Mendocino County Today: Saturday, Feb. 25, 2017

• 175 Open
• FB Dioxins
• Bond-Graham Polk
• Little Dog
• Massey Interview
• Extreme Funding
• Variety Show
• Science Fair
• UVSD Outrage
• Recreational Enforcement
• Rainville Appeal
• Yesterday's Catch
• Cultural Loss
• Earthquake Weather
• Immigration Arrests
• The Realist
• Citizenship
• Boundary Pushing
• Our Side
• Wildlife Films
• MCBG Events
• Dam Repair
• Media Ban
• PA Agenda

ROAD UPDATE: State Route 175 at Harrington Flat Rd in the Cobb area is now open. Utility companies removed hazardous trees. (CHP Dispatch, 02/24/17, 1926 hrs)

SWEEPING THE DIOXINS UNDER FORT BRAGG’S RUG

Editor,

I just spoke to Tom Lanphar of the State Department Toxic Substances Control regarding the dioxin contaminated soil and sediment removal from the mill site. This project will start in August and last at least 6 weeks with about 3000 cubic yards of soil dug up and removed by trucks to Kettleman City toxic dump and soils with lesser levels of dioxin will go to a toxic disposal site in Contra Costa County.

The mitigation measures DTSC will use to prevent dioxin and other contaminants from leaving the site are flimsy and left to the contractor Arkadis and their subcontractors to self-monitor whenever Tom (from Berkeley office) is not present on the site. The contractors will SELF MONITOR for wind speeds, wind gusts, cleaning (brushing and/or spraying) of the trucks, covering of the trucks, dewatering of the wet sediment, etc.

The soils and sediments could have been left in place and capped off which would have prevented any dioxin from leaving the area but DTSC and Fort Bragg City wanted to remove the soils. This “cleanup” would allow for increased use of the land such as constructing condos, etc. If the soils were left in place with caps to prevent the dioxin from leaving the ground, these containment measures would have to be monitored long term and the caps might have to be repaired so that there is no erosion.

So then DTSC and Fort Bragg City would be able to say after the project that the site has been “cleaned up” and leaving more “flexibility” for commercial development which would take place on the site without having to say the site still contains dioxin. Of course, some levels of dioxin and other contaminants would remain.

There are 5 areas where there are high levels of dioxin: ponds 7, 2 and 3 and the riparian area with wet sediment and also dry soil with the highest levels of dioxin in the burned mill wastes area. After this contaminated soil removal there will remain 10 acres of contaminated soil with, maybe, lower levels of dioxin and other toxics.

The project is hampered by time (trucks have to leave by noon to get to their destinations and 6 week duration). Contractors will be in a rush. Variable winds and gusts will blow soil particles on and off site, trucks will drip contaminated water and soil particles on the streets, soil will leave the “covered” trucks and be carried offsite. Soil particles not removed from the outside and underside and tires of the trucks will be carried and deposited offsite before the trucks get to Kettleman City.

There is no recourse if dioxin escapes into the environment. The contractors won't tell on themselves and there may be a lag time between dioxin blowing and landing in the environment and adverse health effects of the people in Fort Bragg, on the way to the toxic dump, and near the site of Kettleman City where nearby residents complain about illnesses caused by toxics carried and buried there.

The mitigation measures such as top wind speeds and cleaning of trucks are left vague and there is no assurance or responsibility or accountability to make sure there is no offsite contamination. If there is offsite contamination, so what? Nothing will happen except adverse health effects to the population which may take time to become known. The Fort Bragg population has already been contaminated with dioxin from the years of burning the mill wastes.

Sincerely, Susan Miller

Fort Bragg

ATTENTIVE READERS will remember Darwin Bond-Grahams' work for the AVA. On April 7th, in New York, Darwin and his co-writer, Ali Winston, will be honored as recipients of this year's Polk Award. Popularly regarded as second only to receiving a Pulitzer, the Polk goes back to 1948 in honor of a journalist who was killed in the Greek Civil War. Past recipients, to name a few, include Edward R. Murrow, Walter Cronkite, Eric Servereid, Woodward and Bernstein, New York Times, Washington Post. The Pulitzer, in our opinion, goes too often to the undeserving, the Polk Award goes to genuinely good work. Bond-Graham has roots in the Anderson Valley where he spends many weekends with his family at Rancho Navarro.

