Mendocino County Today: Saturday, Jan. 7, 2017

• Rain Forecast
• Ray Pinoli
• Judge Faulder
• River Sediment
• MLK Day
• Little Dog
• Sand Bagging
• Discatified Customer
• Road Crew
• Offshore Oil
• Yesterday's Catch
• Music Book
• Tiresome Things
• Not SMART
• Pension Reform
• ERRP Meeting
• Mendo Lake CU
• Storm Prep

AN ATMOSPHERIC RIVER will bring copious amounts of moisture to northwest California resulting in significant rainfall amounts from Friday night through late next week.

Widespread moderate to heavy rainfall totals are expected across Del Norte, Humboldt, Mendocino, and Trinity Counties. The highest rainfall totals are expected in the coastal mountains.

Three weather systems are expected to bring significant rainfall to the region. The first arrives Friday night and continues through Monday afternoon. The second system arrives Monday night and persists through Wednesday. The third system arrives Thursday morning and continues through Friday evening.

With these systems, expect steep and rapid rises on the mainstem rivers. Standing or ponding water is also expected in low-lying areas in and in areas with poor drainage.

Also urban street flooding is expected where storm drains are unable to keep up with the rainfall. Current forecast rainfall amounts for Friday night through Tuesday:

Del Norte county: 5 to 10 inches, highest amounts in the higher terrain and lowest amounts in the coastal plain.

Humboldt County: 5 to 11 inches, highest amounts in the higher terrain and lowest amounts near Humboldt Bay.

Mendocino County: 6 to 10 inches, highest amounts in the high terrain

Trinity County: 5 to 10 inches, highest amounts in the southern half of the county.

Details related to exact location and timing of flooding currently remains uncertain. Watches and warnings will be issued by the National Weather Service as the situation warrants.

Listen to NOAA Weather Radio or your local media for later updates on this developing situation.

(— National Weather Service of Eureka)

* * *

NAVARRO FLOOD LEVEL PREDICTION LOWERED a bit, but now the Weather Service predicts a second somewhat lower flood two days later on Wednesday.

RAYMOND ENNOCENTE ‘RAY’ PINOLI

Raymond E. Pinoli of Philo passed peacefully at his home on December 29, 2016.

He was born March 9, 1925 at his family’s ranch home in Philo and lived there his entire life. A life-long farmer in Anderson Valley, Ray grew apples, raised sheep and cattle, and harvested timber. During World War II he proudly served in the US Marine Corps in the Pacific.

Ray is survived by his son Andres Favela, niece Lola Danielli, and several other nieces, nephews and extended family.

He was preceded in death by his parents Giuseppe (Joe) T. and Maria Elvira Pinoli who were first generation immigrants from northern Italy, sister Inez Danielli of Santa Rosa, brothers Arthur J. and Norris L. Pinoli, and nephew Glen Pinoli of Fort Bragg.

Viewing will be held Saturday, January 7 at Empire Mortuary Services Funeral Home Chapel from 2-4:30pm. Address: 950 Waugh Ln Ste A, Ukiah CA 95482. 462-6711.

Following the viewing an open house will be held for family and friends from 4:30-6pm at Manor Oaks Mobile Estates Clubhouse facility. Address: 700 E. Gobbi St. #128, Ukiah CA 95482. 462-0529.

FAULDER SWORN IN

At approximately six o’clock this evening, The Honorable Keith Faulder was sworn in as Mendocino County’s umpteenth white honky judge…

“Mr. McEwen? Are you standing by…?”

Aye-Aye, Skipper, just come aboard the Saturday Afternoon Club deck as the ceremony was getting under way — here’s some early notes:

A row of black robes, a jury of nine, as best I could count, were the sitting and retired judges who attended the swearing in of the new judge, The Hon. Keith Faulder – who has been elected Mendocino County’s 381st Superior Court Judge.

I got there just in time.

Uniquitous Sheriff Thomas Allman had perhaps synchronized watches with “Judicial Control” – or whatever. He rose to the mic in his dress uniform, lines memorized yet somehow extemporary – and performed to the envy (in mine own humble opinion) of our Steven Sparks, the most wildly cheered celebrity in the County.

