Mendocino County Today: Wednesday, Nov. 16, 2016

• 128 Closed
• Mendo History
• KZYX Broke
• Siege Mentality
• HRC Perceptions
• Little Dog
• Deporting Criminals
• Miffed Plus
• Murdered Grower
• Ocean Rescue
• Slow Count
• Arlo!
• Yesterday's Catch
• Everybody Knows
• Crummy Time
• Yasmin's Mom
• Scumbag Search
• Nonvoters Protesting
• Kay School
• Neoliberal Plunder
• Natural Life
• Corrupt DNC
• Dear Donald
• Local Artists

FROM CALTRANS @ 3:30 PM TUESDAY: HIGHWAY 128 WON'T BE OPENING AT 5:00 PM

Traffic Advisory: The first mile of Route 128 in Mendocino County (on the coast near the mouth of the Navarro River) remains closed due to flooding. Caltrans will have personnel on-site to monitor the flooding throughout the night so that the roadway can be reopened as soon as it is safe to do so.

(Courtesy, MendocinoSportsPlus)

PUNCTURING PIETY

To the Editor:

I am not aware if there are any local newspapers in the town of Oświęcim <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/O%C5%9Bwi%C4%99cim>, in Poland, site of the Auschwitz concentration camp created by the Nazis to house and exterminate Jews, Roma and others, including dissident Poles, but I would doubt very much, if there is one, that it would publish a satirical column, making fun of Hitler’s victims.

That would be the equivalent to what “Tommy Wayne Kramer” AKA Tom Hine did this past Sunday (Nov. 13) in his weekly column, headlined “Imaginary Indians at Grace Hudson Museum, and in Cleveland." In it he referred, deprecatingly, to a “romanticized memory of local Native Americans,” which he accuses the Grace Hudson Museum under what the direction of Sherri Smith-Ferri of Pomo ancestry who he characterizes as “a professional Native American, paid to murmur soft pieties in harmony with the fashions of the moment.”

This, we gather from a succeeding paragraph is to transform the museum into “a stern, politically correct propaganda exercise promoting a Disneyesque fairytale version of the Pomo” which he illustrates with a made-up quote to fit his twisted description of what the museum is planning.

After smearing Smith-Ferri and the Grace Hudson, he then transferred his attention to the Cleveland Indians, whose team name has long been objected to by Native Americans, as has that of Washington’s Redskins and Atlanta’s Braves, and he proceeds to make fun of their complaints as well.

In an afterword, he thinks he is being clever by expressing a desire to “set up a concession stand” inside the refurbished museum “where he’ll sell Chief Wahoo T-Shirts, coffee mugs, and key chains.”

Now there are those who will say that Hine through his alter ego, TWK, is writing satire and I should read it as a put-on and not what Hine is really thinking. Not so, according to Hine himself.

Back in Sept. 2014, Hine was interviewed in the Anderson Valley Advertiser in which he said,

“I started out reviewing bars, bar hopping. The reviews I was writing under the name Tommy Wayne Kramer (TWK), which I came up with to illustrate a character… southern, pretentious, and an idiot who fancied himself as very erudite and worldly.

“Tommy Wayne Kramer is a brand name, but it is just me… exaggerated somewhat, hopefully humorous sometimes, but it’s me. I’m pretty much a middle of the road conservative now.

“And I completely acknowledge I’ve migrated some from the left to the right over the past three or four decades, but you also have to take into consideration that just by standing still, you wind up further on the right.” In other words, he has become indistinguishable from the “southern, pretentious idiot,” that he created.

I hope that transformation has not become so ingrained that Hine is unable to acknowledge that like every other non-indigenous resident of this county, he is the beneficiary of the massacres and the ethnic cleansing of the Indian people that took place here in the second half of the 19th century.

These have been described in their ugly details in at least two recent books, “Murder State: California’s Native American Genocide,” by Brendan Lindsay (2014) and most recently, “American Genocide: The US and the American Indian Catastrophe," by Benjamin Madley earlier this year. I recommend them both to Hine and to this paper’s readers as well as paying a visit to the Grace Hudson Museum.

Jeff Blankfort

Ukiah

* * *

THE PASSAGE BLANKFORT OBJECTS TO...

OUR SHRINE to a romanticized memory of local Native Americans continues its long march to completion over at the Grace Hudson Museum. It’s taking many years to finish because landscapers are installing sand in the gardens one grain at a time.

The only thing actually accomplished so far has been the clumsy but brutally efficient strategy of fencing out undesirables (poor people). The tall chain link fences went up around the perimeter and nothing else has happened in five or ten years.

The museum just got written up, again, in an unintentionally hilarious article about its soon-to-be-unveiled landscaping project. When completed the Grace Hudson grounds will be transformed into a garden that looks like one of those vacant lots down near the airport.

