- Slight Cooling
- Fingertip Found
- TGI Doomsday
- School Hires
- Cannabis Tax
- Park Invasions
- Car Burgled
- Conscience Vote
- Yesterday's Catch
- Stein Time
- Distrust
- Third-party Voting
- Hillary Platform
- Willits Bypass Update
- Deconstructing Coate
- Remembering Trudell
HOT AND DRY CONDITIONS will continue into Saturday. But a slight cooling trend is expected through early next week. A shallow marine layer will persist along the coast, with nocturnal fog and stratus and mild temperatures bringing modest heat relief later in the weekend and early next week.
Temperatures Friday once again soared well into the triple digits across low interior valleys, even approaching 110 in a few spots.
Meanwhile, a shallow marine layer continues to hold firm along the immediate coastal plain, resulting in an extremely sharp temperature gradient of 30 to 40 degrees over a distance of approximately 20 miles in some cases. Saturday's weather will be similar to Friday in many aspects, with a slight cooling trend when a weak upper level trough begins to move inland. This won`t be particularly noticeable Saturday as highs will only be approximately 5 degrees cooler, but this gradual downward trend will continue through early next week when interior temperatures will settle to around 85 to 95 degrees as opposed to the widespread 100-110 in the past few days.
Unfortunately though, by the middle and end of next week a building upper level ridge will likely cause temperatures to increase back into the upper 90s and low 100s. Meanwhile, very little change can be expected with the marine layer along the coast.
— National Weather Service
* * *
UKIAH REACHED AN OFFICIAL 106 DEGREES Friday, one degree short of their 1922 record. Some reports had it higher than 106 which was 12 degrees higher than average. Ukiah is supposed to drop down to a comfy 101 on Saturday, then into the mid to high 90s for the rest of the week.
SOOO, ANYONE MISSING A FINGER?
Chandelier Drive Through Tree in Leggett found one. Or at least the tip of one. According to Lee Ann Maidrand who has worked at the attraction for 14 years, the fingertip “was tucked inside of a log you can climb inside.”
A child found the fingertip and she and her mother brought Maidrand over to look at it. “[T]hey were hopeful it was a mushroom,” she explained.
The fingertip “was stuffed in a hole in the log that’s on it’s side,” explained Maidrand. “It was probably about two inches tucked inside the log…There was no blood anywhere. It looks like someone just placed it there.”
Maidrand took photos and we’ve posted them below. (Please don’t look unless you are prepared for graphic images.) However, she described the fingertip as looking “smashed.” She considered that it might be a toe. “It was bigger than my thumb,” she said. “It was filed…. No nail polish.”
Maidrand said the fingertip appeared to have been recently attached to a human, “I poked it with a stick; it was still soft.”
Although chainsaw art is made on the premises occasionally, none has been made there recently. And, Maidrand said, “No one has reported an accident recently either. I was there the night before…. nothing. No one reported to any of the employees that anything happened….I can’t imagine someone chopping their finger off and leaving it behind.”
Maidrand contacted the Mendocino Sheriff’s Office and a deputy came to pick up the piece. Although we have requested information from the Sheriff’s Office on whether the office thinks a crime might have occurred or if this might be an accident, as of publishing time they have not recontacted us.
Meanwhile, Maidrand has hopes they might be able to identify the person the fingertip belongs to. “There is a good fingerprint,” she said. “I hope they fingerprint that.”
Before you go further, please remember that the photos below are quite graphic and may disturb some people.
(Courtesy, Redheaded Blackbelt/KymKemp.com)
SO LONG, BEEN NICE TO KNOW YOU
The World was supposed to end Friday night. Conspiracy theorists predicted that the doomsday this time was due to the Second Coming of Jesus Christ and a coincidental magnetic polar flip.
AS MENTIONED earlier in the week, Boonville is poised to hire a couple of school administrators from outside the flabby, Billery political consensus prevalent in local edu-circles. The new Elementary School principal, Katherine Reddick, gained herself some international notoriety when the obituary she wrote in 2013 for her mother appeared in the Reno Gazette Journal. The British newspaper, The Daily Mail, characterized mom's send-off as "probably the most vicious obituary you will ever read." It didn't seem all that bad and certainly seemed to ring the truth bell, especially given that all the children agreed on it. There are undoubtedly millions of children who envy Ms. Reddick’s candor in describing her mother as she and her siblings experienced her.
