Mendocino County Today: Saturday, Feb. 18, 2017

• Graciela Torres
• More Rain
• ICE Rumor
• Silver's Pre-trial
• Little Dog
• PA/AV Basketball
• Trump's Press Conference
• War Drums
• Downstream Dangers
• Yesterday's Catch
• Mahometan Past
• Sexual Identity
• Wildlife Films
• Docent Training
• Landscaping Workshop
• Cloverdale Cahoots
• PA Agenda
• Pestering Parker

GRACIELA TORRES

Graciela Torres of Jupiter, Florida died suddenly and unexpectedly on February 14, 2017. Born on October 23, 1977 to Susana Lopez and Antonio Torres in Michoacan, Mexico, she was raised in Northern California, graduated from Ursuline High School in Santa Rosa and attended the University of Utah where she graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Economics. Graciela was married to Wilfredo Rojas, they had three children Dayanara, Marco and Luca. Family was her number one priority and loved to play with her two boys and daughter. Graciela was a wonderful mother, business owner, sister and friend. Her greatest joy was her family and holding family get together' s at her home. She will be tremendously missed by her husband Wilfredo, daughter Dayanara Torres, sons Marco and Luca Rojas, her mother Susana Lopez; siblings Marciela, Silvia, Carlos and Susi. A gathering will be held on Sunday, Feb 19 from 11:30-12:30 with services to begin at 12:30 pm, Aycock-Riverside Funeral Home, 1112 Military Trail, Jupiter. Graciela was a big supporter of non for profit organizations in the community with a particular passion for Place of Hope in West Palm Beach.

In lieu of flowers a contribution may be made to the Marco & Luca Rojas Custodial Trust, 374 Golfview Road #304, North Palm Beach, Florida 33408.

A FACEBOOK POSTING on Graciela’s employer’s facebook page:

It is with a broken heart that we say goodbye to our beloved angel, Graciela Torres, VP of Luxury Maids, Inc. who passed on February 14, 2017. My sister was a wonderful mother, aunt, sister and friend. She is survived by her husband, three children, mothers, sisters and brother. Words cannot describe how empty and broken our family feels at this time. Celebration of her life (Visitation and service) will be held at Aycock Riverside Funeral Home in Jupiter, Florida at 11:30 a.m. on Sunday, February 19, 2017. In lieu of flowers we ask that you send donations to her family trust.

Here is a link that can also be used for people that wish to make a financial contribution: gofundme.com/Marco-Luca-Rojas

RAIN ACCUMULATIONS for Friday were around one-and-a-half inches for most areas of Mendocino County. Rain expected to continue through Tuesday with heaviest totals on Sunday and Monday, perhaps as much as four inches between Saturday and Tuesday.

SHERIFF ALLMAN said late Friday afternoon that the prevalent Ukiah-area rumor that ICE is poised to do mass round-ups in Mendocino County is untrue. ICE is not in town. The Sheriff reminds everyone that all people have the legal right to demand identification from anyone who claims to be an Immigration officer. He said there may be pranksters out there posing as agents as a cruel joke, but they can be revealed as frauds simply by demanding their credentials. The Sheriff said he hopes that people are not spreading false information alleging imminent ICE raids by social media.

CALEB DAIN SILVER, 25, is set for a pre-trial conference on March 6th. We had reported that Silver had been determined guilty of the murder of Dennis Boardman of Fort Bragg. Silver remains the sole suspect in Boardman's death but has not been found guilty. We regret our error.

SILVER was arrested near Ventura a year ago in April, and brought back to Mendocino County where he has been held ever since as Boardman's presumed killer. He is also being held for several felony burglaries along the Mendocino Coast and in Lake County.

BOARDMAN, thirty years Silver's senior, had lived in Boonville for many years on the same properties as Silver. After many years as a hopelessly impaired alcoholic, "Dennis," as we all knew him, had been sober for nearly ten years when he was found bludgeoned to death in his Fort Bragg home on January 2nd of 2016.

CALEB SILVER was soon identified as "a person of interest." He had been staying with Dennis in Dennis's modest Fort Bragg home. When Dennis's truck, with its distinctive handcrafted camper, was found abandoned in Ventura within two weeks of the popular Fort Bragg man's death, Silver was arrested there soon after.

LITTLE DOG SAYS, “Trump's press conference was a corker, huh? Most interesting performance I've seen since Nixon, even late Nixon when everyone knew he was nuts.”

NCL III BOYS HOOP — ANDERSON VALLEY BATTLES POINT ARENA TONIGHT

Anderson Valley beat Point Arena in overtime in Boonville Tuesday night and have a rematch with them tonight.

