Mendocino County Today: Thursday, Dec. 8, 2016

• Earthquake
• Rain
• Pearl Harbor
• Non Profits
• Shelley Missing
• Chihuahua Killer
• Records Harassment
• Cop Biter
• Fjord's
• Ukiah Ghosts
• Hoyle Returns
• Futcher Leaves
• Boss Settles
• Jaded Life
• Little Dog
• Hotel Room
• FB Lawsuit
• Follow-up Care
• Near Drowning
• Abalone Season
• Trivia Quiz
• FB Wildlife
• Healdsburg Gravy
• Abortion Memory
• Police Reports
• Yesterday's Catch
• Hospice Benefit
• Voting Drunk
• Museum Exhibit
• Oil Scam
• Elector Flipping
• Water Officials

BIG EARTHQUAKE OFFSHORE (120 miles west of Ferndale)

Thursday morning at 6:50am, preliminary rating 6.5 magnitude, felt here in Anderson Valley as a soft rocking motion.

NEARLY CONTINUOUS RAIN FOR NEXT WEEK OR SO. Except for a brief period of partly cloudy around Saturday, looks like several inches of rain for most of Mendocino County for the next 7-10 days. Temps will stay cool, but not freezing with afternoon temps staying in the 50s over the period.

PEARL HARBOR FROM A 10 YEAR OLD'S VIEW

by Charlotte Anderson

Ed note: Charlotte Anderson is my cousin, my late cousin I should say. Charlotte was a retired Santa Rosa teacher who lived much of her life in Healdsburg. She and her family lived in Honolulu when the Japanese attacked. She wrote her memory soon after. I was two and also lived in Honolulu with my family when the daylight attack occurred on December 7th. My father had taken me and my brother out for a calming ride. He returned to complain to my mother, "Ruth, they're taking these goddamned maneuvers way too far. They have our guys dressed up as Japs and there are explosions all over town." He said for years that the Japanese planes came in so low over Honolulu you could see the faces of the pilots. "These aren't maneuvers," my mother shouted, "we're being attacked!" My father was nonplussed. "Attacked? Attacked by who?" Poignant aside. The Japanese woman who worked for my grandfather crawled all the way from the street up to his door, begging his forgiveness for Pearl Harbor, an abasement we might recall the next time Trump or one of the other clown posse demands we refuse sanctuary to Syrian refugees.

* * *

As I awoke on this Sunday morning I could tell from the murmurs coming from my parents bedroom that something different was happening. I went in there to see them sitting up in bed looking out the windows towards the Waianae Mountains and Kolekole Pass. In the distance was a huge column of smoke and there were little "silver things" circling around the smoke and diving into it. My dad said that the Army had been having maneuvers that weekend and it looked like something was on fire, perhaps in the gulch behind Wheeler Field. He said, "Let's go see what's happening." So off we go down the hill from our house on Karsten Drive, Wahiawa, Oahu, Territory of Hawaii. It was December 7, 1941.

My mother was in the front seat with my father while my dog Tippy and I were in the back. We got to Wheeler Airfield where the army was in the process of constructing a series of outdoor hangars, simply three-tiered walls to form a "U." At this time there were only piles of dirt so we stopped between two piles and looked at Wheeler. Two our right the hangars were on fire, and straight ahead on the ground were lines of airplanes also on fire. Above that was a column of smoke and there were planes circling and diving down. We were horrified! My dad thought that someone had made a horrible mistake and instead of bombing the gulch behind the airfield had missed and hit the real field. While we were watching and listening we heard "booming" sounds coming from the direction of Honolulu so we continued down the road through Kipapa Gulch and up to where we could look over Ewa and Pearl Harbor. There were huge columns of smoke billowing up from Pearl and lots of "silver things" in the air. I remember dad saying that perhaps someone mistakenly hit one or more of the oil storage tanks that lined the Honolulu side of the harbor.

At that point mother reminded dad that we were having company around noon (a Navy commander), so we had better get to the store and back home. Returning to Wahiawa, we stopped at our usual Japanese grocery store, there to be told that the island was being bombed and attacked by the Japanese. Just as that was sinking in we heard the noise of the planes out in the street. Everyone rushed out and saw a plane headed our way (north to south, or from right to left facing the street.). We heard something "zing" past us so we all automatically ran back into the store and dropped down on the floor behind the shelves. We heard the whine and zing of bullets (just like the movies) as the plane came low and strafed (a word that later came into my vocabulary) the street. The moment we heard the plane lift and leave we all rushed out to the street. I was in time to see the plane start to bank right, toward Wheeler Field, and then nose dive down and crash. I will never forget that and the sight of the big red suns painted on the wing. (Subsequently we learned a guard at the water reservation — one person who had both a gun and ammunition — got a lucky shot in and hit the pilot as he was flying low.)

After seeing and experiencing all that and after hearing a radio message at the store (our first radio contact) to remain at home, we decided to return to the house!

When we got home we turned on the radio and heard, "This is the real McCoy. Japanese are attacking Oahu. Stay at home." We were also instructed to boil all our drinking water and not show any lights at night. Dad spent the rest of the day blacking out (another new phrase!) the essential room: the bathroom!

The only other vivid memory of that day was when I had to go to bed. I spent a long time looking out the window wondering if the Japs were coming back and if I would ever wake up if I allowed myself to go to sleep.

The Japs did not come back, but nobody knew from moment to moment if they would or would not attack again. Schools were closed, and people were asked to stay at home until further notice. We heard that the Army was going to take Leilehua School since it was separated from Wheeler Field by only a wire fence. So mom went to get her records and as much athletic equipment as she could salvage. While she was doing that I picked up used 50-caliber machine gun parts and made myself an 8-inch machine gun. I also picked up two bullets in my classroom.

Dad was asked to patrol the neighborhood which was rather scary as we lived near an army reservation. The soldiers had gone, but dad didn't. Klaxon air raid sirens were installed in a relay system Wahiawa proper and another of dad's duties eventually was to crank the klaxon when he heard the one below. Schools were closed until further notice so we more or less stayed home. We spent many evenings with our bachelor neighbor who would buy food and asked mother to cook for us all. We would eat early in his large glassed in garage and then go inside his NOT blacked out living room to listen to shortwave radio broadcasts of Tokyo Rose. I remember one of the first broadcasts said that the Pacific Fleet was at the bottom of the ocean. We had driven by Pearl Harbor by then and we knew for a fact that was not true despite the tremendous loss of life and extensive damage.