Marianne Theresa Johnson-Reddick
Marianne Theresa Johnson-Reddick born Jan 4, 1935 and died alone on Sept. 30, 2013. She is survived by her 6 of 8 children whom she spent her lifetime torturing in every way possible. While she neglected and abused her small children, she refused to allow anyone else to care or show compassion towards them. When they became adults she stalked and tortured anyone they dared to love. Everyone she met, adult or child was tortured by her cruelty and exposure to violence, criminal activity, vulgarity, and hatred of the gentle or kind human spirit.
On behalf of her children whom she so abrasively exposed to her evil and violent life, we celebrate her passing from this earth and hope she lives in the afterlife reliving each gesture of violence, cruelty, and shame that she delivered on her children. Her surviving children will now live the rest of their lives with the peace of knowing their nightmare finally has some form of closure.
Most of us have found peace in helping those who have been exposed to child abuse and hope this message of her final passing can revive our message that abusing children is unforgiveable [sic], shameless, and should not be tolerated in a “humane society”. Our greatest wish now, is to stimulate a national movement that mandates a purposeful and dedicated war against child abuse in the United States of America.
THE BOONVILLE HIGH SCHOOL principal, Keri St. Joer, says on his Facebook confessional that the opinions of Anne Coulter resonate with him and that he's opposed to abortion. I'm sure there are other school people in the County also beguiled by Coulter and who have religious objections to abortion, but they'd probably be driven out of their jobs if they spoke up. Let a hundred flowers bloom!
THE CLOVERDALE City Council will ask its citizens to approve a tax on cannabis operations; the up or down measure will appear on the November ballot. If the voters approve, Cloverdale's city fathers expect, it seems, a kind of green rush of taxable grows and dispensaries, now prohibited, although up the road, just over the Mendo County line, there's a dispensary in Hopland.
UKIAH TO ADDRESS INCREASE IN CAMPING AT RIVERSIDE PARK
by Justine Frederiksen
After noticing an increase in the amount of campers at Riverside Park, the City of Ukiah is stepping up enforcement in an effort to reduce the amount of illegal activities occurring.
During a budget hearing Monday, City Manager Sage Sangiacomo told the Ukiah City Council that “special enforcement” to address encampments was planned this week in large part because of a special event being held at the Rusty Bowl BMX track this weekend.
“It is one of the few times that we actually allow camping there legally,” Sangiacomo said, explaining that the city wanted to “ensure the safety of everyone using the park by addressing illegal camping or any other illegal activities.”
The topic came up when Community Services Administrator Tami Bartolomei said the city was seeking grant funds for a project designed to remove debris and invasive weeds from the 43-acre park, the entrance to which is at the end of East Gobbi Street.
“That will address the invasive weeds, but what about the invasive homeless?” asked Mayor Steve Scalmanini, who was contacted recently by park user expressing concern about campers who were pulling down branches of trees and starting fires, as well as leaving trash and human waste along the banks of the Russian River.
Bartolomei said her department is exploring ways to address the problem of repeat offenders who are not deterred by warnings and citations.
“We are still in the exploratory stage, but we are looking at how we can have some sort of progressive enforcement that specifically addresses repeat offenders,” said Sangiacomo, explaining that while parks employees do a good job of finding encampments and notifying people that they need to leave, usually by leaving a notice on found items since they cannot remove personal property, they do typically find themselves “enforcing the same rules over and over again with the same people.”
As an example, parks employees recently had to repeatedly clean and finally replace some of the signs in the park warning that “Camping is prohibited” because a determined person (or persons) kept blacking out sections of the sign.
Frequent users of the park also report regularly finding trash, food, sleeping items, clothing, syringes, illegal substances, human waste, as well as evidence of other pollution, such as a large, empty bottle of laundry detergent left by the river.
The owner of the vineyards that line the western rim of the park has also repeatedly repaired numerous holes in his fencing as people seeking alternate access to the park cut through his property.
Sangiacomo said the special enforcement is a “coordinated effort between the parks department and the police department,” and the assistance of officers will be sought to deal with repeat offenders.