At stake is who will finish in second place in the NCL III.

The loser would have four losses — the same as MENDO, but since they would be tied with the Cards it would come down to the tie-breaking numbers and MENDO had a good draw (see chart) — they'd be placed in third position in the league rankings despite having lost two critical games down the final stretch.

MSP will be at the Anderson Valley-Point Arena matchup out of curiosity, and as a favor to the Press Democrat as neither team calls in their scores to the newspaper.

(Courtesy, MendocinoSportsPlus)

* * *

[UPDATE from MSP]

POINT ARENA WINS THRILLER OVER ANDERSON VALLEY 49-47
More details to follow when we get a good internet hook up - another "controversial" ending? We have the video, you be the judge.
Boys Box Score
POINT ARENA = 18 09 11 11 = 49
ANDERSVALLY = 08 17 06 16 = 47

"QUEEG-LIKE." That descriptive is getting a workout in the wake of Trump's bizarre press conference Thursday. It's inaccurate, like much of what we get from the froth of the daily news. Queeg, a literary construct, was clinically paranoid, seeing enemies where none existed. Trump sees enemies where they really do exist, especially in the media which, of course, has always been lip-locked to the top echelons of the Democratic Party.

THE HILLARY LIBS are still blaming, of all entities, the Russians for their loss to Orange Man. And they've thought for a long time that ginning up trouble with the Russians is a good idea. It shows how "tough" they are, right?

THE DEMOCRATS also seem to have no problems with our so-called intelligence agencies, all 17 of them, leaking stuff to the corporate media in an effort to sab Orange Man, who sabs himself every day anyway.

WHEN'S the last time the "intelligence community" came up with anything in the way of accurate intelligence? These are the people who managed not to see Arabs learning how to fly airliners in Florida without taking the classes that taught them how to land the things. Saddam's weapons of mass destruction? Good job on that one, and Bush-Cheney proceeded to destabilize the entire world and unleash fanatics for the rest of time, which seems to be about up judging from recent events.

ORANGE MAN is right that the media are out to get him, and he's right about the country being divided long before he came on the political scene.

AND THE GUY is in way over his head. That's what Thursday's press conference proved. He doesn't seem to have any sense of priorities, bickering with the little hack from CNN on national television? Why pick fights with midgets? And not being prepared to answer the real questions put to him.

MAYBE Orange Man is crazy. Looking at the people around him, you wonder if you've just happened on some kind of weird alternate reality. Not one of them inspires the slightest confidence.

DITTO for the Democrats. Chuck Schumer? I just read a bulletin from the local Democrats lauding him along with Warren and Sanders, the latter well to the political right of FDR and the man who got everyone's hopes up before selling spectacularly out to more of the same.

IT'S A BAD TIME. A lunatic in the White House, mainstream liberals claiming to be trying to reform a party that can't be reformed without a total purge of the Clintonians, beginning with people like mega-creep Chuck Schumer. (Google his Trumpian behavior towards the airline stewardess.)

AS THE WHEELS fly off, Trump is the perfect fall guy. At least for liberals. But it's going to be rough for everyone, not just the people who have it coming.

THAT WAR YOU ORDERED…

by James Kunstler

The gaslighting of the American public continues, with Gaslighter-in-Chief, The New York Times, whipping up a frenzy of Russia paranoia.*

It reminds me of an old gambit in flyfishing called the “artificial hatch.” Trout like to gorge on mayfly nymphs as they rise out of a stream and shuck their nymphal shells to fly away as winged adults. The bugs do this in bunches, at a particular time of day, according to sub-species. This “hatch” drives the trout into a feeding frenzy.

A lot of the time, of course, there’s no action on the stream, so the bored fly fisherman whips his line here and there around a particular pool, trying to create the simulation of a mayfly hatch so the trout will wake the fuck up. It is, to be frank a crude dodge, really an act of desperation. But at least it gives the fisherman something to do for a while besides worry about missing another mortgage payment.

The Russia paranoia frenzy is serious business because it indicates that a state-of-war exists between the permanent bureaucracy of government (a.k.a. the Deep State) and the new Trump administration. There are features of the struggle that ought to be much more disturbing than the dubious alleged monkey business about Russia hacking the election and the hoo-hah around a single intercepted phone call between Michael Flynn and the Russian ambassador, made to open a line-of-communication between high-ranking officials, strictly routine business in any other administration.

Most disturbing are signs that the so-called intelligence community (IC) has gone rogue in collusion with forces aligned around Democratic Party functionaries up to and including former president Obama and Hillary Clinton, along with CNN, The Times, The Wash-Po, NBC News and a few other mouthpieces of the defeated establishment. Obama and Hillary remain conspicuously sequestered from this maelstrom, but they must be working their phones like nobody’s business. (Is the IC monitoring them, too, one wonders?)

