Mendocino County Today: Friday, July 15, 2016

• Blowback
• Sequeira Money
• Eros Incarcerated
• Arson/Joyrider
• Mom Eviction
• Homestead Weekend
• AVA Move
• Wolfe Arraigned
• Rios-Barron Sentenced
• Yesterday's Catch
• RFFI Volunteers
• Popular Radio
• Cultural Assimilation
• LakeCo GJ
• Brava Wars
• Fence Riders
• Green Bonds
• Burned
• Huff's Supervote
• Pure Mendocino
• Herbicide Protest
• Kubrick-isms
• Retirement Agenda
• Charter Project
• Frackwater Irrigation

MOST DAYS bring a deluge of unencouraging news. Somewhere in the world there's been an appalling slaughter of innocent people. The death statistics from the Middle East are numbing. We barely notice. Today's body count was torqued upwards when a terrorist drove a semi into a crowd of French people celebrating Bastille Day. Which is what comes from the bipartisan destabilization of the Middle East begun by Bush and continued by Obama-Hillary. It's called 'blowback' and there's no end to it.

THE SUPES blithely handed former Assistant District Attorney Paul Sequeira a cool $50,000 Tuesday via their consent calendar, meaning no one even thought it was worth a public discussion.

THIS PARTICULAR GIFT of public funds has occurred because, well, it has, and because it's easy to settle disputes with public money rather than out of the pockets of the people who made the deal.

OF COURSE the Supes would say they paid Sequeira the money to prevent him from suing for even more money. But how do we know, really, if he was entitled to it since it all arose out of a beef between two old pals who went to college together, DA Eyster and Assistant DA Sequeira.

ESSENTIALLY, DA EYSTER told Sequeira he'd pay Sequeira a certain amount. That agreement was never formalized in the form of a contract, at least a contract anybody can find. So it became a he said, he said deal and fifty thou public money walks out the door.

NO ONE ever has known, except Eyster and Sequeira, what the price of Sequeira's informal agreement was. But whatever it was Sequeira was happy with it for almost five years, and who works for five years without knowing to the penny what he's making.

JUST SAYIN' HERE, but how do us taxpayers know that the two old buds didn't get together to, well, uh, rip us off, both knowing that "the County" could be depended on to fork over? Is it unreasonable to at least wonder if the fifty grand isn't a parting gift to a guy who was leaving anyway for a better job?

SEQUEIRA, like Eyster is a gifted prosecutor who now works in a comparable job in Solano County, which is a less onerous commute from Sequeira's home in West SoCo.

MOST SUSPICIOUSLY of all, the only person claiming that Sequeira had a job contract is his boss, Eyster. The County says there was no contract but that Sequeira was the DA's "at will" employee. No one has said what Sequeira's deal was worth, but Eyster has said there was a written contract. Which no one can find.

BUT NOW that the out-the-door deal is done I doubt anybody is looking for it.

DA SPOKESMAN MIKE GENIELLA, asked for comment, promptly responded, making it clearer than clear, that the confusion and more than four years of indefensible bumbling, were all on the County's end.

GENIELLA WRITES:

Attached is contract as sent to county admin, and the fiscal details.

"DA Eyster, CEO Carmel Angelo and then County Counsel Jeanine Nadel all agreed with the terms of the proposed contract in April, 2011.

"Then the Mendocino County Management Bargaining United objected to the contract because it did not adhere to their MOU with county, so finally two years later on Nov. 5, 2013 the Board of Supervisors adopted a resolution (13-191) stating that the Assistant District Attorney position was reclassified, and outside the Management Unit's MOU.

"That was supposed to be the last hurdle. Never done, however.

"Also, there is a copy of a request by the DA's office dated 4/19/2011 for the contract to be placed on the Board of Supervisors' 4/26/2011 agenda for board authorization of employment agreement (contract). 'The agreement and resume is included,' the request states.

"The matter never made it to the board agenda, but records are clear that everyone involved at the county administrative level had copies of the proposed contract, and the necessary documentation for the DA's office to enter into the employee agreement with Sequeira.

"Finally I'd note that there was an estimated $20,000 annual savings over what the position paid because Sequeira waived retirement benefits. (See financial analysis). Today the new Assistant DA is being paid the $115,000 plus benefits, with board approval."

IN OTHER WORDS, there was an approved contract but the County managed to lose it for more than four years, hence the retroactive payout for three-quarters of the pay Sequeira had coming to him as he departed for his new job with Solano County.

YEARS AGO, around 1998, we covered a public romance arising, you might say, in Fort Bragg. It involved a woman now called Eros Nelson (then named Eros Hamilton Talbot) and a teenage boy named Matt Evans. The couple wanted to marry. The prob was that Eros, then 34, was more than a decade older, her love interest still a keen teen, and we all know that a teenage boy lost to eros is in no condition to make a marriage agreement that might outlast his erection. Eros had, as I recall, stated that if she couldn't marry the kid she'd adopt him. It all resolved itself in the vague way that Mendocino County resolves matters, and the couple became a couple that went on from the connubial bliss that inspired their relationship to drugs and, as Eros herself told me the other day from the County Jail, to "stealing lots of stuff for the past year." Which translates, I would suppose, stealing stuff to feed a dependence on crank. The recent arrest of Eros and her guy has seen the guy released but Eros still in jail, meaning that Mendocino County has done the impossible, imprisoning Eros, never once confined anywhere in all of human history but often thwarted. Another first for Mendocino County! She says the jail won't let her write letters out, as during the same call Eros told us she doesn't have any money on her books, meaning no money for stamps to write us a letter explaining how she arrived where she is. The County Jail does not interfere with inmate communications, although phone calls are monitored. We slapped a twenty on Eros's books because we want to hear from her what exactly has happened to her. Not to be too much of a bleeding heart about her situation, but Eros was weeping and threatening suicide, one more case, looked at objectively, of the Sheriff being put in the position of mental health facility of last resort, but one more excellent example of why the Sheriff's proposed in-County mental health facility is an absolute necessity.

THE MORNING BEGAN with the following from the Sheriff's Office:

Looking For A Person Of Interest

MCSO deputies are investigating this morning's fire east of the Mendocino K-8 school, which is not currently in session. The fire was put out quickly and without incident. Deputies are looking for a person of interest described as a white adult male, late teens to early twenties, shoulder length blondish hair, no facial hair and wearing dirty, baggy pants without shoes. This person of interest is believed to have told witnesses to the fire of seeing an armed gunman. Deputies believe this was only a diversionary tactic. If you see a person matching the description above please call MCSO Dispatch at (707)463-4086.

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Suspect Taken Into Custody In Today's School Fire

MendocinoSportsPlus received a cancellation @ 5:14 pm of the "Reverse-911" call for the subject wanted in this morning's arson near the Mendocino K-8 School. It said a suspect had been taken into custody.

We'll await a further press release from the sheriff.

The call from the sheriff department said, "Please cancel previous reverse 911 on suspect in the area of 44000 block of Little Lake Rd in Mendocino. Suspect is in custody Mendocino County Sheriffs Office. Thank you."

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Sheriff Reveals Identity Of Search Suspect

Believed To Be 18-Year-Old Simon Raye

Nothing has been posted on the Mendocino County Jail site (yet), but the Mendocino Sheriff Department released the following information regarding the apprehension of a suspect in the "Mendocino Incidents" this morning that involved a stolen vehicle and a vegetation fire near the Mendocino K-8 School off Little Lake Street: "Deputies developed information that the suspect in this incident is 18-year-old Simon Raye. Simon Raye was eventually located by Mendocino County Deputy Sheriff’s in the City of Fort Bragg Thursday at approximately 4:30 pm. Raye was arrested without incident and will be lodged at the Mendocino County Jail with bail set at $25,000." We'll post the booking information when it appears on the Mendocino County Jail site.

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Here's An Interesting 'Add-On' To Today's Arson Story

According to the Mendocino Sheriff Department, a stolen vehicle (from Lansing Street) was found on Big River Beach stuck in the sand by the (as yet unnamed) "suspect" in today's arson near the K-8 School.

But it may have been the SECOND vehicle he took.

This was posted to the MCNlistsev @ 3:18 pm today:

"This morning I woke up to find my car in Heider Field with the hood open! I couldn't believe it and as it was 5:30am I had a cup of coffee before I went out to explore.

