Mendocino County Today: Saturday, Dec. 24, 2016

• In Memoriam
• Little Dog
• Dam Mishap
• Sex Traffickers
• Where's Fathom
• Animal Shelter
• Charlie Escaped
• Little Tree
• GiveBig
• Sheriff's Roundup
• Yesterday's Catch
• Jagger Tryst
• Trolls
• Marco Radio
• Journalists Disintegrating
• The Trump
• Cannabis Banking
• Rural Isolates
• Malcolm Kerr
• MLK Celebration
• CPUC Proposal
• Tunnels Documents
• CalPERS Adjustment
• Painting Exhibit
• Transgender Vocals

GONE BUT NEVER FORGOTTEN, 2016, Anderson Valley

• Roger Tolman
• John Hulbert
• Fred Medinas
• Paul Titus
• Frank Wyant
• Emil Rossi
• Loretta Houck
• Don Carson
• Ron O’Brien
• Dennis Boardman
• Linda Brennan
• Dennis “Chief” Robinson
• David Bloyd
• Toby Smith
• Rosemarie Wells
• Kathy Hulbert
• Bud Rawles
• Stella ‘Desene’ Portlock
• Richard Leon Fullbright
• Joyce Ann Schreiner
• Berniece Presley
• Leo Hartz, of Shine On Farm, Philo
• Andrew Robert “Drew” Dziki, 23, of Ukiah, young motorcyclist who died on 128 near Navarro.
• Marlene Marie McIntosh, nee Dellinger, graduate of Anderson Valley High School, class of 1954.
• Jessie Ann Martin. (In 1980 they moved to Yorkville and bought a working ranch that they converted into a Christmas tree farm calling it the Happy Destiny Ranch. Jessie managed the Arts Building at the Boonville Fair for many years.)
• Clinta D. Pietila … (Clinta was a native of Yorkville who spent the early years of her life on the Mailliard Ranch where her father was employed.)

* * *

And…

• Warren Hinckle
• Art and Tess Volkerts
• Lisa Peoples
• Gilles D’Aymery (2014)
• Harry Blythe
• Chuck Savage
• Harry Merlo

* * *

Valley Departures:

• Dr. McGhan
• Libby’s Restaurant
• All That Good Stuff
• Buckhorn Saloon

LITTLE DOG SAYS, “Merry Christmas to my pals in Law Enforcement!”

FORT BRAGG, AS 2016 WINDS DOWN

by Rex Gressett

Over the weekend the rains were heavy. The Noyo River on which I live ran very high and strong. I thought it might be too much, but the raising water stopped short of overflowing the banks. Just. North of town however, the dam across Pudding Creek overflowed in a spectacular cataract clearly visible to the drivers on Highway One. The city now owns a drone which was used to record live this amazing spectacle and bring back a powerful video of mother nature rampaging down Pudding Creek and clobbering our dam.

Monday and Tuesday the city management hunkered behind closed doors undertaking complicated and extensive communications with insurance companies far and wide, with emergency management at the county and of course, with the owners of the dam which turns out to be (as many probably know) the notorious Koch brothers, (yes the very ones) through their subsidiary corporation Georgia Pacific, which of course also owns our vast toxic empty mill site.

By Wednesday at three o'clock Linda Ruffing our (also notorious) city manager was ready to sing for the city council. Her performance can only be described as awesome. There are few professionals at any pay level (even hers) that can equal her command of the facts, state them so succinctly and very few indeed that can manage to distort them so completely.

The new city council was notified as they say, called to town hall, for an emergency session the purpose of which was to declare a public emergency. Linda explained that houses and trailers that were north of the city were supplied by the city with water from a ten inch pipe that ran across the top of the dam. Although the dam had almost failed and was badly eroded the water pipe did not break. It was dangling precariously. She went on to describe in careful detail the cause of the emergency. When it rains she said high water happens and that somehow in this case a great deal of brush and toppled trees, the unfortunate detritus of floods had pushed rudely down the creek and got in our dam. Some flood gates were open she remarked and others were not.

The city council was the picture of focused intensity. Lindy Peters who had been appointed our mayor only a week ago but who has a great deal of experience having served on the city council years ago, was not just attentive he was engaged. They all were. Only Dave Turner the ex mayor who always felt deep in his soul that his tenure as mayor would never end was a little scrunched. He had loved being Mr. Mayor so much, more possibly than was strictly ethical. Dave was experienced but somehow diminished and mostly quiet. I felt for the guy. The days of his unqualified control of a council majority unreservedly in the pocket of the city manger had ended.

Poor Dave these last two years of his long running arc of power are at the very best a pointless prologue and at the worst a tedious embarrassment.

Will Lee and Bernie Norvell were highly attentive. I thought Bernie might be a little suspicious but not sure of what. Cueball knew things, he usually does. He made a few cryptic remarks that I did not understand till the following day, and when I figured it out, made me wonder what his problem is. I mean that with kindness and supportively. I think that there really is a problem.

Linda broke down the emergency with just the right combination of concern and serious attention to detail, showing the video, telling us that the fault was solely with mother nature, but assuring us that under her (Linda’s) expert command there might be actual advantages to the city. Opportunities might well out weigh the cost of the problems since there was (somewhat uncertain) insurance, emergency assistance, who knows. No we were not actually covered but the city was going to reroute that pipe from off the dam to the bridge on highway one in two years anyway.

The overall impression was that since our city manager was so effective the council could relax and if they wanted things done right they better. It was a no fault emergency, and thanks to us having Linda possibly an actual advantage.