Until his Queeg-on-steroids news conference late yesterday, Trump laid pretty low after General Flynn was thrown under the bus, but he must be plotting counter-moves, with Bannon and Steven Miller straining at their leashes, slavering for blood. Will some employees over at the CIA and the — what? — sixteen other IC outposts that stud the government like shipworms in a rotting hulk — be called on the carpet of the oval office, and possibly handed pink slips? How do you drain that swamp in Langley, VA? Perhaps with subpoenas? Surely Jeff Sessions over at the Department of Justice has got to be weighing action against the IC leakers. That shit is against the law.

The next disturbing element of the situation is all the war-drum beating by the same cast of characters: the IC, the Democratic Party, and major media. Why in hell are we antagonizing Russia? In the last month of Obama’s term — and for the first time in many years — NATO moved a bunch of tanks close to Russia’s border with the Baltic states. Do you really think Russia wants to reoccupy these countries for the pleasure of subsidizing them and draining the Russian treasury? In those twilight days of Obama, government officials made wild and unspecific charges about “Russian aggression,” and vague assertions about Russian plans to dominate the global scene. Major what-the-fuck there. There’s the ugly situation in Ukraine, of course, but that was engineered by Obama’s state department. Do you know why Russia annexed Crimea after that? It couldn’t have been for more transparently rational reasons. And what exactly is our beef with Russia in Syria? That they’re trying to prop up the Assad government because the last thing the Middle East needs is another failed state with no government whatsoever? What’s our plan for Syria, anyway? Same as Somalia, Iraq, and Libya? These stories about Russia’s intentions seem insane on their face. It’s amazing that readers of The New York Times swallow them whole. It must say something about the deterioration of the coastal gene pool. The story-mongers have a purpose though: to promote a state of permanent hostility, neo-cold-war style, to justify the grotesquely overgrown operations of the IC.

Note, too, that the new cold war benefits the thousands of ex-CIA personnel and retired US military officers who have signed on to work as Deep State IC private contractors in recent years. A new cold war is their gravy train. How about a congressional inquiry into the number of private security contractors selling their services to the Deep State, and exactly who they employ? Now that might be a scandal greater than Watergate, but not the Mike Flynn affair.

Have you asked yourself: what would war with Russia look like if the wishes of ninnies like Senator McCain and Lindsey Graham come true? Where’s the battlefield? Do we dispatch a few divisions over to invade Russia proper? Napoleon and Hitler already tried that… didn’t work out so well. And what’s the strategic objective? To occupy Russia and school them in democracy? That’s rich. Or do we go back to fighting proxy wars with Russia in various Third World backwaters as we did so earnestly in the 1960s? Another Vietnam would be grand, right? Just what we need. Or maybe a fifty-year-war like the one in the Congo. Or should we put aside all that penny-ante nonsense and just Drop the Big One, no a thousand Big Ones! Oh, wait a minute… they’ve got plenty of their own Big Ones.

Now, it may be the case that President Donald Trump is batshit crazy, but cooking up fake hostilities with the world’s second-leading nuclear super-power is a strange way to run a coup d’état against the White House. I mean, if it’s that bad, the generals and the senior spooks ought to just step up to the plate without further pretense and remove the fucker — as I’ve been predicting they would inside of sixty days from the inauguration. But then even if Trump is crazy and incompetent, what’s so great about a Deep State security matrix that refuses to be subordinate to anybody, that can do whatever it wants to whomever it wants? This thing is turning into a regular shoot-out at the OK Corral. If you know your history, you’ll recall that Wyatt Earp was hardly the eagle scout he’s depicted as on the boob tube. He was something of a thug, with a mad streak. Maybe that’s what it takes to stand up to the Deep State.

* Gaslighting — a form of manipulation that seeks to sow seeds of doubt in a targeted individual or members of a group, hoping to make targets question their own memory, perception, and sanity

(Support Kunstler’s writing by visiting his Patreon Page: https://www.patreon.com/JamesHowardKunstler?ty=h)

IF CALIFORNIA DAM FAILED, PEOPLE LIKELY STUCK

by Ellen Knickmeyer

Communities just downstream of California's Lake Oroville dam would not receive adequate warning or time for evacuations if the 770-foot-tall dam itself — rather than its spillways — were to abruptly fail, the state water agency that operates the nation's tallest dam repeatedly advised federal regulators a half-decade ago.

The state Department of Water Resources informed federal dam regulators that local emergency officials "do not believe there is enough time to perform evacuations in the communities immediately downstream of the dam during a sudden failure," according to a Feb. 8, 2011, letter reviewed by The Associated Press.