Someone, and we now know who, was a very busy and naughty boy last night. My beloved little white Yaris was hot-wired and driven into the field. The little bastard left behind his snack of beef jerky and destroyed my ignition switch as well as cutting all the electrical wires under the dash.

The car was towed to the shop and we'll see Monday what the insurance adjuster thinks. The good news is that since he was barefoot he didn't muddy up the carpeting OY VEY!!!"

(Courtesy, MendocinoSportsPlus)

NEEDS HOUSING (Daphne Mejia)

Hello

Sad news for our family. Help needed

Three years ago we moved up to my home town (Mendo) into the house I was born in. We were told we could stay forever (yes forever!). It was emotional because I grew up in the house and felt like we might be living my parents life, but if you've been to our house you know it's HEAVEN! It has always been a huge part of my heart and so we jumped in and made all our own beautiful memories over these last three years. It has been amazing. We get to watch our boys fall in love with the same land I did and we also get to be here for my fabulous father who is ill.

Well just last week my mom told me she would like to move back in. And by move in I don't mean in WITH us. She wants the house back — and would like us to move out! We are heart broken, confused and, well, devastated.

We are looking for somewhere just as magical, which I can't believe exists but I'm trying to hope. We can buy or rent but would like something long term, as not to break any more hearts. We were paying a lot of rent to my parents for rent so we are flexible.

Thanks for reading.

Daphne

daphnemejia@gmail.com

KEEPING IT SIMPLE

by Carole Brodsky

Thirty-odd years ago, the Simple Living Workshop made its debut at the Redwood Empire Fairgrounds - a weekend-long event which had its origins at the Ukiah Community Center. Buddy Eller, Cathy Monroe, Neill Bell, Judy Judd, Cathy Brigham and other early founders of the UCC organized the original events at fairgrounds in Ukiah, and after a few years, it was moved to Boonville, sometime in the early ‘80’s.

At that time, driving force for the event was the growing number of back-to-the-landers moving to the county, many of whom were making a first-time transition from urban to rural life - eager readers who gobbled up the Whole Earth Catalog, Rodale Press and the Mother Earth News - early homesteaders hungry to connect with like-minded individuals, hone new skills and yes, have a little fun in the process.

Times have changed, and for the most part, things have gotten a LOT less simple. Yet individuals and families are still attempting to move to the hills, still seeking to learn many of the same skills - growing and processing their own food, building sustainable homes and becoming more directly involved in the stewardship and preservation of their piece of Mother Earth.

The 2016 Not So Simple Living Fair is scheduled for July 29^th, 30^th and 31^st at the Mendocino County Fairgrounds in Boonville. Event sponsors include the Anderson Valley Foodshed Group, the Cloud Forest Institute, Mendocino County Public Broadcasting and the Toll House at Bell Valley.

The extraordinarily affordable weekend will feature back-to-back workshops and presentations focused on hands-on, practical, sustainable, homesteading skills. This year, over 80 individuals will provide attendees with a wide range of information on numerous topics - and yes, there will still be a little fun in the process. Food, music and kids’ activities round out the schedule, making for a satisfying and enriching weekend.

The all-volunteer committee meets almost year-round. They will begin next year’s planning soon after the conclusion of this event. Coordinators assemble the complex schedule, the vetting of presenters, book the entertainment offerings and puzzle out logistics, with additional groups of volunteers recruited to work all aspects of the three-day event.

The event’s organizing committee consists of a competent and committed “who’s who” of original and next-gen proponents of the Simple Life: Lynda McClure, Jenny Burnstad, Captain Rainbow, Jini Reynolds, Linda MacElwee, Sophia Bates, Rob Goodell, Renee Wilson, Kathy Borst, Carin Bokhof, Steve and Margie Fish, Barbara Lamb, Jade Paget-Seekins, and Beth Riedel.

Last week, the committee gathered at the home of Lynda McClure and Jenny Burnstad for another planning session, discussing the program, logistics and all the little details as the weekend draws nearer. Spread sheets, notepads, fairground maps, dry-erase boards, paper cutters, iPads and laptops accompanied the committee members.

Though the agenda was long, the group forged through the hefty list and potluck dinner, still managing to conclude the meeting in time for farmers to bring in their animals and commuters to head over the hill, just as twilight was setting in. Organizers thoughtfully and often humorously pinned their decisions to the mission of the event, vocalizing an abiding respect for presenters and the public.

Issues ranged from when volunteers should pick up unsold tickets from the local venues to which presenters needed PowerPoint equipment. Making sure the kitchen is spick-and-span following the pancake breakfast, so that the cheese-making workshop can start on time. Checking that public service announcements are being broadcast. Coordinating the finish time of the BBQ’d meat with the start time of the pot-luck. Asking who gets keys to what building. Discussing the challenges of acoustics in various buildings, and clarifying the types of presentations that meet the criteria for the event.

From spell-checking to signage, this is the rather unglamorous world of event planning, and hats off to the stalwart volunteers who take enormous amounts of time out of their busy lives to make things happen. Along with the acquisition of practical skills, coordinators hope the event will also translate into greater localization efforts and deeper community cohesion.

History

The first Simple Living Workshop was held in 1980. Workshops included sheep shearing, fence building, tarot reading and how to stack a cord of wood. Solar was still so expensive that most people were still trying to figure out how to pay for it. Yurts were on display and the battle over “Class K” housing was the hot-button political issue. Staff camped at Bear Wallow in Philo or bunked down in a big army tent on the grounds. Rod Shippey was a featured speaker, and the event sometimes coincided with the sheepdog trials. A pre-Dreadlocked Rootstock came out of the hills and performed, and a few years later, a sell-out crowd danced to Tommy Tutone, following his hit, “867-5309 Jenny.” After hours, there was a hot tub, and people unabashedly doffed their clothes and took to the waters. Troll and Marilyn “Motherbear” Brandon ran the Random Family Circus children’s area, and at night, Troll, all 5’1” of him, fully tricked out in black leather chaps, vest, serious Concho jewelry, cowboy boots and black hat was the only security the dance needed.

Following the Community Center’s final effort, the Anderson Valley Foodshed Group organized a retrospective event in 2010 - rebranding it, appropriately and with just a little tongue in cheek, as the “NOT So Simple Living Fair.”

Jade Paget-Seekins

The daughter of Diane Paget, an early Anderson Valley back-to-the-lander is taking a page out of her mother’s playbook to become an event organizer this year. “My mother remembered the original events, and she helped coordinate Not So Simple for a number of years,” Paget-Seekins notes. “It’s an event she was dedicated to working on.”

Diane Paget moved to Mendocino County in 1970, according to Paget-Seekins. “She grew up in Southern California, went to college in Berkeley and took the Greyhound Bus to Anderson Valley, where she got a job working at Clearwater Ranch.” Paget left for a year to travel and study midwifery in England, returning to Anderson Valley in about 1975. “Judy Nelson’s child was the first baby my mom delivered in California,” says Paget-Seekins.

“One of the things that I notice and find most heartwarming is that the event appeals to people all ages. Kids have a wonderful time, as well as people in their ‘60 and ‘70’s, sharing skills with the next generation. I appreciate friends and neighbors, sharing and teaching what they know,” says Paget-Seekins. One of the things that Diane was passionate about was coordinating the Zero Waste element of the event- something that was a standard practice for the older generation attending family picnics. Today, in our throwaway society, bringing one’s own dishes to an event seems like a foreign concept.

“My mom made and sold bags of dishes that people could take to other potlucks and events. She also coordinated a re-use table - a contest where people diverted items from the waste stream, made other things from those items and showed them off. One thing I remembered with my mom about the early Simple Living events was mothers sitting on the lawn, breastfeeding together,” Paget-Seekins smiles.

Rob Goodell

Rob Goodell attended the original Simple Living events, and was an early transplant to Anderson Valley. He has been a coordinator and presenter for Not So Simple and this year will offer two workshops - one, a 40-year retrospective on the ongoing experiment at his family’s home, Rancho Kai Pomo. “This will be a holistic look at 'doing it' from scratch as a nuclear family in the hills of Anderson Valley. I will use a display to structure the presentation and will take questions,” says Goodell.

Goodell’s second workshop will be on Passive Solar Energy and Pole House Building.

“Passive solar energy is probably the most important source of alternative energy we have available, and its potential impacts on better living, less energy consumption, and a more sustainable architecture are extremely important. Pole house construction is just one way to feature passive solar architecture and it will be a model for the class.”

