Mendocino County Today: Monday, Dec. 5, 2016

• DAPL Denial
• AG Postmortem
• Local Character
• Little Dog
• Regulating Marijuana
• 1920s Basketballers
• 21 Minutes
• Yesterday's Catch
• Surfing Religion
• Real Men
• Barbershop Visit
• PropOrNot Hogwash
• How Politics Works
• Out of Stock
• Piano People
• Healthy Eating
• Eland Interview

VICTORY

President Obama just denied the permit for the Dakota Pipeline

From Laurie York:

Victory! President Obama just denied the permit for the Dakota Pipeline. The Army Corp of Engineers will not allow the pipeline to be drilled under the Missouri River. A big thank you to the 4,000 veterans who showed up at Standing Rock in solidarity with the Native Americans. Will Trump reverse this action when he takes office? Trump has invested in the pipeline so the conflict of interest will be a big problem for him. More to come... You can watch this report LIVE on The Young Turks’ Facebook page:

https://www.facebook.com/TheYoungTurks/?pnref=story

IT'S A CRIME against both the mentally ill and the people of Mendocino County that the Sheriff's initiative, Measure AG, failed by less than 166 votes as it garnered a remarkable 66 percent of the vote just shy of the two-thirds needed to pass. Sheriff Allman's singular effort on behalf of AG almost got us an in-county mental health facility, proving that Allman is the most popular lawman since Jeremiah 'Doc' Standley of the last part of the 19th century and the early part of the 20th.

THE POPULARITY of Measure AG was also an expression of frustration by most Mendocino County people at the numbers of untreated psychotics, many of them made worse by methamphetamine, roaming our vast precincts untreated, urestrained. The Sheriff winds up housing them when they break the law, which is often because they don't know what they're doing, and the County Jail which, as he readily admits, is not a healthy berth for the insane or the temporarily insane.

PRESENTLY, and at any one time, Mendocino County is paying upwards of $800 a day per patient to house a dozen patients in distant mental health facilities. The repeated confinements of Supervisor Woodhouse, for example, and Supervisor Hamburg's troubled son, in out-of-county psychiatric centers, alone, have cost the County many thousands of dollars.

HAMBURG, incidentally, is an extreme example of Mendolib cronyism; he gets free private incarceration for his son because the Superior Court, via Judge Moorman, ruled that Hamburg, a wealthy man, was unable to pay any portion of his son's care, leaving the tab to the County of Mendocino. Most relatives of the mentally ill pay at least some of the costs of out-of-county mental health sequestration. Hamburg also arranged for his son to jump the line of mentally ill persons confined at the County Jail, arranging for the young man to enter a private facility ahead of a half-dozen less well-connected mentally ill inmates. Hamburg's ex-wife remains enrolled in the County's health plan although the couple is estranged, as the County is on the hook for the ex's medical care. And, of course, unlike other County employees, Hamburg attends all public meetings with his dog, an apparent comfort animal without which the Supervisor, perennially in precarious mental health himself, seems unable to function. Substitute 'Trump' for Hamburg in the above indictment and guess the next vote in the 5th District of Mendocino County.

I'M BETTING that narrow margin of loss for Measure AG came from the 5th District whose deluded voters keep Hamburg in office. Supervisor Hamburg's ally against Measure AG was a former mental health worker who had moved out of Mendocino County by election day. They were the only two people in the County publicly opposed to AG as the measure narrowly went down to defeat. Hamburg, other than some rambling statements during Supervisor's meetings, explained his opposition as "concerns" about the County's obligation to fully fund an in-County mental facility even after it was demonstrated to be eminently doable given the enormous outflow of County money under the present out-of-county placement costs that otherwise would apply to in-County treatment.

SO, here we are, Mendocino County, right where we started, with the untreated mentally ill on the streets or temporarily housed at the County Jail. Or, the most volatile cases, dispatched to distant lock-ups far from their families at great cost to local taxpayers.

THE OPTION? The Supervisors, including Lord Hamburg, should immediately pressure their privatized mental health contractor, Camille Schraeder of Redwood Quality Management Services, to fund and staff an in-County mental health facility along the lines proposed by the Sheriff.