Absent "significant" advance warning, emergency responders instead would likely withdraw to safer ground and prepare for victims, said the same letter by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, which oversees safety of hydroelectric dams, in a summary of the state's conclusions.

The catastrophic scenario of a sudden breach at California's second-largest water reservoir, outlined between 2010 and 2012 in online archives of federal dam regulators, is a different and far graver situation than the concern that prompted sudden evacuation orders Sunday for 188,000 downstream residents.

In an email Thursday, state water agency spokesman Ed Wilson said that despite the repeated back-and-forth correspondence by state and federal officials about reducing detection- and response time to allow for evacuations downstream in the event of Oroville dam's sudden failure, the scenario was "hypothetical" and "not how dams typically fail in real life."

Late Sunday afternoon, operators of the nearly half-century-old dam in California's Sierra Nevada foothills became alarmed that the water cascading from the reservoir after a series of winter storms could roar uncontrolled down a rapidly eroding emergency spillway toward towns downstream. They ordered residents of parts of three counties to leave.

Despite the troubles with the dam's flood-control spillways, authorities have stressed that they do not believe the dam itself is threatened. Sunday's precautionary evacuation order was eased by mid-week to allow people to return to the 16,000-resident town of Oroville and other communities.

The federal-state discussion about the worst-case scenario over the years highlights steps that California's water agency and others still should take to do more to improve warning and escape for people downstream, say local officials and a Florida-based evacuation expert.

Those measures include widening the entirety of a mixed two- and four-lane state highway leading away from Oroville and other communities and doing more to improve public-warning systems. The federal dam regulators also called for annual "public education...that describes what residents should do during an emergency" at the dam.

As it was, some families who leaped into their cars to flee on Sunday found themselves caught in traffic jams hours later in the path of potential danger.

"People were just panicking," said Nancy Borsdorf of Oroville, who grabbed two Bibles and a Christian-music CD to take with her after friends phoned to urge her to go. "'Get out of town, the dam is going to blow.'"

Many public officials and ordinary people rushed to help direct traffic or to settle the evacuees streaming into shelters. But evacuees also described seeing families abandoning cars, and even watching fistfights on gridlocked roads.

The federal government in recent years has made evacuation and emergency-response plans for major dams off-limit information for the public, for fear details could be exploited for terror attacks or hacking. California officials cited that reason this week in declining to release the latest emergency plans for the dam.

Wilson, the state Department of Water Resources spokesman, said authorities have implemented the reverse-911 automated warnings recommended by federal regulators, and also activated an emergency broadcast system locally. Residents confirmed the reverse-911 system worked Sunday.

With months left in the rainy season, state spokesperson Nancy Vogel said California now has drones, cameras and human lookouts watching the dam and its spillways.

Operators have been releasing torrents of water down the damaged main spillway to try to make sure the water does not pour over the emergency spillway as it did last weekend.

Even with round-the-clock efforts by dam operators, Oroville Mayor Linda Dahlmeier immediately began praying for those closer to the dam when she heard the first drops of rain hit the metal roof of her home Thursday.

"You just start bawling," Dahlmeier said. "This is Mother Nature's hand."

Oroville used to have civil-defense sirens for emergencies, Dahlmeier thought, but funds for such public expenses have dwindled in the foothill counties. Neither she nor others recalled the annual safety briefings for the public that federal regulators urged of the state water agency.

"You know what the evacuation plan is? 'Get the hell out of town!'" said Kevin Zeitler, a critic of the state water agency's interactions with communities downstream of the dam.

Zeitler was staying put at his office in Oroville's vulnerable downtown, but keeping his pickup truck out front fully packed.

Since the 1990s, Oroville and other communities in Butte County have asked the state for the $300 million it would take to widen the full route of a key highway out of the county from two lanes to four, said Jon Clark, head of the Butte County Association of Governments.

Unquestionably, that would have helped in the evacuations, Clark and others said.

For Butte County's many low-income retirees and others unable to drive, Clark's association got buses on the road Sunday to carry people to safety.

In a disaster as sudden as a major problem with a dam, authorities will have had warning signs telling them to increase their vigilance, even if that is just forecasts of storms coming, said John Renne, an urban-planning professor at Florida Atlantic University.

And the public can almost always be warned, even if it entails greater government investment in public-warning technology. "Minutes can save lives," Renne said.

(Associated Press)

CATCH OF THE DAY, February 17, 2017

SHELDON BRITTON, Covelo. Battery with serious injury.

BRETT COOPER, Willits. Failure to appear.