LITTLE DOG SAYS, “I took a day off to see if anybody missed me. Nobody did. So, I'm giving it another try. If nothing, well, what the heck, I got my fifteen, didn't I?”

DEPUTY MASSEY LOOKS BACK

Interviewed by Mark Scaramella

AVA: How about a little personal background?

Massey: I was born in Rock Hill, South Carolina. My parents signed for me to go into the military so I went in at a fairly young age. I stayed in the Marines for almost 22 years and got out of the Marines in 1994 as a master sergeant.

When I first went into the Marines it was a very rough era. Very tough. Boot Camp was tough. Almost a third of my platoon didn't even make it through. You are kicked and beaten and set to ridiculous tasks and you really had to perform. Some of the guys in my platoon were in the Marines because otherwise they would have gone to jail. I've always been a physical person, born and raised in the woods, ran around a lot. So it wasn't as difficult for me as some of the others. But there were certainly times when I said to myself, this is the most tired I have ever been in my life, on the verge of collapsing. But then you find that one little breath to keep going. The obstacle course. The confidence course. The mud, the ropes, the crawling under the boards and the wires, up and down, people shouting ‘Move! Move! Move!’ We also had to fight other guys with pugil sticks and in hand-to-hand combat. Basically how to kill people. After boot camp I received an assignment to aviation, but after a year of that I was transferred to Embassy security duty with the Department of State. I did that for almost twenty years. I was promoted then ran my own security details at several overseas embassies.

Toward the end of that duty I was in Saudi Arabia and Helsinki, Finland. That got me started in police work and security matters. Helsinki was very cold, not much sunshine. Whereas in Saudi Arabia it could get up to 115 degrees. It was a definite culture shock moving from Saudi Arabia to Helsinki.

I remember there was a significant black market in liquor in Saudi Arabia which I stayed away from because it was strictly prohibited. The Saudi's sometimes made their own homebrew called sidiki. But they risked the police coming into their house at any time, searching for contraband. You could get into some serious trouble if any liquor was found. They have religious police who roam around and enforce the religious laws. They still have beheadings and they still cut people's hands off for stealing. We had to go through cultural training to avoid getting into trouble there. I had a good deal of contact with Saudi people. Money is a big factor in how people are treated there. Poor people are looked down on. It's a pretty rich country and you will see people living in tents but who have a brand-new Mercedes parked in front. I was visiting somebody's house once and the jewelry and art and wealth was just mind-boggling. The area might look rundown outside, but inside it was amazing. Tile, marble, expensive furnishings… I was visiting a man who had a large bag of pearls in a box. He took one out and showed it to me, I thought he was going to give it to me. He said this one pearl was worth about $80,000 and he had a large bag of them. But he never gave me one. [Laughs] He had two wives and several Mercedes-Benzes. Showing off his wealth. You had to be careful with American customs which could be easily misinterpreted there and get you into trouble. Women cannot drive on a public street, they cannot sit with you in a public place. If the religious police pick you up it's quite a process to get released even for things you might think are very minor. There was an Army guy who came into the country on a military plane with some pornographic magazines. Customs found them and they threw him in jail and it became a big international incident. He was in jail for a while and nothing was moving. They said he was going to prison for a long time. They finally agreed to release him back to the Army and the Army flew him out of the country in a mailbag! Because they had promised to put them in the brig, but it was just a girlie magazine so they just got him out of there. He could easily have been in jail for a long time for that. American TV shows are edited to remove anything they don't like. They don't want any Western influence, they're pretty extreme.

My last assignment in the Marines was in Helsinki, Finland where I was treated pretty well, didn't experience much racism there. Growing up in South Carolina I was a little suspicious of how I would be perceived in Finland. I probably saw two or three black people the entire time I was there. At first I thought it would be like South Carolina. People would stare and look at my funny. But I soon found that it had nothing to do with racism. I was a curiosity I guess. I dated a girl there who took me out to the countryside where there were literally no other black people. Many of those Fins had never seen a black person in person before. She took me to a fairly fancy hotel dining room. When we walked in the hostess was almost in shock just staring at me. Her English was pretty good and she showed us to our table. When we first walked in I heard the usual background restaurant noise, chatter, silverware, etc. But as we started back to our table, all of a sudden— Silence! Total silence. It was chilly in there but I was sweating. It seemed like it took forever to make that walk to our table. Everyone was staring. Spoons were frozen in mid-sip. The girl had never even realized that people would act like that. That was very memorable. Not particularly bad, but memorable.