The video looked great and after the presentation Linda looked even better. She had successfully conducted the first in house training session of the new city council.

The next day I did a little digging. Very very little. Actually in the interests of fair and open disclosure I admit that all I did was smoke a cigar (they smoked cigarettes) with a couple of city workers at the site. I told them about the video, how impressive the drone footage was, and how unfortunately there was not much of a story in it that the brain dead Advocate could not adequately review.

They told me that among the workers who had labored mightily and continuously through the weekend and the early week, there was great sympathy and muted hilarity for the guy that did not get up in the middle of the night and open the flood gates as he was tasked to do. What? I said. Yeah, they said, that is why the dam overflowed. But I sputtered, the trees coming down the river unexpectedly. No no, they told me, the brush and trees that did all the damage were those growing around the damn itself the only problem was that the floodgate guy had slept through it all.

The next day I appeared at city hall asking for Linda. Gee Linda, was there some issue with some guy not opening the flood gates (I know his name but what the heck who cares) she turned a pretty shade of green. Everything she does is classy. “I do not consider that it is my job to point fingers,” saith she. No Linda it is not your job to blame others if that is what you mean. But it seems a reasonable interpretation of your job to provide to the city council a fair, impartial and objective accounting of the facts. That human error played not a but the vital role in this visually engaging micro-disaster seems to have quite a bit of relevance for the city council in as much as it might well impact the insurance, the liability and even dare we think it, the protocols and procedures that led to the mishap. All of that is not her job either I guess. But what all understand to be her job before anything at all is to deflect city council attention from any possibility of blame that might attach to her even remotely.

Linda professionally and expertly used the little disaster to train the as yet not-housebroken city council. Her patented super-girl persona shone like polished armor. It rivaled even the great video. Why smudge it up with mundane facts when a little lie could keep it all bright and shiny.

MORE SORDIDNESS OUT OF POINT ARENA

A couple from Point Arena, a seaside town in Mendocino County, were arrested for sex trafficking a minor and are now in custody. The case was investigated by the FBI with assistance from the Yuba County Sheriff's Office.

According to U.S. Attorney Phillip A. Talbert, 21 year-old Tion Makeise Foster and 25 year-old Monica Merlin Morales were arrested Thursday after a federal grand jury returned a two-count indictment on trafficking charges.

According to court documents, the defendants transported a 16 year-old female victim to the Bay area and other parts of Northern California in August of 2016 to engage in commercial sex acts for their financial benefit. According to the Department of Justice attorney, they subsequently conspired to traffic her again in November and December of 2016.

If convicted of the charges of sex trafficking a minor and conspiracy to traffic a minor, Foster and Morales face a maximum penalty of life in prison and a $250,000 fine.

WHERE'S FATHOM?

Captain Fathom {Alan Graham} has been MIA for a Week!

His last known whereabouts: Low Gap County Jail, where he was taken in after attempting to get Rx drugs from CVS with a SQUIRT GUN! No news since his release LAST WEEK!

PLEASE: ANYONE seeing, hearing from, or otherwise obtaining knowledge of his whereabouts:

Please call FastPac: 964-0120

He can use All of our Prayers in this, the Darkest, Coldest Time of the Year!

IF YOU EVER LOOK at the animal shelter website, (www.mendoanimalshelter.com) you will see just how many dogs and cats are waiting for homes. Just the other day, at 5:00 p.m., 25 dogs entered the system — 17 of them puppies. Shelter staff can't afford to laze about, as surrendered and found animals arriving at the agency never stops. The Sisyphean service performed by the employees at the shelter is astounding; this is not a job for the pampered or faint of heart. They ask for little praise, they deserve a lot.

THE UKIAH DAILY JOURNAL syndicated economics writer, Robert Samuelson, included the newly published Herbert Hoover biography called "Ordeal of the Presidency" in his selection of best books of 2016 having to do with economics. Former Journal staffer, Charlie Rappleye, is the author. (For you youngster journalists starting out in what may seem like the inescapable journalo exile of Mendocino County, Charlie made it out. Post his photo over your bedstead and, every night, pray to his image, chanting, "I can escape, I can do it. Charlie did.")

WHO WRECKED THE MERRY LITTLE TREE?

(Lead suspect: CalTrans)

Editor,

Thank you for the very nice picture of me in your paper dated December 21, 2016 (page 4).

I cannot express how sad I am to know that the “Anti-Christ Lives,” perhaps here in Boonville because my “hope” sign, my snow ground cover and the Merry Little Tree poem have all been torn down and taken away. Shame, shame, shame.

To whoever did this awful crime: May our God have mercy on you and your kind! You are surely without “solemnization.”

Merry Little Tree, Boonville

SCARED BUT FIGHTING BACK…

Dear Friends and Family,

I woke up excited this morning. I realized that keeping community radio alive is something I can do to ensure that our voices are heard during the challenging next four years — on issues like climate change, social justice, free speech, nuclear arms control, universal health care and income inequality.

On December 29th and 30th, KZYX/Mendocino County Public Broadcasting is going to be part of GiveBig to MyStation, celebrating the work of community radio around the country and right here in Mendocino County. On those days, every donation and donor we get will go right to KZYX to help us keep bringing you what we think is the very best music, news and information you’ll hear on your radio dial.

