Mendocino County Today: Thursday, July 21, 2016

• Blackbird Interns
• Doctor De-licensed
• Highway Debris Death
• Neuroth Case
• Blimp
• MCDH Board Vacancy
• Police Reports
• Yesterday's Catch
• Art Mix
• The Diff
• Alameda Bans Fracking
• Vacancies
• Truman's Piano
• Greenhousing Earth
• Lost Glasses
• Turkey Coup

BLACKBIRD HEARING THURSDAY MORNING, 9AM, SUPE'S CHAMBERS

David Severn Writes: That the Blackbird Farm expansion proposal U_2013-0008 is not truly about the children is evidenced in the fact that only once, in phase two of their seven year plan, is there any mention of "student" housing (24 beds for "students and guests") while over 200 accommodations are provided for "guests or employees." John and Joan Hall, the principals behind Pathways in Education and Blackbird Farm have a long history of commingling nonprofit with for profit enterprise and are very good at hiding behind the "dear children" gloss. Most of the employees are idealistic (like me), non local, young college grads or students brought in from all over the United States to serve as "interns" for well below minimum wage. Most of them that I have spoken with have multiple concerns about management's credibility and ability to provide an ordered and monitored experience. Unheard about in our community was the night, miraculously in-between out-going and incoming students that a full size fir tree came crashing down and totally destroyed a sleeping yurt that houses six students. Occupied there would have been deaths for certain. Only by threat of "intern" boycott did management then hire an arborist to inspect the other trees around. Southern California workers were brought in to rebuild the yurt.

DR. PABLO CORTINA, 61, long time ob-gyn physician in Ukiah, has had his license to practice revoked by the California Medical Board. The Medical Board noted his 14 years on probation for one thing or another and finally two cases where other doctors testified that they thought his practices were grossly negligent and incompetent. We understand that this news is upsetting to some of his patients, many of whom appreciate his care and have said so on the Ukiah Daily Journal’s facebook page. To have a local doctor lose his license, however, is certainly news.

(Courtesy, the Ukiah Daily Journal)

ED NOTE: The full 27 page single-spaced Medical Board report and decision has been scanned and posted on the Ukiah Daily Journal’s facebook page for those interested.

YOUNG WOMAN KILLED YESTERDAY NEAR WILLITS.

CHP seeks public’s help in finding the semi driver whose lost load caused the accident.

On July 20, 2016, at about 11:55am, an as yet unidentified 23 year old female driver from Redwood Valley was driving her 2014 Subaru northbound on Hwy 101 south of Willits (south of Walker Road) in the fast lane. She was traveling behind a truck-tractor pulling a semi-trailer when for unknown reasons vehicle debris was dislodged from the truck-tractor and trailer. The vehicle debris struck the Subaru and the driver causing the Subaru to cross the southbound lanes and off the west shoulder of Hwy 101. The driver succumbed to her injuries during incident. The truck-tractor and trailer continued traveling northbound on Hwy 101. The Ukiah CHP is seeking the public’s assistance in identifying the truck-tractor and its occupant(s). The truck tractor had a red cab and the semi-trailer had a tarp covering its load. The truck-tractor or trailer may have damage to a wheel and brake drum. The truck tractor was last seen traveling northbound on Hwy 101 towards Willits at about 11:55 am on Wednesday, July 20. If you have any information regarind this collision/accident please contact the Ukiah Area CHP dispatch Center at 707/467-4000.

THE NEUROTH CASE

A third amended complaint was filed last month in the case of a former Mendocino County Jail inmate, whose brother claims died as a result of physical abuse at the hands of local law enforcement.

The next hearing in the Steven Neuroth case is Wednesday morning before Northern California U.S. District Court Judge Nandor Vadas in Eureka, according to the court’s calendar.

The newest complaint now lists the names of a handful of sheriff’s jail deputies, and Willits Police Department Officer Kevin Leef, whose actions are described as contributing to Steven Neuroth’s death.

James Neuroth is also suing the county, Sheriff Tom Allman, the city of Willits, and contracted jail medical provider California Forensic Medical Group, among a list of other jail deputies and medical professionals.

Steven Neuroth, 55, had suffered from paranoid schizophrenia, schizo-affective disorder and depression, his brother claims.

Steven Neuroth was arrested the night of June 10, 2014, by officers of the Willits Police Department on suspicion of being under the influence of a controlled substance before being booked into the county jail. He was pronounced dead from cardiac arrest just after midnight on June 11, 2014 at the Ukiah Valley Medical Center, according to the court complaint.