The museum’s boss, a professional Native American paid to murmur soft pieties in harmony with the fashions of the moment, is Sherrie Smith-Ferri. She promises a grim “garden” of sand, rocks and native plants and she envisions the day when local school kids wearing safety helmets are herded through its bleak pathways to thrill at the sight of marsh grass, needle grass, and a permeable gravel parking lot. Exciting? Why, they’ll never play video games again!

The article carefully avoids asking what this dreary project will cost taxpayers, but local funding requests are already in the works. Hide your checkbook.

What the Grace Hudson home (and later, museum) had always been was a lush, lawned, shaded oasis for locals and travelers. Now, thanks to the wizardry of experts like Smith-Ferri, it is being transformed into a stern, politically correct propaganda exercise promoting a Disneyesque fairytale version of the Pomo:

“See the noble Native American floating gently above a pristine landscape, leaving nary a moccasin print on the river banks and sacred paths of the deer. Watch the evening ritual of the fire circle as buddha-like Indians hold paws with dolphins and panda bears while singing ‘Blowin’ in the Wind’ and nibbling gluten-free acorns from hand-woven baskets.”

This is just a mess of trendy mush meant to milk funding from credulous board members sitting on distant foundations who have no intention to ever visit the forlorn moonscape being built over there on Main Street.

What a joke. My guess is the whole worthless project gets bulldozed in a few years, once the public repeatedly fails to visit Grace Hudson Museum in bigger and bigger numbers every tourist season.

At that point maybe they’ll do it over it as a fun theme park with water slides.

(Tommy Wayne Kramer)

* * *

ED NOTE: The above offending paragraphs appeared in last Sunday's Ukiah Daily Journal, not that the AVA is trying to distance ourselves from it. TWK is a friend of mine and a talented writer with a gift for piety-puncturing. I remember writing to the Journal to complain that Smith-Ferri's husband wanted the Journal to ban Kramer, as have a number of Ukiah area "liberals." Not that Mrs. Smith-Ferri should suffer for the sins of her husband, and not that Jeff Blankfort, himself the target of "liberals" trying to shut him up at KZYX where his program, Takes On The World, is the best programming KZYX does in presenting perspectives on the Middle East that are otherwise mostly shut out by mainstream media, should ignore what he sees as a provocation here. But I must say I agree with Kramer that the Grace Hudson Museum reeks of false piety, as did, in my opinion, Grace Hudson herself, a medium talented painter whose entire happy papoose oeuvre depicts life in Mendocino County that never existed, especially for Native Americans, and especially at the turn of the century when she was painting when Native Americans were still being systematically dispossessed and persecuted. (Earl Labor's new bio of Jack London makes it clear that Grace and Jack enjoyed a boff or two when Jack passed through Ukiah. She was a lot more complicated than she's made out to be by her Museum keepers.)

I read Kramer's col as a blast at falsity, and I think the Grace Hudson has it coming. I also agree with him about the destruction of the adjacent park. I think the re-do is simply an effort to shut out the drunks and bums who used to congregate there. Their presence intimidated Museum visitors, I would think, and there were many complaints about them from Ukiah residents generally. Bashing Kramer over the head with the Holocaust seems like overkill (sic) to me. I think the Grace Hudson is more like the Nazi propaganda that emphasized death camp orchestras as the monsters simultaneously carried out industrialized mass murder, in that there's little or no mention in the Museum itself of the systematic extermination of Mendocino County's native population. Which isn't to say it isn't an interesting place, but it presents a terribly distorted version of what actually happened here. Basically, the history we get at Grace Hudson is "Once upon a time many happy and clever brown people lived here who were real good at making baskets. And then, well, uh, they weren't here."

I've read everything I can find on local history, including the two books mentioned, both of which I own along with that truest Mendocino County history of all, Genocide and Vendetta. How many people know that it was Judge Hastings, after whom Hastings School of Law is named, who instituted the state bounty system that paid cash for every Indian killed, including lesser amounts for women and children? That policy, adopted as law at the state level, began with an incident right here in Mendocino County at Eden Valley, then the site of Hastings' horse ranch. I think controversies like this help clear the historical air, and I've always thought it a shame the history of this place is mostly buried in layers of falsehood and child-like sentimentality.

PS. A couple of years ago, an elderly woman yelled at me for objecting to a Boonville memoir of the late 19th century that depicted raids by Spanish soldiers on Mendocino County to kidnap Indians for the missions in Sonoma and San Rafael as untrue. She said that the Spaniards were great friends to the Indians.

PPS. A couple of issues ago we ran an interesting account about a ragged Catholic priest who visited Covelo to hold services for the mission-ized Indians who'd been confined there.