The Sheriff had prepared some remarks, and he had memorized them, which was more than could be said of the other speakers. His sentiments were memorable. I was standing at attention, front and center — My road dog Tommy Wayne Kramer and I were locked elbows — and so I couldn’t, in any decorous way, take notes.

After the Sheriff reiterated his faith in the new judge, his ancient nemesis, the mild mannered egalitarian, the humble sage, District Attorney C. David Eyster was introduced.

DA Eyster’s speech was riveting. As I was shoveling scampi onto a paper disc with a bifurcated dining instrument and trowelling brie onto a slab of toast, the DA made a comment about a cleaning bill after a slip and fall in a puddle. Otherwise occupied, I missed the significance.

Judge Ann Moorman spoke. She had taken [NOT] the young judge-elect out on her old frigate Department A… Well, not quite. She had the docket moved to her new courtroom, the flagship of the criminal court in our glorious County, Department B.

Moorman sat with Faulder on the bench, that first Tuesday after New Years and watched how he handled the tiller… Sometimes she suggested he luff-up; other times – especially when the jailbirds smelled fresh carrion – she’d just take charge, tell the legal scholars from the jailhouse to “sit down and listen to your lawyer, sir.”

Judge Moorman helped him through the morning calendar, until coffee break at 10:30 – after that, sink or swim, he was on his own for the rest of the day. And it was a huge swamp of misdemeanors, what with all the Prop 47 tweakers from last year, and all the Prop 64 growers from this year. Mr. Faulder stands a fair chance of learning more about drug law than, well… the likes of me.

On Wednesday, Faulder was at the helm of his new courtroom, Dept. A, and Judge John Behnke was on the quarterdeck with the newly minted judge. But all Behnke did was lend an air of confidence, and right at lunchtime, Faulder brought the courtroom up into the wind, dropped the mainsail, and sat there riding on the swell as pretty as you please.

On Thursday we were all on edge over the Steve Ryan prelim, way up in the top of the tower of justice. As it happened, the hearing had to be postponed.

RIXANNE WEHREN OBSERVES:

My theory is that the HUGE landslide upriver at Floodgate some years ago released a huge amount of soil into the river, the bulk of which filled up the estuary to about five feet deep, instead of over 20 feet. That slug of dirt and gravel is now going over the berm, filling in the offshore low swales, and backing up to create a larger berm than ever before. Without big storms to carry it out, that sediment is too heavy for the river to clear it out.

My two cents worth,

Rixanne Wehren

ED NOTE: The 1995 Floodgate Slide — attributed by locals at the time to an ill-considered road that Louisiana-Pacific cut at the bottom of a steep section of the Navarro River’s bank to enable newly cut logs to be lowered to log trucks at the bottom of the hill instead of the more difficult method of raising them to a top-side road — was massive, so massive it blocked off the Navarro. Ms. W's surmise seems logical, given the berm build-up at the river mouth some 20 years later now.

AS SOME of the most violent people in Mendocino County gear up to celebrate non-violent Martin Luther King, Jr., the ava makes its annual reading recommendation: Marshall Frady's Penguin biography, Martin Luther King Jr.: A Life.

ALL THE PENGUIN bios are very good, and they include everyone from Crazy Horse to Elvis Presley. By good, I mean they aren't these 600-page PhD theses, but 200-pagers by very good writers, people like Frady, in fact.

* * *

BETTER LATE THAN NEVER

ITEM 2A on the Supervisors Agenda for January 10, 2017: “Adopt Proclamation recognizing January 16, 2017 as the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day in Mendocino County; and authorize Chair to sign same.”

* * *

WE (MYSELF AND ANNAN PATERSON) are on the radio to support our Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Celebration which will take place on Monday, January 16, 2017 at the Gualala Community Center from 10am - noon, and all are invited!

(Sister Yazzle Frazzle)

* * *

PLEASE COME CELEBRATE MLK Jr.'s Birthday with us.