ROMAN GARCIA, Fort Bragg. Domestic battery, probation revocation.

ADAM GRIFFEN, Calpella. Failure to appear.

BENJAMIN HOFF, Ukiah. Probation revocation.

RYAN IVEY, Fort Bragg. Burglary from vehicle, loitering, offenses while on bail.

RITA LAVENDUSKEY, Fort Bragg. Drunk in public.

EDDIE PRESSLEY, DUI-drugs, pot possession for sale.

MONIQUE VALADOR, Fort Bragg. Grand theft.

JOHN WILLEKES, Beaverton, Oregon/Ukiah. Unspecified charges.

MAHOMETANS AND FREEDOM OF RELIGION IN THE UNITED STATES

Dear Editor:

As we look at the Islamophobia in our society today we need to recognize Muslims have been in this country since its beginning. It should be known that in 1776, when the population was estimated at 4 million which included about 500,000 slaves 150,000 were Muslims (at that time they were called Mahometans). The Declaration of Independence did not apply to slaves since they were chattel. Of these slaves that were Muslims some were known to have fought in the Revolutionary War. The first country to recognize the United States as a sovereign nation was the Sultanate of Morocco.

Readers of the AVA who are familiar with the history of the writing of the Constitution know the framers who supported freedom of religion prevailed over those who would have had Christianity as the state approved religion.

Washington, Jefferson, Adams and Franklin among others were certainly thinking about Mahometans when they framed the Religion clause of the Constitution.

As a sidebar, I would note the descendants of these Muslims have been here for many generations before President Trump's family arrived in the US.

In peace and love,

Jim Updegraff

Sacramento

ON LINE COMMENT OF THE DAY

My Boy Scout Master in the early 1950s, thirty-ish man of a prominant family in my southern home town, was Queer (term used then even by those of that set), he even had the sterotypical lisp. Everyone suspected it but no one made an issue of it because no political distinction was given to it. One of the Jr. high coaches, also a decorated Korean War pilot, was queer but no one made an issue of it until he made the mistake of being caught in sexual act with one of the students. A prominent local newspaper sports journalist was known to be — even did Eartha Kit impersonations, gestures and pelvic gyrations included — at pool side at the municipal pool. Other individuals of all ages during my childhood and youth were demonstratively (even “flamingly” so) “queer” but generally no exception otherwise was made of it. Yeah, sure, just as in all cases of “difference” there were the minority bully types who’d occasionally be insensitive, but who wasn’t targeted by bullying at times during formative years? The difference since is that variance from “straight” has been made a culturally divisive issue for splintering the electorate into ever more victim classes demanding special entitlements beyond what is assured under the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. The issue of sexual identity that arises in the course of becoming an adult is not easy for anyone, so just deal with it on your individual basis rather than pushing it to the fore as though it is worth National priority. Grow-up, in other words.

MAKING TRACKS:

International Wildlife Film Festival shows human-animal symbiosis

Friday, February 24, marks the opening of the IWFF post-festival tour that runs for five consecutive Friday evenings at the Ukiah Civic Center, 300 Seminary Avenue. Doors will open at 6:15 p.m. with live music, snacks, and a time to socialize. Films begin screening at 7 p.m.

Opening night features live music with Bob Laughton on the banjo and two extraordinary films that were award-winners at the International Wildlife Film Festival (IWFF) in Missoula, Montana.

"Earth--A New Wild" (55 min.), one episode of the “Earth--A New Wild” series that won the award for Best Human-Wildlife Interactions at IWFF, uses advanced filming techniques to provide stunning visuals that show the world as it really is – with humans in the picture. Dr. M. Sanjayan takes viewers to Tanzania, Bangladesh, India, Texas and China to learn firsthand what animals can do for us – and we for them – to give us all a future.

The Huffington Post writes: “This epochal series brings new meaning to why we are alive and how precious our relationship is to nature. To embrace life on this planet you have to understand the symbiotic connectivity we share… Get ready for one of the greatest cinematic experiences.”

"Red Wolf Revival" (24 min.) is winner of Best Short Film. It is about the last remaining wild population of red wolves. Centered on the historic recovery effort in eastern North Carolina, the film documents the multifaceted struggle to reintroduce one of the rarest animals on earth in the face of cultural, economic and biological challenges in North Carolina.

Tickets are available at Mendocino Book Company or at the door. A series ticket for all five nights is $45. Single tickets are a $10 suggested donation for adults and $5 for children. Films are appropriate for older children. A full schedule of films and music is available at the RVOEP website: http://rvoep.org/events/

Proceeds from the film festival will benefit the Redwood Valley Outdoor Education Project. The RVOEP is a special program of the Ukiah Unified School District that provides outdoor environmental education programs to over 2,000 students each year on a 45-acre woodland in Redwood Valley.