As many of you know, I host a show on KZYX called The Cannabis Hour, bringing together local, state and national experts on cannabis policy, medical uses, farming, legalization, compliance, law enforcement and much more. The show has attracted many new listeners — younger and older folks who are thirsty for straight talk about cannabis that has been impossible to find on commercial airwaves during nearly 80 years (and counting) of federal prohibition. I will continue to reach out to high-profile experts as well as the unsung heroes of the cannabis world.

Here’s one of my heroes: Sunshine Lencho. Sunshine is a founder of Supernova Women in Oakland, a national organization helping create economic pathways for women of color seeking work and business opportunities in the burgeoning cannabis industry.

Another hero of mine is the amazing Amanda Reiman, Ph.D., cannabis policy whiz with the Drug Policy Alliance. Earlier this month, I caught up with Amanda in person in Santa Rosa (she’s been a telephone guest on Cannabis Hour several times).

Anyway, GiveBig to MyStation is going to be a big event, and everyone will be talking about who and which radio station they’re supporting. Think “American Idol” -- we're in the try-outs but we need your support to make it to the top.

Can you help me with these three things?

1) Mark December 29th and 30th on your calendar and go then, or right now, to this giving link -- https://mystation.givebig.org/c/CR/a/kzyx.

2) Follow us on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/KZYXMendocino and help us build the buzz. We’re also on Twitter, but since I’m not a tweeter, I’ll skip that.

3) Spread the word! Forward this email to your family and friends along with a personal note as to why you believe in our work at KZYX, and why they should give on December 29th and 30th.

If you appreciate The Cannabis Hour and all of the unique shows brought to you on KZYX by about 99 incredibly smart and dedicated volunteer programmers, please, be our champion. Help us get to the top by making a donation! We can’t wait to celebrate the difference your generosity will make on December 29th and 30th, 2016.

Thank you hearing me out. And thank you for doing all of the work you do to create a more peaceful, sane, just and healthy world!

Sending you much love and warm wishes for a healthy, happy and empowering New Year! Jane

PS— Feel free to get in touch if you have any questions about GiveBig or KZYX.

Jane Futcher, Willits

MENDOCINO COUNTY SHERIFF’S ROUNDUP

FORT BRAGG

A man reportedly carrying syringes and methamphetamine was arrested Sunday in Fort Bragg after trying to break into a home and a vehicle, according to a press release from the Sheriff’s Office.

Deputies were dispatched at 4:12 a.m. to a home in the 23000 block of Quail Lane, where a 41-year-old man had awakened when someone attempted to enter his house through a door and window, the release says.

Kenneth Partridge, 48, of Fort Bragg, was arrested on suspicion of attempted burglary and searched; deputies found hypodermic syringes and about 8.9 grams, gross weight, of a substances that field tested positive as methamphetamine, the release says.

Partridge was charged with possession of a controlled substance, drug paraphernalia and violation of probation. He was booked into county jail on $55,000 bail.

COVELO

A man was arrested Saturday in Covelo on charges of burglary, vandalism and failure to appear in court, according to a press release from the Sheriff’s Office.

Deputies arrived at a trailer on a property in the 23200 block of Airport Road to try to make contact with Michael Freeman, 22, of Covelo, who had multiple warrants issued for his arrest in Mendocino County, the release says. Freeman said he was aware of the warrants and came out of the trailer to speak with the deputies, it says.

Freeman was placed under arrest for the warrants, which were issued for first-degree burglary, misdemeanor vandalism, and failure to appear in court, a misdemeanor, the release says. He was booked at county jail under $75,000 bail.

WILLITS

A man was arrested on Dec. 14 in Willits on suspicion of vandalizing a woman’s vehicle after an argument, according to a release from the Sheriff’s Office

Deputies were dispatched to a residence in the 2000 block of Goose Road, where a 26-year-old woman told them that 34-year-old David Nielson, of Laytonville, had recently left the home after an argument between the two, the release says. The woman found out afterward that her vehicle had been vandalized, it says.

Deputies found significant damage to the hood, exterior mirror and door of the vehicle, the release says. They concluded that more than $400 worth of damage had been done to the vehicle, it says.

Deputies came to believe that Nielson might have gotten a ride to his home in Laytonville, the release says. Deputies went to the home, spoke with Nielson, and placed him under arrrest for felony vandalism, it says.

Nielson was booked at county jail under $15,000 bail, the release says.

(Courtesy, the Ukiah Daily Journal.)

CATCH OF THE DAY, December 23, 2016

WILLIAM BARRY, Ukiah. Drunk in public, refusal to ID self. (Frequent flyer)

RICHARD GUSTIN, Penn Valley/Willits. DUI/Probation revocation.

DEVIN KESTER-TYLER, Ukiah. Under influence.

SERGIO LOPEZ-JUAREZ, Santa Rosa/Willits. Protective order violation

JOSE PEREZ, Boonville. Battery, probation revocation.

ALAN POLLICK JR., Ukiah. Drunk in public. (Frequent flyer)

MATTESON ROSS, Ferndale/Ukiah. Drug possession for sale, loaded firearm in public, vehicle driver with concealed weapon.

ELDON SHIVELY JR., Failure to appear.

KENDALL TRAVIS, Ukiah. Probation revocation.

ON LINE COMMENT OF THE DAY

A number of so-called celebrities fly commercial for many reasons. I’ve flown with various professional sports figures and my wife was once Mick Jagger’s seat-mate. He fell asleep on her shoulder, and the family joke is that Mick Jagger slept with her, but she didn’t sleep with him.