PPPS. I've often written about Steve Knight, in my opinion a truly great man many of whose descendants live in the County today, not that our historical societies seem aware of him. Knight, a brilliant, articulate man, represented local Indians in Washington. It was his persistence that won the tribal recognitions for many Mendo and HumCo tribes. Without him, many Norcal Indians today would be landless. Steve Knight was one of the founders of the California Indian Brotherhood whose first meeting was convened in Ukiah in the winter of 1926. His was among the most articulate voices in summarizing the transition from Mexican to American rule as it affected Mendocino County Indians. In his words, and they are the truest words we have, in capsule form, of Indian life in Mendocino County before the great murder:

“Mexican people built no missions up here, so the Indians were allowed to live pretty much as they had been before and after the Mexicans came, and the Indians were given certain areas of land to use to grow things for themselves. They built brush fences around them, had their homes there, planted gardens, had corn and everything they needed to eat on these places. When the Americans superseded the Mexicans the Indians were aware of the change — they seem to have known there was a change — they didn't resent the Americans coming in where there was just a few came in, but finally then the miners came in by the hundreds and by the thousands, then trouble arose between the Indians and the whites. Then the American government sent agents among the Indians to make treaties with them in order to get the Indians on reservations where they might be protected, but mostly to forestall Indian uprisings. These agents came out, made treaties with the Indians, promising them certain reservations. The Indians signed these treaties in good faith. They thought these treaties were final when they signed their name to them — they did not know it had to have the approval of the Senate of the United States, so the Indians were expecting to be moved onto the new reservations, but these new promised reservations were being filled up by white settlers. Then those Indians realized that they had been fooled. But the old people up to very recent times [the 1920s] believed that the government would make some other settlement with them. These treaties were pigeon-holed in the archives of the United States Senate for 50 years. No one ever saw them until after the 50 year term had expired. Someone then dug them up and made a few copies of some of the treaties. When these old Indians were told about the treaties having been recovered from the archives they became very much interested and told the younger Indians about how these treaties were made, by whom signed.”

By 1850, the criminal drifters who had not struck it rich in the gold fields began wandering through Mendocino County's untouched magnitudes, much of it perfect country for the raising of sheep and cattle. Its seemingly empty solitude surprised these first white men. The rest of the state was already mostly claimed. The first permanent white residents of the remote mountains and canyons of the Northcoast were killers and outlaws, many of them on the run from the settled areas of the country. The law was a late arrival to Northern California and, I would say from my experience, never has fully prevailed. As the relentless sons of Missouri staked out Mendocino County's myriad, well-watered little valleys, they shot Indian men where they found them, helped themselves to Indian women, sold Indian children into slavery, rez-ed the Indians they hadn't managed to kill, indentured them, and segregated them for the next one hundred years. Ukiah's schools were only integrated in 1924. Aggressively opposed by a majority of white residents, the Ukiah schools were finally pried open by court order in 1923 with Steve Knight leading the charge. The rest of the town remained segregated up through the 1950s with a nastiness as mean and low-down as the segregated American South. Indian women could not get their hair done in the town's beauty parlors, Indians were not allowed to try on clothes, let alone purchase them, in the shops of the county seat, Indians could eat only in one Chinese-owned restaurant, and Indians were allowed in one Indian-only section of the Ukiah Theater. Two decorated Indian veterans of World War Two were denied breakfast at the Blue Bird Cafe when they got off a northbound Greyhound. Ukiah wouldn’t get all the way colorblind until deep into the 1960s.

HOW BROKE IS KZYX?

Editor,

KZYX is broke.

Here's a story about who did it, how it was done and what's next:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0Bxf2TM2uxGxFeVNvRm84YW1DNms/view?usp=sharing

Cheers,

Scott M. Peterson

Mendocino

To: KZYX Board Members Jonathan Middlebrook <suspiry@gmail.com>, Benj Thomas <ukiahguy@yahoo.com>

Jonathan, Benj,

I'm very disappointed in both of you. See: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0Bxf2TM2uxGxFeVNvRm84YW1DNms/view

As new members of MCPB's Board of Directors, I thought you would bring integrity to the Board.

Why haven't either of you reached out to me, or reached out to other former Board members, like King Collins or Doug McKenty, or reached out to esteemed former programmers like Norman de Vall or Els Cooperrider, or to reached out to informed attorneys Dennis O'Brien or Peter Kafin?

We're all credible. We all could have told you something about the long-standing, endemic problems at MCPB.

Instead, we get nothing but silence from you. Nothing but silence, and secrecy, and a siege mentality, and an insider's smugness -- in other words, more of the same that has characterized KZYX for many long years.

Why? Why? Why?

