Mendocino County Today: Saturday, Oct. 8, 2016

• Giants Lose
• Woodhouse Statement
• New Play
• Cyclist Dies
• Faller Death
• Hortense Eviction
• Hendy Reparations
• Agenda Adjustment
• Recommended Reading
• Suicide-net Costs
• Yesterday's Catch
• Orange Cosby
• POTUS Discipline
• Angry Republicans
• Brewmaster Dinner
• Transportation Plan
• Love DC
• Tax Cheat
• Little Dog
• Wall-Street Bootlicking
• Trump Traits
• Big Dig
• Marco Radio

SF GIANTS LOSE 1-0 IN FIRST GAME of National League division series playoffs. Johnny Cueto pitched a stellar game, allowing just one solo home run to the Chicago Cubs in the eighth inning. But that was all they needed, as the Giants were unable to convert several opportunities into runs. Excellent play all around by both teams. The Giants now need a win Saturday to keep the Cubs — a team which hasn’t won a World Series since 1906 and which has the best record in the majors this year — from taking a substantial two-game lead in the best of five series. Many Giants fans who had given up on the Giants as they collapsed after the All-Star game in July, have recovered their enthusiasm in hope that the Giants can somehow repeat their exciting 2014 wild-card run to the World Series after barely making it into the playoffs this year. As Giants Manager Bruce Bochy said Thursday, “You can look at it like we’re playing with house money a little bit. And that may take a little pressure off.”

FINALLY. THE ABSENT SUPERVISOR TOM WOODHOUSE EXPLAINS HIS DISAPPEARANCE

Woodhouse Family Statement:

As many of you know, Third District Supervisor Tom Woodhouse has been absent from several Board of Supervisors meetings. Supervisor Woodhouse has a medical condition and is presently under a doctor's care. We are hopeful Supervisor Woodhouse will be able to return to work in early November. The family is asking for understanding and consideration of their privacy during this difficult time. Updates will be provided as information becomes available.

— The Woodhouse Family

MOLOTOV EDITIONS: THE DEATH OF TEDDY BALLGAME BY ROBERT MAILER ANDERSON

Sunday, October 9 • 6:00pm - 7:30pm

Welcome to Litquake, San Francisco’s literary festival, now in our 17th year. Festival dates are October 7-15, 2016. Events are all-ages unless noted otherwise. Book sales are offered when and where appropriate. Events without ticket reservations are first-come first served.

Molotov Editions Press Presents: a table reading of scenes from its new release, the play The Death of Teddy Ballgame by Robert Mailer Anderson, bestselling author of the novel Boonville. With jazz improvisation from SFJAZZ Collective, and special guest readers Les Claypool (Primus), Jonathan Moscone, and Domenic Stansberry. Bourbon, wine, and coffee available. FREE

The last patrons of Caffe Dante gather for their morning coffee during what may be the final days of civilization. Apocalyptic events disrupt the routine of their lives and they are forced to take responsibility for a darkly comic reckoning which questions their faith in God, love, culture, family, humanity, and each other. It’s Beckett meets Mamet meets O’Neill over a double jolt of espresso!

(Molotov Editions is a new publishing imprint based in the San Francisco Bay Area.)

ROBERT MAILER ANDERSON is the author of the best-selling novel "Boonville," which was highly-acclaimed by critics and writers, including Norman Mailer, Carl Hiaasen, Jonathan Lethem, William Gibson, Naomi Wolf, Martin Cruz Smith, and Jonathan Yardley. It was the #1 fiction book in Northern California for six months, and was hailed by the San Francisco Chronicle as one of "the top ten literary events of 2001."

Anderson began his literary career at age fifteen as a contributor to The Anderson Valley Advertiser (which The Wall Street Journal described as "the best small town newspaper in the United States."), where his uncle, Bruce Anderson, was editor and publisher. Since then he has published in Christopher Street, San Francisco Magazine, The Believer, The San Francisco Chronicle, Encore, and The San Francisco Examiner. His short story, "Briley Boy," was included in the anthology San Francisco Noir. He was named a San Francisco Library Laureate in 2003.