For this year’s event, Goodell worked on the presenters’ committee, teaming up with Linda MacElwee, Lynda McClure and Sophia Bates. “Previously, I used to participate with the Permaculture Group and Mark Albert. We’ve been around for a long time - 35 years, doing our thing. It was kind of a narrow focus - botanical, grafting, and seed exchange. Mark was the lead on that. This year, we’re going to have a Garden Tour from the Fair to the community garden. That’s what we have to focus on- what’s possible, what we can do.”

“We live about a half-mile from the fairgrounds,” says Goodell. “I recall going down to the original Simple Living event for several years. It was fabulous - much more creative and full of potential, because we were younger and we had access to land, which is really bothersome to me now. I remember the Japanese folk from Clearlake pounding mochi, and I definitely remember a hot tub,” he smiles.

“These days, we certainly have a little more technology, which works for and against us, depending how you use it. With solar hot water systems, I’ve found that it’s more economical to have more panels, and heat with panels rather than directly from the sun. But we’re the same evolutionary creatures that we were thousands of years ago. What’s changed is the world. Here we are - the same family on the same piece of land, pretty much doing the same thing as when we arrived 40 years ago. Barbara, myself and my two sons have been the team. When I look back - who do I know that is still doing this? Not that many people,” Goodell notes.

“In the early days we were all reading Diet for a Small Planet. There was always an element of New Age connected to the Back-to-the-Land movement. We thought if you ate meat, it was basically ok, but you were supposed to be a vegetarian to get in touch with a higher plane of existence,” he smiles. “We were vegetarians because we couldn’t get ahold of good meat,” he laughs.

Goodell muses on the complexities of cannabis culture that became inexorably entwined with the Back-to-the-Land movement. “It’s been hard to deal with cannabis as income more than as a sacred plant. But it’s human nature. I’ve got nothing critical to say. It’s part of life now, but a lot of interest went into making money on pot rather than how to make money homesteading.”

“A few people like John Schaeffer are an outstanding example of someone who provided “real goods” and found a way to make money doing it. We older folks have to accept the world the way it was and not the way we wanted it to be - to adapt to the reality of getting older. Our idealistic values have probably become more realistic. But I still feel like I want to support younger people with their idealism and great visions, because in their visions are possibilities.”

“I don’t enjoy the Sierra Nevada or the Beer Fest. We don’t go to San Francisco anymore. We honestly don’t go to Santa Rosa or even Ukiah. The pace of life is such that we have it so good at home, why go anywhere? We made a lot of changes when we were young. We were open to many changes. It came out of the Vietnam War for me, because I was an unwitting participant. A that time, I thought, what do we have to lose? Let’s get far away from the Establishment, as far as we could - build a home, grow food, work in community.”

“I’m almost getting something like a religion, and I’m an Atheist, but my values are that nature is always in charge,” Goodell smiles. “It’s been a good day; every day we’ve been here. Other people deserve that. It’s astounding that that opportunity has been shut down so much. I do not have blind faith in capitalism. I don’t think we have a supportable economy or government, and I believe these life skills will become increasingly more important to communities in the future. But for now, we enjoy putting on this event, and we really look forward to it. It’s an ongoing community effort, an uncompromised labor of love,” he concludes.

Sophia Bates

“Not very many people remember very much about the early Simple Living events,” laughs Sophia Bates. “Now we have another wave - about a generation and a half. The interesting thing is that our presenters are people of different ages - not just young people coming to learn from elders. There are older people coming to learn skills from younger people, folks who made the exodus from urban life and want to be in touch with nature. We hear people saying, ‘I want to have a garden, bees, chickens,’ and now they can find time to do it.”

One thing that Bates addresses as a distinctive difference between early and current homesteading efforts is the challenge of acquiring land. “What’s different now from the first round? How do we address land-based skills when it’s so hard for people to get a land base, compared to how inexpensive land was in the early years? It’s almost impossible for people to afford land. There’s a wave of creative solutions: farm-linkage, how to live on land that isn’t your own, conversations on community and shared land, land trust, easements - these are the plights of the landed and land-less people. Coming from a family farm myself, we are still discussing this whole process. We’re third-generation and we still don’t own our land outright,” Bates explains.

Bates currently helps to manage a 2,000-acre ranch in Yorkville, raising and selling Cinta Senese hogs, sheep, goats, and poultry - specifically breeding and selling Barred Plymouth Rocks chickens. Bates grew up in the county and remembers her parents and friends raising and slaughtering chickens. “It was a big deal. It was unfamiliar territory for them. I was a vegetarian for a long time growing up. I ended up raising 4-H animals. I’d raise an animal for my parents to eat, but, the processing of the animal wasn’t part of their skill set and happened elsewhere. I learned animal processing working from the skinning perspective and while living in Maine, where processing was more integrated into farm life. My parent’s generation still has some disconnect from the meat aspect of where their food comes from. In my generation, there’s a huge hunger for people to be connected to meat. I teach processing classes in other venues, and half the class are vegan and vegetarian, because they don’t have a connection to the meat. They’ve never had the opportunity to make a connection with the whole process,” notes Bates, adding that she has probably “converted” 30 vegetarians to meat consumption, just through witnessing the process and being primed for the experience.

Bates may end up offering a chicken processing course during the weekend, but along with being a major coordinator, she will be teaching an all-day animal processing workshop the Sunday before the event. The locally-grown animals processed will be cooked up and eaten at the Saturday night community potluck. “This is a real workshop. If you come, you process half an animal with another person. We’re feeding the village. This group of people at the workshop will get together to feed this temporary village.”

Bates emphasizes that not only the coordinators but the presenters are an all-volunteer group. “We spend a little money on hospitality for the speakers, who are also taking time out of their busy lives, but this event is truly a labor of love. There’s some sweet quality about an all-volunteer event, but to truly become a sustainable event, how do each of us sustain our own lives so that we can sustain this? Once you turn volunteer positions into paid positions, the quality and the intimacy of everyone coming together changes.”

“Just by its nature, the growth of the event has continued to be slow and steady. We don’t need to push it. It’s awesome as it is.” Bates notes the ambiance of the event - so different from the clamber of a festival or a party. “There’s a quiet focus when you walk around, when workshops are going on. People are really focused. It’s very peaceful,” Bates concludes.

Workshops

"Never before has the schedule been up at the beginning of July,” smiles Steve Fish, who has been working on producing the schedule and preparing the program handout. “We have so many workshops that the program is going to a larger format this year,” he told the group.

The schedule is broken up into eight separate components - Wild Food, Kids and Everyone, Shelter, Water and Energy, Homesteading Skills, Food, Farming and Gardening, Animal Husbandry and the “Conversation Café” area, which will be set up for more informal discussions about a variety of topics.

Presenters and workshops will be added and finalized right up to the final week of the event, so check the website for the latest information. Just a few of the scheduled topics include Bread-making, Aquaponic Basics, Goat Milking, Basic Forging Practices, Bee Hive Crafting, Farm Tours, Seed Saving, Canning, Livestock Management, Rabbit Raising, Acorn Processing, Composting, Drip Irrigation, Broom and Brush Making, Solar Oven Use, Earthquake Preparedness, Spinning and Fiber Introduction, Berries for the Homestead, Cheese Making, Fermentation, and Fence-Building.

A partial list of presenters include Ali Boeker, Alice Woelfle-Erskine, Andy Balestracci, Anna Birkas, Barbara Goodell, Bill Meyer, Bill Seekins, Bill Taylor, Carol Cox, Carolyn Carleton Browe, Cindy Wilder, Corine Pearce, David Severn, David Skillman, Debbie Baron, Donna d'Terra, Vicky Salcido-Cobb, Georgia Lane, Doug Browe, Ed Nieves, Eleanor Adams, Erika Kesenheimer, Erika McKenzie-Chapter, Familia Mendoza, Frederick Smith, Gary Johnson, Greg Krouse, Jack Davis, Jane Zeni, Jennifer Riddell, Jes Pearce, Jim Boudoures, John Bemesderfer, John Cunnan, Julie Liebenbaum, Kevin Owens, Liz Schroeder, Luke Frey, Maria Gilardin, Mary Pat Palmer, Mike Luparello, Paige Poulos, Patrick Schafer, Rebekah Carson, Renee Wilson, Steven Edholm, Sue Davies, Tim Bates, Tim Bray, Tom Shaver and Wynne Crisman.