With sadness,

John Sakowicz, Ukiah

MCPB Board of Directors (2013-2013), Board Treasurer (2014)

A READER WRITES: “I am in a flurry of reading, trying to understand my fellow 'mericans and what has precipitated The Donald. I know you are busy, and I know you loathe Hillary, as do millions of people. What I don't understand is the real reasons why. For me, she was boring on many levels, insincere, and I am sick of the Clintons in general, like I was sick of the Bush family. I've read about Hillary, but I honestly do not understand what she did these past decades that make people hate her so much. Can you direct me to some easy-to-read and understand writing? I ask you because you did write that you would rather cut off your nuts with a rusted kitchen knife than cast a vote for Hillary. So, uh, I think there's a bit of passion in that statement. Thanks.”

ED NOTE: I agree that was a rather violent metaphor, but as I recall it was an in-house communication, not that I disavow it. I don’t “hate” the old girl, but I deeply resent her hypocrisy, all that blather about children and families as she and Bill went about making it ever more painful for the children and families who live outside the long black limo community she represents. Remember her description of black children as “super predators” as the Clintons went about “ending welfare as we know it,” thus making life a lot harder for struggling families, working families, to support themselves? And they thoroughly screwed up health care, as did Obama, depriving millions of children of adequate care. Then, of course, there was the appalling Madeline Albright blandly asserting on 60 Minutes that the deaths of half a million Iraqi children via Clinton admin sanctions were necessary to force Saddam Hussein out of power. Which the sanctions did not do. And that weaponized voice, especially when she’s faking enthusiasm. It sounds like the warm-up announcement for the end of days. Elizabeth Warren can yell without making it feel like a fist in the face. CounterPunch has a ton of stuff on Hil. I’m happy she lost, not that I’m happy Orange Man won. Either way, America was certain to lose.

LITTLE DOG SAYS, “I invited the pit bulls next door to come over and watch that big moon rise last night, and the bigger one says to me, 'Watch it by yourself, you little fruit.' I try to be a good neighbor, and this is what I get!"

MAYOR TURNER and councilman Lindy Peters are looking into the where and whatfors of declaring Fort Bragg a “sanctuary city,” apparently on the assumption that Trump will carry out his promise to deport undocumented criminals. Note to the Mayor: Obama’s deported more undocumented people in the last four years than Bush did in eight years, and Obama scooped up a lot of decent, hardworking people who were not criminals. I know two guys right here in Boonville who have been deported several times each, and they’ve made their way back no problemo, and both are now legal. All this bluster about walls and deportations is only that — bluster. Criminals, of course, should be deported. Fort Bragg has a gaggle of gang punks who should have been given the heave-ho years ago.

POT SHOTS

Editor,

There was once a time, up until about 2 years ago, that I dived into the AVA with gusto, writing articles and letters on a regular basis for years & distributing a small bundle weekly to help educate people.

A series of articles, "Killing in Self Defense is not Murder", was my ongoing coverage of a murder trial in which I defended the defendant.

At one point I even collaborated with you on a critique of KZYX. Another time we debated sexuality. You told me you thought I had won, which was obvious, since you defended the golden era when women wore corsets & other restrictive clothing & showed yourself to be a bit of a prude.

There were other positives, like being able to contribute something of value to a great rag in my own community. This went on for years before during and after your Oregon foray.

It is true that AVA has an abrasive anti-pot stance which has gotten worse beating the drums against the "stoner" community as legalization gets nearer, with ridicule, hostility and bias as your main weapons. You're against even thinking about it, including local propositions. While other publications see cannabis as a positive and prohibition as a negative, you & Mark see pot as a negative and prohibition in some form as a positive. But I digress.

I ignored your anti-pot bias because that's your business. I have one too, in the other direction. I believe in freedom of speech, freedom to disagree, ability to get along while disagreeing...all that. No prob.

But when it turned sour for me was when your brand of hostile humor went too far, not just once, but twice. You throw acid and think it's funny.

I realized you don't value good relations, or you'd be more respectful, since they're hard to find.

The first incident involved that woman you don't like and you tried to enlist me against her when I wrote a limerick that you totally misunderstood, so you printed it to cause friction. I was livid. You later said you shouldn't have done it.

The next year, you ridiculed our Medical Marijuana Patients Union litter pick-up, so you'd have a satisfying chuckle at our expense. You could just say nothing rather than trash people's good deeds.

So I decided to stop writing for AVA or playing any role at all with my beloved local paper. My time is taken up as editor and columnist at Skunk Mag and the new freebie called 'Highway' (#1 just out). So AVA has receded into semi-oblivion, although I still read it. That's how I caught your comment about me being "miffed" in last week's Valley People. Miffed doesn't cover it.

My standard is: I won't work with people who are blatantly disrespectful; the world needs the opposite.

Pebbles Trippet, Elk

ED NOTE: I have no idea what you're talking about, Pebs, but I don't think the marijuana community is beyond criticism. The other stuff lacks specificity, as they say, so I'm unable to respond to it. I think on the respectful scale I'm somewhere in the middle, like most people.