(Courtesy, the Ukiah Daily Journal)
WEDDING GUEST RIPPED OFF WHILE ON ELK BEACH
In a rare "smash & grab," a wedding guest enjoying themselves on Greenwood State Beach had her car broken into and items stolen last Saturday.
MSP talked to members of the wedding party who were stunned to be crime victims in peaceful Elk.
One guy said to us, "We would expect something like this is Santa Cruz or Capitola - but Elk ?"
The vehicle was parked in the Greenwood State Beach parking lot while wedding guests went to the beach for a sunset BBQ. When they returned, the window to the vehicle was smashed and many items were taken.
A male transient (with a guitar) was in the area at the time and was the "prime suspect" for a time (he was still hanging around downtown Elk Sunday morning) but was eventually ruled out.
MSP talked to the victim, and she said, "It looks like whoever stole our stuff tried to make some purchases that night and the next day in Boonville so we are trying to follow up."
She added, "We love Elk despite this terrible experience."
She sent this poster of what was taken in the vehicle break-in.
(Courtesy, MendocinoSportsPlus)
A READER WRITES: I was a third party voter for years, registered Green Party voters in Oakland to get the Green Party on the ballot, because we thought, if they were on the ballot, maybe people would vote for them! That didn’t work. And up here, OMG… the Green Party people who came to the meetings in the 1990s here! Guaranteed to ensure the Green Party would make absolutely zero political progress — people who were crazy, unpleasant, misanthropic, smelly, distracted, totally out of touch with reality, hated regular people, and were absolutely unwilling to do any work whatsoever. That’s what I found. You know it’s true. I won’t forget the woman who’d bring her big white shedding dog, both were very big, and she’d let it lie on the Willits Environmental Center couch beside her. I remember being asked by one of the WEC people — where on earth does all that white hair come from after the Green Party meetings? I don’t see any of that batch anymore. Maybe they never come down from the hills.
So, whatever, I was pleased to learn that Jill Stein has actually had two terms of experience on her local Lexington board, better than the usual run of the mill “I haven’t served as an elected official anywhere but I want you to elect me governor of California” type Green Party candidates, who aren’t really even Greens. Not that I think there’s anything wrong with being a socialist, of course, but I wouldn’t interpret the 10 Key Values as endorsing a strong central gov’t.
So “voting my conscience” means something different to me now than it used to. I had a “Bush and Gore make me want to Ralph” bumper sticker, of course I did, but looking back from where we are now, I do not believe Al Gore would’ve invaded Iraq after 9/11 — setting off the worst of our own current trouble, and turning that country (where women used to be fairly free) into a hellish nightmare without end for all the people there. Honestly, I don’t believe we would’ve had a 9/11 at all.
But we all have our own consciences, and I say “vote your conscience” is exactly what people should do. I wish more people would.
CATCH OF THE DAY, July 29, 2016
ASHLEY AZEVEDO, Ukiah. Suspended license.
DUSTIN BRUCE, Willits. Under influence, smoking-injecting device.
RYAN CAMPBELL, Redwood Valley. Probation violation.
CHERLYN CAPE, Willits. Failure to appear.
ERICK ELDER, Ukiah. Petty theft, resisting.
EDUARDO LLAMAS-GARCIA, Willits. Domestic battery, vandalism.
LATISHA MCCLOUD, Stewarts Point/Ukiah. Probation revocation.
CARLOS MORALES-CARRILLO, Ukiah. Probation revocation.
KENNETH PETERSON, Potter Valley. Paraphernalia, probation revocation.
PETER QUINONES, Redwood Valley. Court order violation, failure to appear, resisting, probation revocation.
ZACHARIA ROZEK, Redwood Valley. Trespassing, under influence, resisting.
CHARLES SCHLAPKOHL, Ukiah. Domestic assault with corporal injury, probation revocation.
ASHLEY SHERMAN, Fort Bragg. Petty theft, failure to appear.
ALBERTO VILLALOBOS, Ukiah. Meth possession for sale, honey oil sale, pot cultivation, possession for sale.
THOMAS WILLIAMS, Redwood Valley. Vehicle theft, ammo possession by prohibited person, suspended license.
ON LINE COMMENT OF THE DAY
Jill Stein could be the first US president [from a third party]. The Green Party could win. Here is why:
This isn’t wishful thinking. Here’s why:
Polls show that 60% of Americans think we need a new major party because the Democrats and Republicans have failed us.