After I retired from the Marines, their job placement assistance people steered me toward law enforcement because of my experience. At first I went to work for the INS in Long Beach but I didn't like that very much. Then I applied for a probation officer job in Yolo County. Then I saw that there was an opening for a better position in Mendocino’s Probation Department and took that job. Not long after that Tom Allman suggested I apply to the Sheriff’s department.

There wasn't much racism in the military, it didn't come up much. But when I got here I saw quickly that it was much like South Carolina where I grew up.

I think that the Jackie Robinson story in a way is similar to the way I was treated when I started in the Sheriff’s Department. Decisions were being made based upon me as just one person. You have to do this, don't do that. You're just a regular employee, but everyone is focusing on you because of your race.

AVA: Dodgers owner Branch Rickey told Jackie Robinson that he had to take it. He couldn’t fight back. No matter the provocation.

Massey: That is also very similar to my situation. I have to be careful in my reactions to law enforcement situations. Another analogy — on a much smaller scale of course — is the situation President Obama was in. Everyone focuses on your race, and you can't get anything done, obstacles are everywhere. They called him arrogant. They called him stupid.

There are still people who think that black people are somehow inferior. There may be some truth to that in a way. But as I read in a book called ‘Minority-Majority Relations’ once, if a certain group of people are kept in balls and chains, they naturally will have trouble keeping up with the people who don't have those weights. You can take off the ball and chain but now you're way behind. And it's not likely you will catch up.

The school I went to in South Carolina was obviously inferior to the mainstream schools, the teachers were not as good, everything was set at a lower standard. So of course test scores were lower and then people would say, See, I told you so. A self-fulfilling prophecy. It’s just unfair. Black people as a race still have not caught up and still have a long way to go.

EXTREME WEATHER SHELTER IS WITHIN DAYS OF CLOSING DUE TO LACK OF FUNDS

Mendocino Coast Hospitality Center’s Extreme Weather Shelter is within days of closing due to lack of operating funds. The Extreme Weather Shelter feeds and houses between 10 and 25 people nightly when it is extremely cold and/or rainy outside. The Shelter’s operation is dependent on private donations, County grants and the facilities offered by the area’s Faith Community.

All available funds are nearly exhausted as a result of the many days of bad weather this winter and much higher numbers of people sheltered. The Extreme Weather Shelter will cease to operate within a matter of days unless additional funding is obtained. County staff is actively seeking additional funds. If you would like to make a donation to help keep the Extreme Weather Shelter open on cold and rainy nights, please make your check payable to the Mayor’s Fund and mail it to P.O. Box 2859, Fort Bragg, CA 95437.

Questions regarding this information should be directed to Lynelle Johnson, MCDH Board Chair, at (707) 972-0804.

THE ANDERSON VALLEY GRANGE’S 26th ANNUAL VARIETY SHOW is this upcoming weekend, March 3^rd and 4^th at none other than the Anderson Valley Grange. We will have two separate nights of unique and entertaining acts from near and slightly further. Maybe there’s something in all of this water, because our local variety of folk seem to reliably provide us with some great entertainment every year! Tickets are $10 for adults, and $5 for children under 12. This year, a limited number of tickets will be sold for either Friday or Saturday, to ensure that ticket holders get inside. They are available at the door, and also during the week before the show at Lemons’ Market in Philo and the Anderson Valley Market in Boonville. Proceeds from ticket sales go to the AV Grange. Show starts at 7, doors open at 6:30. Friday night, the AV Teen center will be providing tacos, and Saturday night, Jay will be serving his famous rib dinners to benefit the Fair Booster Club, both dinners will available in the parking lot before the show. The Community bus, formerly the senior bus, will be picking people up at the Senior Center in Boonville at 6 p.m., and at the Philo Post Office at 6:30, so if you don’t want to have to park at the Grange, there is an option for you.

BOYLE’S LAW?

Editor,

The thirtieth AVES Science Fair was another success. We had a total of 30 projects from 2-6 grades. There were also some fantastic demonstrations ranging from the animals on the Savanna to launching a homemade rocket.

