in.)

In short, Alice, get moving on scheduling my show on KZYX. Because I and my show are worth it, it will improve the station, and I waited patiently in line for years, and lately I have been extremely patiently waiting at the head of the line while other less worthy people are ushered in past me with nary a glance in my direction. Think of the matter in IT terms: consider this a simple repair ticket that's been deliberately ignored by your service department for years. I know you've only been program director for a few months, and of course you have other things to think about, but given the history and the facts and the ridiculous length of the delay anyone with any integrity would make this a top priority. In the real world you would, and from what I've heard about you I hope you will.

You can start by simply telling me (and my listeners and readers) what steps you've taken so far to schedule my show on KZYX. If you've done nothing, pick an entry point and start now. And describe the "new process" you mentioned, and tell me the names and personal contact information of all the people involved in that process. So I'm not writing this same letter every week for the next five years, to whoever comes after you, and whoever comes after that, and after that. Please.

Marco McClean

memo@mcn.org

http://MemoOfTheAir.wordpress.com

NICE SIT IN, DEMOCRATS. NOW WHAT?

"So this morning I been making calls to Congressional leaders and asking them what they are gonna be doing about this rash of police shootings? I called Congressman John Lewis (202-225-3801), House Minority whip James Clyburn (202-225-3315), House Minority leader, Nancy Pelosi (202-225-4965) and the office to the Congressional Black Caucus (202-226-9776). Last night I tweeted to a number of law makers, including Bernie Sanders, Hillary Clinton.

In my calls I asked what they were intending to do about the recent police shootings. All of the folks I talked to said as of yet, they have heard nothing from the respective representatives. In the case of Nancy Pelosi and James Clyburn I was told they are focused on the gun control issue. I asked how that was going to stop the police from killing our people?

When I called John Lewis's office I was told he was in a meeting. I left my name and number and asked for a call back. They said they had been getting calls but as of yet the Congressman hasn't addressed this but things are fluid and that could change. I asked can I request he address this and that he make a big stink about this the way he did on the gun control issue. They told me they would pass along my message.

In the case of Nancy Pelosi in addition to the recent police executions, I also brought up the rape and human trafficking investigations of a minor with Oakland police and the racist text messaging scandal in San Francisco police which have tarnished the Bay Area's reputation. I asked what she intends to do about these police departments that are out of control?

I was told by the staffer, that they have received phone calls on this issue and that he would relay my concerns to the congresswoman. I reminded them that almost immediately after the Kate Steinle shooting at Pier 14 last year by the undocumented immigrant, the Congresswoman issued a statement. I asked what's it gonna take for her and the rest of congress to speak out about these police killings?

When I called the Congressional Black Caucus office, they told me they too had been getting calls on this and that I should check the website for updates. I pointed out on their website, is the gun control issue and no statements on the police shootings. I wanted to make a request that they do something about the police shootings.

I asked them what will it take to get them to hold police accountable, the way they wanna hold gun manufacturers and the NRA accountable? Again I pointed out that Congressional reps did a sit in last week and will they be doing things around the police shootings? They took down my request and promised to pass it along.

None of the websites for these reps as of this morning had on their front page any statement on the shootings. Hillary Clinton did send out a statement yesterday offering prayers to the family and noting the Department of Justice is investigating and that all of us have a right to live and be safe.

Bernie Sanders tweeted out that a police shooting should automatically trigger a DOJ investigation. That's consistent with his position.

If anything else follows I'll let you know as folks have my info and request for call backs. I would encourage folks to also hit up these lawmakers. Keep in mind, the goal here is not to have them do sit ins, but to have them aggressively push for bills and laws that would hold police accountable and punish them for wrong doing.

On a side note, a number of people have been quoting Malcolm X and stating we need to take this fight around police terror to the United Nations. Folks should know Over the past 3 years the UN has been visited 3 or 4 times by various groups and orgs.

Michael Browns family and a delegation from Ferguson went to the UN in Geneva. They addressed the assembly..A group from Chicago called We Charge Genocide went to the UN. I think the Atlantic did a story on them. We had them on our show to speak on this.

The Dream Defenders in Florida went to the UN twice...we had report backs from them.

During those trips delegations dealing with the issue of political prisoners which consisted of former Black Panthers like Dhoruba Bin-Wahad were also in Geneva before the United Nations.

Anyone proposing we should go to the UN, should follow up with the people and groups who went and understand that the UN is not always our friend."

— Davey Cook, Oakland

MUSIC AT HILL HOUSE THIS WEEKEND

Hill House Inn presents two nights of Music this weekend July 8 & 9.

First on Friday night, the Hill House is the unveiling of the Piano Bar! Enjoy new menu items, and a fresh drink menu all to live piano music provided by the talented Billy Schieve. The fun begins at 4pm and goes 'til 8 with No Cover Charge. It’s a whole new Hill House Bar and Grill, drop in and see.

Then on Saturday, quality homegrown rock 'n' roll with "Highway One" is guaranteed to get your motor runnin'. With Sean Van Buskirk at the wheel, Philip Dunn navigating, Sean "Connie man" Connolly and Chris Dunn and Brian Urban back seat driving, you will want to jump up and go for the ride of your life. Four decades of Road Worthy Rock from Highway One. They play some from Fleetwood Mac, The Byrds, The Eagles, Blue Oyster Cult, Deep Purple, The Cars, just to name a few. On Saturday, doors open at 6PM for casual dining with full bar. Music starts at 7:30PM. $12 at the door. 937-1732 for more information and table reservations.