Christmas of 1941 there were very few Christmas trees and those available were too few and too expensive so dad bored holes in a wooden dowel and stuffed Ironwood branches into it. Mom said it was the most symmetrical tree she'd ever had!

Early in 1942 we were all registered, fingerprinted, given shots, and issued gas masks. When school was to take up again in February, Leilehua classes were farmed out go all over the area in private homes and in huts in the pineapple fields. It was decided that I would go into Honolulu to stay with my grandparents during the week and go to Panahou School. The US engineers had taken over the Panahou campus so my fifth grade class was at Manoa Elementary and the sixth grade was at the Teachers College on the University of Hawaii campus. Both were within walking distance, of course, as gas, tires and liquor were rationed (another new word!). Those were the only items officially rationed. However, shortages and high prices effectively "rationed" many other items.

We had many air raid scares but nothing ever came of them. My uncle dug an air raid shelter in his backyard and there was a large shelter behind my grandparents house to be shared by three families. Dad refused to dig one. He said that air raids were usually at night and he'd rather stay in his comfortable bed than go into a dark shelter with spiders, centipedes and scorpions.

One kind of funny thing happened early in 1942 was that the volcano on the Big Island erupted. No one was allowed to show a light after dark under penalty of us a stiff fine but someone neglected to tell Pele! One could read a newspaper outside from the volcano!

Another amusing incident I remember was seeing an ammunition truck going through Wahiawa one day with a soldier sitting on the top singing "I Don't Want To Set the World on Fire"!

Since we lived "in the country," mom and I had decided it would be a good idea if I learned to operate our car. I was only 10 but I was 5 feet tall and had no problem reaching the pedals. After that I'm sure we had the cleanest car on the island as I offered to wash it so I could back it out! We had a long driveway so I backed the car all the way to the road and then brought it forward to wash. Afterward I backed it all the way out and then drive it forward into the carport!

Besides the blackout every night, having to be careful of gasoline, and having to carry a gas mask everywhere, other overt signs of war were gun emplacements on the hills and barbed wire at Waikiki. The latter seemed quite ridiculous even to us youngsters as we knew there was no break in the reef offshore and no one with any sense would try to cross the reef.

In February 1942 school began again and besides being in an odd location it wasn't much different. We had to carry our gas masks and instead of fire drills we had air raid drills when we would have to go into the bomb shelters for a length of time. In sixth grade we had victory gardens where we grew carrots, radishes, onions and lettuces under the tutelage of our Japanese gardener!

Almost half the population of Oahu was Japanese but they were not treated the way they were on the West Coast. Officials removed certain ones whom they had targeted as "enemies," but the rest carried on in their usual or even "war effort" jobs. We continued to work with and be friendly with the Japanese we had always known. We schoolchildren had the Japanese separated into two separate races: Our country was fighting the "dirty Japs," but we were friends and schoolmates of Japanese!

At the end of 1942 dad was offered a promotion if we moved to the San Francisco area. We had a lot of arrangements to make. Tippy, our springer spaniel, had to travel on a special animal convoy which was only available every six months. We had to estimate the closer one to our departure which was not exactly booked to the day! Tippy had to have a special doghouse and three weeks rations! She left sometime in April and arrangements were made for her to be housed with a vet in San Francisco.

We sold the house and since Dad worked for the government the army came to pack us. Mother and Dad moved in with my uncle and aunt and we were on 24-hour call to leave. One day in May when I got home from school Mom and Dad said, "That was your last day at school. We leave tomorrow." I couldn't even call my friends to say goodbye.

Mom and Dad had taken our luggage to the pier and we were to appear next morning to leave. This was about the 15th or 16th of May, 1943. We got to the dock and got our cabin assignment. Dad was classified as an Army officer so we were lucky. We had a "state room" — a two bunk room with a third bunk shoved in so no one could sit up in bed. But we had our own room with a wash basin. One drawback was that the ship was the former German ship "Orinoco" taken over in the Canal Zone, refitted as an Army transport, and renamed the "USAT Pueblo." However, everything was still written in German — the water faucets, showers, restrooms, etc. It was very interesting! We had to carry our life preservers every time we left the cabin. However, we were fortunate to meet a couple of the ship's engineers who played pinochle with us and who got us nice Kapok deck chairs. They made sitting on the bare decks a bit more comfortable.

We were in a convoy of four or five ships plus two destroyer escorts. The usual four and a half day trip took nine days — zigging and zagging every 15-20 minutes! The ships had target practice the first day out and later we had a "sub scare." Then one day a "shellshocked" victim jumped overboard. (We had a lot of casualties aboard as well as civilians.) The ship could not stop (too dangerous), but we did circle back, a feat which took the better part of an hour at our speed! One of the destroyers came back at full speed to search but all was in vain.

I'll never forget the tears as we steamed under the Golden gate Bridge. It gave everyone "chicken skin" (goosebumps). We landed at Fort Mason on May 25, 1943 and went to the Hotel Californian. I remember looking out at San Francisco's "dim out" from our hotel room and remarking how wonderful it was to see "lights" again!

NAUGHTY & NICE: Scott Peterson’s informative rundown and scorecard of non-profit organizations in Mendocino County. Camille Schraeder’s Redwood Community Services got high marks, and KZYX, the Mendocino Arts Center and the Fort Bragg Senior Center came up short.

* * *

'TIS THE SEASON to think about giving to the local nonprofit of your choice. All of them deserve something in their Christmas stocking — whether it’s cash or coal. Here’s a few suggestions:

1. REDWOOD COMMUNITY SERVICES — The best run  nonprofit in Mendocino County, RCS first hit the news in 2016 as the successor to Tom Ortner’s failure at privatizing mental health services. Although Ortner’s company was a for-profit firm, it outsourced to local and out-of-town nonprofits. All of them dropped the ball, leaving RCS to clean up the mess — which it did very well. Executive Director Camille Schrader has been part of it since the beginning.