Best of show honors went to sixth graders Areli Reynoso, Lisset Ochoa, Fatima Guerra, and Araceli Alvarez-Villegas with their project, “Water Temperature Inflation,” which studied how the temperature of water affected the inflation of a balloon. First place projects included studies of food preservation, crystal making, and whether microwaving seeds helped or hurt their germination.

The Anderson Valley community turned out in force to volunteer by interviewing the students with their projects. Many thanks to: Ric and Alice Bonner, Carolyn Livingston, Cristine Clark, Sandra Nimmons, Geraldine Rose, Dick Browning, Jeanne Eliades, Donna Pierson Pugh, Annie Gibson, Pam Laird, Val Muchowski, Elizabeth Summers, Elizabeth Dusenberry, Jim and Grace Minton, Valerie Hanelt, Hans Hinkenlooper, Barbara Goodell, Grace Espinoza, and Cindy Wilder.

Dr. Kathryn Reddick, Belmo Soto, and Nicole McLain were instrumental in behind the scenes preparation.

On March 11, the finalists from our fair will compete in Ukiah at the Mendocino County Science Fair located at Mendocino College. Good Luck to all!

Vickie Brock

Science Fair Coordinator

THE PREPOSTEROUS UKIAH VALLEY WAR WITH ITSELF

If I decide to sue someone for any reason, I have to gamble my personal funds in payment to a lawyer to assist me in beating that person out of some money and inflicting financial pain. Lawyers love lawsuits, some more than others; but most love lining their pockets with money wagered by people chasing some unguaranteed lawsuit judgment.

When one public agency in a small community decides to sue another public community partner it makes the same decision; it is clearly the same wager only with two stark differences. One, it is putting up citizens’ public funds to finance the gamble; and, two, any success inflicts enormous damage on innocent fellow citizens. The Ukiah Valley Sanitation District Board made a decision in October, 2012 to make this very wager and hired the Law Firm of Duncan James to facilitate it. The firm came back with the lawsuit (UVSD vs. City of Ukiah) in September, 2013; it was approved the same day by unanimous vote of those board members present. As a consequence, over $3 million of UVSD ratepayers’ money has been paid to Duncan James so far.

It must have been maddening to independent people who knew the real facts of this situation to hear about the lawsuit. They knew that a feud had already broken out between the UVSD board and City of Ukiah staffers, city people who are no longer even here; and that this lawsuit represented a pile of raw meat tossed at the feet of the board and embraced by each member with no resistance.

The suit has always been advertised as some altruistic attempt at reparations to past UVSD ratepayers. The fact of the matter is that neither the board nor their lawyer knows how the spoils, if any, will be distributed (re: recording of 8/18/16 UVSD board meeting). Surely checks won’t be mailed to the hundreds or more of ratepayers who have since moved all over the country or to those who have died. For those people this suit is a blatant fraud.

Just like Ms. Hoppe stated in the Sunday paper, this entire endeavor represents a gross misuse of public funds, perhaps even prosecutable fiduciary misconduct by the UVSD board. The size of the spoils of this lawsuit represents a calamitous threat to thousands of households and businesses within the city of Ukiah. It is immoral, and possibly even illegal. It’s hard to imagine any decent member of this community knowing all of this and still supporting it. Consider the outrage you would feel to see this board squander a $27 million judgment in the same cavalier manner in which it has already gambled $3 million of public funds.

This entire situation continues to be an effrontery to all of us. Let this recalcitrant little board, and each arrogant individual member on it, know how you feel about their gambling with public funds and how you feel about the threat this lawsuit represents to the citizens of Ukiah. Please don’t let up; you can find them at www.uvsd.org.

Don Crawford, UVSD Ratepayer

Ukiah

GOOD NEWS FOR POT PRICES

White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer said Thursday that states should expect to see “greater enforcement” of federal laws against marijuana use under the Trump administration’s Justice Department. Spicer suggested that Attorney General Jeff Sessions would be taking a particularly hard look at states that have legalized marijuana for recreational use. Those include California, where sales of marijuana for recreational use are set to start next year.

APPELLATE UPDATE

UKIAH, Thurs., February 23. – The one-of-a-kind convictions of Joan Ellen Rainville, age 57, of Ukiah, have been affirmed by the California Court of Appeals for the 1st District in San Francisco.