James Neuroth alleges improper and excessive restraint by jail staff led to asphyxia, and contributed to his brother’s death.

James Neuroth said his brother had no injuries prior to being booked into the county jail, but said the autopsy report lists blunt force injuries, fractures, organ injuries and other serious physical injuries, as those allegedly caused by jail staff after a brief stint of when Steven Neuroth was uncooperative.

The complaint notes officer reports of Steven Neuroth being “extremely paranoid” at the time of his arrest when officers believed he was going through a psychotic state. Steven Neuroth also complained of snakes being on the floor of the patrol car once he was inside.

Mendocino County, the city of Willits and Leef are now being accused of concealing Leef’s involvement in Steven Neuroth’s death because of Leef’s “abusive, and torturous mistreatment of Steven Neuroth while he was in psychiatric crisis.”

The court complaint states James Neuroth only discovered Leef’s alleged misconduct and involvement after the county’s disclosures were made in March 2016.

“Defendant officer Leef believed that taking a person who is ‘5150’ to jail is always preferable to taking them to a hospital for emergency psychiatric care, and further he would rather take Steven Neuroth to the county jail than to sit at a hospital with him,” the complaint states.

“County’s refusal to provide any psychiatric inpatient acute care anywhere within the county creates a disincentive for law enforcement officers within the county to take people suffering from psychiatric emergencies to a hospital for needed treatment, as the officers must transport the person several miles outside the county and wait with him or her until admission.

“County’s deliberate indifference and reckless disregard for the well-being of mentally ill patients within the county causes mentally ill persons in psychiatric crisis to be taken to Mendocino County Jail instead of to a hospital where they can receive emergency and necessary psychiatric treatment,” according to the filed complaint.

James Neuroth is also alleging the county, Allman, CFMG and Fithian failed to have a qualified and competent medical and or mental health professional at the jail in conducting intake and mental health evaluations of incoming inmates.

The complaint goes on to blame Mendocino County and Allman for failure to reasonably train and require deputy sheriffs to use only proper and reasonable force when necessary under the circumstances.

The defendants have denied most of the allegations, including that improper force was used.

A review of the incident was undertaken by Mendocino County District Attorney David Eyster in July 2015 and concluded Steven Neuroth’s death wasn’t caused by negligence at the hands of law enforcement.

Eyster’s report stated there was a “staggering” amount of methamphetamine in Steven Neuroth’s body at the time of his death, as noted by a pathologist, who believed the drug was a factor in the man’s death.

The third amended complaint can be found at http://bit.ly/29N5k3d,

* * *

THE NEUROTH CASE is a tragedy for the Neuroth family but illustrates why Mendocino County needs its own psychiatric facility, why Sheriff Allman's initiative to create that facility should not be deliberately undermined by the Board of Supervisors as they've already attempted to do with an unfounded argument against it based on unrealistic financial and staffing projections.

THE COUNTY'S biased argument against an in-County facility will appear on the November ballot along with the Sheriff's irrefutable argument for an in-County psychiatric capability.

AND SO LONG as methamphetamine is so easily available everywhere in the County (and the country) chemically-induced psychosis will be just as prevalent.

THE LATE Mr. Neuroth exhibited the textbook symptoms, right down to imagined snakes swarming him.

THE WILLITS POLICE OFFICER who arrested Neuroth had two options: Take him to the hospital emergency room where he would have to restrain him and wait for an extended period of time with the hallucinating, wildly thrashing Neuroth while hospital staff was also put at risk in trying to calm the patient, or the officer could take Neuroth directly to the County Jail where Neuroth would have gone anyway after his stay in the emergency room. If the officer has to wait in the emergency room, where doctors and nurses are invariably trying to sort out more urgent emergencies, that means Willits is short a cop during the cop's prolonged absence.

I DON'T SEE how either the Willits cop or Jail staff can be held responsible for Neuroth's death, especially considering that it was Neuroth's own choice to go on the prolonged speed binge that would kill him.

IF WE HAD an in-County psych unit as we used to have, and as the Sheriff wants to re-establish, Neuroth, and all the Neuroths to come, would have been taken directly there where he could be confined and medicated back to normal.

ODD, ISN'T IT, that the Supervisors wouldn't support the Sheriff's highly popular initiative given the obvious need, but here three of them are in inarticulate opposition, simply falling in behind their CEO's laughably flawed analysis.