SCHADENFREUDE WITH BITE

by Richard Seymour

(excerpted from a London Review of Books collection of book reviews on internet trolls)

Trolls are the self-styled pranksters of the internet, a subculture of wind-up merchants who will say anything they can to provoke unwary victims, then delight in the outrage that follows. When Mitchell Henderson, a 12-year-old boy from Minnesota, killed himself in 2006, trolls descended on his MySpace page, where his friends and relatives were posting tributes. The trolls were especially taken with the fact that Henderson had lost his iPod days before his death. They posted messages implying that his suicide was a frivolous response to consumerist frustration: “first-world problems.” One post contained an image of the boy’s gravestone with an iPod resting against it. Trolling is the “latrinalia” of popular culture: the writing on the toilet wall…

What’s so funny about trolling? “Every joke calls for a public of its own,” Freud said, “and laughing at the same jokes is evidence of far-reaching psychical conformity.” To understand a joke is to share a culture or, more precisely, to be on the same side of an antagonism. Trolls do what they do for the “lulz” (a corruption of “LOL,” Laughing Out Loud), a form of enjoyment that derives from someone else’s anguish. Whitney Phillips, whose research has involved years of participant-observation of trolls, describes lulz as schadenfreude with more bite. The more furious and upset the Henderson family became, the funnier the trolls found it.

In 2011, one of these “RIP trolls,” Sean Duffy, a 25-year-old from Reading, was jailed for posting messages online about dead teenage girls. He called Natasha MacBryde, who had killed herself aged 15, a “slut”’; on Mothers’ Day he posted a message on the memorial page of 14-year-old Lauren Drew, who had died after an epileptic fit: “Help me mummy, it’s hot in hell.” Often, trolls gang up on their targets. Phillips details the case of a Californian teenager called Chelsea King, who was raped and murdered in February 2010. Her relatives were treated as fair game, and supportive strangers who tried to intervene were themselves tracked down and hounded.

RIP trolling treats grief as an exploitable state. It isn’t that the trolls care one way or another about the person who has died. It’s that they regard caring too much about anything as a fault deserving punishment. You can see evidence of this throughout the trolling subculture, even in more innocuous instances. In one case, participants phoned video-game stores to inquire about the non-existent sequel to an outdated game. They called so persistently that the workers answering the phone would fly into a rage at the mention of the game, to the amusement of the trolls. The supreme currency of trolling is exploitability, and the supreme vice is taking anything too seriously. Grieving parents are among the easiest to exploit – their rage and sorrow are closest to the surface – but no one is invulnerable.

In April 2015, a 31-year-old Neapolitan woman called Tiziana Cantone sent video footage of herself having sex to a small group of friends. Someone posted the footage online, and it rapidly went viral. A phrase she spoke to an unidentified partner in one of the films – “You’re making a video? Good” – became a favorite punchline on social media; it was printed on T-shirts and mobile-phone covers, and used as an advertising slogan. Recognized everywhere, denounced by politicians, Cantone left her job, changed her name, moved to Tuscany and fought in the courts to get the footage removed from the internet. She succeeded in getting explicit images of herself removed from Facebook, but not from the many porn sites on which the videos had been republished thousands of times over. She was ordered to pay several of the sites a total of 20,000 euros in costs. In September 2016, she hanged herself.

The detached mockery, the rapidly commodified memes, the moralistic spite: the treatment of Tiziana Cantone is all but indistinguishable from mass trolling. As Jon Ronson reminds us in So You’ve Been Publicly Shamed, this pattern is not peculiar to the internet. …

Before the phone hacking scandal put it out of business, the News of the World routinely published exposés of the sex lives of otherwise anonymous individuals, some of whom went on to kill themselves. Ben Stronge, an English chef “exposed” in a story about swinging, begged the paper not to publish, because if they did he would never see his children again. They published, and he killed himself. Arnold Lewis, a Welsh teacher caught in a similar sting, told the NoW’s reporter if they published he would commit suicide. Shortly after the story appeared, he killed himself by inhaling exhaust fumes.

AN XMAS HAIKU STACK

Bee on window. Hey!

Frantic! Can see out, right there!

But not go out! Arrgh!

 

Now in coffee cup

Covered with red Xmas card

Door, there, fly, be free.

 

But back into house

Before I can close the door.

Back to same window.

 

Frantic bee on glass!

Again. The bee has issues.

Oh, I get it. It's a lesson.

 

This sounds familiar.

Similar bee, similar

Haiku, and so what?

* * *

In other news, I'll be doing Memo of the Air: Good Night radio from the Fort Bragg storefront tonight, in case you want to come by and play your musical instrument(s), show and tell, or talk about your project, or whatever. I'll be there from 9pm to about 4am. 325 N. Franklin, next door to the Tip Top bar. Just walk in and head for the lighted room at the back and get my attention. Next week I'll be doing the show from away. (Back on the week here, week there schedule.) Every Friday 9pm: 107.7fm KNYO in or near Fort Bragg. And from midnight to 3am: 105.1 KMEC in or near Ukiah. And everywhere via http://knyo.org or TuneIn.com (Last week something broke so KMEC's robot didn't pick up the show. Sid Cooperrider fixed that.)

Marco McClean

memo@mcn.org

http://MemoOfTheAir.wordpress.com

QUOTE OF THE DAY:

“Evidently there are plenty of people in journalism who have neither got what they liked nor quite grown to like what they get. They write pieces they do not much enjoy writing, for papers they totally despise, and the sad process ends by ruining their style and disintegrating their personality, two developments which in a writer cannot be separate, since his personality and style must progress or deteriorate together, like a married couple in a country where death is the only permissible divorce.”