For more information contact Maureen Taylor, RVOEP Education Coordinator, at 707-489-0227.

DOCENT TRAINING at Mendocino Coast Botanical Gardens

March 15, 22, and 29, 10:00am to 12:00pm

Each year thousands of children and adults visit our Gardens, spending a few hours or the entire day exploring. Mendocino Coast Botanical Gardens has something for everyone - - manicured areas with beautiful displays of perennials, fuchsias, and succulents, and nature trails along the creek to the ocean bluffs. Rhododendrons, camellias, and dahlias are also widely popular attractions. If you are passionate about these same features of the Gardens, consider becoming a docent. The Docent Program offers an opportunity for visitors to learn and experience more than what they would on their own. The Gardens will be holding a free Docent Training on March 15th, 22nd, and 29th in the MCBG Meeting Room from 10 to noon. Each session will include classroom instruction and a walk through the Gardens to become familiar with collections, trails, and MCBG history. Please RSVP to administration_volunteer@gardenbythesea.org or call 707-964-4352 x10. It is strongly recommend you attend all 3 sessions.

FREE DITCH YOUR LAWN WORKSHOP with Sanhedrin Chapter of the California Native Plant Society Sunday, February 26, 2017, 9:30 am - 12:30 pm at the Ukiah Garden Club clubhouse, 1203 W Clay St; Ukiah, California 95482. Do you want to create a low water use, low maintenance, beautiful landscape that is filled with the sound and sight of pollinating insects and birds? If the answer is yes, join the Ditch Your Lawn workshop. This will be a free indoor workshop. Please RSVP so we can have enough materials and snacks for everyone. RSVP to Andrea Davis 707 272 8831 or tworns@pacific.net. More info about free workshops, hikes, and presentations with the Sanhedrin Chapter of the California Native Plant Society : http://sanhedrin.cnps.org

CAHOOTS TO PLAY IN CLOVERDALE MARCH 16

Cloverdale Arts Alliance continues to offer original Americana acts on third Thursdays!

Cloverdale, February 17, 2017 -- On Thursday, March 16, the Cloverdale Arts Alliance's Americana Night will keep it real with North Bay favorite, Cahoots. Last August, as the opening act for BeauSoliel avec Michael Doucet, Cahoots delighted Cloverdale's Friday Night Live audience with their own blend of "Sonomacana" - bluesy, grassy, folky and danceable Sonoma County roots music. From original songs and Americana classics to country blues and rockabilly, Cahoots always gets the crowd going with their infectious sound.

Described by KRCB's Doug Jaynes as a Sonoma County all star band, Cahoots features Dan Imhoff, Craig Anderson, Andy Dru Rodgers, Andy Tester, Ashley Holmberg and Eric Backman.

Americana Night is hosted at the Cloverdale Arts Alliance Gallery located at 204 N. Cloverdale Blvd. Tickets are $15 for Cloverdale Arts Alliance members and $20 for non-members. Doors open at 7:00pm; music from 7:30 - 9:30pm. Americana Night takes place the third Thursday of each month from October through May. The wine sponsor for Americana Night is Rodney Strong Vineyards. To receive reserved seating privileges purchase advance tickets online at http://www.cloverdaleartsalliance or at the Cloverdale Arts Alliance during normal business hours. Tickets are available at the door. Americana Night is a program of the Cloverdale Arts Alliance, a non-profit arts organization bringing cultural arts to northern Sonoma County. Other CAA programs include Friday Night Live at the Plaza, Art Gallery, THE Jazz Club, Music Workshops, Discovering Art Series, Art Classes, The Blues Session, and Special Events.

CITY OF POINT ARENA CITY COUNCIL AGENDA

Tuesday, February 21, 2017

Special Session – 5:30 P.M.

I. Call To Order & Roll Call

II. Approval Of Agenda

III. Privilege Of The Floor (Public Comment Period)

This is the time for members of the public who wish to be heard on matters that do not appear on the Agenda. City Council policy is to limit each speaker to three (3) minutes. Such time allotment or portion thereof shall not be transferred to other speakers. The public will be allowed to speak concurrently with the calling of an agenda item following the staff presentation of that item. Pursuant to the Brown Act Section 54954.3, the City Council may not take action on an item that does not appear on the Agenda.