RCS PAYS ATTENTION to its Public Form 990s. The entire Board of Trustees reviews them before their annual filings. A quick look at their balance sheet tells you what’s going on there. Although RCS’s net assets stay in the low six-figure range, it puts over $10 million a year  into the local economy — and it’s growing like a weed. RCS has only been around since 2001, but revenue least year topped $13 million. Anything donated here is a worthwhile investment.

Website: http://rcs4kids.org

Contact: Camille Schrader, camille@rcs4kids.org

2. NOYO RADIO PROJECT / KNYO — The tiny FM signal at KNYO isn’t very impressive, but the content sure is. With gutsy radio show hosts like Joe Wagner and Marco McClean, KNYO has made a positive impact on local government in 2016. CEO Bob Young consistently — and quietly — bears the financial burden here. And if you can spare it, he could sure use a little help. KNYO’s revenue hit a perilous low in 2015 at $7,181, yet still manages to broadcast 24/7. It’s only been around since 2010, and is the most likely successor to Mendocino County’s only high-power Public Radio FCC license — when KZYX finally goes belly-up.

Website: www.knyo.org

Contact: Bob Young, bobb@poetworld.net

3. COMMUNITY CENTER OF MENDOCINO — Founded in 2013, CCM hosts a variety of community events for Mendocino Village. Mostly for the benefit of kids and seniors. It came about in response to the badly managed Mendocino County Parks and Recreation District’s bankruptcy — over the  acquisition of an overpriced chunk of pygmy forest promoted by slimy developers as a golf course. Elaine Wing Hillesland is the president of CCM, and has been since the beginning.

CCM NEEDS A BREAK this year. By July of 2015 its net assets had dropped to minus $29,000. So anything you can give will be sincerely appreciated. And since its Public Form 990 is reviewed by its Board of Trustees, financial control is assured.

Website: http://www.communitycenterofmendocino.org

Contact: Elaine Wing Hillesland, inn@oceanfrontmagic.com

4. MENDOCINO FIRE DEPARTMENT — The picturesque seaside village of Mendocino owes everything to this all-volunteer organization. Although founded in 1887, the nonprofit has only been around since 1992. Barry Cusick is the president today and has been a volunteer fireman there for decades. MVFD responded to 284 emergency calls last year on net revenue of only $6,000. That’s less than four percent of the revenue it had a decade ago. Net assets are under $220,000 and dropping. So when you think about all those magnificent dry wooden structures in Mendocino, think about giving to MVFD.

Website: www.mendocinofire.com

Contact: Barry Cusick, mvfd@mcn.org

5. MENDOCINO TV — Terry Vaughn and Maryann McGee do a bang-up job of videotaping all the public meetings they can and then posting them to  the web. Along with pithy editorial commentary about what happens there, for better or worse. Their studio is tiny as is their budget. All of it coming out of their own pockets — without the benefit of a nonprofit. Some of the best — and most entertaining — public meetings you can see are produced by Mendocino TV. Donations here aren’t tax deductible, but it’s money well-spent.

Website: www.mendocinotv.com

Contact: Terry Vaughn, admin@mendocinotv.com

 

 

1. THE COMMUNITY FOUNDATION OF MENDOCINO COUNTY — Well, it’s not actually a foundation and it’s not exclusively about Mendocino County. Unless you count the money it rakes in. They’re number one in that department. TCFMC raised $3.8 million here last year. Then distributed only a fraction  of it. The rest landed in TCFMC’s fat bank account — now topping $20 million. A third of that money — $100,000 at a time —goes to out-of-state charities like Islandwood up in Bainbridge Island, Washington.

ISLANDWOOD is an environmental school for children in King and Kitsap Counties. Which are only 700 miles or so from Mendocino. 2014 was the second year in a row it scored a six figure grant from TCFMC — something never matched by a local nonprofit. Islandwood also has the peculiar policy of hiding parts of its Public Form 990 from its trustees. And with net assets of $50 million plus, it doesn’t really need the money. For that matter, neither does TCFMC. But it sure needs your input. So tell ‘em what you think about Islandwood.

Website: www.communityfound.org

Contact: Susanne Norgard, susanne@communityfound.org

2. MENDOCINO COAST HOSPITAL FOUNDATION — Yet another fake foundation, MCHF is a nonprofit that pretends to support the bankrupt Fort Bragg Hospital. But has never come close. Not that it matters — because the Fort Bragg Hospital is a nonprofit too. Most of the money MCHF gets goes into a yearly bender called Winesong! Or  else stashed in a bank account reported at $2 million plus. Something that MCHF trustees appear to have zero control over. Last year, MCHF’s revenue dropped to an all-time low of $317,000. Not that any of them would know  —  because MCHF has a written policy to hide the Public Form 990s from them.

With all that money in the bank, you’d think that MCHF would pay a decent wage — but they don’t. While executive pay approaches $50 grand, MCHF staff don’t get squat.

MCHF might benefit from your input. Especially what you think about their generosity.

Website: www.mchfoundation.org

Contact: Michelle Roberts, mchf@mcn.org

3. MENDOCINO COUNTY PUBLIC BROADCASTING / KZYX — This is the spoiled child of Mendocino County nonprofits. Like a rabid  dog, KZYX bites the hand that feeds it — donors — by hiding everything it does. According to written policy, trustees don’t review Public Form 990s. Only the General Manager is allowed to do that. Which is like a teenager keeping a high school report card away from their parents. But in this case, it’s happened for six years running.

ONE LOOK at the payroll there explains why. Executive and staff salaries are completely out of control. Spineless trustees continue allowing the foxes to run the henhouse. KZYX is perilously close to bankruptcy today, and is likely to go under at any moment. Donations — no matter how large or how many — will only delay it. So don’t bother sending cash. But an email might help.

Website: www.kzyx.org

Contact: Meg Courtney, mcourtney1@mcn.org

4. MENDOCINO ART CENTER — Once the crown jewel of Mendocino, MAC is little more today than rotten buildings with an ocean view. The downward spiral began in 1998 when founder Bill Zacha died and a pack of opportunists took over. First by selling off land earmarked for student housing in 2010 — and then living off the proceeds. And finally by changing the bylaws to allow for — get this — self dealing, and then prohibiting Mendocino TV from  recording public meetings.