BLIMP OVER FORT BRAGG 12:14 PM ?

MendocinoSportsPlus was just messaged (12:14 pm): "So I hear the blimp in fort bragg, just can't see it." We haven't left Elk yet and will try to get a photo on our end if the fog lifts. At 12:31 pm we heard from our pal "Mendoarches" who reported: "Hi Paul -- the blimp just flew over Mendocino. Too foggy to see, too loud to miss."

JUST GOT PHOTO --Marie Beckman was quick on the trigger & forwarded us this photo from Fort Bragg.

(Item & inset photo Courtesy, MendocinoSportsPlus)

NOTICE OF VACANCY OF HOSPITAL BOARD POSITION

All interested persons who reside within the Mendocino Coast Health Care District are hereby notified that the Hospital District, doing business as Mendocino Coast District Hospital (MCDH), has a vacancy on the Board of Directors due to the recent resignation of one of its members on June 24, 2016. Pursuant to law, the Board of Directors of the District intends to appoint a new member to the Board to fill the vacant position within 60 days of June 24, 2016. Any person who is interested in such an appointment should write a letter and attach a resume to the CEO of the Hospital, Mr. Bob Edwards, Mendocino Coast District Hospital, 700 River Drive, Fort Bragg, California, 95437 or you can call the Hospital Board's Secretary, Gayl Moon, at (707) 964-4610 or send an email to gmoon@mcdh.net to schedule an interview with the Board of Directors.

July 19, 2016

Gayl Moon, Secretary to the Board of Directors

THE FAMILY THAT GARDENS TOGETHER…

On July 18, 2016 around 10:31 AM deputies of the Mendocino County Sheriff's Office, Wardens from the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, members of the California National Guard Counter Drug Team, BLM Rangers, Prevention Officers with Cal Fire, and members of the Mendocino County Major Crimes Task Force served a search warrant in the 8700 Block of Branscomb Road, in Laytonville. This warrant resulted in the seizure of 701 marijuana plants, 3 firearms, and the arrests of five persons; Julie Bailey, 49, Dru Bailey, 41, Eric Bailey, 42, Cacidy Bailey, 20, and Steven Columbo.

All parties were arrested and booked into the County Jail on charges of marijuana cultivation and possession of marijuana for sale. Suspects Eric Bailey and Dru Bailey were also charged with being prohibited persons in possession of firearms. Bail on all persons was set at $25,000. Wardens of the Department of Fish and Wildlife are also investigating possible charges of illegal water diversion, solid waste issues, and illegal grading.

* * *

NORTH COUNTY HIT HARD

On July 18, 2016 around 10:37 AM deputies of the Mendocino County Sheriff's Office, Wardens from the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, members of the California National Guard Counter Drug Team, BLM Rangers, Prevention Officers with Cal Fire, and members of the Mendocino County Major Crimes Task Force served a search warrant in the 4300 Block of Cahto Peak Road, in Laytonville. This warrant resulted in the seizure of 1477 growing marijuana plants, 400 pounds of processed marijuana, and the arrests of five persons; Jonathan Marker, 33, Johnny Bassett, 34, Dakota Polito, 25, Sean Hagen, 36, and Marina Connel, 35, of Colorado, San Diego, Ukiah, McKinleyville and Ashville, North Carolina.

All parties were arrested and booked into the County Jail on charges of marijuana cultivation and possession of marijuana for sale. Bail on all persons was set at $25,000. Wardens of the Department of Fish and Wildlife are also investigating possible charges of illegal water diversion, solid waste issues, and illegal grading.

* * *

CAHTO CANNABIS

On July 18, 2016 during the afternoon deputies of the Mendocino County Sheriff's Office, Wardens from the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, members of the California National Guard Counter Drug Team, BLM Rangers, Prevention Officers with Cal Fire, and members of the Mendocino County Major Crimes Task Force conducted two "open field" eradications of marijuana gardens in the Cahto Peak area near Laytonville. These efforts resulted in the following seizures; Site 1-5943 growing marijuana plants and site 2-944 growing marijuana plants. No suspects were located in these grows and no arrest have been made at this time. Investigations are continuing. Wardens of the Department of Fish and Wildife are also investigating possible charges of illegal water diversion, solid waste issues, and illegal grading.