Zero Waste

Cottage Industry and Food Vendors will be on hand, but Styrofoam plates will not.

“At the Not-So-Simple Living Fair, one of our goals is to generate a minimal amount of trash. Over the last three years, we have ended up with less than two bags of trash at the end of the weekend each year,” notes coordinator Lynda McClure.

“We do this by asking everyone to ‘BYO.’ Bring your own dishes, which includes water bottles. We also have a BYO vendor if you find yourself at the event without dishes. We compost all paper products along with all food waste, and we will have clearly marked cans for compost, recycle and trash, as well as a dish-washing station and filtered water staffed by interns from the Solar Living Center,” McClure notes.

In addition to the on-site food vendors, coordinators encourage hungry guests to frequent the many delightful eateries in downtown Boonville.

Keynote Speakers

On Sunday, visitors will have a rare opportunity to hear the thoughts of three Mendocino County-based powerhouses of agriculture, herbalism and ranching - John Jeavons, Donna d’Terra and Mac Magruder. It will take place from 2:00 to 3:30.

The Keynote topic is, “How Do We Keep On Keepin’ On?”

John Jeavons, Executive Director of the non-profit Ecology Action of the Mid-Peninsula is the leading researcher, developer, teacher, and consultant for the small-scale, high-yielding, agricultural method known as GROW BIOINTENSIVE® (GB) Sustainable Mini-Farming, and author of the best-seller: How to Grow More Vegetables—and Fruits, Nuts Berries and Other Crops Than You Ever Thought Possible On Less Land Than You Can Imagine.

Jeavons has authored, co-authored or edited more than 200 publications and peer-reviewed papers on the Biointensive approach and related topics. His methods are used in 151 countries by organizations including UNICEF, Save the Children, and the Peace Corps. Jeavons and staff advise students, teachers, farmers, and representatives of private, non-profit and governmental organizations, participating in cross-cultural exchange of agricultural methods.

Jeavon’s comprehensive, sustainable cropping system enables people throughout the world to grow a balanced diet on a small plot of land. Former U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Bob Bergland said of his work, "The Jeavons approach…would do more to solve the problems of poverty, misery and hunger than anything else we've done."

A political science graduate of Yale University, Jeavons worked for USAID and Stanford before devoting 44 years to the development of Biointensive techniques. He been twice nominated for the World Food Prize, once for the Pew Scholars Award in Conservation and the Environment, and was featured in two PBS documentaries. Jeavons has addressed the World Food Conference at Clemson University and initiated conferences and lectures and teaching programs at UC Davis, Stanford University and universities throughout Mexico. He regularly addresses national, international, and university audiences on the role individuals play in providing solutions to world environment and food challenges.

Donna d’Terra is the founder and director of the Motherland Botanical Sanctuary and Herb School, located in the hills outside of Willits. d’Terra is a lifelong student of the plants and the land, and has been teaching herb classes for the past 30 years, with a focus on local, sustainable and restorative herbalism.

Motherland is a 160-acre botanical sanctuary located 25 minutes northeast of Willits. The beautiful, rugged land contains many habitats which are home to a wide variety of plant, animal and bird life. The cultivated gardens contain over 200 species of herbs. Electricity at Motherland is generated by solar and hydro-power, with other unique features including a wood-fired hot tub, a composting toilet, and a living "willow wall" used for erosion control along the creek.

For the past 20 years, d’Terra has offered a nine-month Herbal Apprentice Class for women. One of her current passions is helping to educate and train the next generation of herb teachers. She is also a storyteller in the Baubo tradition.

Mac Magruder is a fourth-generation manager of the Magruder Ranch (aka Ingel-Haven Ranch) in Potter Valley, where his father raised some cattle and hay, but primarily grew pears. In the mid-‘70’s, upon completing his graduate program in Ceramic Sculpture at the University of Washington, his father fell ill, and Magruder returned home to run the ranch.

His decided to remove the pears and build the cow/calf operation, relying on the wisdom and generosity of older Potter Valley ranchers, who helped him learn the business. Initially, Magruder was frustrated with the process of raising an animal for a year, sending it to auction and relinquishing all he’d worked for. Rod Shippey, Mendocino County’s visionary farm advisor encouraged him to investigate holistic ranch management, including rotational grazing and low-input, organic pasture production.

Magruder learned to raise food in cooperation with the land, thereby enhancing the health of the consumer, the soil, the landscape, and the animals. Fresh feed, open space, a healthy ecosystem and a low-stress lifestyle increased the wellbeing of animals and the quality and safety of the meat.

For thirty-five years, Magruder has been raising grass-finished beef, and now lamb, on fertile, irrigated pastures and open hill ground - rich with naturally growing legumes and grasses, providing year-round grazing in a holistic, rotational system. Land is grazed and rested for proper plant recovery. Cattle and lambs are fattened on the ranch’s pastures, and harvested when conditions are conducive to proper animal growth. Following processing at the closest USDA slaughterhouse, meat is sold directly to butcher shops, restaurants, markets, and individuals in Northern California.

Magruder and his wife Kate manage the Ranch in partnership with their daughter Grace, her husband Kyle Farmer, and grand-daughter June.

Entertainment

On Friday night, a “Campfire Cabaret” open mic event will take place, coordinated by Anderson Valley’s own Captain Rainbow, starting at dusk. “Bring your top hats, tubas, hula-hoops, feathers, illusions…your glockenspiels, talking llamas, epic ballads, twinkle toes and moon howls,” says Rainbow. The event is free for performers, for those with a weekend pass and just $5 for everyone else. For more information contact Rainbow at (707) 895-3807.

Following the potluck extravaganza on Saturday night, music will begin at 8:00, featuring Pura Vida and Self-Fulfilling Prophecies. Separate tickets for the dance are available at the gate.

Pura Vida is Mendocino County’s original Latin-inspired dance band, who have brought eclectic Latin rhythms to North Coast audiences for over 20 years. In addition to their signature Cuban songs, Pura Vida performs Cumbia, Merengue, Flamenco, Brazilian Bossa and Samba rhythms, interwoven with a sprinkling of Rock, Jazz and Funk. Pura Vida’s spicy Latin music is diverse, energetic and always danceable, bringing “Pure Life” to any celebration. The band features Roberto Gloria, Jorge Gomez, Margi Gomez, Isa Davila, & Lenny Laks.

The fun continues with Self Fulfilling Prophecies. Anticipate a head boppin’, foot stompin’ good time with this power-trio, performing all-original songs. Self Fulfilling Prophecies has something for everyone. With influences ranging from punk, country, rock, reggae, and world beat, they are pure Americana, with some punk and edge thrown in. Their sound is colored with intense emotion, at times leaving the audience in trance-like states. The band has deep roots as second-gen Mendo natives, playing venues in and around Mendocino County for many years. Morgan Stocker (the Stock Rocker) is the vocalist, foot drummer and guitarist; Buckminster West plays wailing guitar, and Bodhi Idarius will not be missed on bass.

Potluck

The mother of all potlucks takes place every year at Not So Simple, and attendees only need follow a few instructions to avail themselves of the feast.

Wristbands will be issued to fair-goers and members of their party when they drop off potluck item. Wristbands will need to be shown in the food line to ensure that all potluck participants are able to appreciate the bounty of delicious, homemade food.

If you would like to participate in the Saturday Local Food Potluck, please bring a salad, side dish, dessert or drinks to serve 6-8 people, and your own place settings. The Not So Simple Living Fair supplies BBQ’d, locally raised meat, rice and beans. Bringing something from your garden or purchased from the Farmers Market is encouraged, but not essential.

Potluck dishes may be left in June Hall on Saturday. A limited number of coolers are available, so staff asks to help by bringing your own. There is no place to cook or reheat food.

Volunteers

For only a three-hour commitment, volunteers receive free, one-day admission to the event. “Please consider helping us with a variety of tasks, such as working at the entrance gates, setting up or tearing down the stage, cleaning up after the event, helping with the Kids area, kitchen or the Saturday potluck, providing presenter support, or a few other specialized tasks,” says Jade Paget-Seekins, who is coordinating volunteers.