— Claud Cockburn, 1938

HOW THE TRUMP STOLE AMERICA

(Apologies to Dr. Suess)

by John Pavlovitz

In a land where the states are united, they claim,

in a sky-scraping tower adorned with his name,

lived a terrible, horrible, devious chump,

the bright orange miscreant known as the Trump.

 

This Trump he was mean, such a mean little man,

with the tiniest heart and two tinier hands,

and a thin set of lips etched in permanent curl,

and a sneer and a scowl and contempt for the world.

 

He looked down from his perch and he grinned ear to ear,

and he thought, “I could steal the election this year!

It’d be rather simple, it’s so easily won,

I’ll just make them believe that their best days are done!

Yes, I’ll make them believe that it’s all gone to Hell,

and I’ll be Jerk Messiah and their souls they will sell.

 

And I’ll use lots of words disconnected from truth,

but I’ll say them with style so they won’t ask for proof.

I’ll toss out random platitudes, phrases, and such,

They’re so raised on fake news that it won’t matter much!

They won’t question the how to, the what, why, or when,

I will make their America great once again!”

 

The Trump told them to fear, they should fear he would say,

“They’ve all come for your jobs, they’ll all take them away.

You should fear every Muslim and Mexican too,

every brown, black, and tan one, everyone who votes blue.”

 

And he fooled all the Christians, he fooled them indeed,

He just trotted out Jesus, that’s all Jesus folk need.

And celebrity preachers they all crowned him as king,

Tripping over themselves just to kiss the Trump’s ring.

 

And he spoke only lies just as if they were true,

Until they believed all of those lies were true too.

He repeated and Tweeted and he blustered and spit,

And he mislead and fibbed — and he just made up sh*t.

 

And the media laughed but they printed each line,

thinking “He never will win, in the end we’ll be fine.”

So they chased every headline, bold typed every claim,

‘Till the fake news and real news they looked just the same.

 

And the scared folk who listened, they devoured each word,

Yes, they ate it all up every word that they heard,

petrified that their freedom was under attack,

trusting Trump he would take their America back.

From the gays and from ISIS, he’d take it all back,

Take it back from the Democrats, fat cats, and blacks.

And so hook, line, and sinker they all took the bait,

all his lies about making America great.

 

Now the Pant-suited One she was smart and prepared,

she was brilliant and steady but none of them cared,

no they cared not to see all the work that she’d done,

or the fact they the Trump had not yet done thing one.

They could only shout “Emails!”, yes “Emails!” they’d shout,

because Fox News had told them — and Fox News had clout.

And the Pant-suited One she was slandered no end,

and a lie became truth she could never defend.

And the Trump watched it all go according to plan —

a strong woman eclipsed by an insecure man.

 

And November the 8th arrived, finally it came,

like a slow-moving storm but it came just the same.

And Tuesday became Wednesday as those days will do,

And the night turned to morning and the nightmare came true,

With millions of non-voters still in their beds,

Yes, the Trump he had done it, just like he had said.

 

And the Trumpers they trumped, how they trumped when he won,

All the racists and bigots; deplorable ones,

they crawled out from the woodwork, came out to raise Hell,

they came out to be hateful and hurtful as well.

With slurs and with road signs, with spray paint and Tweets,

with death threats to neighbors and taunts on the street.

And the grossest of grossness they hurled on their peers,

while the Trump he said zilch — for the first time in years.

 

But he Tweeted at Hamilton, he Tweeted the Times,

And he trolled Alec Baldwin a few hundred times,

and he pouted a pout like a petulant kid,

thinking this is what Presidents actually did,

thinking he could still be a perpetual jerk,

terrified to learn he had to actually work,

work for every American, not just for a few,

not just for the white ones — there was much more to do.

He now worked for the Muslims and Mexicans too,

for the brown, black, and tan ones, and the ones who vote blue.

They were all now his bosses, now they all had a say,

and those nasty pant-suited ones were here to stay.

And the Trump he soon realized that he didn’t win,

He had gotten the thing — and the thing now had him.

 

And it turned out the Trump was a little too late,

for America was already more than quite great,

not because of the sameness, the opposite’s true,

It’s greatness far more than just red, white, and blue,

It’s straight, gay, and female — it’s Gentile and Jew,

It’s Transgender and Christian and Atheist too.

It’s Asians, Caucasians of every kind,

The disabled and abled, the deaf and the blind,

It’s immigrants, Muslims, and brave refugees,

It’s Liberals with bleeding hearts fixed to their sleeves.

And we are all staying, we’re staying right here,

and we’ll be the great bane of the Trump for four years.

And we’ll be twice as loud as the loudness of hate,

be the greatness that makes our America great.

And the Trump’s loudest boasts they won’t ever obscure,

over two million more of us — voted for her.

POT BANK

Creating a Cannabis Public Bank in Northern California

Interested in supporting a grassroots effort that aims to establish a public cannabis bank in northern California?

Marc Armstrong, President of Commonomicsusa.org

<http://commonomicsusa.org/> and co-founder of the Public Banking Institute, will present a proposal

<https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Wsxs9w9RZimoWahUNyh7TR0QqzLlKSxdkMv28bkYwAQ/edit>

for a public bank for the northern California cannabis industry. It will comply with State banking regulations for the state’s recent legalization of recreational cannabis through the Adult Use of Marijuana Act. Most important, we are doing the research needed to establish the legal foundation to protect the capital and deposits in the public bank from federal seizure. Join us at the Little Lake Grange Friday, January 13, 4-6 pm. 291 School St., Willits. Free admission. This is exciting. We’re looking forward to it!