Among his other artistic endeavors, Anderson was co-owner of Quotidian art gallery, which SF Gate tagged as "the always envelope-pushing Quotidian." In that spirit, he designed an anti-Iraq War poster campaign in June 2004, juxtaposing an Abu Graib prisoner, the American Flag, and the slogan "Got Democracy?" The poster is now part of the collection at the Center for the Study of Political Graphics in Los Angeles. Anderson was also a board member of the San Francisco Opera Association for five years, and currently is a board member of SFJAZZ.

SIGN UP AT:

https://litquake2016.sched.org/event/7jv6/molotov-editions-the-death-of-teddy-ballgame-by-robert-mailer-anderson

HIGHWAY 101 CYCLIST DIES. A 37-year-old bicyclist terribly injured in a collision with a car on Highway 101 near Hopland has died, the CHP announced today.

Charles E. Johnson Jr. of Valley Head, Alabama, a touring bicyclist, was crossing Highway 101 near La Franchi Road, Hopland, about 1:30 p.m. last Friday ( Sept. 30th) when he was hit by a southbound 2013 Ford Focus driven by Genai Renzi, 35, of Santa Rosa.

Johnson was flown to Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital with serious internal injuries that he would succumb to the next day, Saturday, October 2nd.

The accident remains under investigation.

HUMBOLDT LOGGER DIES IN LINE OF DUTY

On Thursday, October 6, 2016 at about 1:20 p.m. the Humboldt County Deputies and Coroners responded to Brannon Mountain Rd in Willow Creek for report of a possible logging accident. Deputies met with [Willow Creek Volunteer firefighters], who had recovered the body about 200 yards down a steep embankment. It was discovered the decedent was a timber faller and was in the area falling trees for a local business. The decedent has been identified as 57 year old Steven Donald Rodke of Willow Creek. The cause of death is undetermined at this time.

An autopsy has been scheduled for Monday, October 10th.

(Press release from Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office)

AND NOW EVICTION. Mendocino College brings in football players from around the country to man a football program woefully short of local talent. This year's College team depends on about twenty athletes from Florida.

MENDO KIDS who can make the big jump from high school ball are themselves recruited by historically more competitive teams out of the area, leaving maybe a half-dozen or so gridders from Mendocino College's natural draw area — Mendo, Lake and Humboldt County — for the Mendo College team.

THERE'S NOT ENOUGH homegrown talent to field a Mendo team, and junior college coaches want to win at all costs because, like their players, they want to move up into grander college-level programs, hence Florida kids lured across the country to Ukiah to play football.

THIS YEAR'S MENDO squad is heavily dependent on the Florida kids, good kids, mostly, kids who dream NFL dreams but are academically unprepared for four-year schools, not that academic standards at big football colleges are any tougher than they are at Mendocino College. JC football is, for lots of the imported jocks, their only chance at catching on with a four-year program.

101 HORTENSE, WESTSIDE UKIAH, is a dilapidated former nursing home. A mercenary doctor named Gitlin owns the building. When Gitlin isn't slum lording, he maintains an office in Redwood Valley and an affiliation with the Adventist medical complexes in Ukiah and Willits.

GITLIN AND THE COLLEGE'S football coach, an ambitious fellow named Espy, arranged to rent Gitlin's crumbling Westside structure to about half this season's Mendo College football team, the Florida half. The doctor charged the boys $9,000 a month for premises without hot water. (The Ukiah Daily Journal carried the no hot water allegation.) Into Gitlin's decrepit structure, Gitlin and Espy stuffed the Florida Twenty. They slept where they could in a house woefully short of the usual amenities like beds, sheets and blankets. What the Florida kids did for food money is unknown, but a Ukiah liberal associated with Mendocino Environment Center offered to donate some collard greens, which may or may not be an ethnic slur depending on the degree of the donor's sophistication.

101 HORTENSE'S NEIGHBORS complained about the football players, then petitioned the City of Ukiah about late night noise, poor housekeeping, an unmaintained yard in an otherwise tidy and silent neighborhood. (The Westside is strictly haute bourgeoisie, the kind of place where homeowners nervously monitor their lawns for signs of rebel crab grass.) The complaints really boiled down to young guys being young guys.