Independents (50%) outnumber both Democrats (29%) and Republicans (21%) by a huge and growing margin.
Trump and Clinton are the two least liked, least trusted Presidential candidates in history.
Bernie Sanders, running on a platform similar to the Green Party’s, consistently led national polls that included independent voters.
It’s not just people who supported Bernie. Americans across the political spectrum are worried, bewildered, and downright disgusted with the Clinton/Trump matchup and the political-media establishment that created it.
If you talk with people in the streets, in the bars, at the corner store – they’re ready to bring this corrupt two-party house of cards crashing down.
THIRD PARTY TIME
http://www.counterpunch.org/2016/07/29/the-time-for-third-parties-is-now/
IF MRS. CLINTON brings with her a Democratic Congress (or not) she will use it to pass the TPP and TTIP ‘trade’ agreements, to launch ‘liberal’ wars across the Middle East and rattle sabers against Russia, she will re-launch the ‘Grand Bargain’ to cut Social Security and Medicare under the pretext of a fiscal crisis and should Wall Street falter, she will ‘hold her nose’ and once again bail out her benefactors. This is the program her supporters are voting for.
(— Rob Urie)
WILLITS BYPASS UPDATE
(Courtesy, Caltrans)
The following is a summary of the construction activities that have been completed up to July 22, 2016
Contractor has completed approximately 93% of work on the project.
South Segment (Beginning of Project to Center Valley Road) – STA”A”96+00 to 149+00 (3.3 miles):
The final lift of HMA is scheduled for the last week of July and first Week of August. This will complete paving operations south of the viaduct.
Northbound traffic is currently detoured onto the bypass to the new Hwy 20 exit and back to Willits. This is to facilitate completion of the tie-in for the southern interchange. Traffic will be temporarily switched to the prior detour from time to time to facilitate paving operations.
Striping and delineation will follow the final lift of paving. Expected completion by the end of August or early September.
All Metal Beam Guard rail is installed.
Asphalt dike will be completed following paving operations and is expected to be completed by late August or early September.
The Drainage systems are complete and functioning.
Electrical facilities for street lighting, message boards and CCTV cameras are currently being installed. Completion is expected in August.
Roadway signs are anticipated to be installed by August.
Right and left bridges for 101/20 Separations are complete.
A1 Retaining Wall and Baechtel Creek Retaining Wall are complete.
All Haehl Creek bridges are complete. East Hill Road Undercrossing Bridge is complete.
North Haehl Creek Bridge is complete except for deck grinding and joint seals.
Permanent erosion control is installed on all slopes.
Contractor is working on punchlist items to complete construction.
Floodway Viaduct – STA “A” 149+00 to 167+50 (1.2 miles):
The Floodway Viaduct is complete except for final concrete finishing. Concrete finish work is continuing and will be completed this summer.
North Segment (Viaduct to End of Project) – STA “A” 167+50 to 191+10 (1.5 miles):
Drainage systems are complete with the exception of some inlet grate assemblies which are scheduled to be installed as scheduling allows; completion in August.
Paving up to the northern tie-in is complete.
Tie-in detours have begun to allow for final tie-in grading. There will be several traffic configurations to allow for final grading. This work is expected to be completed by early August. Northbound traffic is directed onto the northern interchange and up the northern section of the bypass. This will allow for the construction of the new southbound lane. Currently southbound traffic is on a temporary widening and will remain there until the new southbound lane is constructed. The new southbound lane will be paved in the last week of July.
All signs, striping, and delineation are expected to be completed in August.
Quail Meadows Overhead and Under Crossing bridges are complete.
Approach slab replacement and barrier rail repairs expected take place in early August at Quail Meadows Overhead.
Utility relocation work is complete.
Upp Creek Main Line, Upp Creek SB off Ramp, and Upp Creek NB on Ramp bridges are complete.
Erosion control is being monitored and maintained at all locations.
Street lighting is functional and currently running on Generator power until the PGE drop is completed. The remainder of electrical services is expected to be complete by end of August or early September.
Contractor is working on punchlist items to complete construction.
WETLAND/RIPARIAN MITIGATION PROJECTS
CONSTRUCTION UPDATE, JULY 2016 UPDATE
The following is a summary of the construction activities that have been completed up to July 20, 2016.