The filing deadline for the 2015 Public Form 990 was missed this year. So it’s anybody’s guess how much money’s in the bank. But by the looks of the run-down property, it’s not much. And an ever-shrinking board of trustees has been operating without a quorum for the past several months. Meaning the end is near. But they might appreciate an email.

Website: www.mendocinoartcenter.org

Contact: John Cornacchia, macdirec@mcn.org

5. REDWOOD COAST SENIORS — By its original 1973 charter, the Fort Bragg Senior Center serves everyone fifty-five and older from Gualala in the South to Hales Grove in the North and all the way East to Comptche. With everything including employment services. But today, it serves tepid lunches to 125 Fort Bragg geriatrics. Mostly thanks to local Food Bank contributions. But check out its near-million dollar annual budget. Then divide that by the 46,000 meals it delivers. Dude — that’s $20 a plate for donated food! Next there’s the the six-figure investment portfolio it claims today. Look at the abysmal dividends and the Public Form 990s that report it all. None of them are prepared by licensed accountants. And finally, the too-good-to-be-true executive pay. CEOs reportedly work there today for free. Just like they did back in 2009 when the Mendocino County Grand Jury found that one of them was actually taking a $71,000 salary — for half-time work.

The Senior Center has doggedly refused any voluntary audit of their books until this past September. When the IRS finally took care of that little detail for them. By November of 2017, we should all know how much money is left in the bank account. Until then, cash donors should probably steer clear. Drop ‘em an email instead.

Website: www.rcscenter.org

Contact: Rick Banker, rick@wrecklessmedia.com

WOMAN MISSING IN WILLITS - ANYONE SEE HER?

We saw this on the Willits Fan Community page this morning:

"We can't contact Shelley Falkenberg. Please help.

A car of her make, model, year, and color was found crashed and abandoned on a rural stretch of road (Reynold's hwy) up in icy Nor Cal over the weekend. No one has heard from her in a few days that we can see. She didn't make it to her own birthday party, or to pick her young children up from school Monday. If you know Shelley you know this is very unlike her. She is a dedicated mother.

I am completely distraught. I wouldn't risk embarrassing myself and my friend if this weren't a serious issue.

Her parents are in touch with law enforcement.

If you know Shelley, when did you last see/hear of/speak to her? Any information is helpful."

HEADLINE from this morning's Press Democrat reminds us that it's probably time to permanently cordon off Lake County: "Lake County man accused of killing Chihuahua with machete."

THERE ARE LEGIT requests for public information then there's pure harassment. But the County's Animal Shelter is being bombarded with so many requests — from the same parties — that the info demands long ago ceased being legitimate. Come on, two requests for all kennel cards for animals entering the shelter from August through October? All the drug records for the same period? More than 600 pages of information in two files which were uploaded to the County's Public Records Access (PRA) site on Tuesday. It took more than eight hours of staff time to collect and make copies when they should be doing things related to animal care and adoptions.

PREDICTION: The Woodhouse matter won't drag on indefinitely. The DA is poised to step in. If the mentally unsound North County representative doesn't resign his Third District Supervisor's seat, the DA just might go to a judge and get Woodhouse resigned without Woodhouse and his attorney's involvement. There is legal precedent. Additionally, the two cops who were bitten during one struggle to restrain the berserk Woodhouse aren't happy about it. Biting cops is against the law, even in Mendocino County.

BRING BACK FJORD'S. You qualify as a Mendo old timer if you ate at the legendary North State Street buffet, and you'll soon be an old timer who remembers the 50s-era structure that sat empty for years as a 4-Star eyesore at the north end of Ukiah, its ghostly old sign jutting forlornly up about fifty feet in the air, Ukiah's very own post-industrial landmark.

SO FJORD'S finally gets bulldozed and here comes In 'N Out Burger, a very large In 'N Out Burger, so large if you didn't know they were going to simply sell burgers and fries outtathere, you might think it was a giant car wash, a giant LA carwash complete with two giant palm trees awaiting the rest of the landscaping. More or less at the other end of the County seat, the new Chipotle at the foot of Perkins is packing them in. Bottom line question? Can Ukiah stand the culinary excitement?

SPEAKING of which — culinary excitement, I mean — and apropos of nothing at all, I ate lunch Tuesday at Star's in Ukiah, a restaurant popular with the geriatric set, where who should walk in at twice the size I last saw him? Myron Sawicki, former Assistant DA to DA Susan Massini. Myron worked long and hard on the Fort Bragg Fires investigation only to watch his boss, Ms. Massini, let the statute of limitations run. I've heard there were over 30 boxes of material on that particular outrage, including the results of FBI and ATF findings. The boxes, and more than enough evidence to prosecute the people behind the '87 atrocities, have since disappeared, vanishing with Massini's departure from office. Sawicki appeared to be with another local attorney, James Griffiths. Not the place to de-brief Myron but I'd like to some time.

THEN HAL TITEN, registered sex offender, sat down in the booth in front of me. It had begun to feel like the ghosts of Christmases past. Titen, once upon a time riding high as an overpaid administrator with the over-administered Mendocino County Office of Education, was finally shuffled off to the state pen for making pornographic films with under-age girls in the back room of a bar he owned on North State Street, using video equipment purchased with educational funds. Titen's boss, Jack Ward, also went to jail. Titen doesn't look much changed but has presumably aged out as an active perv. Ward, natch, went off from his stay behind the welcoming bars of the County Jail to running schools on a SoCal Indian reservation. Several other MCOE edu-wizards still roam I-5 leading our nation's future to their highly dubious future.

IN OTHER PERSONNEL NEWS, we note the return of Mendocino County's most famous cop, Peter Hoyle, to his mothership, the Ukiah Police Department. Hoyle had been on indefinite loan to the County's dope unit.

SORRY to see Jane Futcher leave her position as trustee on the KZYX board of directors. Smart, conscientious, mannerly all apply, and apply in a context of Mendo Public Radio where they are so rare as to be non-existent.

KELLY BOSS, an Anderson Valley wine and pot impresario, has reached agreement with the DA to settle his long-running case in exchange for the forfeiture of roughly a hundred thou in cash and seized property. Boss has also paid a small fortune in legal fees that ultimately kept him out of jail. He had no case, but a good lawyer can tie up the courts so long as the defendant can keep paying.