For a 4.5-hour commitment, volunteers are awarded free admission to the entire weekend. Volunteering must be arranged before the event, and all support is very much appreciated. There are also volunteer spots available on Friday, and before and after specific workshops. “We make every effort to accommodate your schedule if there is a workshop you are interested in attending. We are very flexible,” Paget-Seekins smiles. Prime volunteer slots get snatched up early, so don’t hesitate. Contact Jade at (707) 895-3354 or sagejade@gmail.com for more information.

Logistics, Parking & Tickets

Camping is available for fair attendees at $10 per car. Sorry, no dogs allowed. Parking is available at the Fairgrounds lot on Highway 128, along Highway 128, and also in the Fairgrounds parking lot on Lambert Lane. After Friday night, vehicles and campers must enter the Fairgrounds through the back gate on Lambert Lane.

Gates open 3:00 pm Friday and 9:00 AM Saturday and Sunday. Early bird, single-day and weekend tickets are available.

Walk-in entry and ticket purchases are at the Fairgrounds front gate on Highway 128 and at the Fairgrounds back gate on Lambert Lane.

Advance Tickets can be purchased at JD Redhouse in Willits, Ukiah Natural Foods, Boont Berry Farm, Out of this World in Mendocino, Harvest Market in Fort Bragg, and at http://www./event/brownpapertickets.com/event/2544823. Kids 16 and under are free, and note- no credit cards- only cash and checks will be accepted at the gate.

For general information phone (707) 901-7080. For information and to view the complete schedule visit: http://notsosimple.info/2016-workshop-schedule/ and http://notsosimple.info.

THE AVA has moved. We are now ensconced in a trailer next door to the Redwood Drive-In, central Boonville. Although the move is complete, the new premises are a work in progress.

WE'VE GOT miscellaneous items for sale: a whole bunch of plastic tubs with lids that fit and in good condition; a working office frig which also works; a battered love seat that hasn't seen love in many years, if ever, it's so uncomfortable; a retro telephone; a fetid semi-functioning microwave. Of all this stuff, the tubs are the most viable. 707/895-3016

THOSE OF YOU following the John Wolfe case — he's the guy who savagely struck Mrs. Knight last weekend in Navarro — will want to know that he was arraigned Wednesday in Ten Mile Court, Fort Bragg. Wolfe has a prior 2013 drunk driving conviction out of Sonoma County and a reputation in the Anderson Valley for hitting women. He was arraigned on felony battery charges. Kevin Davenport is prosecuting the case for the DA. Wolfe is claiming that Mrs. Knight, a grandmother, attacked him, and that he acted in self-defense after Mrs. Knight had objected to insulting remarks about her husband, Adrian Knight.

RIOS-BARRON FOUND GUILTY

UKIAH, Wed., July 13. -- A jury returned in less than an hour from its deliberations this afternoon with guilty verdicts against Efrain Rios Barron, age 36, of Hopland. Rios Barron was convicted of domestic battery and brandishing, both misdemeanors, said offenses occurring on June 7, 2016. After the jury was thanked and excused, the defendant was sentenced to 36 months formal (supervised) probation. As terms of that probation, the defendant was ordered to serve 90 days in the county jail, to enroll in and complete a 52-week domestic violence/anger management course, to abstain from alcohol and drugs, to perform 25 hours of community service, to not own or possess firearms, and to not possess any dangerous weapons. A criminal protective order is in place that restrains the defendant from having any contact with the victim and her children. The prosecutor who presented the People's evidence at trial was Deputy District Attorney Jessica McCall. This was Ms. McCall's first jury trial in Mendocino County, Ms. McCall having previously served as a prosecutor in Nevada County. The law enforcement agency who conducted the original investigation leading to the defendant's arrest was the Mendocino County Sheriff's Office. Mendocino County Superior Court Judge Jeannine Nadel presided over the three-day trial.

(District Attorney Press Release)

CATCH OF THE DAY, July 14, 2016

LORENZO ALCANTAR-SILVA, Ukiah. Pot sales.

JOSHUA BELL, Fort Bragg. Probation revocation.

DERICK BILOW, Ukiah. Drunk in public.

SARAH CLAYTON, Ukiah. Battery.

VINCENT FREASE, Ukiah. Under influence.

ARMONDO HERNANDEZ, Ukiah. Attempted murder, street gang participation,

MIGUEL HERNANDEZ-SUTHERLAND, Ukiah. Vehicle theft, vandalism, probation revocation.

LON HUNOLT, Manchester. DUI with priors, probation revocation.

ERIC JOYCE, Eugene, Oregon/Willits. Vehicle theft.

NICHOLLE ROUSSEAU, Hanford/Willits. Vehicle theft, petty theft.

RYAN TERKELSEN, Redwood Valley. Probation violation.

MICHAEL VASQUEZ, Ukiah. Failure to appear, probation revocation.

NELSON VOSE, Talmage. Probation revocation.

VOLUNTEER OPPORTUNITY IN SUPPORT OF REDWOOD FORESTS

Dear Friends of our Redwood Forests,

The Redwood Forest Foundation (RFFI) is a local non-profit that is restoring the 50,000 acre Usal Redwood Forest in Northern Mendocino County. Our vision is to establish community-based forests that provide both critical habitat for increased biodiversity and improved regional economic vitality. You can learn more here: http://www.rffi.org/

We are looking for a few volunteers to help us with an invitational event we put on once a year as a thank-you to people who support us during the year. The event is on Saturday, July 23 from 11am to 3pm in a beautiful location just south of Ukiah (with plenty of shade). It features food, interesting speakers, presentations and show & tells about forest and river restoration, owls, biochar, carbon sequestration and more.

We are looking for volunteers to help us on the day of the event. Volunteer tasks could include setting up tables in the morning, helping people park their cars, greeting and signing in people, setting up and serving food for lunch, keeping an eye on displays and help taking things down after the event (around 3pm). We hope to have enough volunteers so that each volunteer can do one or two of these tasks and still have plenty of time to enjoy the food and presentations and to meet many interesting people who all share a love for our redwood forests.

We’d love to welcome you as a volunteer for the Redwood Forest Foundation for this or for future activities! I look forward to telling you more about it.

Johanna “Wildoak” Cummings,
Volunteer Coordinator
Tel: 707 391 8809 (direct)

AUDIO ASSAULT

Most popular national radio programs:

1. The Rush Limbaugh Show
2. Morning Edition Public news
3. The Sean Hannity Show
4. All Things Considered
5. Delilah
6. Marketplace
7. The Dave Ramsey Show
8. The Glenn Beck Program
9. The Mark Levin Show
10. Elvis Duran and the Morning Show
11. The Savage Nation
12. Fresh Air
13. A Prairie Home Companion
14. Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me!
15. Country Music Greats
16. Coast to Coast AM
17. The Hugh Hewitt Show
18. The Lia Show
19. The Thom Hartmann Program
20. The Kim Komando Show

ON LINE COMMENT OF THE DAY

I would suggest that there are wrongs committed on both sides of the racial divide. Fear of violence, loathing of what is perceived to be a degenerate and dysfunctional culture by Whites, an inbred sense of victimhood, absolute suspicion of whites, and violence and crime seen as payback for wrongs, both long past and present.

There are many different minority groups in this country…Asians of all stripe, Hispanics, Russians, Blacks and others. No other minority group demands acceptance without assimilation…except many Blacks. I would suggest that the Blacks who do assimilate, have an easier life in this country, are generally welcomed, and prosper…same for Koreans, Chinese, Hispanics, et al.

The dirty little truth is that no one would object to you if you did not appear thuggish/violent, dressed well, spoke well, and joined what is left of our civilization…you would be welcomed. It is a cultural issue, not a racial one…really. You will never gain acceptance at the threat of violence.

If this does not resonate with you, well…you have my sympathy.

LAKE COUNTY GRAND JURY REPORT 2015-2016

Bad to the bone: See “Role of the Office of Emergency Services in County Disaster Preparedness” (Page 1) and “Board of Supervisors Investigation” (Page 29); also note “Fire Safety in Lake County” (Page 65).

http://www.co.lake.ca.us/Assets/Grand+Jury/Final+Reports/2015-2016+Final+Report.pdf?method=1

(Betsy Cawn)

BERNIE could have asked, “Why the hell did you appoint Dick Cheney aide Victoria Nuland as Under Secretary of State for Eurasia, and support and fund that coup in Ukraine in 2014 in your goddamn ambition to expand NATO?”