Emergency Limited Bid (ELB) Contract. This contract work started on August 11, 2014 and was completed in December 2015.
25 acres of invasive plant removal (Target Weed removal) using mechanical/manual methods.
89 acres of wetland establishment (MGC Plasma North).
Three Locations of headcut repairs (Benbow, Lusher and Frost). Drainage improvement by grading eroded gullies, placed rock still structures and pool structures to slow the flow (rock lined check dams) and stabilized the area with wetland seeds and BMPs.
3 Locations of eroding bank repairs along Outlet Creek. Cut creek bank to widen creek, installed root wad (trunk/root ball) and footer logs for fish habitat along the creek bank, placed RSP to stabilize the creek banks, placed wetland seeds and native grass straw, and planted willows along the creek bank.
Access road development for all mitigation parcels/areas. Placed Box culvert at Hearst Willits Road, temporary bridges at Mill Creek/Davis Creek and paved several driveways.
Seeds for this project were collected using a separate service contract and provided to the contractor.
Mitigation Contract No. 1. This Contract was awarded on April 15, 2015. The first working day was on September 9, 2015. This project includes 3 years of plant establishment. Estimated Completion date is June 2020.
35 acres of wetland establishment (100% completed).
Developed stream crossing at 19 locations (100% completed). Harden stream crossing were constructed using 9” cobble stone and 3” clean sand and gravel to access through the creek.
69 acres of invasive plant removal- Target Weed (This will continue until contract acceptance) using mechanical/manual methods.
82 acres of heavy treatment (area preparation for riparian planting, 100% completed).
Developed water sources and installed irrigation system for planting and plant establishment work (50% completed).
Planted the ELB project areas and Oak woodland areas (54,000 plants installed) and 750 days Plant Establishment started on 01/04/2016 for 2015 planting.
Installation of 350,000 plants in wetland creation area (will start in 2016 fall).
Installation of 147, 645 plants via Contract Change Order in mitigation area (will start in 2016 fall).
Seeds for this project were collected using a separate service contract and provided to the contractor.
Plants for this projects were propagated using a separate service contract and provide to the contractor.
Mitigation Contract No. 2. This Contract was awarded on June 30, 2015. The first working day was on September 9, 2015. This project includes 3 years of plant establishment. Estimated Completion date is March 2021.
2 acres of invasive plant removal -target weed removal, Started on July 5th (This will continue until contract acceptance) using mechanical/manual methods.
33 acres of invasive plant removal – heavy treatment started on July 18th (5% completed).
27 acres of Invasive Plant Removal –light treatment, started on June 8th, 2016 (This will continue until contract acceptance).
Developing water sources and installing irrigation system for planting and plant establishment work.
Installation of 287,340 plants.
Seeds for this project were collected using a separate service contract and provided to the contractor.
Plants for this projects will be propagated by the contractor.
Additional Mitigation Work Completed to Date Includes: In April 20104, a Contract Change Order (CCO) was executed using the Bypass project to implement infrastructure such as 132,000 feet of fencing, 50,000 feet of 2” underground water line, 150 gates, 65 stock tanks, and 25 cattle shades to facilitate cattle grazing activities within the Wetland/Riparian Mitigation project area.
DECONSTRUCTING COATE
Subject: [Kzyxtalk] John Coate Resume - Fact Check
Dear Tex,
Thanks for posting your resume online here:
http://johncoate.com/John%20Coate%20Resume%202016%20-%20Web%20Version.pdf
This is a fact check of some of those claims about your tenure at KZYX.
- "I was the Executive Director of Mendocino County Broadcasting and General Manager of KZYX-FM, listener-supported public radio in Mendocino County from 2008-2015."
FACT: You were only the 'Manager' of MCPB. You stated that under oath in seven years worth of Form 990s here:
http://nccsweb.urban.org/communityplatform/nccs/organization/profile/id/680050440/popup/1
- "When I arrived the station was mired in s [sic] $200K debt with its infrastructure in disarray."
FACT: When you arrived, MCPB's debt was only $55,000. That was stated in your report here:
http://www.kzyx.org/images/pdf/gm_reports/Oct%2008%20GM%20report.pdf
- "I reduced that debt by 93%."