Background:

https://www.theava.com/archives/34851

JADE BENNET is one of several permanent 5150s raised in the Anderson Valley. He's well known to law enforcement, Mendocino County's ad hoc mental health professionals, and better at mental health counseling than most of the pros I'm familiar with, frankly. I've known Jade since he was a kid, always liked him, and hated to see him succumb to the drugs that drove him nuts. These days, Jade wanders around the County getting 86'd from stores and generally making a public nuisance of himself until he's arrested and sent back to the County Jail's ever-larger unit housing strictly mental cases. I saw him today while I was out delivering papers. He'd just been ordered out of the Navarro Store and was glowering menace — at least as much menace as a little guy like him can muster — out of a nearby redwood grove. It was cold and he was under-dressed for the weather, which soon became cold and rainy. Later in the afternoon, I learned that Jade had been spotted very early this morning walking west on the Ukiah-Boonville Road. His ambulatory behavior was odd enough that passing motorists called him in to emergency services. But he kept on walking, racking up serial rejections as he went, knocking on the closed (to him) doors of people he remembered from his growing up in Boonville. By noon, Jade, probably having walked overnight from Ukiah with maybe a ride or two from the more adventurous among the motorized, had arrived in Navarro, an overnight journey in freezing weather of about thirty miles. At the store, he helped himself to the coffee, chattered incoherently, caused staff and customers varying degrees of anxiety, and was soon ordered to leave on pain of arrest, a threat that holds no meaning to him, although arrest represents temporary rescue to the hundred or so Jades roaming Mendocino County at any one time. Jade is exactly the kind of person for whom Sheriff Allman's in-County psychiatric unit was conceived, but the Sheriff's initiative failed by 83 votes, and now there's no hope at all for our Jade Bennetts. He is the full-time responsibility of law enforcement and the Mendocino County Jail.

LITTLE DOG SAYS, "The boss wakes me up about midnight. 'Did you hear that, LD?' (He calls me LD when he's upset about something.) 'Someone just marched past our place playing military march time on a snare drum!' You're dreaming, boss, I said. Our tweakers don't play drums. Musta been an outta town drunk. Go back to sleep."

FOR YOUR MEDIA FILES: THE SF CHRONICLE reported today:

NBC News paid for a hotel room for the man who ran the Ghost Ship, the Oakland warehouse-turned-artists-collective that burned down Friday night, killing 36 people at an underground electronic music show.

FORT BRAGG SUED OVER FALL AT GLASS BEACH

This is the guy who fell down the stairs at Glass Beach

https://cityfortbragg.legistar.com/View.ashx?M=F&ID=4825948&GUID=3C8251A4-4740-4FAA-BA64-33D49D67E012

MENDO COAST HOSPITAL SENDING PATIENTS AWAY FOR 'FOLLOW UP' CARE

Local Businessman Questions 'New' Practice

The Mendocino Coast Hospital has been in financial trouble for quite some time - and now, according to this letter, they are no longer providing "follow-up" care for injuries — directing patients to out-of-town care. Huh? Here is a letter local business owner Stephen Dunlap sent to the hospital board (full disclosure, he is also MSP's "roving correspondent.")

"During a recent visit to my doctor, Dr. Sandy Brown, I learned of the news that the hospital and new immediate care center will not provide follow-up services (beyond emergency first aid) for injuries resulting from a workplace injury and covered by SCIF policies. As an employer in a higher risk business workplace safety is premier in our daily practices and thankfully we have good safety record. However, when an accident does occur, proper care of my employees is of the utmost concern to me. I am currently paying approx. $5,200 EACH month for my SCIF [State Compensation Insurance Fund/Workers Comp] coverage. Coverage is, of course, subject to audit and can change greatly from year to year. It would be nice if medical needs of my employees were taken care of by local caregivers as needed. Also, just last week an employee went to the Immediate Care center after stepping on a nail two days prior and while at first he thought it was ok but then swelled up some. So in he went and was told to go to the emergency room? He did not want to spend many hours (as typical for the ER) waiting for care so he went home for self-treatment. So that leaves me curious as to what 'Immediate Care' is after all? So to re-iterate, having proper first aid & emergency care and then the follow-up needs of workplace (and other) care of injuries performed locally would certainly be welcome in our rural community. As I understand it has always been prior.

Thank you, Stephen Dunlap" (Dunlap Roofing)

(Courtesy, MendocinoSportsPlus)

ANDERSON VALLEY BOY IN NEAR DROWNING

by Justine Frederiksen

The Ukiah Police Department is investigating the events surrounding a young boy’s near drowning at a local hotel Monday evening.

According to the Ukiah Valley Fire Authority, both the UPD and medical personnel responded to the Fairfield Inn at 1140 Airport Park Boulevard when it was reported shortly after 6 p.m. Dec. 5 that a six-year-old boy had possibly drowned.

UVFA Capt. Pete Busby said when he and a colleague arrived at the hotel, they found the victim lying on the floor with adults helping him. At that time, the boy was breathing.

Bushby was told that one of the adults present had been giving swimming lessons to about three kids in the hotel’s heated pool when “one of the boys went limp and was unresponsive.”

The adult teaching the lessons then picked the boy up and handed him to another adult, who reportedly declared that the boy was not breathing. However, when the adults began trying to revive him, the boy apparently started breathing again and threw up.

Bushby said medical personnel “scooped” the boy up and drove him to Ukiah Valley Medical Center, and later he was taken to Oakland Children’s Hospital.

“I think he’s going to be fine,” Bushby said of the boy. “What likely happened he is got exhausted, especially if he’s not a good swimmer.”

UPD Sgt. Cedric Crook said the boy was being released from the hospital Wednesday, and after that he expected to be able to interview people he was waiting to talk with.

“We just want to rule out the possibility that there was any neglect involved, or whether the incident could have been prevented,” Crook said.

Crook said the family lives in Anderson Valley and had been staying at the Fairfield Inn Monday. He declined to give further details until he completes more interviews.