THE COMPLAINING NEIGHBORS were immediately accused of racism by, of all people, landlord Gitlin, who stood to lose nine grand a month for his otherwise un-rentable slum.

THERE IS ZERO evidence that the neighbors are racists. They include a superior court judge, a former mayor, a reporter for the Santa Rosa Press Democrat, and the famous ex-communist, Mike Sweeney.

JUST AS IT SEEMED like everyone was getting along, just as mutual outreach and a general kumbaya vibe was established between the black jocks and their liberal white neighbors, landlord Gitlin served the Florida delegation with eviction papers. The kids have got to be out by Saturday, game day, as it happens.

HOW THE FOOTBALL PLAYERS had managed to come up with the nine thousand a month rent money remains a mystery, but they were clearly getting help from unnamed donors who also pay for football accommodations at the Motel Grunge on North State.

MEANWHILE, and from the start, Mendo College president Arturo Reyes, Coach Espy, and the school's athletic director, Matt Gordon, have shirked all responsibility for student-athlete living arrangements. They claim to abide strictly to NCAA rules governing aide for athletes. To hear them tell it, there's no association with the Florida Twenty and the school other than football.

INLAND LIBS of the better sort, Barry Vogel for one, is marshaling practical support for the evicted ball players (and probably a lawsuit) while one of the kids, according to the Journal, has already departed for home.

JUST IN FROM HENDY WOODS

The Hendy Woods Campground and road by the shop have been completed. The next two weeks they will be focused on repairing the main road as well as staging the concrete pumper on the road for the tank foundation. The park will remain open to people who park at the entrance kiosk and walk in but due to construction the vehicle access to the day use will be affected until the 28th (weather dependent). We are looking forward to having this awesome park improvement project finished so we can focus on the many other projects at Hendy. Things should be back to normal by the end of October.

DAVE GURNEY WRITES:

Come help The City of Fort Bragg change their Agenda!

On Tuesday the 11th of October, the Fort Bragg City Council will hear arguments for a change in Agenda for City Council meetings, to put the Consent Calendar at the beginning instead of the end of the Agenda. This will allow the public to be able to request items that are inappropriately placed on the Consent Calendar to be removed and heard at that time, without people having to wait unanswered for 3+ hours in order to hear whether or not the City Council sees fit to answer, as now regularly occurs. If you care about open and transparent local government, and wish to see the City of Fort Bragg comply with the rest of the State of California's city councils, by put the consent calendar at the beginning of their meetings instead of the end, please come to their Tuesday Oct. 11 Town Hall meeting, at 6:00 PM, to request them to make this necessary change.

See: http://tinyurl.com/grvuax9

Thank you!

RECOMMENDED READING: And don't let the title throw you off. "Show Me a Hero: A Tale of Murder, Suicide, Race, and Redemption," is really about public housing policy. What? How can that possibly be interesting? Lisa Belkin, a writer for the New York Times, and a very good writer, creates a riveting account of the federal mandate to build a proportionate number of public housing units in the rigidly segregated small city of Yonkers, New York. The author tells the story in the voices of the people involved, black, white and hispanic, and a fascinating story it is, so fascinating HBO, via the genius writer and producer David Simon, has adopted it for viewing as a series.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Show_Me_a_Hero

SKY-HIGH COSTS put Golden Gate Bridge anti-suicide net in doubt

by Matier & Ross

It was all smiles and hugs in June 2014 when, after decades of debate, the Golden Gate Bridge, Highway and Transportation District board approved spending $76 million to install steel-mesh nets under the span to prevent suicide jumps.

Since then, however, a big detour has come up that puts the whole project in doubt.

That detour is the price: Two bids came in for the job, and the cheapest was $142 million — nearly double what the board expected.

“Obviously, the consultant missed the mark,” said bridge district General Manager Denis Mulligan.

Throw in management costs, materials testing and construction engineering expenses, and the district has to come up with another $110 million for the job. And it needs to do so by January, when the bid clock runs out.

Mulligan is optimistic, but he admits that time is short.