FATHER OF SLAIN MENDOCINO COUNTY POT GROWER REMEMBERS SON

http://www.pressdemocrat.com/news/6310530-181/father-of-slain-laytonville-pot

THE COAST GUARD RESCUED FOUR PEOPLE Tuesday after their inflatable boat capsized off Stillwell Point, south of Mendocino.

At approximately 10:30 a.m., Coast Guard Sector Humboldt Bay personnel were notified by the International Emergency Response Coordination Center (IERCC) that a 16-foot gray inflatable boat capsized, leaving four people in distress a quarter mile offshore.

The four survivors reportedly donned life vests after entering the water and transmitted a distress signal using a handheld GPS device. Wave action and proximity to offshore rocks prevented the survivors from regaining control of their vessel.

At approximately 10:40 a.m., a 47-foot Motor Lifeboat crew from Coast Guard Station Noyo River was dispatched to the position provided. The crew arrived on scene, pulled all survivors aboard and returned to Station Noyo River, where EMS personnel were standing by.

The survivors were evaluated and released without injury. Following the rescue, the inflatable boat was recovered by the Coast Guard and towed to Station Noyo River.

— US Coast Guard Sector Humboldt Bay press release

THOUSANDS OF BALLOTS REMAIN TO BE COUNTED IN LAKE, MENDOCINO COUNTIES

http://www.pressdemocrat.com/news/6311339-181/thousands-of-ballots-remain-to

LITTLE DOG ARLO, says he believes the Dog Reporter at the Anderson Valley Advertiser is in need of a friend — and we're not talking about Greek statues or Pee Wee Herman, or even the Sheriff! “We're talking about me: 10 years old, 13 pounds, reduced ‘Senior’ adoption fees. I'm adorable. Check me out at www.mendoanimalshelter.com!”

CATCH OF THE DAY, November 15, 2016

DESTINY ARNOLD, Ukiah. DUI, DUI-suspended license.

JEFFREY CHENIER, Ukiah. Community Supervision violation.

NORMAN FAZENBAKER JR., Fort Bragg. Attempted murder, mayhem, assault with deadly weapon not a gun.

CODY FURLINE, Fort Bragg. Parole resentencing.

EDUARDO GONZALEZ, Covelo. Drug possession for sale, protective order violation.

VICENTE GONZALEZ, Willits. Assault with deadly weapon not a gun, failure to appear, probation revocation.

SONYA LINCOLN, Covelo. Pot sales.

JAMES MILLER, Ukiah. Parole resentencing.

FRANKIE PATTISON, Ukiah. Drunk in public.

CODY ROBERTS, Ukiah. Drunk in public.

DESMOND SPIKER, Willits. Probation revocation.

JENNIFER VOGEL, Richmond/Ukiah. Probation revocation.

A READER WRITES:

What everybody knows (Leonard Cohen, RIP)

Against Trump, Sanders would have done much better

In his memory and honor, I’d like to share with you a song he wrote that well-captures today’s mood:

"Everybody knows that the dice are loaded.

Everybody rolls with their fingers crossed.

Everybody knows the war is over.

Everybody knows the good guys lost.

Everybody knows the fight was fixed.

The poor stay poor, the rich get rich.

That's how it goes.

Everybody knows.

 

Everybody knows that the boat is leaking.

Everybody knows that the captain lied.

Everybody got this broken feeling.

Like their father or their dog just died.

Everybody talking to their pockets.

Everybody wants a box of chocolates,

And a long-stem rose.

Everybody knows.

 

Everybody knows that you love me, Baby.

Everybody knows that you really do.

Everybody knows that you've been faithful.

Ah, give or take a night or two.

Everybody knows you've been discreet.

But there were so many people you just had to meet

Without your clothes.

And everybody knows.

 

Everybody knows, everybody knows.

That's how it goes.

Everybody knows

 

Everybody knows, everybody knows

That's how it goes.

Everybody knows.

 

And everybody knows that it's now or never.

Everybody knows that it's me or you.

And everybody knows that you live forever,

Ah, when you've done a line or two.

Everybody knows the deal is rotten.

Old Black Joe's still pickin' cotton

For your ribbons and bows.

And everybody knows.

 

And everybody knows that the Plague is coming.

Everybody knows that it's moving fast.

Everybody knows that the naked man and woman

Are just a shining artifact of the past.

Everybody knows the scene is dead.

There's gonna be a meter on your bed

That will disclose

What everybody knows.

 

And everybody knows that you're in trouble.

Everybody knows what you've been through.

From the bloody cross on top of Calvary,

To the beach of Malibu.

Everybody knows it's coming apart.

Take one last look at this Sacred Heart

Before it blows.

And everybody knows.

 

Everybody knows, everybody knows.

That's how it goes.

Everybody knows."

— Leonard Cohen, “Everybody Knows” (1988).