Rainville was convicted by jury of two felony counts of assault with a deadly weapon, when in 2013 she drove her automobile through neighbors' fence, almost hitting two people, with a blood alcohol over .26. Rainville had three prior alcohol-related driving convictions prior to the May 2013 incident. She was on probation for driving under the influence of alcohol at the time of May 2013 incident.

(District Attorney Press Release)

CATCH OF THE DAY, Feb 24, 2017

BENJAMIN ABLA, Ukiah. Evasion, possession of meth, ex-felon with firearm, resisting.

THOMAS ADKISSON JR., Laytonville. Failure to appear, probation revocation.

ANTONIO COLLINS, Fort Bragg. Probation revocation. (Frequent flyer.)

JERRY DODD, Seaside/Ukiah. Probation revocation.

DARIN MOFFETT, Ukiah. DUI, drunk in public.

MICHAEL PARKER, Ukiah. Protective order violation.

RON SEVY, Fort Bragg. DUI, suspended license, possession of smoking-injecting device, probation revocation.

THE POET JOHN MILTON and his side had lost their war, just as Satan and his gallant demons had lost their war. Losing even a cultural war is not good for the disposition: I was a sweeter person before our universities yielded to supposed social benignity and chose texts for teaching largely on the basis of racial origin, gender, sexual orientation, and ethnic affiliations of the New Authors, past and present, whether or not they could write their way out of a paper bag.

— Harold Bloom, 2002; from "Genius, a Mosaic of 100 Exemplary Creative Minds"

CAN HEAVY RAIN REALLY CAUSE EARTHQUAKES?

With the recent heavy rainfall in California, scientists expect new opportunities to study possible connections between weather and earthquakes

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2017/02/24/can-heavy-rain-really-cause-earthquakes.html

FEDS DENY DUPING NORCAL COPS INTO IMMIGRATION RAID

http://www.pressdemocrat.com/news/6705880-181/feds-deny-duping-northern-california

THE REALIST: Irreverence was their only sacred cow

by Ron Jacobs

The Realist was a magazine both representative and counter to the times it existed in. Viciously satirical and usually aimed at power (like all good satire should be), it was neither liberal nor conservative, Democrat or Republican, communist, fascist or anything else in between. Its targets were religion, government, corporate America, popular and counter cultures, racism and imperialism. Very little was spared its pointed and often poison pen. The magazine lasted over forty years, from 1958 to 2001 and published a total of 146 issues. When it first appeared, it was unique. Indeed, the only other publication that comes to mind that was even attempting to present something akin to The Realist’s editorial approach back then was Mad Magazine, and its intended audience was adolescents. By the time The Realist was put to bed, its iconoclastic take on the world had been replicated multiple times. However, none of those who followed in its footsteps could ever claim to be as original or as simultaneously respected and despised. The magazine’s founder, Paul Krassner, remains the epitome of what his journal was about.

A typical issue of The Realist included serious investigative reportage (The Awful Truth about Scientology), satirical pieces regarding current news events (The Parts That Were Left Out of the Kennedy Book), perhaps a personal essay from editor Paul Krassner or a contributor (My Acid Trip with Groucho Marx), and cartoons. Lots of cartoons. It is the latter that this review is about. Recently, Fantagraphics Books published collection of hundreds of the cartoons in a beautifully rendered deluxe edition. The collection includes selections spanning the magazine’s existence. Mostly drawn in black and white, the majority of the cartoons are single panels commenting on one of the aforementioned topics. Sometimes offensive, sometimes merely whimsical, and at other times just plain funny, the cartoons are very representative of The Realist itself.

Not everyone will find all of these cartoons funny. Some might even peruse the entire book and barely crack a smile. Others will find at least a few of the comics offensive. Hell, I cringe at a few of them myself. Need I remind the reader that this is what satire can do? The point isn’t to offend, but to force the reader to think; indeed, to rub the reader’s nose in the offensive nature of the culture and society they exist in. It is a culture and society whose norms include war, racism, prejudice, greed, poverty. The fact that satirists and cartoonists find it necessary to offend their readers is directly related to those norms we have learned to accept and ignore, usually at the same time. I would argue the more offensive the reality a society accepts as normal; the more offensive that society will find the works of those who satirize it. Politically, most of the work in this collection could be categorized as left libertarian; it is critical of economic inequality and in favor of social and sexual liberation. That being said, the cartoons reflect the changing attitudes of its forty years of existence, especially as regards women and race. In another indication of the changing attitudes—this time on Israel and Palestine—there are also a few panels that at best reflect a 1968 version of the West’s view of Israel and the Arab people and at worst are racist and just plain Zionist in its uglier form.