The bridge district has already committed $20 million of its own money to the project. But getting more out of tolls would be tough, given that the agency is facing a $50 projected deficit over the next five years.

The state isn’t doing much better. The California Transportation Commission just cut $1 billion from transportation funding on projects all across the state.

“The truth is, the state has been taking money away from transportation projects, not giving them more,” said spokesman Randy Rentschler of the Metropolitan Transportation Commission.

Mulligan said the antisuicide net still has a good deal of support on the federal level. But getting tens of millions of dollars out of Washington in the next 90 days would be quite an accomplishment.

“That is the kind of wind they are facing,” Rentschler said.

(Courtesy, the San Francisco Chronicle.)

* * *

ED NOTE: “…the state has been taking money away from transportation projects, not giving them more…” Mendocino County Supervisor Dan Gjerde correctly pointed out on Thursday when explaining why the Board of Supes would like to put a significant portion of any new pot revenues into road upgrade and repair that the State of California has not increased the piddling 18¢ a gallon gas tax since 1996 even though state government is dominated by Democrats who claim to be worried about greenhouse gasses and global warming. Not only has the 18¢ not increased, added Gjerde, but its purchasing power has dropped substantially.

CATCH OF THE DAY, October 7, 2016

JEFFREY BENNATTS, Fort Bragg. Burglary.

MEREDITH BOONEDENHEM, Potter Valley. Suspended license, protective order violation.

MARTIN BRIGGS, Willits. Appropriation of lost property without attempting to return it, receiving stolen property.

JOHN DALKIN, Ukiah. Parole revocation.

RICHARD FRANCISKOVICH, Redway/Laytonville. Pot possession for sale, sale.

KATHLEEN GREENE, Ukiah. Controlled substance, paraphernalia, failure to appear, probation revocation.

SACRAMENTO HERNANDEZ, Ukiah. Vandalism.

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

MICHEAS LEHN-HERR, San Francisco/Ukiah. Probation revocation.

CHRISTOPHER LOPEZ, Ukiah. Probation revocation.

SESARIO RIOS IV, Ukiah. County parole violation.

LOGAN RYMEL, Ukiah. Probation revocation.

KNOX SOWERS, Fort Bragg. Probation revocation.

INSULT OF THE DAY:

Trump, the orange Cosby.

ON LINE COMMENT OF THE DAY

Many people have asked me if Trump is fit to be POTUS. My answer to them is that he’s too fat to be POTUS. No POTUS, male or female or undecided, should exceed 210 pounds. If Trump wants to be POTUS, he needs to shed at least twenty pounds, maybe more. Yes, I know this will require sacrifice & self-discipline on his part. It means no more late night Burritos or mid-morning Baby Back Ribs, but it’s the least we should expect from someone who aspires to be POTUS.

Look at Putin who Trump & Pence have described as The Great Leader as though they’re North Koreans praising Kim Jong-un. Putin is in excellent shape. If Trump wants Putin’s respect, he needs to strip his shirt off and hop on a horse flexing his pectorals for the cameras. It means Trump needs to embrace a diet that consists solely of the Russian Superfood, Tvorog. It means Trump needs to get rid of his Double D Cup bra that’s holding up his man boobies. It means Trump needs to head to the gym rather than Tweeting at 3am while scarfing Deep-Fried Corn Dogs with a chaser of Pork Rinds & half a dozen Energy Drinks.

MODERN HISTORY LESSON?

JOIN US AT OUR BREWMASTER DINNER & FILM SCREENING

The Ballad of Fred Hersch screens as part of a Brewmaster Benefit Dinner for the Mendocino Film Festival on Thursday, October 13. Please join us at The Sequoia Room at North Coast Brewing Company at 6:30 pm for a four-course dinner artfully paired with North Coast Brewing Company's best brews and this remarkable film. All proceeds benefit the Mendocino Film Festival. See the Menu at MendocinoFilmFestival.org.