RURAL ISOLATES

(The below letter appeared in the NYT in response to

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/20/opinion/sunday/the-end-of-identity-liberalism.html

* * *

I'm already tired of the lectures about how we should try to understand the pain of the white rural voter. I live in the most conservative town in America, McBain MI. Let me tell you what I've learned living liberal in rural America. The farmers, who are attached to the Government by the hip, think the EPA is going to ride around in 4 wheelers in putting them out of business because of a puddle in their driveway. They actually believe that liberals will take their guns away. The day before the election, the front page of our local paper did not separate the candidates by issues but by their stance on abortion. Teenage girls here have kids before they get out of high school. Lest you think any Dem could get elected here, let me disabuse you of that notion. The only time there's a dem on the ballot here is for national elections. Everything from the SC to dog catcher is run by Republicans and they wouldn't vote for a Dem if his name was Jesus Christ. Oh, and let me add that I've been getting death threats and misogynist hate mail for nearly 20 years. Pastors here preach Obama is the anti-Christ and their religion is under siege. Dems are never going to crack the rural nut of fake news, religion and tribalism at least in my rural area. This is a different breed of people, closed minded, insular and uncurious about anything beyond the town limits.

TRAGEDY MADE STEVE KERR SEE THE WORLD BEYOND THE COURT

The Golden State Warriors coach draws from the assassination of his father to make sense of a complicated world.

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/22/sports/basketball/steve-kerr-golden-state-warriors.html

REV. DR. MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR. BIRTHDAY CELEBRATION

Everyone is invited to attend a celebration to honor the life and work of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. The event will take place on Monday, January 16, 2017 from 10:00 a.m.- noon at the Gualala Community Center and will feature music, dance, art and guest speakers. The keynote speaker will be Dr. Lois M. Moore, educator and author of the work “Voices of Successful African American Men”. Children and families are welcome and Spanish translation will be available. Refreshments will be provided. Admission is free with a donation of canned or boxed food for our local food banks. Local agencies and human service organizations are invited to provide information tables at the gathering. Table activities for children will also be on hand. All members of our community are welcome! Organizers include educator and social activist Annan Paterson, cultural worker DJ Sister Yasmin, and other community members. For more information and to volunteer, please contact Annan Paterson at 707-684-9539; patersonannan@gmail.com

"Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere."
--Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. (January 15, 1929 - April 4, 1968)

ON THE OFF CHANCE YOU WERE STILL AWAKE AFTER THE TITLE…

California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) Rural Call Completion And Dial Tone Access Proceeding Passes “Revised Proposed Decision”

In April of 2016, Mendocino County became “Party” to a California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) Proceeding so that the County’s concerns regarding telecommunication issues would have a stronger voice at the Commission. That status led Commissioner Catherine J.K. Sandoval, the Commissioner in charge of the proceeding, to hold a “Public Participation Hearing” in Ukiah to allow residents to submit their concerns into the record about outages and the lack of access to 9-1-1 services. Mendocino County then submitted official comments on issues that were raised in these hearings, and later submitted supportive comments on the CPUC’s “Proposed Decision” that was issued. In addition, Mendocino County Supervisor Dan Hamburg and Broadband Coordinator, Trish Steel, attended an “All Party Meeting” in San Francisco to further support the proposed decision.

On December 15th, 2016, the Commission passed the “revised Proposed Decision” of which Mendocino was strongly in favor. This favorable vote was the result of hard work by many groups besides Mendocino County, including neighboring counties, The Utility Reform Network (TURN), California Office of Emergency Services and Senator Mike McGuire. In response, Supervisor Hamburg stated, "The successful passage of this measure by the CPUC, over the objections of the major carriers, occurred in large part because of the evidence gathered by the Broadband Alliance of Mendocino County (BAMC) and presented at the Public Participation Hearing held in Ukiah last July. I'd like to thank Trish Steel, chair of the BAMC, County Counsel Kit Elliott, and Regina Costa of TURN for their coordinated efforts to improve the quality and reliability of telecommunication services in rural Mendocino County."

This approved Decision forces reporting and notification requirements, as well as provides local public safety with 24/7 emergency contact information. These approved requirements are necessary to provide public safety officials with information during an emergency such as a widespread outage. During past outages, this public safety notification was lacking.

With this vote, the Proceeding remains open and moves into a “Phase 2” in which a “Working Group” will be formed to collaborate with Public Safety on these issues.

For more information please contact the CPUC News & Outreach Office, (415) 703-1366 or news@cpuc.ca.gov; or Trish Steel with the Mendocino Broadband Alliance, chairman@mendocinobroadband.org.

Carmel J. Angelo

Chief Executive Officer, Mendocino County

GOVERNOR JERRY BROWN LAUDS RELEASE OF DOCUMENTS FOR DELTA TUNNELS WATER GRAB

by Dan Bacher

California Governor Jerry Brown yesterday lauded the release of the “final” environmental documents for the controversial Delta Tunnels, a plan that fishermen, Tribal leaders, conservationists, family farmers and environmental justice advocates consider to be the most environmentally destructive public works project in California history.

Brown touted the California WaterFix, his proposal to build two massive tunnels under the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta, as “California’s effort to modernize the state’s water infrastructure.”

“This project has been subjected to 10 years of detailed analysis and more environmental review than any other project in the history of the world,” said Brown in a statement. “It is absolutely essential if California is to maintain a reliable water supply.”