Where: Trinity Lutheran Church"s Community room--620 E Redwood at Corry St., Ft. Bragg

When: Monday January 16, 2017

11am—March with signs through town;

12pm a program;

1pm—Lunch

1:30 pm—Entertainment

Sponsored by Occupy Mendocino
Donations requested but no one turned away.
For more information call 964-8985

LITTLE DOG SAYS, “Sad to have to announce this, but I'm pulling for the Raiders today. I haven't totally given up on the Niners, but until they get a new owner, I'm with the Silver and Black!”

THE STORM ALERTS of the last couple of days would alarm Noah himself, so I found myself Saturday morning filling sand bags at the Red Hill Shopping Center, San Anselmo.

A HANDFUL of prescient old ladies, circa 1920, managed to preserve much of Marin's hill country, permanently sparing it the gauche structures fouling upland San Anselmo today and, fundamentally, causing the one flatland creek that serves as runoff conduit for the macadam mountains, to flood low-lying areas of Central Marin. Back in the day, only a few sea-level neighborhoods flooded in the Big Rains. Now, thanks to such new development, much of the high ground is covered in concrete and pavement; the water all runs off fast and hard.

SO, here's a young woman dressed like she's on her way to a wedding reception laboriously filling her sandbags with an undersized kitchen dustpan. She refuses several offers of help. The guy next to her has upended a traffic cone and is hand-shoveling sand into his impromptu funnel and on into the bag. Dude, why the extra step?

I TAKE a closer look and understand. He's got a small placard around his neck that reads "Be Here Now."

YOU GET a lot of unsolicited advice in Marin of the Hallmark variety. Mendo, too, of course, which, along the Coast anyway, is Marin North, psychically considered.

I ASSUMED the nearby Subaru was Cone Man's because it had a bumpersticker that said, "Be The Change."

MOST of the sand bagging citizens were totally prepared with gloves and shovels. I'll be deploying my sandbags to anchor my wife's plastic greenhouse, which blew over in last week's high winds because… You guessed it, I didn't tie it to the fence.

HOLIDAY ROAD CREW RECOGNITION

County Trasportation Director Howard Deshield:

“Many of MCDoT Road Crew employees volunteered to come in to work over the holiday. They came in at 3 a.m. to sand the County roads to ensure they would be safe for holiday travelers. These employees have my sincere appreciation, and I am sure, that of the County; for their efforts. They are listed below:

Ukiah: Sterling Long, Kevin Weer, Philip Crane, Tony Silveria

Willits: Cole Munderloh, Jerry Harris, Bill Petersen, Richard Branch

Laytonville: Sean Leslie, George Alexander

Boonville: W.T Johnson, John Tindall

Point Arena: Steven Archuleta

Mechanic: John Hendricks

* * *

WE AGREE. And something tells us this coming weekend will produce more recognition.

DEAR PRESIDENT ABOUT-TO-BE-FORMER:

The Honorable Barack Obama, President of the United States
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20500

Re: Opposition to Off-Shore Oil Drilling off the California Coastline

Dear Mr. President:

Due to the recent action of California Governor Jerry Brown requesting you consideration of a permanent ban on new drilling off the California coastline, the Mendocino County Board of Supervisors would like to again express its strong opposition to any consideration of off-shore oil exploration or drilling off the California coastline and support a permanent ban.

The Mendocino County Board of Supervisors has a more than twenty five year history of being in the forefront of ocean protection efforts initiated to protect the Mendocino Coast from extractive pursuits in the 1980’s. Always a Board of diverse perspectives, we have consistently voiced unanimous opposition to any off shore oil development as inconsistent with our locally shared values, true economic vitality, and locally focused decision making.

Specifically, the Mendocino coastline is not suitable for off-shore oil drilling due to the rugged terrain, the potential threat to tourism, and the devastating impacts that an off shore oil spill would cause to our fishing industries and the pristine environment that drives all aspects of our local economy.

We implore you to remain true to your earliest endeavors to provide a lasting legacy of ocean and coastal protection all Californians deserve and benefit from in opposing all forms of oil exploration off the California coastline.

Thank you for your serious consideration of our request.