Purchase tickets at ncbcdinner.eventbrite.com

The Ballad of Fred Hersch profiles legendary jazz pianist, composer, and LGBT activist Fred Hersch, who narrowly survived an AIDS-related coma in 2008 before going on to win JJA Jazz Pianist of the Year in 2011 and 2016. Regarded as a musical genius whose unparalleled talent has redefined jazz, the witty and endearing Hersch was one of the first people to openly admit his HIV-positive status in the early 1990s. The film screens at The Sequoia Room following dinner. Read more at MendocinoFilmFestival.org.

Mendocino Film Festival
10481 Lansing Street
Mendocino, California 95460

COME HAVE A SAY ABOUT THE FUTURE OF TRANSPORTATION IN MENDOCINO COUNTY!

The Mendocino Council of Governments is in the process of preparing both an Active Transportation Plan and an update to the Regional Transportation Plan. The two plans together will identify transportation needs and projects for the next 20 years in all modes of transportation including bicycle, pedestrian, streets, highways, rail and transit.

A series of workshops is planned to give the public opportunity to voice their concerns about transportation and help us to identify needs throughout the county.

Public Workshops

Fort Bragg Monday, October 17, 5:30 to 7:00 p.m.
Town Hall, 363 N. Main Street, Fort Bragg

Ukiah Monday, October 24, 5:30 to 7:00 p.m.
UC Farm Advisor’s Conference Room, 890 North Bush Street, Ukiah

Willits Monday, November 7, 5:30 to 7:00 p.m.
Willits Community Center, 111 East Commercial Street, Willits

Point Arena Monday, November 14, 5:30 to 7:00 p.m.
Point Arena City Hall, 451 School Street, Point Arena

Covelo Wednesday, November 16, 5:30 to 7:00 p.m.
Covelo Fire Protection District, 75900 Hwy 162, Covelo

If you are unable to attend a workshop, please watch our website for updates and upcoming opportunities to participate, including a survey.

www.mendocinocog.org

Or call 707-463-1859 for more information

ON LINE COMMENT OF THE DAY: RIGGED TAX CODE

Donald Trump supporters are reported to praise his accountants’ ability to use loopholes to avoid paying taxes. Those loopholes were pushed into law by the people with enough money to profit from them. Trump thinks it is “smart” to avoid contributing to such government expenditures as veterans’ health care (Veterans Affairs) and the military, leaving the rest of us to make up the difference. Not having $916 million dollars to lose, we have to live with any bad financial judgments we make. Trump may claim he wants to “fix” the tax code, but to date, he has never tried to use the influence he claims his money can buy to do so.

LITTLE DOG WITH CATHOLIC SCHOOL GIRL

SANDERS WAS RIGHT ABOUT CLINTON’S WALL STREET BOOTLICKING

Recently leaked Wall Street speech notes paint Hillary Clinton in the worst possible light: two-faced, out of touch, secretive and subservient to Wall Street. And in the most explicit way possible, validate Bernie Sanders’ criticisms of her during the Democratic primary. … Clinton says those who work inside a regulated industry are best poised to then regulate the industry. Too much or too little regulation is bad, she says, and those who understand the right balance are often in the industry.

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2016/10/07/leaked-podesta-emails-show-bernie-was-right.html

TRUMP: BETRAYER IN CHIEF

by Ralph Nader

Let’s say you’re inclined to vote for Donald Trump largely because you dislike Hillary Clinton and are fed up with government messing up and serving Wall Street over Main Street. You’ve heard all the things said about Trump and it doesn’t make any difference because he says with absolute confidence that he is going to shake up Washington and “make America great again.”

Why not try this experiment to bring matters down to earth where you live, work and raise your families? Suppose you’re souring on your two friends, who have been increasingly disrespectful. Along comes a person who wants to be your friend and protector and make your life great again. He reassures you because he says he’s quite well-to-do and always tells you how smart he is in all ways.

Day after day, he tells you about his successful life, his determination to address many of your concerns about health care, safety, uppity newcomers, and he promises to lower your taxes and get your neighborhood roads fixed. He emphasizes that he’ll stop the closing of a factory where you work that is planning to flee to China and make sure no more jobs in your community move to low-wage countries. He never says how, but that’s ok because you believe him. He’s like a father figure ready to make life better and more secure.