THE UKIAH DAILY JOURNAL'S bracing Sunday columnist, Tommy Wayne Kramer, writes: "I suppose anywhere but Mendocino County a 'Community Character' ordinance would make sense. The new regulations, approved by the Planning Commission, require that ‘chain stores and restaurants conform to the local architectural character of the rural communities,’ according to a recent front page story by Erick O’Donnell… Wouldn’t you like to watch a team of top-notch architects try to design a restaurant to match the character of Ukiah? What would it look like — an abandoned motel surrounded by tires and mattresses with faded plastic pennants on a string hanging from the roof, and a 30-foot tall inflatable blowy man out front?…”

(SO MUCH of Mendocino County's public discussion makes me feel like I'm drowning in a lukewarm pool of gluten-free glop, almost all of it nothing more than a daily festival of narcoleptic received opinion, that I look forward to Kramer's fog-clearing Sunday prose.)

PROBABLY, the award-winning architects would come up with even more relentless eyesores — look at the buildings they win awards for — but if Ukiah offered a large cash prize for creative ideas about how to make at least the town's major streets visually palatable, I'll bet there would be some interesting, doable ideas out there. Say what you will about political America, there is never a shortage of smart ideas and smart people out there.

LOOKED AT HISTORICALLY, before World War Two, every community in the County, even crossroad villages like Boonville, were attractive and coherent, with some nice old buildings along tree-lined streets. Post World War Two, both Ukiah and Willits were converted to hellish, unplanned sprawls which, in my opinion (shared by millions) do much to destroy public morale. Prior to WW Two, the leading citizens, i.e., money people, cared about what their towns looked like and took specific steps to keep their towns looking like the people who lived in them, cared. Today's Mendo money people have withdrawn. They don't participate in the civic life of their communities, hence the public squalor we see, especially in Ukiah and Willits. Fort Bragg has sprawl tendencies at its north and south ends but remains the only attractive and interesting community in Mendocino County.

THE “VILLAGE” of Mendocino? I agree with Kramer who dismisses it as "cute," a movie set kind of town. The "village" kind of creeps me out, frankly, as does Ferndale. You walk around both places half-expecting the Stepford Wives to come running around the corner bent on hatchet-mayhem. Both places are way to too-too. An hour in each place leaves you yearning for a shack with an old Chevy up on blocks in the front yard.

I'LL PUT IN A WORD HERE for Covelo. It probably doesn't but should boast some of the oldest trees — giant elms and oaks — in the County, and the ghostly old hotel, site of the shooting of Wylacki John, hit man for the nationally infamous "King of Round Valley," George White. Covelo's history is the most colorful, the richest of any place in Mendocino County.The Rohrbaughs of Covelo got the bulk of White's considerable fortune in return for its founding patriarch lying for White when White was charged with attempting to murder his wife. Rohrbaugh testified that the woman was a floozie. Which was untrue, but White was acquitted. The slandered woman's uncle, I believe it was, shot and killed Wylacki John in the bar of the Covelo Hotel in 1888 for continuing to libel his niece. Balzac's famous observation that behind every great fortune is a great crime has been lived out in the Rohrbaughs of Round Valley.

LITTLE DOG SAYS, “Skyla, Skyla, Skyla. Lovely Skyla, what are you doing in Catch of the Day with these mopes? Please consider me, lovely Skyla, as your new relationship. I'd never call the cops on you like your wimp-suck of a so-called man, and I know I'm not much to look at. But Skyla, I'm yours for the asking!”

AF REBUKE GIVES SUPERVISORS LATITUDE

The clear rejection of Measure AF in the Nov. 8 election by Mendocino County voters should send a message to the county supervisors that more than a healthy majority of Mendocino County voters do not want to give marijuana growers the keys to the empire. The well-funded measure (which was probably a lot better funded than we know if all the cash that likely traded hands were reported), was intended in large part as a threat to county government: “If you don’t pass regulations we like, we’ll just put our own on the ballot.” Well it didn’t work. AF lost 62 to 38 percent. The supervisors should take this – and the healthy margin of the win of their own marijuana tax measure – as a sign that the voters trust them to regulate marijuana sensibly. It should not be forgotten that this county has seen a lot when it comes to marijuana growing. We know how intrusive and environmentally damaging it can be. We don’t mind people being in the marijuana business (and finally paying some taxes, thank you) but we don’t want that business in our faces, and up our noses. The supervisors should continue to work energetically on new regulations for our county given the legalization of recreational marijuana statewide. Local jurisdictions still have a great deal of say over how that new industry will affect us locally. We think the people who voted on Nov. 8 clearly want the effect to be muted and containable.