1. Ordinances & Resolutions – All items in this Agenda section are for discussion and possible adoption.
2. Resolution 2017-02 Extending the Declaration of a Local Emergency Related to Damage to Arena Cove, Point Arena Pier and Local Roadways as the Result of a Winter Storm Event. The resolution will be accompanied by a discussion with County Emergency Services Coordinator, Rick Ehlert, about the CAL OES and FEMA emergency funding processes.
3. City Manager/City Attorney Reports -- Discussion & Possible Action
4. Request Appointment of a Council Ad Hoc Committee to work with the City Manager and the City Attorney on modification of Ordinance 226 regulating the cultivation, processing, testing, delivery, and dispensing of medical marijuana in Point Arena.
5. Report on training budget and reimbursements for the League of California Cities’ New Mayors & Councilmembers Academy.
6. City Manager Report on meeting compensation for Councilmembers.

VI. Closed Session

A. City Manager Performance Evaluation- Performance evaluation pursuant to GC §54957, as cited in the Brown Act.

VII. AdjournmentDated: February 17, 2017

Thanks,

Paul Andersen

Admin Assistant/Deputy City Clerk

City of Point Arena

707-882-2122 | cityofpointarena.net

ED NOTE: Atta boy, Paul. But who's being evaluated in closed session, you or your padrone?

JEFFREY PARKER is the new manager at KZYX, Mendocino County's perennially troubled public radio station. Parker inherits a quarter century of mismanagement, none of it his fault. I think Sako and Peterson should back off while the guy assesses the running disaster he's stepped into. Peterson, about a half-hour after Parker's hiring, sent the ava a lengthy slam on what Peterson claimed was Parker's work in China for Reuters. We didn't post or print it because Peterson's bona fides to comment on Chinese politics are the same as mine — non-existent. I think a smart, brusque kinda guy like Parker (my impression of him after a single, brief meeting), is just what the station needs. The following blasts at the guy you can judge for yourself, but I don't see anything here that discredits Parker:

* * *

From: John Sakowicz <sako4@comcast.net>

Subject: follow up to Scott Peterson's email

Dear Mr. Jeffrey Parker,

Following up on Mr. Peterson's excellent email below, there were reasons I made an informal complaint to the FCC two years ago. Two years ago, as a member of the Mendocino County Public Broadcasting (MCPB) Board of Directors -- indeed, as Board Treasurer -- I was entitled to see all of MCPB's financials, including Form 990s. I was denied access to those financials.

You hung up on me earlier in the week, Mr. Parker, when I introduced myself and tried to communicate a little history of that complaint and my reasons for filing it.

You hung up. That was wrong. I'm still a MCPB member, and I have a highly respected and very popular public affairs show on another public radio station, KMEC. I've also been elected to the KMEC Board of Directors, where I bring in new underwriters and members.

Unlike MCPB, KMEC's finances are more robust than ever. Why? Because of our high standards for transparency. Also because of our high standards for inclusiveness and fairness. And because of the high quality of KMEC's programming. We interview A-list guests on my show. For example, on Monday, February 27, at 1 pm, Pacific Time, I'll be interviewing former U.S. Treasury Secretary and Harvard President, Larry Summers.

Also, I hope to be interviewing former FCC Commissioners Nick Johnson and John Quigley later this year on net neutrality as it pertains to HR 5181. (Commissioners Johnson and Quigley has been guests on my show in the past.)

I could the same shows for MCPB, which is why I asked about a path back to MCPB.

There are several options for bringing my show back. I could air a live show for listener call-ins on MCPB, as I did in the past for six years. Or, in the alternative, MCPB could air rebroadcasts of my KMEC shows.

When I called you earlier this week, Mr. Parker, I was simply asking about a path back to MCPB for my show. I didn't expect a rant about my FCC informal complaint. In our brief phone call, you accused me of "trying to destroy" MCPB by filing the FCC informal complaint, and you hung up on me.

Keep in mind, Mr. Parker, my grievances were real. Keep in mind, too, that I never even got a grievance hearing at KZYX two years ago, as was my right. Former GM John Coate laid down a set of impossible conditions as a condition to a grievance hearing. One of those conditions was to withdraw my informal FCC complaint. Another condition was to write to local newspapers and say that I had "lied" in my complaint and that "everything was fine" at MCPB.

Coate's conditions were intended as an insult to my integrity. Keep in mind, Mr. Parker, for five years I served as a trained public trustee and bonded fiduciary of Mendocino County's $500 million pension system. I currently serve in that capacity on the Ukiah Valley Sanitation District, where I help oversee a $27 million lawsuit against the City of Ukiah for accounting and audit improprieties.

Keep in mind, too, that a grievance hearing is a right that is explicitly stated in MCPB's Programmers Handbook.

Also, please understand, Mr. Parker, that I was trying to save MCPB, not destroy it, by bringing MCPB back into compliance with both IRS standards, and accounting and audit standards. My informal complaint to the FCC was a measure of last resort. Why? Because I was being stonewalled and marginalized every step of the way by John Coate.