All this sounds just great to you. But then you start hearing people cautioning you about the man. He bankrupted his gambling business, while taking government subsidies. He doesn’t pay taxes. He regularly says things that are not true – about himself and about the country, about safety regulations in your factory, and about immigrants.

He harshly goes after anyone who takes him to task for his behavior, his false statements and his sneering descriptions of other people, especially if they are overweight (like he is) or on hard times, or they want a living minimum wage.

Worse still, you start noticing that he is a freeloader – cheating his own employees, small business suppliers who aren’t getting paid, gouging customers and that he doesn’t pay any taxes, unlike you. After a few drinks, he even brags about his “competitive advantage” over the people he’s stiffed.

Sometimes he’s even made vicious comments about people you like and even about you, as if he thinks he is better than you. Although your neighbors have pointed out these rough edges, you keep forgiving him because of the many ways he’s promised to make your life better. But after a while, you see that he never apologizes for his falsehoods and never takes responsibility for any of his failings, always blaming someone or something else. He bullies weaker people in his business dealings.

Like a schoolyard bully, he knows how to dish it out but can’t take it. You’d better not give him some of his own medicine because he’ll lash out at you with uncontrollable rage. You admire people who can control their temper and ego. He seems unable to control his own explosive impulses.

Other remarks bother you. He is too rough on women and minorities. He jeers about people’s physical features and thinks he’s perfect. For all his assurances about what he’d do for you, he doesn’t know very much about anything or how he’s going to get anything done. You’ve never seen him pick up a check. He takes everything personally, and goes berserk when criticized or corrected.

But somehow, he talks your language, thinks your thoughts and, oh, how he can describe your resentments about “other people.” What you might be thinking to yourself, he says out loud, afraid of nobody.

Over the years, your friend has moved away, built and lost bigger gambling casinos, gotten into much debt but managed to always personally escape his creditors. He’s anchored big-time television shows as the hero-decider, decided to run for president against all odds and stunned the country by getting people like you to make him the Republican Party’s nominee.

If he wins, he is still the same person except he has huge power over everyone. Unfortunately his disturbing characteristics and temperament will only get worse if he is elected.

He can impose his will on you with all the power of the White House. Already, you’ve noticed he’s siding with the big oil, gas and coal interests, asking for campaign money from the very fat cats he vigorously denounced for a year to get your primary vote.

He can dictate, start wars and make life very unpleasant for people like you and turn little protests into big time retaliation from Big Brother in Washington.

You know, a wise philosopher 2,000 years ago said “character is destiny.” I would add “personality is decisive.”

We all confront these traits in our neighbors, co-workers and other friends. Do you really want the traits you yourself have noticed in your friend lodged in a secretive presidency having the greatest power to betray his supporters, lashing out in all directions?

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

THE BIG DIG: International Tunneling Conference in LA Promotes Destructive Delta Tunnels

by Dan Bacher

Only in the so-called “environmentally enlightened” state of California would the mainstream media, state officials and some NGO representatives praise Jerry Brown as a “climate leader” and “green governor” while he is promoting the Delta Tunnels, the most environmentally devastating public works project in the state’s history.

But it gets worse — a lot worse. State agencies under the helm of Jerry Brown, who claimed the Delta Tunnels (CA WaterFix) will create jobs for Californians, are participating in an International Tunneling conference in Los Angeles called “Cutting Edge” from November 6-9.

The conference announcement declares:

“...California’s tunneling industry is booming. In 2016, the fifth annual Cutting Edge Conference will convene in Los Angeles to look at the latest advances in tunneling technology and methodology and how they can be harnessed to assist the region’s major upcoming underground projects.”

The invitation email states: “Among the many organisations [British spelling] in attendance will be: …California Water Fix.”

Why should anybody attend the conference? “This conference is highly focused on urban tunneling and will provide technical sessions to help you grow professionally and personally by learning from the problems others have faced,” the announcement explains.

“Cutting Edge is the must-attend urban tunneling conference of the year. Featuring a wide variety of technical sessions and speakers focusing on key industry events and issues, Cutting Edge will be a professional event you will truly enjoy and remember,” the announcement proclaims.