Leonard Cohen, inspiration to millions, R.I.P.

LOVE IN A COLD (POLITICAL) CLIMATE

by Clancy Sigal

Faced with a crummy time in the McCarthyite and Cold War 1950s here’s what some of us did. The American mood was apocalyptic. LA was ringed with nuclear tipped Nike missiles. We more or less expected a third World War tomorrow morning.

The popular current was running venomously against liberals, lefties and progressives. Guys accused of “tendencies” were thrown out of factory second floor windows. Newspapers, TV and radio ranted against us. We felt fearful and besieged by our own fellow citizens, even families.

It wasn’t just paranoia. Informers ruled. Brother ratted on sister, son on father.

In Hollywood, where days I worked as an agent, at night a few of us got together in what J. Edgar Hoover called “Omega or The Cell Without A Name.” Kid you not. We we just six or seven unaffiliated young guys and one woman (this was the Fifties!). A dock worker, musician, middle school teacher, doctor in training, handyman, undeclared-major student and a middleaged lawyer shouting “subversive” jokes to the wall because my phone was tapped.

(I talk about us in my new book Black Sunset.)

We didn’t know what to do. More politically sophisticated types urged us to have a “constructive agenda” and stop horsing around.

But we enjoyed horsing around, drinking Johnny Walker Black Label, carousing and – in the absence of a Serious Agenda – pranking the FBI and McCarthyites. I flew in a rented Piper Cub with a friend to toss leaflets over the movie studios. Wearing masks, so as not to get fired from our day jobs, we picketed openings of pro-war movies. Not exactly world shaking.

In the gloom and grim we had fun. Sheer enjoyment of standing up was our only weapon against overpowering sadness and fear. We were committed to one another in what SNCC and Rev. King would later call a “beloved community” though we’d have been embarrassed by the term.

But we did love each other in battle.

We lived it.

Clancy Sigal is a screenwriter and novelist. His latest book is Hemingway Lives.

AND MANY HAPPY RETURNS

Eleanor Howard, born Eleanor Auerbach in Chicago, Ill. on August 11, 1916, celebrated her 100th Birthday in Santa Cruz the weekend of August 13 and 14, 2016 with her children, grand kids and great grand kids. She is the Mom of DJ Sister Yasmin. Eleanor Howard met her husband Hy Howard (born Hayim Horwitz), when they both attended the University of Wisconsin, Madison. The whole family, including little Judy Howard, 6 weeks old in a basket, traveled to to Los Angeles, CA by train from St. Louis, Mo. to begin a new life in 1941. Eleanor, a Bernie supporter, was (reluctantly) looking forward to celebrating our First Women President. She, as we all are, is devastated with a racist, fascist in the White House.

(64) LAKE COUNTY SCANNER NEWS FIRE/EMS/POLICE

Crappiness Report - Lake & Mendo connection?

Since many different “views” of websites are sometimes different, I won’t predict whether these instructions are correct or not, but: On this page, the first entry I see is for people who want a sewing machine — skip that; the second is “shared Edgar Hansen’s post” about alleged scumbags who beat someone up and are (I guess, evidently?) at large. Wouldn’t bother sending but they apparently were seen in Willits yesterday, possibly some of the comments are from over your way.

https://www.facebook.com/scannernews/?fref=ts

Another day in paranormaldise. And this is the “lite” stuff on an ordinary day. Love to Little Dog et Beloved Editoria.

Betsy Cawn, Clearlake

* * *

ED NOTE: Here's the direct link to the Hansen post:
https://www.facebook.com/scannernews/posts/1247593778647981

CORRECTION:

Hi Robert [Mailer Anderson],

Re: RMA: Yes, Kay Starr was one of my favorites, corny material and all…

I just now found this email from you. Lordy! How many do I miss while traveling? Anyhow, Kay Starr had had the same art teacher that I did in MEMPHIS not Mississippi. She and I attended Memphis Technical High School know and łTech˛ or łMemphis Tech. Her artwork was still on the wall in Mr. Piaggioą’s classroom. She signed her work with her real name: Kay Stark.

Bye for now,

Charlie Musslewhite, Sonoma County

ON LINE COMMENT OF THE DAY I

Liberal brains pickled in the formaldehyde of identity politics are unwilling to recognize in the politically incorrect catastrophe of Donald Trump’s victory the blowback to the ferocious economic plunder by the neoliberal order, backed by decades of wanton and unchecked military aggressions.