I repeat my request of earlier this week: What is the path back for my show at MCPB?

In conclusion, the problems at MCPB are ongoing.

There are reasons MCPB hasn't been able to keep real radio professionals, like Lorraine Dechter, Raoul Van Hall, and Christina Aanestad.

There is a reason why over 100 members signed the petition, "MCPB Members for Change".

There is a reason why the discussion site for MCPB's many dissident members and former members, kzyxtalk@list.mcn.org ,was started on the Mendocino Community Network.

There is a reason why former KUSP GM, Terry Green, was hired to be MCPB's next GM, but bailed out even before he arrived at MCPB.

There is a reason why John Coate resigned within 24 hours after being served by two former MCPB Board members and one former member of the Mendocino County Board of Supervisors with discovery papers for MCPB financials.

Our problems are real...and persistent.

On this email, I am copying the below recipients to Mr. Peterson's email. I am also copying the MCPB Board, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, and the FCC.

And again, I reassert my right to a grievance hearing, which I would further request to be conducted under oath, on the record, and videotaped. I'll pay for the deposition reporter.

Respectfully,

John Sakowicz

* * *

From: "Scott Peterson" <scottmartinpeterson@hotmail.com>

Subject: Re: Public Radio KZYX in Trouble

Hi Ken,

Back in 2013, I noticed that Mendocino County Broadcasting, Inc. -- operator of KZYX & Z FM -- had a peculiar policy on its annual Form 990 for the past few years. Under the part where the form asked the filer to describe the policy for the governing body's review of the Form 990 prior to filing, it said there was no such policy. Furthermore, it said 'NO REVIEW WAS OR WILL BE CONDUCTED.' As I recall, that policy was stated on three previous years of Form 990s at the time. The station GM -- John Coate --- ignored my inquiry, as did the the board president. So I contacted an individual board member named John Sakowicz, who was the board treasurer.

When Sakowicz asked the GM for financial information, he was ignored. After escalating it to a demand, the other board members sided with the GM and told Sakowicz he was out of line. All the while, MCPB was losing money hand over fist. Ultimately, Sakowicz -- and others -- complained to the FCC. They ignored him too. Sakowicz was voted off the board last year.

At the same time, I contacted the new station manager, Lorraine Dechter. With one simple question; "What's the reason for that policy?" The only reply came by email from board president Meg Courtney, who told me there was no such policy. A quick review of board meeting minutes over the past eight years shows that the board has never reviewed them. She'd admittedly gotten that information from the previous GM, John Coate -- and then simply took his word for it.

A few months later, I was contacted by another board member named Jonathan Middlebrook. Who was apparently on a PR mission. I asked him the same question, but he couldn't answer it. What he didn't tell me was that he -- and the entire board -- had just signed an op-ed in the local newspaper excoriating John Sakowicz and praising John Coate for turning the station around. Something that couldn't be further from the truth.

Before that policy came into being, MCPB's net assets were $220,000+. But by the middle of 2015, that figure had dropped to $78,000. $77,000 of which was an overnight rise in the value of MCPB's collection of LPs and CDs. Something that I just can't buy. That's reported on the latest Form 990 that was filed by Lorraine Dechter -- with the exact same policy. You can see all of those Form 990s here:

http://nccsweb.urban.org/communityplatform/nccs/organization/profile/id/680050440/popup/1

Lorraine Dechter was replaced by an interim GM named Stuart Campbell. Who was then replaced this January by Jeffrey Parker. Last month, the KZYX website -- along with bylaws, financial statements, station policies and meeting minutes -- was scrapped for something prettier. Which is okay, because I'd made copies of everything before that. Among them were Annual Financial Reports filed with the Corporation for Public Broadcasting to obtain six-figure grants. All of which swore up and down that audits had been done to qualify for them. But as you can see on the Form 990s, they haven't.

In the programming department, it's not much better. One of KZYX's longest running shows is something called 'The Short Wave Report' -- where the programmer broadcasts Russian State Sponsored Sputnik Radio -- and then pockets donations via PayPal:

https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2017/02/02/18796133.php

If ever the White House and Congress needed a poster child for waste, fraud and abuse -- they've got it right here at KZYX.

In the interests of fairness, I'm copying this email to John Sakowicz, Jeffrey Parker, Lorraine Dechter, Meg Courtney, John Coate and Jonathan Middlebrook. Please feel free to contact all of them for independent confirmation. And you're welcome to use my name as well. Just keep me in the loop.

Sincerely,

Scott M. Peterson

Mendocino