Sincerely,

Chair, Mendocino County Board of Supervisors

(— Draft of letter proposed to be voted on and sent to the soon to be out of office President at the January 10, Supervisors meeting, just ten days before President Obama will leave office.)

CATCH OF THE DAY, January 6, 2017

JUAN ALVAREZ, Ukiah. DUI-drugs, controlled substance, paraphernalia.

DAVID CURREY, Willits. Probation revocation.

CHEF FRANSEN*, Redwood Valley. Unspecified offense.

CHARLES HENSLEY, Ukiah. Failure to appear, probation revocation. (Frequent flyer.)

JULIAN JACOBSEN, Ukiah. DUI-drugs.

DAKOTA MILLER, Gualala. DUI.

TRAVIS MOORE, Fort Bragg. Probation revocation.

MICHAEL PATTON, Ukiah. Domestic battery.

MARK RAY, Laytonville. Protective order violation, probation revocation.

*Background: https://www.theava.com/archives/12012

WARM SAN FRANCISCO NIGHTS

by Ron Jacobs

Mat Callahan’s newest book, titled The Explosion of Deferred Dreams: Musical Renaissance and Social Revolution in San Francisco, 1965-1975 is an impressive and exceptional work. Although the meaning of rock music and the counterculture is an oft-explored subject, Callahan brings a new and different perspective to the conversation. One thing in particular that makes this book unique is not necessarily its investigation of rock music and politics, but its definition of the music itself as revolutionary, not just its lyrics. In other words, it was the rock sound, especially that played by so-called psychedelic rock musicians from the San Francisco Bay Area, that were often more important than the lyrics. Why? Because those sounds liberated the body and the mind — the entire being. This liberation threatened the existing social order as much as any revolutionary lyrics or protests might. At the same time, they existed within limits that could eventually be made something other than revolutionary. This latter truth is part of any discussion of the meaning of the 1960s; naturally Callahan takes it on, too.

In 1975, I saw Callahan perform with the 1970s folk-rock duo Prairie Fire (Prairie Fire became a punk band later in the decade and worked with the Revolutionary Communist Party.) Afterwards he and his fellow band member led a discussion on the meaning of rock music in the revolutionary spirit of the mid-1970s. I recall the discussion as being a good one, although there were occasional short silences while the audience, which was made up of politicos and counterculture freaks, attempted to reconcile the contradictions between Bob Dylan’s support for George Jackson and his blatantly apolitical music of the early 1970s. What strikes me most about this memory is how much music actually mattered in the lives of both political and cultural revolutionaries then. This is the spirit this book is written. Indeed, Callahan draws on both his radical and musical pasts in The Explosion of Deferred Dreams.

From the Fillmore and Avalon dancehalls to the KMPX and KSAN radio waves, this grassroots revolution in music was created by the people in the streets and houses, not by producers and corporations. However, given that this occurred in the world’s biggest and most powerful capitalist nation, it would not stand. Then again, perhaps it would not have stood in a lesser outpost of profiteering, either. The battle for the music and its genuine soul is another crucial element of this text, as well. Callahan discusses this throughout the book from a variety of angles — musician, promoters, media, audience and the record companies. In his discussions, he saves a special venom for the promoter Bill Graham and the Rolling Stone newspaper founded by the nowadays media mogul Jann Wenner. By pointing out Graham’s intense pursuit of profits in spite of opposition from a more egalitarian community, he explains how Graham’s almost innate understanding of the business (despite his lack of experience) both destroyed the ethos of community while simultaneously saving the financial asses of certain groups like the Grateful Dead. In discussing Rolling Stone’s access to musicians, he also points out how the magazine became a shill for the industry, which ultimately helped force its competition out of business.