But no. He didn’t have it in him. And now he wants his youthful erstwhile followers to transfer their support to someone who is not only the embodiment of Wall Street, with all its blood-sucking and all its crookedness, but the personification of U.S. imperialism in an era when its depth of crisis has produced a state of perpetual war.

Savvy people in Syria and elsewhere surely understand what the Sanders endorsement means: Syria is the next Libya.

Hillary in the Oval Office, Binyamin Netanyahu at her side, will laugh as Assad gets her knife up his ass, chaos deepens, the draft is re-instated, and boys and girls — of all ethnicities, gay and straight together — march off to fight the Brava Wars drastically reducing youth unemployment and making legions more eligible for the GI Bill.

Even if Sanders doesn’t vote for the war (and why should there be a vote, after all, in this post-constitution era?), he will share responsibility.

Shame! And shame on any once “Bernie” supporter who follows him into his moral morass. (Gary Leupp)

THE MEDIA IS TOTALLY WRONG ABOUT THE ROLE OF ATHLETES IN BLACK LIVES MATTER

By Dave Zirin

On Wednesday I appeared on ESPN’s flagship program Outside the Lines, along with current and former pro jocks Jason Richardson, Marcus Spears, and Benjamin Watson. The topic was the role of athletes in the Black Lives Matter movement, and how they can exercise their fame and platform for the greater good.

Outside the Lines is really a singular show. It’s the journalistic jewel of ESPN, and I’m honored every time I’m asked to be a guest. That said, as I was sitting my chair, giving my two cents, there was something about the way the issue was framed that felt odd to me. I couldn’t articulate why until after the red light flicked off — always a terrible feeling — so I’ll make it plain now. To be clear, this isn’t just about Outside the Lines, but the way this issue of athletic activism and the Black Lives Matter movement has been framed across mainstream media in the wake of the killings of Alton Sterling, Philando Castile, and the five police officers of Dallas. I had been seeing it for several days across all of cable television without really seeing it. Here is the way the issue is presented: first there is an intro about the tradition of athletes in social movements, usually featuring Muhammad Ali, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Jim Brown. Then they ask the question: what role can athletes play to be that bridge, that “force for good” between the black community and police?

This very formulation puts us on the wrong path before the conversation about what athletes can do even begins. It warps the proud history of athletic activism and projects a false solution to the problems in front of us. Muhammad Ali did not try to “build a bridge” between the pro-war establishment and anti-war activists. Jim Brown and Kareem did not try to bring together racists and anti-racists to agree upon their mutual antipathy. They took a side. They took a side in order to win a political fight. Today, we see politicians across the landscape talking about building trust and “race relations,” as if all we need is for police and their victims to engage in some trust falls and all will be great. This is a bankrupt position that does nothing to address the fundamental problem: that police continue to be above the law, utterly unable to be prosecuted, and that 99 percent of them would rather play a certain NWA song in their cruisers than speak out against their colleagues. This is a broken system that needs to be dismantled, and taking the side of building bridges and “peace” is taking a position in defense of the status quo: a status quo that only ensures a future of more deaths, more hashtags, and more pain.

Many athletes are currently reckoning with what it means to “be political” and are using their hyper-exalted platform for the first time in their lives. This was seen in the incredibly moving opening to the ESPYs last night. Carmelo Anthony, Chris Paul, Dwyane Wade, and LeBron James spoke powerfully about police violence, said the names of Philando, Alton, Laquan and Trayvon, and called upon athletes to walk in the path of Muhammad Ali and “educate ourselves.” This is a strikingly positive development. Their goal, however, should not be to become yet another in the already vast legion of feckless actors. Instead it should be to support those in the streets risking their safety to stand against hyper-militarized police forces who in too many cities show up to these demonstrations dressed for war. That is what a young Muhammad Ali would do. That is what Wilma Rudolph would do. That is what 1968 Olympian John Carlos did when he spoke to Occupy Wall Street in 2011. I was there and will never forget what Dr. Carlos said: “The point is not to be a star athlete. The point is to stand up wherever you are. I just happened to be one. If I hadn’t made the Olympics, I just would’ve raised my fist in Harlem instead of Mexico City.” Athletes have a critical role in this struggle: they can raise awareness about people’s grievances, attempt to speak to white fans, and legitimize the very question of struggle. But to do that means taking a side, not building a bridge to nowhere. As Howard Zinn said, “You can’t be neutral on a moving train.” Or as Boots Riley put it, “You can’t change shit by riding the fence.”

THINK ABOUT THE THOUGHT LEADER

Dear Supervisors Gjerde, Hamburg, McCowen, Brown, and Woodhouse:,

I'm writing to you as a private citizen.

Please see link below which I received this morning. It's quite exciting.

Callan is MCERA's investment consultant. The total assets under management by Callan's clients exceed $2 trillion. Despite its size and conservative investment philosophy, Callan is a thought leader, pursues innovation that matters, and sets the standard for integrity.

"Green bonds" is now an asset class whose time has come. The Mendocino County should feel comfortable in both investing in green bonds and/or issuing green bonds.

I'm hoping that the time for a county-sponsored community wealth fund may also be at hand.

John Sakowicz

Ukiah

https://www.callan.com/t/Xs1bMo6p7H5gxAW7SmaD_rq2rQa9olv4wxQaVdWkpqM1/research/files/1258.pdf

STILL BERNIN’ —

Humbolt Bernie Supporters Rally at Huffman HQ to Demand his Superdelegate vote.

by Andrew Goff

After more than a year of campaigning, Bernie Sanders signaled the end of his active run for the White House Tuesday, finally giving Hillary Clinton his endorsement while standing side-by-side with her at a Kumbaya campaign rally in Portsmouth, New Hampshire.

“She will be the Democratic nominee for president and I intend to do everything I can to make certain she will be the next President of the United States,” Sanders said at the event. Coopting her own campaign slogan, Clinton trumpeted that she and the Vermont senator “are stronger together” and urged Sanders supporters to help her defeat Donald Trump in November.

Not all Sanders supporters are havin’ it.

Humboldt Sanders supporters gathered Wednesday in Old Town Eureka to signal that they still have some Bern in them. The site chosen for the rally was the sidewalk in front of the Eureka District Office of Congressman Jared Huffman, a superdelegate who has voiced support for Clinton and who will, in all likelihood, cast a vote for Clinton at the Democratic Party Convention later this month. That’s no good, says the Sanders crowd. Local Berners believe that since the voters of Huffman’s district voted for Sanders over Clinton in last month’s primaries — by a 53 to 46 percent margin, districtwide — Huffman should honor the preference of his constituents and cast his superdelegate vote for Bernie.

Among the 20 or so still-Bernin’ protesters chanting and waving signs yesterday afternoon was Robert Shearer of McKinleyville who was recently chosen as a California at-large delegate and will travel to Philadelphia later this month for the convention. (Guess who he’s voting for.) Shearer and others LoCO spoke to were quick to point out that Sanders’ endorsement of Clinton did not mean he’d dropped out of the race: There will still be a full delegate roll call on the floor of the convention, and they will continue to support their candidate despite disillusionment with Clinton and the party’s nominating process.

“There’s just not party unity,” Shearer said. “There’s a deep divide within the Democratic Party that this campaign has highlighted, and at this point a lot of people feel that the door is being shut on them by the establishment.”

Clinton holds a slight pre-conventions lead over Trump in national polls. There has been much pundit hand-wringing over whether or not dejected Sanders supporters will fall in behind the Democratic Party’s presumptive nominee once November rolls around. Shearer, for one, is not ready to offer his support to Clinton at this point.

“I really can’t speak to that at this time,” he said. “I don’t feel that she’s made the concessions that I want to hear.”

Shearer made sure to note that he was not endorsing anyone outside of the Democratic Party — doing so would violate party rules and could jeopardize his delegate credentials. Other picketers were not encumbered by such restrictions.

“Jill Stein’s going to get a lot of votes,” said John R. Moran, a retired machinist union representative. When LoCO asked the group at-large whether they would vote for Clinton in November, nearly all indicated that they would not. They were asked if a Trump presidency concerned them.

“She’s just as bad!” protester Earla Pankiewicz shouted back. “The Democratic Party is going to see a lot of people leaving. People are really upset, especially after this thing yesterday, because nobody believes that [Sanders] really endorses [Clinton].”

As you might imagine, local Sanders supporters said that the way Huffman handles his superdelegate duties will influence the way they vote for Congress in future elections.