Why is the conference being sponsored in Los Angeles at this time? Barbara Barrigan-Parrilla, executive director of Restore the Delta, believes it’s because of the opportunities for international corporations to secure a lucrative contract for the multi-billion dollar California WaterFix.

“A chance to get a contract for a $17 billion project has attracted many international firms to sponsor this conference,” said Barrigan-Parrilla. “State and Metropolitan Water District officials will surely get wined-and-dined, but we think their international suitors should know the Delta Tunnels are as real as a day at Disneyland.”

“The Delta Tunnels have received none of the required state or federal permits, and the project has no finance plan. Water ratepayers and California taxpayers don’t want the tunnels, and agricultural districts cannot afford the tunnels. The project lacks a completed biological opinion and has been rejected twice by the EPA,” she said.

“Why are state agencies seeking international contractors for a project that was supposed to create jobs for Californians? Are agencies also seeking international funding for a project that was to be paid for by California water districts? Are our water resources for sale on the international market? Californians would like to know,” she concluded.

These are very good questions.

The tunneling conference — and Governor Brown's frantic rush to build the Delta Tunnels as his “legacy” project — take place at a time when the WaterFix is becoming increasingly unpopular with Californians.

In fact, Brown admitted for the first time that his tunnels project is “unpopular” when he lauded former Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger for focusing on environmental issues at the tenth anniversary celebration of the passage of Assembly Bill 32, the legislation that established the state’s greenhouse emissions reductions, in the California Museum in Sacramento on Wednesday, October 5.

“Arnold, thanks for being for climate change, cap and trade, the tunnels project, high speed rail and all the other unpopular policies that I’m saddled with,” quipped Brown.

You can listen to Brown’s comments here 1:01:24: bit.ly/…

The Delta Tunnels project is based on the absurd premise that diverting more water out of the Sacramento River before it flows into the Delta would somehow “restore" its fish populations and ecosystems.

In fact, the construction of the two 35-mile long tunnels under the Delta would hasten the extinction of Central Valley steelhead, Sacramento River winter-run Chinook salmon, Delta and longfin smelt, green sturgeon and other fish species. The project would also imperil the salmon and steelhead populations on the Trinity and Klamath rivers, a fishery that for thousands of years has played an integral part in the culture, religion and food supply of the Yurok, Karuk and Hoopa Valley Tribes.

I'M IN FORT BRAGG TONIGHT FOR MEMO OF THE AIR: GOOD NIGHT RADIO.

Every other week I do my show by live remote from away. This week (tonight) I'll be in Fort Bragg, and you're welcome to come and play music or read your story or talk about your project.

Come to 325 N. Franklin (next door to the Tip Top bar) any time after 9pm (I'll be there until about 4am), waltz in the front door, head for the lighted room at the back and get my attention. I'll put down what I'm reading and turn on a microphone for you. If someone else is there ahead of you, you can wander around and goggle at the paintings while you wait, or tune up, or sit on the nice big couch; we've just had it cleaned. (There were burrs from the goat act.)

Tonight would be good for visitors, because I hurt my finger a little at work this week and typing is awkward, so I have a little less material to read than usual.

If you've never been there, you might think of it as an opportunity to see what it's like in a real radio station that isn't operated as a closed club, and think about getting your own show. It's easy and fun, and there's constant entirely voluntary turnover in the station's schedule. Most of the time when someone wants a show on KNYO, it goes like this: You contact Bob Young via bobb@poetworld.net and he meets you at the station, shows you how to work the machinery, and you're on the schedule within a week. There's one phone line you can open up for callers, or not, as you please. There are two CD decks and a turntable, and there's a place to plug your tablet or phone or computer into the mixing board and play music that way. Or you can do what I do and read stories for however long you like to do that. Just think about it. There's no pressure.

KNYO-LP, Fort Bragg, 107.7 in or near town, or listen via

http://knyo.org (and press Listen) or via http://TuneIn.com by searching

for KNYO-LP.

— Marco McClean

memo@mcn.org

http://MemoOfTheAir.wordpress.com