K.C. Meadows (Courtesy, the Ukiah Daily Journal)

ANDERSON VALLEY BASKETBALL IN THE MID-1920s

1924-25 “A” team. Marion “Mike” Prather (captain) with the ball.

1924-25 “B” team.

1925-26 “A” team

1927-28 “A” team - Loren Bloyd top right

NORM CLOW NOTES: This was an era with a center jump after every basket. Not a lot of scoring, no such thing as a “jump shot,” two-hand underhanded set shots and long hooks from the corner were the order of the day. The backboards were very large, and you’d bank it on a hook shot from the top corner.

BLAST FROM THE PAST

An exchange between Supervisor/then Board Chair Carre Brown and former Fourth District Supervisor Kendall Smith, September 8, 2010…

* * *

Smith: Well, Madam Chair, just for the record, I, I kept track of the time that Supervisor McCowen took to take us through this, this “intro,” [sarcastically], uh, to this issue. He had 21 minutes, from 2:22 to 2:43. I just want to make sure that we each, on the board, get equal time to discuss the issue.

Brown: Um, I… How long did Supervisor Colfax take?

Smith: I didn't keep… I didn't keep time.

Brown: Ok. Well.

Smith: 21 would be the highest at this point.

Brown: Well, I don't think individuals should have that. It should be a shared thing. I know that Supervisor Pinches also took time as well. Please go forward, but I think 21 minutes per person is a very long time and we do have public comment. So please go forward.

Smith: Well, Madam Chair, I don't, I mean. 21 minutes each? I don't— I think that that's— that's reasonable. I mean we've got all the time that we need and we certainly aren't going to limit the public's input. I just have a series of questions that I would like to ask of staff and they're rather lengthy and detailed and I have a number of other pieces I'd like to read into the record so I just want to make sure that we each get our fair share of time. I just don't want to be cut off.

Brown: Well, I think you're wasting time. You can have 21 minutes, Ms. Smith.

Smith: Ok. Thank you, Madam Chair. I, I would prefer to hear from the public and then, um, I have questions of staff. [Nods, folds her arms. Purses her lips. Sits back. Stifles a yawn. Nods some more at Brown. Waits.]

Brown: No! Please go ahead right now. Because I'm sure the public wants to hear.

Smith: Well!

Brown: Please go forward and you have—

Smith: Madam Chair, I'm sure…

Brown: You have 21 minutes.

Smith: Madam Chair, I'm not ready to speak yet, I'd like—

Brown: Then you won't get 21 minutes after. Take your time now.

Smith: Well!

Brown: That way the public can hear exactly what you want to say.

Smith: Well, can you explain to me why I won't get 21 minutes when we have all the time we need? [Smith grins as if she'd just scored a zinger.]

Brown: Because we're talking about an introduction. Supervisor McCowen, as Chair of the ad hoc, gave the introduction. You have your opportunity. Supervisor Colfax has had his opportunity. Supervisor Pinches has had his. Please go forward. Then we'll hear the public.

Smith: So this is part of my 21 minutes, correct?

Brown: This is your 21 minutes. Go forward.

Smith: Madam Chair!

Brown: Supervisor!

Smith: Wait a minute! Wait a minute! I think we need to go to the procedure! I certainly would be able to comment publicly after we hear from the boards. So…

Brown: And we will go to Rule 19 at that point for all five supervisors. So please go forward.

Smith: So you'd like me to have the 21 minutes now and we'll still have the Rule 19 after?

Brown: We will have the Rule 19 after.

Smith: OK. Then maybe the clerk could start keeping track of the time.

Brown: I'm keeping track of your time. We've been on this for four minutes now. So.

Smith: Mr. Sweeney, I have some questions of you, please.…

CATCH OF THE DAY, December 4, 2016

ERIN BLACKWELL, Ukiah. Drunk in public, probation revocaiton. (Frequent flyer.)

SABRINA DUNCAN, Covelo. Domestic assault, assault with deadly weapon not a gun.

ALEJANDRO GUTIERREZ-TORRES, Ukiah. Grand theft.

PATRICK HANOVER, Covelo. Protective order violation.

JEFFERY HARPE, Ukiah. Drunk in public.

JUAN LOPEZ, Cloverdale. Large capacity magazine, suspended license.

BRIAN MUNIZ-ALFARO, Fort Bragg. Domestic assault, assault with deadly weapon not a gun.

REYES NIEVES, Ukiah. Unspecified crime.

MICHAEL PELKEY, Fort Bragg. Under influence.