Brown also made his case for the tunnels in an article in the Sacramento Bee, “Jerry Brown plunges ahead on twin tunnels,” written by Dan Morain, the Bee’s Opinion Page Editor.

“We’ve put everything we have into it,” Brown told Morain in an interview. “The best scientific thinking says California needs the project.”

The decision to grant the permits for the Delta Tunnels won’t be made until next year after President-Elect Donald Trump enters office, so you can bet that Brown, in spite of his posing as the alleged "resistance" to Trump's environmental policies, will be doing everything he can to convince Trump to support his “legacy" project.

Referring to Trump, Brown told Morain, “I don’t think the president wants to destroy the economy of California… It’s not about being conservative or liberal. It’s about having the plumbing that meets the needs of the 21st century.”

In a statement, Restore the Delta, a coalition opposed to the Delta Tunnels, contested Governor Brown’s claim that the tunnels plan is backed up by the “best scientific thinking.”

“Governor Jerry Brown told the Sacramento Bee that Delta Tunnels proposal is based on the best scientific thinking,” said Barbara Barrigan-Parrilla, Executive Director of Restore the Delta (RTD). “That is simply not true. He left out that fish do worse with the tunnels, and that millions of Delta residents will be left with degraded water that will not meet Clean Water Act standards.”

“The Governor failed to remember the dangers for Delta residents associated with the project, from toxic algal blooms, to increased boron and selenium in drinking water, to greenhouse gas emissions equivalent to 600,000 new cars on the road each year from construction," she said.

“This forgetting on Governor Brown's part is reckless and dangerous as he makes his appeal to President-elect Trump to support the project. Governor Brown is supporting a project that will leave Stockton, California, a majority-minority city, and other Delta environmental justice communities with degraded water -- all for the benefit of rich water exporters in the San Joaquin Valley, Southern California, and Silicon Valley,” she stated.

“Shame on Governor Brown. What dishonest pandering,” Barrigan-Parrilla concluded.

Yesterday, Restore the Delta also pointed out the 90,000 page document is “not a green light for the Delta Tunnels but rather should be understood as the submission of homework by sponsoring agencies (California Department of Water Resources and U.S. Bureau of Reclamation) to be evaluated by state and federal regulators who will determine if proposal can meet environmental and water quality standards under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) and the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). A feat no previous version of the proposal has achieved.”

To read all of the environmental documents in the 90,000 page Environmental Impact Report/ Environmental Impact Statement (EIR/ EIS) for the Delta Tunnels, visit the Final Environmental Impact Report webpage.

Not “The Resistance” — Brown’s real environmental legacy exposed

I'm constantly amazed how Jerry Brown constantly receives fawning coverage from the mainstream media when he appears at climate conferences in California and across the globe, even though his actual policies on fish, wildlife, water and the environment are among the most destructive of any governor in recent California history.

For example, an article in the Atlantic magazine, “Governor Jerry Brown’s Speech Defends Science Against Trump,” praises Brown’s address to scientists at the annual fall meeting of the American Geophysical Union in San Francisco where Brown said that if Trump shuts down satellite collection of climate data, “California will launch its own damn satellites.” ( www.theatlantic.com/..).

“It’s a rousing call-to-battle against the environmental backwardness and larger disdain for fact of the coming era, from a person who as he nears age 80 has struck a distinctive Happy Warrior tone of resistance. Happy, in its confidence. Warrior, in its resoluteness,” gushes James Fallows, the piece’s author.

Many mainstream reporters and editors, such as Fallows, have apparently done very little research into the actual environmental policies of Jerry Brown, preferring to act as virtual stenographers and press release writers for the Governor. Although I have written about Brown’s environmental policies in many articles published in an array of media outlets, it’s a good idea to review them once again as this year nears its end.

The Governor’s “legacy project,” the Delta Tunnels/California WaterFix, undoubtedly poses a huge threat to the ecosystems of the Sacramento, San Joaquin, Klamath and Trinity river systems, in contrast to Brown’s claim in Morain’s article that the tunnels, combined with “Delta restoration,” ”could help native fish rebound from the edge of extinction.” The project is based on the untenable premise that taking more water out of a river before it reaches the estuary will somehow “restore” the San Francisco Bay Delta and its precious fish and wildlife species.

Unfortunately, the California WaterFix is not the only environmentally devastating policy promoted by Governor Jerry Brown. Brown is promoting the expansion of fracking and extreme oil extraction methods in California and is overseeing water policies that are driving winter run-Chinook salmon, Delta and longfin smelt, green sturgeon and other species closer and closer to extinction.

As if those examples of Brown’s tainted environmental legacy weren’t bad enough, Brown has promoted carbon trading and REDD policies that pose an enormous threat to Indigenous Peoples around the globe; has done nothing to stop clearcutting of forests by Sierra-Pacific and other timber companies; presided over record water exports from the Delta in 2011; and oversaw massive fish kills of Sacramento splittail and other species in 2011.

Jerry Brown also oversaw the “completion” of so-called “marine protected areas” under the privately funded Marine Life Protection Act (MLPA) Initiative, overseen by a Big Oil lobbyist and other corporate interests, in December 2012. These faux “Yosemites of the Sea” fail to protect the ocean from oil drilling, fracking, pollution, corporate aquaculture and all human impacts on the ocean other than sustainable fishing and gathering.

Brown’s “Dirty Hands” revealed in groundbreaking report

Governor Brown’s anti-environmental policies, particularly his fervent support of fracking in spite of his cynical eco-babble about "green energy” and “defending science,” are the result of the millions of dollars that Brown has received from Big Oil, Big Ag and other corporate interests in recent years.