* * *

THERE'S SORROW IN LAYTONVILLE TONIGHT

On July 18, 2016 around 2:53 PM deputies of the Mendocino County Sheriff's Office, Wardens from the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, members of the California National Guard Counter Drug Team, BLM Rangers, Prevention Officers with Cal Fire, and members of the Mendocino County Major Crimes Task Force served a search warrant in the 52800 Block of North Highway 101, in Laytonville. This warrant resulted in the seizure of 1362 marijuana plants. There were no suspects at this location and at this point no arrests have been made. This investigation is on going. Wardens of the Department of Fish and Wildife are also investigating possible charges of illegal water diversion, solid waste issues, and illegal grading.

* * *

RED MOUNTAIN GOT HIT, TOO

On July 19, 2016 during the afternoon deputies of the Mendocino County Sheriff's Office, Wardens from the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, members of the California National Guard Counter Drug Team, BLM Rangers, Prevention Officers with Cal Fire, and members of the Mendocino County Major Crimes Task Force conducted five "open field" eradications of marijuana gardens in two areas; the first area, commonly referred to the Hunt Ranch, near Laytonville and the second area is commonly referred to as Red Mountain, near Leggett. These efforts resulted in the following seizures; Site 1- 119 growing marijuana plants, site 2- 34 growing marijuana plants, site 3- 67 growing marijuana plants, site 4- 5371 growing marijuana plants, and site 5- 438 growing marijuana plants.

No suspects were located in these grows and no arrest have been made at this time. Investigations are continuing.

Wardens of the Department of Fish and Wildife are also investigating possible charges of illegal water diversion, solid waste issues, and illegal grading.

Approved by: Lieutenant Shannon Barney

* * *

SHOULDA RUN, JIM

On July 19, 2016 around 07:00 AM deputies of the Mendocino County Sheriff's Office, Wardens from the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, members of the California National Guard Counter Drug Team, BLM Rangers, Prevention Officers with Cal Fire, and members of the Mendocino County Major Crimes Task Force served a search warrant in the 52000 Block of North Highway 101, in Laytonville. This warrant resulted in the seizure of 882 marijuana plants with one person, James O'Conner, 28, of Santa Rosa, being arrested. O'Conner was booked into the County Jail on charges of marijuana cultivation and possession of marijuana for sale. Bail on was set at $25,000. Wardens of the Department of Fish and Wildife are also investigating possible charges of illegal water diversion, solid waste issues, and illegal grading.

* * *

SLOB GROW AT 52300

On July 19, 2016 around 1:24 PM deputies of the Mendocino County Sheriff's Office, Wardens from the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, members of the California National Guard Counter Drug Team, BLM Rangers, Prevention Officers with Cal Fire, and members of the Mendocino County Major Crimes Task Force served a search warrant in the 52300 Block of North Highway 101, in Laytonville. This warrant resulted in the seizure of 1092 marijuana plants. There were no suspects at this location and at this point no arrests have been made. This investigation is on going. Wardens of the Department of Fish and Wildife are also investigating possible charges of illegal water diversion, solid waste issues, and illegal grading.

CATCH OF THE DAY, July 20, 2016

ANNE ANDRESEN, Laytonville. DUI.

JONATHAN BASSETT, San Diego/Laytonville. Pot cultivation and sale.

JADE BENNETT, Fort Bragg. Attempt to commit crimes, probation revocation.

RICHARD CAUCKWELL, Ukiah. Drunk in public, failure to appear. (Frequent flyer.)

HEATHER DEWOLF, Fort Bragg. Defrauding innkeeper, petty theft, court order violation. (Frequent flyer.)

JAMES GRAY, Willits. Protective order violation.

CASEY IRELAND, Willits. Probation revocation.

DANIEL MONTALVO, Ukiah. Vehicle theft, receiving stolen property, burglary, controlled substance, conspiracy.

STEVEN NOVOA, Calpella. Domestic assault, second degree burglary, vandalism.

JAVIER SOTO-SOTO, Clearlake/Willits. DUI, suspended license.

RIVER STEWART, Willits. Probation revocation.

TIMOTHY TRYGG, San Francisco/Laytonville. Pot cultivation.

JOSEPH VENTURI, Ukiah. Community supervision violation.