DANNY RAY, Ukiah. Drunk in public. (Frequent flyer.)

GEOFFREY RITTER, Under the influence.

TEODULO SANCHEZ, Rohnert Park/Hopland. DUI.

JONATHAN WOLFE, Redwood Valley. Under influence, suspended license, parole violation.

SURFING TO FEEL ALIVE!

They were doping tow-ins just south of Camel Rock yesterday, looked like a ton of fun. Camel was breaking at high tide. That is rare. Very good Sand bar this year. People were catching wave after wave yesterday morning and the tide was high. This could turn about to be a great year for Trinidad surfing. Just remember that us old dudes have been here for a long time. Have some respect in the water if u r new to the area. Everyone is pretty darn friendly and since the water is cold & filled w/ sharks it's always nice to have more bait in the water. Surfing alone can play tricks on the mind. Surfing is great sport. all u need is a wet suit and a board and it's free to surf everyday. No lift pass. just have respect for the ocean, the beach, the parking lot, our valuables in our cars and each other and u are more than welcome to catch some cold water waves w/ the locals. If u r a dick, a jerk & have a habit of dropping in on people the Humboldt surf scene is not for you. We are a mellow group of men and women, boys and girls that just love the ocean and want to feel the freedom of being in the water. For many of us surfing is much deeper than catching waves. It's about being back inside the womb. being a tiny speck in giant living, breathing organism. It makes u feel alive and humble at the same time. After each session I am reborn. my problems and worries have washed away w/ salt and sand after each surf session I am a new man. I started surfing to have fun. Then continued surfing to stay sober. That was followed by surfing to stay alive while I dealt w/ medical problems. Now I'm surfing to remember. Surfing to remember that life is good and that I'am ALIVE!! :)

ON LINE COMMENT OF THE DAY

REAL MEN: The following lists follow only a general timeline, and are not all inclusive and include only actors.

NOW:

Leonardo DiCaprio, Ben Affleck, Philip Seymour Hoffmann, Robin Williams, Colin Firth, Matt Damon, George Clooney, Christian Bale, Matthew McConaughey, Denzel Washington, Russell Crowe, Tom Hanks, Jake Gyllenhaal, Tom Cruise, Robert Downey Jr., Kevin Spacey, Daniel Day Lewis, Jeff Bridges, Paul Giametti, Sean Penn, Johnny Depp, Brad Pitt.

THEN:

John Wayne, Edward G. Robinson, Randolph Scott, Clark Gable, Errol Flynn, Burt Lancaster, Henry Fonda, James Cagney, Humphrey Bogart, John Garfield, Kirk Douglas, Yul Brenner, Anthony Quinn, Gary Cooper, Sidney Poitier, Jimmy Stewart, Jack Palance, Richard Widmark, Glen Ford, Lee J. Cobb, Marlon Brando.

THEN and NOW: (mostly THEN)

Clint Eastwood, Tommy Lee Jones, Samuel L. Jackson, Robert Duvall, Bruce Willis, Sean Connery, Robert De Niro, Paul Newman, Christopher Walken, Dustin Hoffmann.

You want to rediscover men? It’s simple. Watch the old movies.

JOURNALISTS WHO RIPPED WASHINGTON POST, PROPORNOT FOR MCCARTHYITE HOGWASH

by Natasha Hakimi

http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/journalists_assailed_washington_post_propornot_mccarthyite_drivel_20161203

HOW POLITICS WORKS

I told my son, "You will marry the girl i choose."

He said, "No."

I told him, "She is Bill Gates’s daughter."

He said, "Yes."

I called Bill Gates and said, "I want your daughter to marry my Son.”

"Bill Gates said, "No"

I told Bill Gates, "My son is the CEO of the world bank."

Bill gates said, "Ok,"

I called the president of World Bank and asked him to make my son the CEO.

He said, "No."

I told him, "My son is Bill Gates son-in-law"

He said, "Ok."

This is exactly how politics works…

UKIAH PIANO PEOPLE

The weekend of January 6 - 8, 2017 marks the 25^th Anniversary of The Professional Pianist Concert. In celebration of this momentous occasion, there will be three concerts featuring 12 different pianists. Featured performers this year are Spencer Brewer, William Beatty, Elena Casanova, Wendy deWitt, John Gilmore, Frankie J, Tom Ganoung, Chris James, Elizabeth MacDougall, Ed Reinhart, Paula Samonte, Charlie Seltzer and John Simon. The music will range from classical to jazz, boogie-woogie to Cuban, Broadway to ragtime.....each performance will be different! A special treat this year will be vocalist Paula Samonte joining different performers each evening.