This book takes us deep into the nexus where art and politics collide and collude; specifically, the nexus where the music of the San Francisco Bay Area colluded to help inspire and inform a cultural revolution that changed minds and social realities. Written in the context of revolutionary culture—with Mao, Marcuse, Marx and Fanon as informants — The Explosion of Deferred Dreams brings Simone De Beauvoir, the Black Panthers, La Raza and the Students for a Democratic Society into the discussion, as well. The result is a radical left critique of culture under monopoly capitalism and a fun ride through the streets, parks and dance halls of 1960s-1970s San Francisco. The reader becomes an observer of community meetings and community squabbles over art and profit. They are also presented with an argument that describes the racial and ethnic diversity of the Bay Area’s counterculture scenes. This latter element is often ignored by most writers and, to be fair, the reality is that the counterculture was mostly a white-skinned phenomenon. However, if there was one geographical region where this was less so, it was the Bay Area. Rock bands did benefits for the Black Panthers and striking farmworkers and the people in the streets banded together across color lines to defend their culture, their public and private spaces, and the revolution against the cops, the mainstream media and establishment politicians.

Unfortunately, the power of money won out. The rock music audience became segmented along multiple lines, including race and gender; concerts were rarely ever free; and radical politics were repressed and removed. Yet, the suggestion of that liberation one feels when they hear certain songs — the ones that make you shake your hips or pump your fist — remains. It will never go away and one hopes it will continue to be discovered anew. Mat Callahan helps make sense of why this is so.

(Ron Jacobs is the author of Daydream Sunset: Sixties Counterculture in the Seventies published by CounterPunch Books. He lives in Vermont. He can be reached at: ronj1955@gmail.com. Courtesy, CounterPunch.org)

ON LINE COMMENT OF THE DAY

The beginning of a new year seems as good a time as any to list

Shit That I Have Really Become Sick And Tired Of:

The early deaths of pop celebrities of questionable sexual orientation that force our inordinate attention
. Fingerless gloves
. Fashion
. Man-buns
. People who don’t read/edit what they’ve typed before clicking Submit
. People who do not capitalize the first letter in a sentence (and all similar failures to adhere to what they have been taught for good reason about written communication since pre-school) as if they don’t have time for such nonsense.
 Eternal optimists
. People who imagine inconsistency is a virtue
. The unnecessarily very black vernacular of the otherwise smart sports commentator, Stephen Smith
. Beyonce, J. Lo and Mariah
. The ubiquity of two to four weeks of beard stubble on men in their 20s to 40s
. Tattoos
. Biracial advertising out of all proportion to societal reality
. The Clintons
. Nutrisystems ads by Marie Osmond and her fake tits
. 15 inch dreds hanging out the back of football players’ helmets.

SMART SCREW UPS

From Systemic Failure:

The Press Democrat has an interview with SMART General Manager Farhad Mansourian. Here is Mansourian defending the agency’s screw-ups:

Mansourian, who has earned praise and criticism for his full-steam ahead managerial approach, did not appear chastened as he reflected back on the events of 2016 that prompted the service delay.

He made the case that SMART could not have foreseen having to replace the engines on each of the 14 rail cars because of a design flaw, nor the challenges getting warning signals at crossings to work properly or the difficulty attracting staff to the high-cost North Bay.

“If there was anything that was in our control and we could have worked harder, and we had a crystal ball, then we would probably feel awful,” he said. “But there were three things that led to this — not a single one of them was in our control.”

In fact, no crystal ball was required. All of these mistakes were entirely predictable and preventable. SMART could have ordered a reliable, off-the-shelf trainset. Instead, they spec’ed out a custom model, which would inevitably have bugs. SMART also designed a signal system around track circuits instead of axle counters. Axle counters are the industry-standard approach because they are 5 times more reliable.

SMART blames its staffing problems on the high-cost of living. In fact, there is an absurd amount of featherbedding. Trains will have both an engineer and conductor, when only an engineer is needed. And there will be eight vehicle technicians, for a fleet of just 14 railcars.

Thanks to Streetsblog California.

(Rob Anderson, District5Diary)

IS PENSION REFORM AT HAND?

To the Editor:

On Nov. 22, 2016, the California Supreme Court unanimously granted the petition for review of the Court of Appeal decision in Marin Ass’n of Public Employees v. Marin County Employees’ Retirement Association (Case No. S237460)

The recent decision by the California Supreme Court to hear the Marin County pension reform case will finally and conclusively decide whether future public employee pension benefits by current government workers across California can be cut.