WHERE I LIVED AND WHAT I LIVED FOR

I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived. I did not wish to live what was not life, living is so dear…

— p. 98, Thoreau, Henry David. (1854/2004). Where I lived and what I Lived For; in Walden. Barnes and Noble, NY. Afterword, Sam Gilpin

I too came to the woods because I wish to live deliberately in peace and manifest it outwardly. I wish to front only the essential facts of life which are to live the caring nature of presence within and beyond who I am. I wish to learn of the given nature of life offered in the woods and that my acquired abilities are tempered by these inner truths. Living is so dear I do not wish to live what is not life. When death is upon me I wish to realize the peaceful harmonies of living and not the distracting reactions and illusions which are not life. Perhaps through learning to live only these essential facts of life, those reactions and illusions will dissolve with peacefulness manifesting outwardly and arising long before my life’s ending.

I am encouraged by finding that distracting reactions and illusions abate through the thoughtful affirmation they are no longer required of me. There were times when I lived as if paralysis was the only means of maintaining stabilization for the preservation of sanity. The freezing of my energies was less frightening than the flood of non-living non-caring attachments habitually guided by meaningless whims while being swept into a sea of perpetual sensation.

A pathway to living the peaceful unfolding of integrative harmonies and caringly passing them on to other individuals and groups, to other life forms and the environment has no beginning. We simply find ourselves living in this manner as beyond habitual ways of living. Moving caringly and fluently within and in behalf of others is a first step in my peaceful growth process which may be a common discovery among others wishing to engage life in this manner. Perhaps one seeking to stop the confusions of the world comes into stasis for a time. In stillness, movement towards variability is refreshing and peaceful personhood begins to emerge. I have found stillness opens me to variability which invites mutuality with the flora and fauna of living. The earth feels friendly beneath my feet and the depth of the forest becomes visible as a canopy of life embracing me which I see as an offering for anyone so disposed.

These understandings are derived from the earth, the rocks and life around; the sky, clouds, rain, sunshine, the stars and moon above. They come from within each of us. Perhaps living the inner tension for so long was bourne of my unmet need for thoughts and feelings to live in my body. A kinder path is bourne of trust. A trust my body offers harmonious sensations and perceptions of its own; not of the childhood search for groundedness which all the while was here for me to draw upon as whole bodied awareness commingling with all we acquire.

One wonders; how may growing in peace touch the hearts of others peacefully so the offering is a sharing and well received? Perhaps together we may apply our learning as a practice. In so doing we become open to realizing that what we acquire in life rests upon the foundation of what has been given through our birth and continues to grow within each of us as the wholeness of unfolding: not the explosion of a big bang, simply our unfolding within unfolding universes. In this manner, what is more deeply rooted within us will accommodate the harmonies of caring we learn to share. Indeed as I walk about in the woods, the artificial “training wheels” of my thinking fall away but gradually return when I re-enter and assume acculturated living. The unlearned foundation of my life easily becomes less visible when I live within the umbrella of societal expectations. Over time my faith in life grows stronger that as students of peace many of us will come to live our peaceful presence in being along with those who already do so.

Gregory Sims, Boonville

ON LINE COMMENT OF THE DAY II

The Democrats didn't simply "tame" Bernie! Hillary and the DNC colluded to rig the primary process to ensure the Corporate Queen's coronation. Hillary and the corrupt DNC are responsible for the rise of Trump. Bernie would've won by a landslide if allowed to run in the General. Where were all the protesters when it became apparent the primaries were stolen from Bernie?! Now they look and behave like petulant, spoiled children. I was an ardent Bernie supporter and would've done anything he said- EXCEPT vote for a corrupt, Saudi arms dealing, rapist defending, lying cheater. Through her acts of warmongering, Hillary's killed children. Trump, while a loudmouth buffoon, hasn't killed anyone or sold American uranium deposits to Russian oligarchs or helped to incarcerate millions of African Americans, i.e. Hillary's "super predators." People need to calm the hell down and wait and see what he does. While he's said nasty things, Hillary has DONE evil things and personally I'm ecstatic she lost. (No, I am not a "Bernie bro." I am a white, middle age, college educated, ultra liberal female - and I voted for Trump.)

AN OPEN LETTER TO PRESIDENT ELECT DONALD TRUMP

President Elect Donald Trump
November 15, 2016
C/o The Trump Organization
725 5th Avenue
New York, NY 10022

Dear President Elect Trump:

Congratulations on winning the election! We are glad that you want to heal our divided nation.

You have proven in your long industrious career that you are a man who gets results. How about Americans beat out China and become the fastest growing world leader in renewable energy: solar power, wind power, small-scale hydro power, and tidal power? We have the natural resources and people power, people who could do those jobs right here in our country, right now. Job Creation, get Americans working and making money again! We want you to be the greatest President that ever lived. We look forward to you creating Green jobs that make America great again and position you worldwide as the leader in renewable energy. Harnessing nature’s resources will clean our air, water, and make climate change believers and all of us Americans happy. The wave of the future will be your legacy now.

Another idea: What do you think about replacing Obamacare with Medicare for All? The money for this and the new jobs can come from savings by way of ending the wars that you and many of us think are unnecessary.