“You’ve got hundreds of people who’ve trained for over a year and are very skilled at organizing and activating the people of out community.” Shearer said. “The superdelegates, not just here but across the country, really need to beware because if you’re not stepping up to the plate and putting forward the real progressive values that we want then we’re going to get you out of office.”

In case you were wondering, no, Congressman Huffman was not in his Eureka office Wednesday to be influenced by signs. In fact, no one was.

PURE MENDOCINO!

Please join us Saturday, August 27, 2016

Cancer Resource Centers of Mendocino County

In celebration of the 21st Anniversary of the Cancer Resource Centers of Mendocino County! - http://cts.vresp.com/c/?CancerResourceCenter/9896ec0db5/e9632b6940/566d105e74

A summer evening to enjoy the perfect blend of food, wine, fun and a good cause.

Pure Mendocino is the major fundraising event for the Cancer Resource Centers and a unique celebration honoring Mendocino County's leadership in organics and community health.

Tickets are available now for the 12th Annual Pure Mendocino Organic Dinner and Wine Tasting at Dark Horse Vineyard in Ukiah.

Farm Tour: 4:00 pm

Paul Dolan will introduce you to the basics of organic and biodynamic farming as seen at the Dolan family ranch.

Wine Tasting & Appetizers: 5:00 pm

Farm-to-Table Dinner: 6:30 pm

Chef Olan Cox and friends will showcase our community's finest organically grown food and wine.

Silent Auction: 5:00 - 8:30 pm

Unique items in Pure Mendocino-style

Live Music Under the Stars: 8:00 - 10:00 pm

Dance to Funky Dozen

$135 per person - tickets must be purchased in advance.

Purchase tickets online at www.puremendocino.org -

http://cts.vresp.com/c/?CancerResourceCenter/9896ec0db5/e9632b6940/5b305f86f0

or call us at (707) 937-3833.

Our tickets are moving quickly and this event always sells out well in advance. To ensure a seat, please order early.

Thank you and see you there!

STOP POISONING MENDO!

July 19th Forest Actions in Ukiah

RALLY 9:00 AM
To enforce Measure V
Board of Supervisors,
Low Gap Rd., Ukiah

PROTEST 11:00 AM
Mendocino Redwood Company's Herbicide Use & Dead-end Forestry
MRC Log Deck
North State St. and Hensley Cr. Rd., Ukiah

Mendocino Redwood Company (MRC) has poisoned thousands of acres of "unwanted" trees in Mendocino and Humboldt County with Imazapyr, leaving the trees dead standing. MRC uses Glyphosate, (Roundup), and Triclopyr (Garlon) to kill vegetation. Speak out against MRC's continued herbicide use, leaving more dead standing trees after Measure V's Voter Mandate said: STOP! Demand an end to Mendocino Redwood Company's destructive overcutting of Mendocino County's last remaining redwoods. Stop MRC's overcutting of Mendocino County's last remaining redwoods. Say "hogwash" to "greenwash!" Contact: Lara 707-357-5365 Redwood Nation EF! and coalition members

Citizens voted in June to declare the intentional leaving of dead standing trees a Public Nuisance by a whopping two thirds majority. Dead and dying tanoaks create ladder fuels, an extreme fire danger, while living tanoaks make acorns, a traditional food of the Pomo. Acorns are required by wildlife. Mendocino Redwood Company kills about a million tanoak trees a year by notching the trees and injecting herbicide. MRC uses Imazapyr, a broad-spectrum herbicide banned in Europe since 2003. "Hack and Squirt" saves MRC big bucks compared to manual removal. Herbicide workers are primarily Spanish-speaking Latino people.

MICHAEL HERR ON STANLEY KUBRICK

Michael Herr ("Dispatches") sometimes worked with Stanley Kubrick on movie scripts. Below are a few snippets from the long piece Herr did In Vanity Fair after Kubrick died:

I’d arrived for work in the late afternoon. “Ready for some serious brainstorming, Michael? You want a drink first?” I reflexively checked my watch. “How come all you heavy drinkers always look at your watches when somebody offers you a drink?”

Jim Thompson, the toughest pulp novelist of them all, had made him nervous when they were working together on "The Killing," a big guy in a dirty old raincoat, a terrific writer but a little too hard-boiled for Stanley’s taste. He’d turn up for work carrying a bottle in a brown paper bag, but saying nothing about it — it was just there on the desk with no apology or comment — not at all interested in putting Stanley at ease except to offer him the bag, which Stanley declined, and making no gestures whatever to any part of the Hollywood process, except maybe toward the money...

...Once a year he’d get the latest issue of Maledicta, a journal of scatological invective and insult, unashamedly incorrect, willfully scurrilous, and pretty funny, and read me the highlights.

“Hey Michael, what’s the American Dream?”
“I give.”
“Ten million blacks swimming to Africa, with a Jew under each arm.”
To which he added, “Don’t worry, Michael. They don’t mean us.”

...Then he told me about a friend of his, a studio head who’d just bought an apartment in New York. He told me how much he’d paid for it, and said that he was the first Jew ever admitted to the building.

“Can you believe that? What is it, 1999? And they never let a Jew in there before?”

In Holland, he’d heard, there was a soccer team called Ajax that had once had a Jewish player, and ever since then Dutch skinheads would go to all the team’s matches and make a loud hissing noise, meant to represent the sound of gas escaping into the death chambers. “And that’s Holland, Michael. A civilized country.” Laughing...

...Stanley didn’t live in England because he disliked America. God knows, it’s all he ever talked about. It was always on his mind and in his blood. I’m not sure he even really knew he wasn’t living in America all along, although he hadn’t been there since 1968. In the days before satellite TV, he’d had relatives and friends send him tapes of American television—N.F.L. games, the Johnny Carson show, news broadcasts, and commercials, which he thought were, in their way, the most interesting films being made. (He’d tape his favorite commercials and recut them, just for the monkish exercise.)...It wasn’t America he couldn’t take. It was L.A.

He was walking into a Hollywood restaurant one night in 1955 as James Dean came out, stepped into the Porsche Spyder that had just been brought around by the parking valet, and drove off. Stanley remarked at the time how fast he was going...

...He didn’t exactly utter the word “actors” under his breath like a curse, but he definitely thought of them as wild cards, something to be overcome with difficulty. They were so lazy about learning their lines, were often otherwise “unprepared,” so capricious, so childlike, and the younger ones were completely spoiled. There was even something mysterious, and to him a little freakish, about anybody who could and would stand up in front of other people to assume and express emotions at will, sometimes to the point of tears.

“I don’t know,” I said. “I have to tell you, I really like actors.”

“That’s because you don’t have to pay them, Michael.”

...They’d come to him for direction, and he’d send them back to work to find out for themselves. On A Clockwork Orange, when Malcolm McDowell asked, he told him, “Malcolm, I’m not RADA [Royal Academy of Dramatic Art]. I hired you to do the acting.” He was preparing a scene for Spartacus in which Laurence Olivier and Nina Foch are sitting in their seats above the arena waiting for the gladiators to enter and fight to the death, and Nina Foch asked him for motivation. “What am I doing, Stanley?” she asked, and Stanley said, “You’re sitting here with Larry waiting for the gladiators to come out.”

(Rob Anderson, Courtesy, District5Diary)

JULY 20, 2016 RETIREMENT BOARD MEETING AGENDA

RetBdAgenda720

THE CHARTER PROJECT OF MENDOCINO COUNTY wants to thank all supporters toward becoming a charter county. The final tally of votes in Mendocino County was posted June 30th. Measure W got over 46% of the vote, a clear indication that increasing numbers of Mendonesians are determined to participate in the grassroots revolution and have a voice in how we're governed! Change is erupting worldwide, with upheavals happening right now on the national, international and local levels. People are waking up to realize that governments and corporations are in bed together enacting policies that adversely affect our lives and serve only the rich. Real positive change happens only when a grassroots groundswell of citizens decides that things need to change and they empower each other to take action together. Real change never takes place from the top down or in the living rooms of wealthy industrialists. It always occurs from the bottom up when thousands of Mendonesians say loud and clear, enough is enough and then become involved in the fight for justice. In the best of worlds, this kind of action can also take place at the ballot box. The campaign for Measure W was extraordinary in that some 150 volunteers donated their time collecting signatures, holding Town Halls, distributing information, raising and donating money and urging their fellow citizens into action. With their help we waged a memorable campaign and gave it our best. We are also very grateful for the support given at the beginning of the campaign by Dr. Vandana Shiva, who helped us raise $8000 towards becoming a charter county! Although W did not pass this time, the advocates of becoming a charter county plan to keep our momentum going, actively looking for ways that We the People of Mendocino County can survive and thrive in the pending economic downturn. The time between elections is actually very short and goes quickly. If you are interested or would like more information contact maryzel@willitsonline.com or go to http://mendocinocountycharter.org. Again, thank you for voting YES on Measure W. We really appreciated your support!