(Courtesy, the Ukiah Daily Journal)

CALIFORNIA’S ABALONE SEASON SHORTENED, CATCH REDUCED TO PROTECT AILING SPECIES

by Mary Callahan

The state Fish and Game Commission voted Wednesday to cut two months off next year’s abalone season and to reduce each participant’s annual allowable catch from 18 to 12 shellfish in an effort to reduce impacts on a fishery threatened by ecological changes and starvation. The unanimous decision was made under the commission’s emergency rule-making authority and is a temporary change for the coming season only. It will be in effect for 180 days but can be extended to cover the entire period of the traditional season. Current rules allow abalone divers and rock pickers to harvest abalone north of San Francisco beginning April 1 through Nov. 30, with a break in July. They are allowed to take only three mollusks per day, or up to 18 a year, though only nine can come from south of the Mendocino County line. Next year, as part of a compromise suggested by members of the diving community, April and November will be closed, and the annual limit set at 12. The goal is to reduce the overall harvest by 23 percent, but the actual abalone conservation rate will depend on how licensed divers and pickers respond, Fish and Wildlife officials said. Agency staff members initially proposed reducing the annual per-person bag limit to nine abalone.

THE PENULTIMATE GENERAL KNOWLEDGE AND TRIVIA QUIZ of the year will take place tonight, Thursday, December 8th, at Lauren’s Restaurant in Boonville. Opening tip is at 7pm prompt. Hope to see you there. In two weeks, on December 22nd, it’s the final Quiz of 2016.

Cheers,

Steve Sparks, Quiz Master

FORT BRAGG FACEBOOK PAGES reveal lots of people complaining about a more aggressive and generally "scarier" homeless crew roaming the town, as some residents, not known to be fraidy cats, say they feel more insecure walking city streets, encountering more "undesirables" and so on.

RATS! The four-footed type also seem to be on the increase in FB. That infestation, according to rat trackers, may be due to the recent removal of harbor cats; the food left out for them by cat people attracted more and more raccoons.

SOUTHBOUND TRAVEL GUIDE

To The Editor:

Southbound? Don’t miss the Chicken Gravy

Do you travel south periodically to Sonoma County and the Bay Area? If so, you may have developed favorite food stops, or even “can’t miss” food joints along the freeway that you frequent.

After living near Healdsburg for years before moving up here to Mendo, if we're headed south in the morning, we have to stop at the Downtown Bakery on the plaza for a sticky bun and/or croissant. Coming back, we usually stop at either Amy’s (Vegetarian) Kitchen in Rohnert Park, Whole Foods, or In-and-Out. Now that we are getting our own In-and-Out here in Ukiah, that will be off the list. But there is also Cape Cod Fish and Chips in Cotati we visit that Jeff Cox, longtime food critic for the Press Democrat, recommended years ago.

Just recently we’ve crossed Whole Foods off our list because of Big John’s Market in Healdsburg (Dry Creek turnoff). They’ve expanded into a wonderful Whole Foods style market that is not to be missed. Unfortunately, their deli features organic fried chicken, mashed potatoes, and superb chicken gravy that is so good I cannot get around to trying the many other offerings… I just go straight for the chicken and gravy every time. If I still lived in Healdsburg I would have died and gone to heaven by now. But at least my arteries would have been clogged organically.

Dave Smith

Redwood Valley

HERE THEY COME AGAIN

In 1970, I was a young.... very young I realize now, from my vantage point of 60-plus years.... 20 year old woman living in Chicago. I'd arrived there after four years of college in New York City, joining my boyfriend on an adventure while he attended the Art Institute of Chicago. I found myself pregnant. I knew what I had to do, somehow. Abortion was illegal.... especially so in Chicago. On the day of, It was arranged for me to join several other women at an unknown address. We were given a peptalk, and then we paid our $200. From there, we were each driven in a roundabout way, blindfolded, to a different location. I waited, alone, in a large room, until I was led to the "procedure" room...bare but for a covered table and a lamp. I was blindfolded again. I never saw the doctor, though he spoke to me in a familiar and reassuring way. He complimented my cowboy boots. I was given no medication. Afterwards, I was led, blindfolded, to a waiting car, and delivered back to the first house. I was lucky — I found compassionate people to help me, and I suffered no medical problems. But I would not wish this experience on any woman. Every year, a woman's right to guide herself through her own life is eroded. The party of less government wants to be the authority to make the most personal of decisions for half of the people living in its realm. With each cabinet appointment of our new president, my heart sinks.

(Name Withheld)

FROM THE FORT BRAGG POLICE DEPARTMENT:

In the early morning hours of December 5, 2016, at approximately 3:15 a.m., Officers of the Fort Bragg Police Department were conducting foot patrol and surveillance in the area of the Mendocino Coast District Hospital, and the apartment complex at 421 South Street, in response to a recent surge of vehicle burglaries and reports of theft from unlocked vehicles. While canvassing the area, officers located three suspicious male subjects dressed in dark clothing, loitering in the area of the 421 South Street apartments. Officers immediately recognized one of the males as Cheshire Maiava. A records check with dispatch revealed that Maiava had an active Mendocino County warrant for his arrest. Maiava is also known to officers to currently be on active PRCS (Post Release Community Supervision). Maiava was immediately placed under arrest and placed in handcuffs. Incident to Maiava’s arrest for the warrant, his property and person were searched. During the search, it was discovered that Maiava was in possession of burglary tools on his person, and an additional larger collection of burglary tools concealed within his backpack. Maiava’s backpack contained several stolen driver’s licenses, cell phones, and credit/debit cards. Officers were able to link all of the recovered stolen property to previous reports of theft over the past few months. Maiava was taken into custody without incident, and transported to the Mendocino County Adult Detention Facility in Ukiah, CA, and is currently awaiting arraignment.

* * *

CAPTAIN FATHOM JAILED AGAIN

On 12-7-16 at approximately 8:28 a.m., Officers were dispatched to a report of an unwanted subject at CVS Pharmacy causing a disturbance and threatening to return to the location with a firearm. Upon arrival, Officers contacted and detained the male suspect, identified as Alan Graham of Fort Bragg. An investigation revealed Graham was upset after he discovered the pharmacy would not provide him with a medication he desired. Graham threatened to return with a firearm and rob the location in order to obtain the medication. Graham was subsequently arrested for violation of 422(a) of the California Penal Code, and 664/211 of the California Penal Code. He was booked and transported to the Mendocino County Jail.