In August, the California’s 1st District Court of Appeal in San Francisco ruled that the California Legislature can indeed trim public employee retirement benefits for workers who are still on the job.

The appellate court’s decision this summer was unanimous, and it was sweeping in its implications for meaningful pension reform. It rejected the widely held assumption that benefits cannot be reduced once employees start working. That constraint has hindered attempts statewide, and in charter cities such as in San Jose, to meaningfully stem soaring taxpayer costs for pensions.

The three-justice appellate court panel concluded, “So long as the Legislature’s modifications do not deprive the employee of a ‘reasonable’ pension, there is no constitutional violation” of government workers’ rights.”

Union lawyers immediately appealed to the Supreme Court, and so, here we are today. The Supreme Court took the case.

Here’s some background.

The appellate court decision came in a Marin County case pertaining to pension spiking, the inflation of workers’ final salaries on which the retirement payment calculations are based. The case stems from 2012 legislation passed to correct a gaping loophole that was exposed in Gov. Jerry Brown’s proposed pension plan.

The appellate court decision affects similar spiking lawsuits in Contra Costa, Alameda and Merced counties. But, much more significantly, the decision might allow alteration of underlying pension formulas statewide.

The bottom line?

The cost of the extra benefits and the failure to properly set aside funds to later pay the benefits has left California taxpayers with hundreds of billions of dollars of debt — what the appellate court called “the alarming state of unfunded public pension liabilities.”

So, why not roll back to the old formula for employees’ future years of work? Because it would be unfair to cut benefits for the work employees have already put in. Hence, the issue before the California Supreme Court will be whether pension accruals for future labor could be reduced to more affordable levels.

But the state Supreme Court ruled more than two decades ago that future accruals are promises that government cannot impair without violating the contract clauses of the state and federal constitutions. Essentially, workers’ pension formulas can be increased during their working years but never decreased.

It has been dubbed the “California Rule,” what University of Minnesota law professor Amy Monahan calls “one of the most protective legal approaches for public employee pension benefits of any state in the country.”

Some experts have questioned the legal foundation of the California Rule and suggested the state Supreme Court should revisit it. The Court of Appeal in the Marin case just teed up that issue.

The decision upholds pension-law changes passed on the last day of the legislative session in 2012. At the time, Gov. was pressing to control pension costs.

But details of his plan were kept secret until the last moment. On the eve of the vote, it was reported that Brown’s package had a loophole that would increase pension-spiking opportunities.

A last-minute scramble for corrective legislation produced AB 197. The bill, affecting 20 county-level pension systems across California, limited the pay items that could be counted as compensation when calculating public employees’ pensions.

The Marin Association of Public Employees sued, claiming that, under the California Rule, historical pension spiking could not be stopped unless employees’ losses were offset by comparable new compensation.

The appellate court disagreed. If appellate decision is upheld, it would dramatically improve the chances for significant pension reform in California.

Disclaimer: Although I am a member of the Retirement Board, I do not speak on their behalf. The opinions expressed in this article are mine alone. I speak as a private citizen only.

John Sakowicz, Ukiah

EEL RIVER RECOVERY PROJECT CONVENES 2017 ACTION PLAN MEETING IN WILLITS – HOSTS FIELD TRIP

The Eel River Recovery Project (ERRP) will hold a public meeting at the Willits Hub on January 14 for the purpose of creating the group’s 2017 Action Plan. This will be the sixth such gathering in the history of ERRP, which became a non-profit corporation in 2016 after almost five years as a fiscally sponsored group of the Trees Foundation. ERRP holds these meetings annually to apprise the public of accomplishments and to scope the community to discern needs for additional programs or areas of emphasis. ERRP will also host field trip the following day, January 15, to see salmon and steelhead in the wild at the University of California Angelo Reserve on the upper South Fork Eel River near Branscomb.