CALIFORNIA SHOPPERS URGE BROWN TO HALT IRRIGATING CROPS WITH OIL WASTEWATER

by Dan Bacher

When the word “California” is mentioned, many think of the state’s iconic ocean beaches, towering ancient redwood trees, snow-capped Sierra Nevada mountains, rushing rivers filled with snow melt runoff, meandering Delta waterways, and scenic Joshua Tree-studded deserts.

But there’s another, much darker side to the state. California under the Jerry Brown administration, in spite of its highly overrated reputation as a “green leader” in the nation, suffers from some of the most destructive and unjust environmental policies in the country.

These include water policies on the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta that are driving Delta smelt, winter run Chinook salmon and other fish species closer and closer to extinction; support for fracking for oil off the Southern California Coast; and Governor Brown’s legacy project, the Delta Tunnels Plan, considered by many to be the most environmentally destructive public works project in the state's history.

More recently, yet another potential threat to public health and the environment has been exposed by independent journalists, environmental organizations and anti-corporate groups: the use of minimally treated waste from oil drilling to irrigate California’s crops.

This coming Saturday, concerned consumers will gather in cities across the state on Saturday to talk to shoppers about this alarming practice, according to a statement from Californians Against Fracking.

Participants in Saturday’s day of action, concerned that local water officials are planning to expand the practice without confirming its safety, will collect signatures for a petition calling on the governor and the State Water Board to ban this practice that could be jeopardizing the health of the millions of consumers who eat California-grown food. The petition already has 276,000 signatures.

The coalition said the chemicals used in oil operations can cause cancer, kidney failure, reproductive issues, and liver damage.

“While no comprehensive and independent analysis has been conducted to assess the safety of the wastewater, the studies that have been done indicate the waste commonly contains dangerous levels of toxic chemicals, such as benzene, chromium-6, and toluene,” according to Adam Scow, California Director of Food and Water Watch.”

Chevron, Occidental Petroleum Corporation and other oil companies point out that they have permits to sell the oil wastewater to farmers . They claim that they have it tested by a third-party firm and then supply the results to California regulators.

“We’re in compliance with all the testing requirements,” Abby Auffant, Chevron, spokeswoman told Raw Story. “There’s a petrochemical content in our… permit and we have always met and been under it.” (www.rawstory.com/...)

However, Scow wasn’t impressed with the “testing" conducted under the direction and other oil companies.

”The limited analysis that has been done used outdated methods: regulators don’t screen for all the chemicals used in oil extraction, many of which are carcinogens,” Scow stated. “Even worse, the Central Valley Regional Water Board Task Force has no plans to do independent testing. The board appears to be heavily influenced by the oil industry.”

Last year Scott Smith, Chief Scientist of Water Defense, collected samples from treated wastewater sold by the oil and gas industry to the Cawelo Water District in Kern County. A video released on May 26, 2016 showed Smith, who has tested water across the country, encountering tar balls and oil slicks, conditions he compared to those he witnessed during the Gulf oil spill in 2010.

“I always viewed California as a leader in protecting the environment,” said Smith. “I was absolutely shocked when I found myself surrounded by food crops with the smell of oil coming off the irrigation water. It was worse than what I smelled during the BP Gulf oil spill.”

But Smith said the trouble doesn’t end with the smell. “When the test results came back we found dangerous and toxic chemicals in the irrigation canal system,” said Smith. “The levels of these toxic chemicals exceeded what I have tested in official oil spill disasters.”

Water Defense reported that its tests found industrial solvents, including acetone and methylene chloride, as well as oil. (www.foodandwaterwatch.org/...)

Besides Smith’s testing, only two “limited and flawed” studies have been conducted to date: one by a consultant hired by one of the oil companies selling the water and one by a consultant for a water district near Bakersfield, according to an article by Bill Allayaud, California Director of Governmental Affairs and Tasha Stoiber, Senior Scientist. (www.ewg.org/...)

Scow said this practice of dumping wastewater on crops “is a sympton of the water pollution that the oil industry is perpetuating on California.”

“There is no good solution to the disposal of this wastewater: the oil industry can dump it into injection wells, which can cause earthquakes. They can dispose it it in unlined pits. Or they can dispose of the waste water on crops,” he stated.

“It wasn’t enough to contaminate our water; now Big Oil wants to come after our food,” emphasized Scow. “The oil industry is foisting a huge water pollution crisis on California. The solution to this crisis is to ban fracking and all oil drilling in California.”

Scow said California produces almost half of the fruits, nuts, and vegetables that feed the U.S. — and more than 100 farms in the Central Valley — use oil wastewater for irrigation. The severe drought has only heightened the practice, and state regulators are looking to expand its use further.

The second episode of Spotlight California, a documentary web series hosted by actress and comedian Kiran Deol, revealed in more detail how farmers are using treated oil wastewater to irrigate their crops.

Central Valley farmer Tom Frantz told Deol in the episode, "There are farmers so desperate for water in one particular irrigation district called Cawelo, they're taking some wastewater to irrigate crops from Chevron. It's being used to grow food for people—citrus crops, grapes, pistachios,"

"You grow an orange—it's 90 percent water when it gets to the consumer," Frantz said. "Where did that water come from? It's the irrigation water. The irrigation water is toxic, even at very tiny amounts. Is there a tiny amount of toxicity now in the fruit? Nobody is testing that yet. And they're salting up their soil by using this water, which means ultimately they'll have to stop growing everything." (www.ecowatch.com/...)

One of the crops reported to be irrigated with oil industry wastewater is Halos mandarins, formerly marketed as Cuties, grown by Wonderful Citrus. This is one of the many companies owned by Beverly Hills billionaires Stewart and Lynda Resnick, considered the “Koch Brothers of California” by environmentalists and fishermen. (www.truthorfiction.com/...)

The Resnicks, who also own Fiji Water and POM Wonderful, are the largest and orchard fruit growers in the world and exert enormous political and financial influence over the Brown administration, legislators and state and federal regulatory agencies. Stewart Resnick also serves on the Board of Advisors to the Chancellor of UC Davis, as well as on the Executive Board of the UCLA Medical Sciences and the Advisory Board of the Anderson School of Management. (www.dailykos.com/...)

The use of oil wastewater for crop irrigation occurs in a state where Big Oil is the biggest and most powerful corporate lobby — and where the Western States Petroleum Association (WSPA) is the biggest and most powerful lobbying organization. Big Oil, along with corporate agribusiness, developers, big water agencies, timber companies, and other Big Money interests, has captured the regulatory apparatus in California.

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. (www.oaklandmagazine.com/...)

Below are the locations where people will be collecting signatures on the petitions this weekend:

Los Angeles – Ralph's, 11727 Olympic Blvd at 12:00 PM

Trader Joe’s, 2738 Hyperion at 11:00 AM

San Francisco – Whole Foods, 2001 Market Street at 11:30 AM

Oakland – Trader Joe's, 3250 Lakeshore Avenue at 11:30 AM

Oxnard – Whole Foods, 650 Town Center Drive at 12:00 PM

Chico – Chico Library, 1108 Sherman Avenue at 9:00 AM

Fresno – Whole Foods Market, 650 W Shaw Ave at 9:00 AM

Sacramento – Farmers Markets, Sacramento County at 8:00AM

Santa Barbara - Whole Foods, 3761 State Street at 11:00 AM

A growing number of Californians are raising concerns about the use of wastewater for crop irrigation and organized Protect California Food, an affiliate of Californians Against Fracking, which is calling on Governor Brown and state water regulators to immediately ban the practice.

Californians Against Fracking is a coalition of about 200 environmental business, health, agriculture, labor, political, and environmental justice organizations working to win a statewide ban on fracking and other dangerous extraction techniques in California. Follow @CAagainstFrack on Twitter.

Visit www.protectcafood.org and www.californiansagainstfracking.org for more information.