* * *

DAHLUND’S NO DOLL

"On Thursday, December 1st, at approximately 10:36 am, Deputies from the Mendocino County Sheriff's Office were directed to contact the manager at Creekside Cabins (29801 North Highway 101 in Willits) regarding a burglary. Deputies contacted the manager who provided information regarding a burglary that occurred to a residence at the location between the evening of Wednesday, November 30th into the morning of Thursday, December 1st. Sheriff's Deputies investigated and found evidence that someone had forced entry into a residential structure at the location and taken multiple items from the home. Deputies also found evidence that multiple items were moved from the inside of the residence and taken outside, which were recovered by the manager. The manager also advised of multiple items, in excess of $400.00, were found to be vandalized. During the investigation, Deputies learned of a suspect who was staying at Creekside Cabins who was reportedly responsible for the burglary. Deputies contacted Kevin Dahlund (age 47 of Willits) and found stolen property related to the burglary being investigated. Deputies developed probable cause to believe that Dahlund was responsible for the burglary. It was determined that Dahlund was on formal probation from Mendocino County for an unrelated offense. Deputies placed Dahlund under arrest for Burglary, Possession of Stolen Property Vandalism - More than $400, Petty Theft, and Violation of Probation. Dahlund was subsequently booked into the Mendocino County Jail where he was to be held on a no-bail status due to violating the terms of his probation.

CATCH OF THE DAY, December 7, 2016

CURTIS BALSON, Boonville. Drunk in public.

CHRISTOPHER BECK, Ukiah. Probation revocation.

LEGEN EDGE, Fort Bragg. Conspiracy.

JACK GOUBER, Ukiah. Second degree robbery.

CECILY HOAGLEN, Ukiah. Suspended license.

JIMMIE ISENHART JR., Ukiah. Failure to appear.

RYAN IVEY, Fort Bragg. Failure to appear.

JORGE MARTINEZ, Willits. Domestic battery, parole violation.

CHRISTOPHER PETERS, Stockton/Fort Bragg. Under influence, probation revocation.

ERICA RODRIGUEZ, Ukiah. Domestic assault.

DANIEL ROTTNER, Glastonbury, Connecticut/Mendoicno. Fugitive from justice.

HEATHER SCHMIDT, Ukiah. Controlled substance, paraphernalia, receiving stolen property.

HOSPICE OF UKIAH BENEFIT

December 16, 20165-10 pm
Tickets $20
Silent Auction
Band-Double Standyrd
Si's Grill, BBQ Chicken Dinner/ Dessert $15
Wine and Beer to purchase

Hospice care enables dying persons to live the remainder of their lives with dignity in their homes among loved ones.

At the Saturday Afternoon Club on Friday, Dec 16th to support Hospice Of Ukiah. Come and support HOSPICE OF UKIAH for their Annual Music Benefit. Dinner music by The Thin Air String Band, followed by Double Standyrd. Tickets may be purchased at the Thrift & Gift 401 S. State or at the Hospice Offices 620 S. Dora St. Ste. 101. Tickets for BBQ dinner will be sold at the door. Proceeds from this event are used to provide FREE compassionate end of life and comfort care to our community.

GEORGE WASHINGTON, a wealthy Virginia aristocrat who loved parties and fox hunting, found out about the connection between drinking and voting for the American electorate the hard way. A rigorous military commandeer who drove his soldiers hard and expected much of them, he began to aspire to a government position after he did not get a command in the British military. While seeking a seat in the Virginia Assembly in 1855, he was roundly defeated. Two years later he ran again, but this time he delivered 144 gallons of rum, punch, cider and wine to the polling places, distributed by election volunteers who urged the voters to drink up. At 307 votes, he got a return on his investment of almost two votes per gallon. Most elections featured vats and barrels of free liquor as well as the candidate in hand to drink along with his constituency. Candidates showed off their generosity as well as their drinking capacity. Although voting while intoxicated was normal for the colonists, French traveler Ferdinand Bayard was horrified to notice, "Candidates offer drunkenness openly to anyone who is willing to give them his vote." … Later, after the Revolution, some of the Founding Fathers objected to the American way of voting. James Madison, who drank a pint of whiskey every day to aid his digestion, was also running for the Virginia Assembly in 1777. Madison decided that bribing the voters with alcohol was beneath his dignity and the dignity of the new nation. The influence of liquor at the polls was "inconsistent with the purity of moral and republican virtues," he announced. He lost.

— Susan Cheever, 2015; from "Drinking in America: Our Secret History"

THE FIRST AMBASSADORS" — NEW EXHIBIT AT GRACE HUDSON

Portraits & Stories Of Tribal Ambassadors

"They Came to Washington: The First Ambassadors" opens at the Grace Hudson Museum on December 10, 2016 and runs through March 12, 2017.

Originated by the Museum of the American Indian in Novato, this striking exhibit features rare lithographic portraits and fascinating life stories of distinguished Native American leaders who came to Washington, D.C. to negotiate for tribal rights in the early 19th century. The lithographs were based on original paintings by Charles Bird King (1785-1862), and commissioned by Thomas McKenney, the U.S. Superintendent of Indian Trade from 1824-1830. Examples of Grace Hudson’s seldom-seen Pawnee Indian portraits will also be on display.

A First Friday event and presentations on Native history are forthcoming in January and February of 2017.

The Grace Hudson Museum is at 431 S. Main St. in Ukiah. The Museum is open Wednesday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., and Sunday from noon to 4:30 p.m. General admission is $4; $10 per family; $3 for students and seniors; free to all on the first Friday of the month; and always free to members. For more information please go to www.gracehudsonmuseum.org or call (707) 467-2836.

BAD OIL, GOOD OIL

Fake olive oils

All of these scams prompted the University of California

<http://olivecenter.ucdavis.edu/research/files/report041211finalreduced.pdf

to carry out studies on 124 imported brands of extra virgin olive oil, and they found that over 70% of the samples failed the test.

The brands that failed the test:, Pompeian, Bertolli, Colavita, Star, Sasso, Antica Badia, Primadonna, Carapelli, Mazola, Felippo Berio, Safeway, Whole Foods, Carapelli, Coricelli, Mezzetta.

The guys that passed the test and can be trusted: Corto Olive, Ottavio, Omaggio, Bariani Olive Oil, Lucini, Kirkland Organic, Lucero, Olea Estates, McEvoy Ranch Organic, Cobram Estate, California Olive Ranch.

Now ya know!