MIX 3 IN MENDOCINO

Mendocino, CA - In the summer of 2015 an art show came to the village of Mendocino which people talked about for months afterwards, and there a lot of art shows on the coast! From sculpture to assemblage, pottery to photography, furniture to painting, Art Mix 3 Mendocino is the most eclectic collection of Mendocino and regional artists to assemble in one show each year. This dynamic show celebrates the imagination of diverse artistic minds collectively spanning many centuries of art creation.

Art Mix 3 will run August 4^th through the 28^th at the Odd Fellows Hall in the town of Mendocino (Kasten St & Ukiah St). There will be a Grand Opening Reception with music, food and wine Saturday August 13^th from 5pm to 8pm with all the artists in attendance to greet patrons and talk about their art at this highly anticipated celebration.

The artists participating this year include Spencer Brewer, Hans Bruhner, Harry Cohen, George Gruel, Jo Killen, Michael Killen, Dan Olson, Odis Schmidt, Esther Siegel, Susan Spencer, Michael Wilson and Lynne Zickerman.

Come and support the critical role that the arts play in stimulating creativity and developing vital communities. Artists and their work have a crucial impact on our economy and are an important catalyst for learning, discovery, and achievement in our country. Art Mix Mendocino guarantees to stimulate the imagination and creativity inherent in us all.

For more information call the Odd Fellows Hall at 937-2486.

THE DIFF

Dear Editor,

In your July 13 issue John Eells pointed out how liberals have enabled and as co-dependents, made the situation worse for the homeless, not better. They keep doing the same 'remedies' and expect different outcome.

Liberals are not progressives. They refuse to take the big step. They give us Hillary and not Bernie. They give us a continuation of insurance company, rip-off health care, not single-payer. They give us war, not peace. They give us identity politics, not a movement. They have allowed social democracy, as in Western Europe, to become a no-no.

The distinction between the conservative right and the liberal left has shrunk to the point of meaninglessness. Is Donald J. Trump going to undo the military-industrial complex? No, and neither is Hillary. Is Trump going to abolish campaign finance hi-jacking by the 1%? No, and neither is Hillary. Is Trump going to go to another type of tax code? No, and neither is Hillary. Is Trump going to do anything to help those in poverty, including the homeless? No, and neither is Hillary. And on and on.

Why is this the case? It's because for 40 years the liberals have indulged themselves in identity politics. This has prevented any coalition that would produce fundamental change. For 40 years liberals have had no emotional appeal to those in the middle or on the Right. We see that once again wherein Trump has a message; Hillary has none. Political and social change do not come from intellectual explaining; they come from mobilizing great numbers of people, by moving them emotionally, either to go to the ballot box or into the streets.

An emotional appeal moves people; an intellectual appeal interests people. Big difference. Liberals reach out to the minds; right-wingers reach out to the feelings. Even when those emotional messages are lies, are distortions, are cover-ups for greed, racism, and aggression, they work. They work because they appeal to feelings. Trump is the proof of that.

It is easy for liberals to think that those on the Right have the same feelings as they have, such as compassion. They do not. It is not in their self-interest, they think, to let themselves have compassion for others in a different race, social class, religion, etc.

Here are a few examples of what the liberal Left might have done for the past 40 years to reach those in the middle and on the Right.

"Being poor is not your fault".
"War is not the answer".
"Guns kill people!".
"Get your dollars off my back!".
"Having more than two children is harmful".
"Don't let them divide us".
"Women are equal to men. Period."

Those types of emotional appeals are what it is going to take to move the political spectrum toward the progressive Left. Bernie tried, but he did not use any of those kind of appeals. He said, "A future you can believe in". How different, if at all, is that from "Make America Great Again"?

Neither Bernie, who has capitulated to the Liberals, nor Hillary, have been able to get out of their heads and into people's feelings. They do not attack the root causes of the problem. The American Dream is a myth. The super-rich are well dressed crooks. Jails are not the answer. Addiction is a disease. Religion is self-delusion.

Those kinds of statements might get people thinking. To get them thinking you must first engage their feelings. 80% of our energy goes to feelings; only 20% to thought. Let's put first things first.

Lee Simon, Round Hill Farm, Virginia

ALAMEDA BECOMES FIFTH CALIFORNIA COUNTY TO BAN FRACKING

by Dan Bacher

In a state where Big Oil is the largest and most powerful corporate lobby and the governor is committed to the expansion of fracking, California anti-fracking activists have been forced to concentrate their efforts on banning the environmentally destructive oil extraction method on a county by county basis.