Since its inception in 2011, ERRP annually gathers in retreat to take stock of the year’s accomplishments and to set priorities through devising annual Action Plans that are published and shared on-line. ERRP projects have grown to include monitoring of fall Chinook salmon monitoring, pikeminnow, yellow-legged frogs, water temperature, flow and toxic blue-green algae or cyanobacteria. Public school projects have transported hundreds of students to the river to study and learn. In 2015 and 2016, ERRP carried out an ambitious agricultural “best practices” public outreach to help the community implement water conservation and pollution prevention strategies. The ERRP Wilderness Committee works on clean up of industrial marijuana grows on federal land, improving trail access for recreation, and expanding Wilderness Areas to protect water supply for the Eel River and to maintain biodiversity.

The ERRP Board of Directors will hold their first meeting of 2017 from noon to 2 PM. From 2-4 PM the public will be asked to comment on the effectiveness of ERRP 2016 activities and/or provide ideas for needed future projects. A celebration of 2016 accomplishments will take place from 4-6 PM with hors d’oeuvres and libations served. Pot luck contributions are welcome. No charge for admission. The Willits Hub is at 630 Main Street in Willits near the intersection of Highway 20 and business Highway 101.

On Sunday, January 15 ERRP Managing Director and fish biologist Pat Higgins will lead a field trip to Elder Creek falls within the University of California Angelo Reserve. Those interested in attending should assemble at the parking lot at the trail head at Wilderness Lodge at 11 AM. Attendees should pack a lunch, wear good shoes for hiking, dress warmly and bring rain gear. The Angelo Reserve is at the end of Wilderness Lodge Road off Branscomb Road west of Laytonville. For more information, including more explicit directions, go to EelRiverRecovery.org, see our Facebook page, or call (707) 223-7200.

MENDO LAKE CREDIT UNION EARNS ACCOLADES, BIDS FAREWELL TO LONGTIME CEO

MLCU Becomes One of Only 33 Credit Unions Nationwide to Join Juntos Avanzamos--

Recently, Mendo Lake Credit Union received recognition as one of only 33 credit unions nationwide for its groundbreaking work to meet the needs of low-income consumers, especially in the Hispanic community. At his retirement party last month, outgoing MLCU CEO Richard Cooper participated in the Juntos Avanzamos proclamation ceremony, where he thanked his team for their hard work toward this end.

Scott Butterfield, Principal of Your Credit Union Partner, PLLC, ( www.yourcreditunionpartner.com/), presented the award on behalf of the National Federation of Community Development Credit Unions (NFCDCU). Butterfield said, “Richard’s leadership and vision in guiding his board, team, and community partners through a robust community development process have resulted in significant consumer impact at the individual and family level. It has resulted in job creation and improved quality of life.”

President of Mendocino College, Arturo Reyes, also spoke at the event, highlighting the importance of meeting the needs of Hispanic consumers in Lake and Mendocino Counties, and thanking the credit union for their work in this area.

In an email, the Senior Vice President of NFCDCU, Pablo DeFilippi, said, “On behalf of the Federation, the California Credit Union League, Coopera, the Network of Latino Credit Unions and Professionals, the growing number of state credit union leagues/associations that support this effort and the growing family of Juntos Avanzamos credit unions, I'd like to congratulate you for this national recognition to your commitment to financial inclusion. We welcome Mendo Lake Credit Union to this effort that now has become more critically important than ever before. This is in recognition to the groundbreaking work you and your team have historically done to meet the needs of low income consumers in general and of the Hispanic community in particular. This is what financial inclusion is all about and you're leading the way.”

MLCU recently announced its merger with Community First Credit Union, headquartered in Santa Rosa, and the combined organization remains committed to meeting the needs of low-income communities, including local Hispanic and immigrant communities, according to incoming CEO Todd Sheffield. “We will continue to work with our community partners to develop financial products and services that help local people gain access to the security of formal banking through our organization,” he said.

Cooper and Sheffield have known each other for years and their organizations have followed similar paths. “I’ve always appreciated Todd’s approach to financial management and his dedication to community service. I can retire with peace of mind knowing Todd will run the combined organization,” Cooper said.

After 40 years in the credit union business, Cooper officially retires Friday, January 6. He plans to travel around the country in his new RV before deciding what to do next.

For more information about the MLCU/Community First merger, visit

www.mlcu.org/what-s-new/we-ve-got-exciting-news-we-re-merging.