— Ann Kyle, Mendocino

ON LINE COMMENT OF THE DAY

36 flipped electoral votes are needed for someone other than Trump to be elected on Dec. 19. The number of faithless electors is increasing. Even Republicans are on board. A Republican member of the Electoral College from Texas has promised to vote against Donald Trump during the college’s meeting Dec. 19, saying the president-elect “shows daily he is not qualified for office.”

The Federalist Papers, Suprun wrote, argue that the Electoral College is tasked with ensuring candidates are “qualified, not engaged in demagogy, and independent from foreign influence.” Trump, he said, does not meet these standards, and should therefore be rejected from the White House.

“Mr. Trump,” Suprun wrote, “lacks the foreign policy experience and demeanor needed to be commander in chief … Mr. Trump urged violence against protesters at his rallies during the campaign. He speaks of retribution against his critics.”

Suprun added that he has “poured countless hours” into serving his party, and will continue to do so. “But I owe no debt to a party,” he wrote. “I owe a debt to my children to leave them a nation they can trust.”

With his promise, Suprun becomes the Republican party’s first potential “faithless elector” this presidential election, The Guardian reports. Previously, seven of the nation’s 538 electors – all Democrats in states won by Hillary Clinton – had voiced their intent to break their pledge.

TWO TOP CALIFORNIA WATER OFFICIALS RETIRE AMIDST GROWING OPPOSITION TO DELTA TUNNELS

by Dan Bacher

Mark Cowin, the Director of the California Department of Water Resources (DWR), and Carl Torgersen, the DWR Chief Deputy Director, will be retiring from their positions at the embattled agency at the end of 2016.

News of the two officials' retirement, common knowledge in DWR for some time, was confirmed today by Nancy Vogel, Deputy Secretary for Communications of the California Natural Resources Agency.

Vogel said she doesn't know who will be replacing them in their positions at DWR.

In response to my question, "Will this have any impact on the deadlines for the California Water Fix?" she replied "No."

Both officials are retiring at a time when Governor Jerry Brown's Delta Tunnels plan, the California WaterFix, has come under increasing fire from recreational anglers, commercial fishermen, Tribal leaders, family farmers environmentalists, scientists and elected officials for the enormous threat it poses to the San Francisco Bay-Delta Estuary and West Coast salmon and other fisheries.

The California WaterFix that Cowin and Torgersen have promoted would hasten the extinction of Sacramento River winter-run Chinook salmon, Central Valley steelhead, Delta and longfin smelt, green sturgeon and other fish species, as well as imperil the Southern resident killer whale (orca) population. The controversial 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.

On November 28, a coalition of California conservation, fishing and public interest organizations urged the Obama Administration to terminate the California WaterFix before Donald Trump is inaugurated in January.

“It is time now to make the right decision,” the groups said in a letter to federal officials. “The California Water Fix-- Delta Water Tunnels-- represent a financial as well as an environmental nightmare. This administration should terminate this project. Otherwise, down the road, when the obvious financial and environmental catastrophe is recognized by all, the blame will be placed on this administration.”

The organizations addressed the letter to Sally Jewell, the Secretary of Interior; Gina McCarthy, the Administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency; Christina Goldfuss, Managing Director of the Council on Environmental Quality; David Murillo, Regional Director of the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, and other officials.

Groups signing the letter include Friends of the River, California Sportfishing Protection Alliance, Restore the Delta, Environmental Water Caucus, Center for Biological Diversity, California Water Impact Network, AqAlliance, Sierra Club California, Environmental Justice Coalition for Water and Planning and Conservation League. (http://www.dailykos.com/stories/2016/11/30/1605652/-Coalition-asks-Obama-to-terminate-Jerry-Brown-s-Delta-Tunnels-plan)

"When it takes fraud, cover-ups, hiding your own economic analysis and absurdly low estimates to keep a project proposal afloat, that is a red flag that the project is a bad one that should not go forward," summed up Bob Wright, senior counsel of Friends of the River (FOR).

Mark W. Cowin has served as Director of DWR since 2010 - and has worked at DWR since 1981. Cowin was re-appointed Director for the California Department of Water Resources by Governor Jerry Brown on April 13, 2012.

"As DWR Director, Mr. Cowin heads a Department that protects, conserves and manages the state's water supply, including operation of the California State Water Project," according to his biography, http://www.water.ca.gov/director.cfm. "The SWP is the largest state-run, multi-purpose water and power system in the United States. It provides a supplemental water source for more than 25 million Californians and about 750,000 acres of irrigated farmland and directly sustains over $400 billion of the state's economy."

Prior to his appointment as Director, Cowin served as Deputy Director of Integrated Water Management for DWR. His primary responsibilities included overseeing DWR's flood management and dam safety programs, implementing Integrated Regional Water Management, coordinating DWR's efforts related to climate change, and updating and implementing the California Water Plan.

In previous assignments, Cowin served for five years as Chief of DWR's Division of Planning and Local Assistance and was responsible for the state's strategic planning for water management and for providing technical and financial assistance for water management to local agencies and communities. Cowin also served as an Assistant Director for the CALFED Bay-Delta Program where he was responsible for the Bay-Delta Program's water management planning activities. He received a B.S. in Civil Engineering from Stanford University in 1980.

Carl A. Torgersen was appointed Chief Deputy Director of the California Department of Water Resources by Governor Jerry Brown. on November 25, 2015.Prior to assuming his current role, Torgersen was the Deputy Director of the State Water Project since 2012, according to his biography: http://www.water.ca.gov/Carl_A_Torgersen.cfm

He also served as Chief of the Division of Operations and Maintenance since 2006 where he supervised over 1,100 employees engaged in the operation of the SWP. Prior to becoming Division Chief, he served as Chief of the SWP Operations Control Office, responsible for the planning of water and power operations. Additionally, Torgersen held a prior assignment as Chief of the San Luis Field Division.

He began his career with DWR in 1981 as a Mechanical Engineer in what was then the Division of Design and Construction and has worked on a wide variety of projects including the expansion of Banks and Pearblossom Pumping Plants, the North Bay Aqueduct, and the Suisun Marsh Salinity Control Gates.

Torgersen earned a BS degree in Mechanical Engineering from California State University, Sacramento and is a Registered Mechanical Engineer.