The series features seven pianists on stage each evening in a living room environment throughout the event trading stories and songs with two pianos on stage to accommodate impromptu collaborations. This popular event is an annual sellout because of the diversity, quality of a multitude of styles of music and humor that takes place throughout the evening. There will also be a special 25 year retrospective video presentation.

Friday, January 6 will feature Spencer Brewer, William Beatty, Elena Casanova, John Gilmore, Elizabeth MacDougall, Ed Reinhart and Charlie Seltzer. Saturday, January 7^th’s performance will feature Spencer Brewer Elena Casanova, Wendy deWitt, Tom Ganoung, Chris James, Elizabeth MacDougall and John Simon. Sunday afternoon’s performance will feature Spencer Brewer, Elena Casanova, Tom Ganoung, Frankie J, Chris James, Elizabeth MacDougall and Ed Reinhart. No two concerts will be the same, so if you love piano and piano music, enjoy more than one performance, as they all will be different!

Tickets are on sale at Mendocino Book Co. and dig Music! in Ukiah, Mazahar in Willits and Watershed Books in Lakeport. Tickets are $15 general admission and $25 "I ‘Wanna’ See the Hands" limited seating. For more information call (707) 707-391-8374.

The Ukiah concert benefits the Mendocino College Foundation and the Allegro Scholarship Program. Sponsors are Sparetime Supply, Ken Fowler Auto, Savings Bank of Mendocino, Mendocino College Foundation, Ukiah Civic Light Opera, Willits Furniture Center, Waterman Plants, K-WINE/MAX, KOZT-The Coast and KZYX/Z. There will be autographed CD's by the artists for sale in lobby. Refreshments will be provided by Ukiah Civic Light Opera.

STYLES OF MUSIC

• William Beatty- Originals, Jazz, Classical
• Spencer Brewer- Contemporary Classical & Original Compositions
• Elena Casanova- Cuban Classical & Jazz, Classical
• Wendy deWitt- Boogie Woogie & Blues
• Tom Ganoung- Originals, Rock, Classical
• John Gilmore- Traditional Jazz & Bebop
• Frankie J- R & B, Soul, Gospel
• Chris James- Traditional & Swing Era Jazz, Originals
• Elizabeth MacDougall- Classical
• Ed Reinhart- Boogie-Woogie & Blues
• Charlie Seltzer- Broadway & Show tunes
• John Simon- Contemporary Jazz

EAT RIGHT

Free Healthy Eating on a Budget Class Tuesday 10 AM CV Starr Center

Greetings,

I will be teaching a FREE Healthy Eating on a Budget class this Tuesday 10-11 AM at the CV Starr Center. Taste test and take home goodies provided. Questions? Email Petra at pcruser@mcn.org or call evenings at 937-4704

Petra Schulte

Nutrition Educator

JOHN SAKOWICZ & SID COOPERRIDER INTERVIEW IVAN ELAND

KMEC RADIO

We broadcast at 105.1 FM in Ukiah, CA. We also steam live from the web at www.kmecradio.org. Our shows are archived and available as podcast.

Shows may be posted to NPR's Public Radio Exchange or Pacifica's Radio4All.

Our show also has its own Youtube channel where some shows has received upwards of 41,000 hits.

Our show is proudly underwritten by Frey Vineyards and Orr Hot springs.

IVAN ELAND 
 Eland is senior fellow and director of the Center on Peace & Liberty at the Independent Institute. He told KMEC Radio last month, "Donald Trump, during the campaign, refreshingly advocated fewer foreign wars and a reassessment of U.S. alliances around the world, but his rumored consideration of Former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich, Sen. Bob Corker (Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee), or John Bolton disappointingly point in the direction of continuing the standard Republican hawkish foreign policy of George W. Bush -- about which Trump complained in the campaign. "For defense secretary, the seeming consideration of Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.), Stephen Hadley, and former Sen. Jim Talent (R-Mo.) seem to go down the same road. "The apparent consideration of Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn and Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-Calif.) for National Security Adviser, also have a hawkish tinge. "Some new voices on the right advocating a more restrained foreign policy are needed -- to be more aligned with Trump's campaign promise to the American people to get involved in fewer foreign wars and reassess, and perhaps scale back, the U.S. role in globe-spanning alliances."