AT&T PREPARED AS SEVERE WEATHER APPROACHES CALIFORNIA

SAN FRANCISCO, Jan. 6, 2017 — As a “once-in-a-decade” storm prepares to hit California this weekend, AT&T has activated storm preparedness protocols to minimize the impact on our customers.

Among our preparations:

We top off fuel at generators and test high-capacity back-up batteries at cell sites.

We install “Quick Connect Generator Plugs” at many of our cell sites and stage additional emergency response equipment in strategic locations.

We continue to enhance our network in storm-prone areas by installing more back-up and permanent generators at critical cell sites.

“We know our customers rely on us, particularly during extreme weather conditions like we are expecting over the weekend," said Ken McNeely, president, AT&T California. “That's why we perform extensive drills and simulations throughout the year. We do all we can to have our networks prepared when severe weather strikes.”

Just as we prepare our networks and personnel, we encourage residents and small businesses to consider the following recommendations:

Keep your wireless phone batteries charged at all times. Have an alternate plan to recharge your battery in case of a power outage. Consider using your car charger for your device or having extra phone batteries on hand. You can also protect your home phone, internet, and mobile devices from power outages with a battery backup plan.

Keep your wireless phone dry. The biggest threat to your device during storms is water, so keep your equipment safe from the elements. Store it in a baggie or some other type of protective covering.

Have a family communication plan in place. Designate someone out of the area as a central contact, and make certain that all family members know who to contact if case of separation. Most importantly, practice your emergency plan in advance.

Program all of your emergency contact numbers and e-mail addresses into your phone. Numbers should include the police department, fire station and hospital, as well as your family members.

Forward your home number to your wireless number in the event of an evacuation. Because call forwarding happens out of the telephone central office, your landline phone will get incoming calls even if your local telephone service is inoperable at your home. In the unlikely event that the central office is not operational, services such as Voicemail, Call Forwarding, Remote Access call forwarding and call forwarding busy line/don’t answer may be useful.

Track the storm and access weather information on your wireless device. Many homes lose power during severe weather. If you have a wireless device that provides access to the Internet, you can keep updated with local radar and severe weather alerts

Camera phones provide assistance. If you have a camera phone, take, store and send photos — even video clips — of damaged property to your insurance company from your device.

Take advantage of location-based mapping technology. Services such as AT&T Navigator and AT&T FamilyMap can help you seek evacuation routes or avoid traffic congestion from downed trees or power lines. You can also track a family member’s wireless device in case you get separated.

Maximizing Service During and After Severe Weather:

Try text messaging. During an emergency, texts may go through more quickly than voice calls because they require fewer network resources. All of our wireless devices are text messaging capable. Depending on your text or data plan, additional charges may apply.

Prepare for high call volume. During an emergency, many people try to use their phones at the same time. The increased volume may create network congestion, leading to “fast busy” signals on your wireless phone or a slow dial tone on your landline phone. If this happens, hang up, wait several seconds and then try the call again. This allows your original call data to clear the network before you try again.

Keep non-emergency calls to a minimum. And limit your calls to the most important ones. If there is severe weather, chances are many people will be attempting to place calls to loved ones, friends and business associates.

Small Business Tips:

Set up a call-forwarding service to a predetermined backup location. Set up a single or multiple hotline number(s) for employees, employees’ families, customers and partners, as appropriate, to call so all parties know about the business situation and emergency plan. For this to be most effective, maintain an updated contact list, including mobile and home phone numbers and e-mail addresses, for all employees.

Protect hardware/software/data records/employee records, etc. Routinely back up files to an off-site location. Use a generator to supply backup power to vital computer hardware and other mission-critical equipment. Prearrange the replacement of damaged hardware with vendors to ensure quick business recovery.

Outline detailed plans for evacuation and shelter-in-place plans. Practice these plans (employee training, etc.). Establish a backup location for your business and meeting place for all employees.

Assemble a crisis-management team and coordinate efforts with neighboring businesses and building management. Be aware that disasters affecting your suppliers also affect your business. Outline a plan for supply chain continuity for business essentials.

See more information and tips for disaster preparedness at www.att.com/vitalconnections.