FACT: When you left, MCPB's debt was $82,121. You can see that here:
http://kzyx.org/Board/audits/MCPB-Audit-Report6-30-15.pdf
So you actually increased that debt by 49%.
- "MCPB was profitable 3 of the past 5 years."
FACT: You were with MCPB for seven years, ending in June of 2015. Three of those years were profitable. Four weren't. During that entire time period, MCPB lost ($162,906). You can see that here:
http://www.kzyx.org/index.php/about-us/station-business/mcpb-bylaws-and-financial-statements
- "My tenure was a period of unprecedented stability for this 25 year-old organization."
FACT: MCPB has lost 75% of its net worth since 2008, the year you arrived. You can see that here:
http://nccsweb.urban.org/communityplatform/nccs/organization/profile/id/680050440/popup/1
- "KZYX is a membership-owned organization with an all-volunteer Board of Directors."
FACT: You put yourself -- a paid employee -- on the Board of Directors, Mr. Coate. In Form 990s that were hidden from the organization for your entire tenure. You can see that here:
http://nccsweb.urban.org/communityplatform/nccs/organization/profile/id/680050440/popup/1
- "It employs a fulltime [sic] and, works with more than 60 local volunteer programmers."
FACT: Your Form 990s -- signed under penalty of perjury -- report no volunteers at all. You can see that here:
http://nccsweb.urban.org/communityplatform/nccs/organization/profile/id/680050440/popup/1
- "I worked constructively with all of them in various capacities such as fundraising, budgeting, strategy, planning, policy and technology."
FACT: You didn't cooperate with KZYX's Treasurer. You can see that here:
- "The core of my crew at KZYX remained at their jobs for more than seven years."
FACT: The number of employees went from seven to zero during that seven-year period. You can see that in your Form 990s here:
http://nccsweb.urban.org/communityplatform/nccs/organization/profile/id/680050440/popup/1
- "I build relationships that thrive and last."
FACT: In your seven years at MCPB, there's no evidence that you've built a single relationship in Mendocino County. If anything, you've driven people apart. You can see that in KZYX's skyrocketing legal expenses here:
http://nccsweb.urban.org/communityplatform/nccs/organization/profile/id/680050440/popup/1
Publishing these things online doesn't make them true, Tex. All it does is embarrass the people who supported you.
Sincerely,
Scott M. Peterson
Mendocino
cc: (KZYXTalk, John 'Tex' Coate, MCPB Board Members)
CATCHING UP WITH CRAIG
Update 7/29....
Good afternoon everyone, Please know that I have paid for another week at the Adelaide travel hostel in San Francisco; my exit date is now next Sunday at 10 A.M. Spent today interviewing with the housing specialist at Berkeley Senior Center...have lists for the bay area to consider. Meanwhile, am reading through John Trudell's collected writings "Lines from a Mined Mind". This has the lyrics from his recordings, as well as poems etcetera, beginning from 1983. First took notice of his radical example when he was a spokesperson during the occupation of Alcatraz Island in the 70s as a member of the American Indian Movement (AIM). Saw him perform with his band at the University of Utah, when I was working with Shoshone medicine man Corbin Harney, setting up the Great Basin Gathering. Powerful individuals! It was most fortunate to have been in their company. The beat goes on. P.S. Spent a memorable evening at the arts bar Noc Noc in the lower Haight discussing current American politics and the complete failure of postmodernism, downing three pints of Chicago's Goose IPA in the process.
NEVER GIVE UP
Craig Louis Stehr
Email: CraigStehr@inbox.com
re: “…but what about the invasive homeless?” asked Mayor Steve Scalmanini”
I have a suggestion for NIMBY Ukiah. Arm the militarized enforcers you intend to terrify the POOR AKA Homeless with MTA Free One Way Bus Passes.
Now that Koch Headlands is gated and has a few restrooms (we have Porta potty business, contract them and add more facilities), open Koch Headlands to camping to the Homeless, Come One Come ALL Homeless to THE CITY OF THE HOMELESS Fort Bragg where they can enjoy the Hospitality Center’s Old Coast Hotel and much much more. Tax payers have spent MILLIONS.. use the facilities and services we have. Don’t be a white liberal exceptionalist seeking to emply brute force to enforce! SHARE. BE KIND. Free Bus tickets to Fort Bragg and open Koch Headlands for Homeless camping TODAY!!!