On July 19 around 6:30 pm, Alameda County residents celebrated a historic victory as the county became the first of nine in the San Francisco Bay Area to ban fracking, along with cyclic steam injection, acid fracturing, and other dangerous enhanced oil extraction methods.

The County Board of Supervisors unanimously passed the ban, making Alameda County the fifth California county to ban fracking, according to Ella Teevan, Northern California Organizer at Food & Water Watch. The 5-0 decision follows the the ban on fracking adopted by Butte County in June, when voters passed the measured by a landslide 72 percent.

Eighty-five people opposing fracking attended the board meeting, although many left before the vote finally took place, Teevan said.

“I am deeply relieved that the Board of Supervisors passed the fracking ban,” said Karen White, of Alameda County Against Fracking. “We’ve taken a step that will protect everyone in Alameda County, especially our children and grandchildren, from toxic chemicals.”

In a press release, Food & Water Watch and Alameda County Against Fracking said the landmark victory “represents a hard-fought campaign that stretched out over three years due to delays and opposition from the sole local oil operator, E&B Natural Resources.”

The East Bay Times reported that “E&B Natural Resources in Livermore -- has said it could live with the proposed ban after it was modified earlier this year to soften sections the company said could disrupt its 30-barrel-a-day operation.” (www.eastbaytimes.com/...)

The groups said the battle over the ban pitted E&B and local ranchers against residents concerned about fracking’s impacts on local watersheds, jobs, East County wineries, air quality and climate. An oil leak last week at E&B’s Livermore field led the county to fine the company for multiple violations, including improper disposal of hazardous waste.

"We commend the Alameda County Supervisors for protecting their people’s water and health by banning fracking,” explained Teevan. “We are thrilled to celebrate this victory alongside all the grassroots organizations who worked so hard to get this ban passed.”

Teevan said local communities “frustrated by the inaction by Governor Brown and other leaders in Sacramento are looking to local supervisors to ban fracking or are taking the issue directly to voters.”

The local fracking measures are necessary because Jerry Brown, who poses as a “climate leader” at climate conferences around the globe, is one of the most oil industry-friendly California governors in recent history. He is a strong supporter of the expansion of fracking and other extreme oil extraction methods in California and the US, along with being an advocate of carbon trading and REDD programs that devastate indigenous communities across the globe.

Theses local initiatives are also necessary because of the power that the Western States Petroleum Association (WSPA), the most powerful corporate lobbying group in Sacramento, wields over the legislature. Virtually no bill is now able to make it through the Legislature unless it is approved by oil company leaders and Catherine Reheis-Boyd, President of the Western States Petroleum Association and former Chair of the Marine Life Protection Act (MLPA) Initiative to create so-called “marine protected areas” in Southern California.

For example, WSPA and the oil industry defeated bills to impose a moratorium on fracking in 2014 and 2015, along with stopping a bill to protect the Vandenberg State Marine Reserve from oil drilling in 2015. The oil lobby has spent $25 million lobbying during the 2015-16 legislative session. (www.oaklandmagazine.com/...)

Monterey County residents will vote on a fracking ban on Nov. 7. Voters approved a ban in neighboring San Benito County in 2014, despite being outspent 14 to 1 by the oil industry, although a similar ban in Santa Barbara County was defeated in the same election.

Teevan said Monterey residents face “equally fierce opposition” from Chevron and other oil companies operating there, but hopefully will prevail over Big Oil.

“As we take the fight against fracking to Monterey, I feel safe going home at the end of the day knowing I’ll never have to worry about toxic fracking chemicals in my drinking water,” said Teevan, an Oakland resident. “The Alameda County Against Fracking coalition will now turn its attention to opposing oil expansion in the entire East Bay.”

Besides Teevan, other people who spoke in support of the ban included Li-hsia Wang, grandmother & pediatrician, Quanah Parker Brightman of United Native Americans, and Kiana Tsao of the Sierra Club.

"It's the only way to protect our environment from the destructive effects of fracking. Alameda County is a community, not just a commodity for the oil industry,” said Tsao.

The victory by anti-fracking activists comes on the heels of The Johns Hopkins study, published on July 18 in JAMA Internal Medicine, that found that people with asthma who live near bigger or larger numbers of active unconventional natural gas wells operated by the fracking industry in Pennsylvania are 1.5 to four times likelier to have asthma attacks than those who live farther away.