The California Fair Political Practices Commission (FPPC) on September 23 opened an investigation into the California Democratic Party in response to a report by a prominent consumer group claiming that the party acted as a “laundry machine” to funnel donations from oil, energy and utility companies to Brown’s 2014 election campaign.

Consumer Watchdog released the report, “Brown’s Dirty Hands,” on August 10, 2016, at a time when Brown faces increasing criticism from environmental, consumer and public interest groups regarding administration policies they say favor oil companies, energy companies and utilities over fish, water, people and the environment.

The report tabulated donations totaling $9.8 million dollars to Jerry Brown’s campaigns, causes, and initiatives, and to the California Democratic Party since he ran for Governor from 26 energy companies with business before the state. The companies included the state’s three major investor-owned utilities, as well as Occidental, Chevron, and NRG.

The report alleges that energy companies donated $4.4 million to the Democratic Party, and the Democratic Party gave $4.7 million to Brown’s re-election between 2011 and 2014. Consumer Watchdog submitted its report to the FPPC as a sworn complaint.

As this FPPC investigation proceeds, the big corporate money behind Governor Jerry Brown's controversial environmental policies faces increasing scrutiny from public trust advocates. November 4 was the second anniversary of the passage of Proposition 1, Brown’s controversial water bond, a measure that fishing groups, California Indian Tribes, grassroots conservation groups and environmental justice advocates opposed because they considered it to be a water grab for corporate agribusiness and Big Money interests.

Proponents of Proposition 1 contributed a total of $21,820,691 and spent a total of $19,538,153 on the successful campaign. The contributors are a who’s who of Big Money interests in California, including corporate agribusiness groups, billionaires, timber barons, Big Oil. the tobacco industry and the California Chamber of Commerce. They provide a quick snapshot of the corporate interests behind the questionable environmental policies of Brown. For more information, go to: www.counterpunch.org/...)

Brown spouts “green” rhetoric when he flies off to climate conferences and issues proclamations about John Muir Day and Earth Day, but his actions and policies regarding fish, water and the environment should be challenged by all of those who care about the future of California and the West Coast.

To read Brown’s Dirty Hands, go here: www.consumerwatchdog.org/...

For more information about the real environmental record of Governor JerryBrown, go to: www.dailykos.com

CALPERS GETS REAL, BUT CITIES PAY THE PRICE

The good news is that the California Public Employees’ Retirement System has finally recognized that its goal for investment returns for the next 20 years is just wishful thinking.

The bad news is the bill for this recalibration of thinking is going to be handed primarily to taxpayers — once again.

The CalPERS governing board on Wednesday agreed to cut its official investment forecast by half a percent from 7.5 percent to 7 percent. While this is probably a more realistic assessment of what the future holds for CalPERS’ $303 billion investment portfolio — the largest of its kind in the world — it will require higher pension contribution rates for the state and for local governments, including cities, counties and school districts. Under the state’s pension reform changes made four years ago, it also will require public employees hired since then to contribute more.

CalPERS had predicted that the average annual return for its investment portfolio over the next two decades would be 7.5 percent. But over the past 20 years, the plan has had an average return of just 6.9 percent. The return on investments for the year that ended June 30 was a mere 0.6 percent, and CalPERS isn’t doing much better this year.

CalPERS, in fact, had debated whether to drop its rate even lower, particularly after one of its key investment consultants, Wilshire Associates, predicted that investment returns would likely average 6.2 percent over the next decade. Said Gov. Jerry Brown following the board’s vote, “This will make for a more sustainable system.”

We hope that’s true. But what’s also true is that Cal­PERS will need to make up for the projected shortfall in investment returns primarily by requiring more funds from the state and its member agencies, including cities such as Santa Rosa, Petaluma and other cities in the county. The increases will be phased in over three years, and local governments won’t have to start paying higher pension contributions until 2018. Nonetheless, it’s likely to mean more reductions in city services, more deferred maintenance and more unfilled city positions being left vacant. The decision by CalPERS also could influence agencies such as Sonoma County, one of 20 independent county pension systems in the state. This could put more pressure on the Sonoma County Employee Retirement System board to downgrade its own forecast, which stands at 7.25 percent. If so, it would mean another big hit for the county, which already has seen its annual pension costs increase from $20 million in 2000 to $113 million last year.

Meanwhile, the state is expected to see its payments to CalPERS increase by $2 billion a year within eight years. To put that in perspective, it’s equal to all of the money that Proposition 56 ($2 cigarette tax) and Proposition 64 (legalization of marijuana) are expected to bring in to the state in added tax revenue.

All of this is to say that the state and local agencies are a long way from seeing the pension crisis resolved. The state made significant strides with the California Public Employees’ Pension Reform Act of 2013. But as the governor himself has pointed out, and is underscored by decisions like this, it didn’t go far enough.

The CalPERS board agreed to cut its investment forecast by half a percent to 7 percent.

(Santa Rosa Press Democrat)

VOICE LESSONS FOR TRANSGENDER INDIVIDUALS AT UKIAH LIBRARY

On Sunday, January 8, 2017, Mendocino County Library, Ukiah Branch is hosting a voice training session for transgender individuals. This vocal training is valuable for male to female and female to male individuals. The instructor, Liliyanna Grace Warren, is a transgender woman.

While sessions are free, donations for Liliyanna are gratefully accepted. The Library hopes to host an ongoing series of voice training sessions in Ukiah.