Another way to heal the rift is to nominate Merrick Garland for the Supreme Court. Many Republicans as well as Democrats support him, and this will bring our nation some needed unity, someone both parties can agree on.

The American People by and large are tired of the “same old” system of cronyism and large corporations taking our jobs overseas and not taking care of workers. I believe this was a big reason you won at the polls. Japan and other countries know that taking good care of workers means they are more productive and the company is more profitable. We can do that here in America.

We believe you when you say that you can change this rigged system that favors big corporations and banksters. There is plenty of room for new industry that will make our country better, cleaner, safer and more productive. China is leading in solar panel manufacture. America can be great by excelling in this, wind power, wave power, and small-scale hydro power. Those sources will never run out, will not cause the level of protest and unrest such as in North Dakota. Also they will create a steady revenue stream for business people and corporations smart and savvy enough to harness them. Renewable energy is the law and order power because happy people with good jobs and clean air and water will commit less crime. You have the power to make this vision real, by guiding our nation in that direction.

Hillary Clinton represented the continued military-industrial complex, and many of those who voted for you support you in having a much more responsible military. In the Middle East, while the sale of weapons is a major profitable industry, it gives power to those who hate the US and creates terrorists. This doesn’t make America great. Eliminating interventions and reducing weapons sales while investing in the renewable energy industry will make us great again. We’ll be more competitive with other nations who currently have the edge in this global economy. Many legislators support military industry in their districts because those jobs pay well. It is important to replace weapons manufacturing jobs with similar skilled and good-paying work in those same districts. Our nation can be great constructing the wind turbines, solar panels, inverters, hydro power generators, ocean current turbines, and with that a huge number of jobs will be created! Another benefit is, we become safer as terrorist attacks decrease.

An ideal way to greatly reduce the cost of health care and help people without a huge government program is to promote preventive steps such as diet and herbal medicine. Unlike synthetic drugs, the complex chemistry of whole plant medicine lacks most side effects because humans have adapted to the plants. Most pharmaceutical drugs are experienced as a foreign invader in the body. If you nominate a Surgeon General who promotes a healthier way, you will create an amazing legacy for you and curb huge health care costs. Combining diet, whole-plant medicine and Medicare for All will produce a streamlined health care system. Instead of people struggling in a drowsy stupor under the influence of multiple medications, they will be energetic, productive, and creative, generating much wealth and making America by far the best nation on earth.

Finally, I hear you when you say you value personal freedom - this is why so many voted for you. Can you get behind reproductive freedom and freedom for those running from horrible regimes such as in Syria or drug cartels as in Mexico? Can’t we also absorb immigrants? From what I’ve seen, the hardest workers are those who have just come from other countries, and this translates into higher productivity for the smart businesses that hire them. Deportation is expensive while good workers are lucrative and needed. With renewable energy manufacturing and infrastructure projects, there will be plenty of work for citizens and new arrivals alike. Many new arrivals are also willing to do the jobs that citizens do not want, such as farm labor.

We thank you for considering these ideas. Make America great again!

Sincerely,

Mr. & Mrs. William R. Taylor

Ukiah

SPENCER BREWER & ESTHER SIEGEL TWISTED ART EXHIBIT AT CORNER GALLERY

For the month of December, local artists Spencer Brewer & Esther Siegel http://www.harmonygaits.com/ will have an exclusive art exhibit at The Corner Gallery in Ukiah. Spencer & Esther share a passion creating quirky and fantastical pieces of art out of re-purposed, or ‘found art’ materials. From the whimsical and humorous to the punk and dark, each one of their pieces are one-of-a-kind compositions which inspire viewers with a sense of delight, surprise and sometimes awe.

Earlier this year they were part of the Grace Hudson Museum’s highly successful ‘In the Construction Zone’ Assemblage Art Show which featured seven of Mendocino County’s finest sculptures. Working both separately and as a team, Spencer and Esther confer regularly on their artwork. “We don’t always have the same vision, but we always listen and that feedback can open new doors.” Esther is attracted to working with found objects because doing so takes her on a fun and unexpected journey that begins with discovering an object, then ends with creating a fresh new purpose for that object in the world. Her art ranges from Twisted Toasters to Altered Barbies, Book Art to Space Age lights. For most of Spencer's life his focus was on the piano and working on vintage mechanical musical wonders. This gave him the opportunity to collect unique and obscure vintage mechanical objects along the way. “I love 60-150 year-old beautifully designed parts and objects for their graphic design and engineering. The industrial to the science fiction eras inspire me.”

Come meet the artists and see wondrous new pieces Friday, December 2nd from 5 to 8pm at Ukiah’s First Friday Art Walk at The Corner Gallery, 201 S State St in Ukiah. Wine and refreshments will be served at this festive holiday gathering. For more information call The Corner Gallery at 707-462-1400.