“This study’s findings confirm what we have known for years – that fracking is an inherently hazardous process that threatens human health and safety every day,” said Wenonah Hauter, founder and Executive Director of Food & Water Watch. “More than 17 million Americans live within a mile of a fracking site, and they are all at risk. Despite countless dollars spent by the oil and gas industry in numerous attempts to sway public opinion, the truth is winning out. As recent polling proves, the more Americans hear about fracking, the more they oppose it."

The study’s senior author, Brian S. Schwartz, MD, MS, a professor in the Department of Environmental Health Sciences at the Bloomberg School, said, “We are concerned with the growing number of studies that have observed health effects associated with this industry. We believe it is time to take a more cautious approach to well development with an eye on environmental and public health impacts.”

California is the third largest oil state in the nation and home to some of the most environmentally destructive policies in the country, challenging the largely undeserved “green leader” image that Brown administration officials constantly promote. To read my investigative piece exposing Governor Jerry Brown’s real environmental record, go to: www.dailykos.com/...

VACANCIES

Notice is hereby given that the Mendocino County Executive Office is accepting applications for anticipated vacancies on the following Board or Commission:

• Anderson Valley Cemetery District, 5 seats available
• Assessment Appeals Board, 1 Alternate Board Member
• Covelo Cemetery District, 1 Trustee
• Hopland Cemetery District, 1 Trustee

If you are interested in serving on this Board or Commission, contact your District Supervisor, or the Executive Office, at 501 Low Gap Road, Room 1010, Ukiah, CA 95482 (707) 463-4441. LAST DATE FOR FILING: July 27, 2016 or until filled. CARMEL J. ANGELO Clerk of the Board of Supervisors

WHO WRITES THIS STUFF?

Editor,

I have always thought it's weird that politicians and so-called statesmen don't write their own speeches. If we're voting for them, or against them, based on what other writers wrote for them to say, then the writers should be elected to the position, not the actors and fakers and hood ornaments. A few years back, Lithuania got a concert pianist for a president, and he did fine.

Marco Maclean

PS. Alan Haack wrote: “Didn't Harry Truman play piano, too? Or, was that his daughter Margaret, who also, rumor had it, tippled?”

It was Harry Truman. He played it until it broke, anyway. Apparently Lauren Bacall sat on it: http://tinyurl.com/hf73jqs

The cool thing, though, about Harry Truman is that unlike most men in government he never used the office for personal gain. When he left office he and his wife lived on his $112/month Army pension, and he refused to capitalize on his former position as president; he turned down offers of board positions in industry and finance. "No, thank you," he said. On the other hand, he bombed a couple of cities full of people to atomic smithereens.

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

NEW HIGHS IN ATMOSPHERIC CO2

Dear Editor:

Following is an update on my previous letters on global warming. Atmospheric CO 2 reached new highs in May and June at 407.7 and 406.8 parts per million (ppm), As a compared with 307.5 ppm when I was born in 1930. The increase can be attributed mainly to increase use of fossil fuel and also to land use such as destruction of trees for agriculture. Unless there is a radical deduction in the use of fossil fuel we probably will reach the 450 CO 2 ppm tipping point by 2036. It should be noted this increase in also resulting in much higher temperatures and humidity. We are now seeing atmospheric CO 2 levels in a range that has not been seen the Pliocene geological epoch of 2.6 to 5.3 million years ago. The hosting carbon level ranged from 350 - 405 ppm and global average temperatures were 2-3 degrees Celsius hotter than the 1880 levels. Sea levels were about 80 feet higher. We are entering a period seen in the Middle Climate Optimum 15 -17 million years ago when CO2 exceeded the 405 CO2 level. The CO2 level ranged between 300 ppm to 500 ppm and and temperatures were between 3 - 5 Celsius hotter than the 1880s. Sea levels were about 120 to 190 feet higher. That was the first time the world broke significantly below the 500 ppm CO2 level that existed during the Oligocene period 24 to 33 million years ago. Unfortunately, we have too many people such as Trump and many of his fellow Republicans that seem to be unable to understand the continuing increase in burning fossil fuel is taking all of us to the point of a terrible disaster.

In love and peace,

Jim Updegraff

Sacramento

LOST GLASSES: Abiding in the Real

Warm spiritual greetings, Having extended my stay at San Francisco's Green Tortoise travel hostel until Sunday, an enjoyable Tuesday morning hike in the east bay with a long time Zennist friend segued into a trip to Lafayette to the historic Roundup Saloon (established during the days of cattle roundups), wherein we enjoyed exceptional craft beers and split a shot of scotch, while knocking around the balls on the pool table. Later, we dropped by El Jarro next door for a round of Mexican beer and nachos. Upon my return to San Francisco, went into the Sutter Station bar on Market Street for the first time, for a pint of beer and a shot of Powers. Emboldened, pushed on to Pier 39 for Goose IPA and a rib eye steak dinner at the Hard Rock Cafe. Went to an ice cream parlor after that. Safely back at the travel hostel, I woke up at 2:39 A.M. sweating out the beer, and enjoyed two alka seltzer tablets dissolved in four ounces of water, to get me straight enough to return to sleep. Spent Wednesday morning retracing my steps in Lafayette, unsuccessfully trying to find my lost eyeglasses. Meanwhile, am abiding in the Real which is prior to consciousness, because that is the best response to the entire matter of postmodernism, the bogus American presidential election, the stupidity of gas fracking and complications with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, while endlessly debating the pros and cons of tactics with radical environmental comrades and peace & justice activists, plus the greater misery of impermanence in general, and lastly "the problem of the mind" itself. Thank you very much for allowing me to lovingly share this with you. Let us all continue abiding in the Real forevermore.

Craig Louis Stehr

July 21, 2016

Email: CraigStehr@inbox.com

EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT THE TURKEY COUP

by Patrick Cockburn

Why was the coup mounted?

This requires assumptions about who carried out the coup. One theory is that the followers of self-exiled cleric Fethullah Gulen knew that they were going to be purged and decided to strike first.

Was the coup concocted by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to give himself the excuse to crack down?

It is more likely that Mr. Erdogan is taking advantage of a real coup to rid the armed forces and key state institutions of all who do not give him full obedience. He called it “a gift from God” in that it would allow him to do so. An argument against the theory that the coup was a put-up job is that it involved too many people, including high-ranking military officers, and might even have succeeded if the plotters had been able to eliminate Mr Erdogan.

Why did the coup fail?

The plotters did not eliminate Mr Erdogan and did not include the majority of the military high command. They did not enjoy any popular support and did not gain control of communications and the media. They did not have enough soldiers to suppress popular protests in favour of the President. The timing of the coup is also peculiar since it took place late Friday night when people were still up and going outside and not in the early hours of the morning as is traditional.

Is the civilian reaction being orchestrated?

Mr Erdogan successfully orchestrated public protests in order to thwart the coup by calling for them on an iPhone held in front of a television camera. So far as can be judged these were carried out by his committed supporters and right-wing nationalists, the numbers on the streets being boosted by free public transport until Monday night. A feature of the coup was that there were no demonstrations in favour of it because the coup plotters announced a curfew and, in any case, Mr Erdogan’s many opponents do not necessarily want him replaced by a military government.

The mosques also played a significant role in mobilising his constituency by calling people onto the streets and delivering sermons all night long as jets flew overhead. Secular Turks are worried that religiously inspired mobs will become a permanent factor in Turkish politics, but there is no doubt that Mr Erdogan is massively popular among a large part of the Turkish public. An online poll by software company Streetbees shows that in answer to the question of whether or not they wanted the army to seize power 82 per cent said no and 18 per cent said yes. The president may be using the coup for his own ends but there is no doubt that he has a democratic mandate.

Is Turkey still a democracy?

In one sense yes: Mr Erdogan’s AKP party was democratically elected in a general election on 1 November, last year. But he runs an increasingly authoritarian government and has taken over or suppressed most critical television stations and newspapers. Mr Erdogan is getting close to his dream of an all-powerful presidency which controls all the levers of power including the judiciary, armed forces and bureaucracy.

Where does this leave the EU deal and the refugee crisis?

Mr Erdogan is a tough negotiator but has proven himself to be an unreliable partner when it comes to long-term commitments.

How will this affect relations with Russia (after the plane that was shot down, and ahead of a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin)?

Before the coup Turkey had effectively apologised for shooting down the plane. Mr Erdogan is trying to reduce Turkey’s international isolation by improving relations with Russia and Israel.

But relations with Russia are unlikely to be transformed so long as Turkey is backing groups seeking to overthrow Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and Russia is committed to preventing regime change in Syria.

(Patrick Cockburn is the author of The Rise of Islamic State: ISIS and the New Sunni Revolution. Courtesy, CounterPunch.org)