Numerous cartoonists are included in the collection. One will find multiple renditions from artists like Richard Guindon and Mort Gerberg. Numerous other cartoonists were published in the magazine, too. These included artists whose underground comix are now considered classics of the genre: R. Crumb, S. Clay Wilson, Dan O’Neill, Jay Kinney and Skip Williamson, to name a few; this particular text does include works from Wilson, O’Neill, and Williamson. Art Spiegelman, the artist who authored the two-volume graphic Holocaust novel Maus, also has some cartoons in this volume. A wraparound cover by Jay Lynch provides an entertaining and colorful addition to the book.

The Realist Cartoons is many things at once. It is a collection of works by some of the later twentieth century’s most adventuresome and innovative cartoonists. It is also a graphic history of those years told from a perspective best defined as countercultural. By telling an alternative history, the reader is also presented with the objective history of the times and events. At the same time, The RealistCartoons serves as an introduction to the radical, occasionally angry, always humorous and iconoclastic magazine called The Realist. If William Burroughs, Lenny Bruce, and Richard Pryor could draw, this would be a book where their work would be right at home.

(By the way, one can access the Realist online archives here.)

(Ron Jacobs is the author of Daydream Sunset: Sixties Counterculture in the Seventies published by CounterPunch Books. His latest offering is a pamphlet titled Capitalism: Is the Problem. He lives in Vermont. He can be reached at: ronj1955@gmail.com.)

ON LINE COMMENT OF THE DAY

The Wall. Some stupidity is so comprehensive it does not require refutation. With a passport I can go to Switzerland but I can’t stay there and become Swiss. Why not? I can’t buy a house, open a bank account, apply for a job, or put my kids in school. I can take $100,000 in my pocket and live on the street for a while but I can’t become “Swiss”. It’s the rules that make the difference not border control.

Who said “tear down this wall”? I think it was a Republican. Who said, let’s build a wall? A Republican. I think we should question their sanity. I have no hard number for how many immigrants we “should” have. I like immigrants–I may even like them better than my current neighbors but whatever plan we adopt to become a citizen should be enforced. I suggest we calculate the fertility rate of the current population and admit the difference to maintain ZPG. If all the legal citizens don’t want to breed then let’s add some extras. That said, I respect Japan. They should maintain their “cultural identity” and shrink to wherever a 1.4 birthrate takes them. It's been suggested they were slated to become first nation back to the Middle Ages.

THE REVENGE OF THE COMET PIZZA

by James Kunstler

Remember that one? It was about as weird as it gets. A meme generated out of the voluminous hacked John Podesta emails that some conspiracy connoisseurs cooked up into a tale of satanic child abuse revolving around a certain chi-chi Washington DC pizza joint. I never signed on with the story, but it was an interesting indication of how far the boundaries of mass psychology could be pushed in the mind wars of politics.

Sex, of course, is fraught. Sex and the feelings it conjures beat a path straight to the limbic system where the most primitive thoughts become the father of the most primitive deeds. In our American world, this realm of thought and deed has turned into a political football with the Left and the Right scrimmaging ferociously for field position — while the real political agenda of everything important other than sex lies outside the stadium.

The Comet Pizza story was understandably upsetting to Democrats who didn’t like being painted as child molesters. Unfortunately for them, it coincided with the bust of one Anthony Weiner — and his infamous laptop — disgraced former “sexting” congressman, husband of Hillary’s top aide and BFF, Huma Abedin. The laptop allegedly contained a lot of child porn.

That garbage barge of sexual allegation and innuendo couldn’t have helped the Hillary campaign, along with all the Clinton Foundation stuff, in the march to electoral loserdom. I suspect the chthonic darkness of it all generated the “Russia-did-it” hysteria that cluttered up the news-cloud during the first month of Trumptopia. The collective superego of America is reeling with shame and rage.

On the Right side spectrum stood the curious figure of Milo Yiannopoulos, the self-styled “Dangerous Faggot,” who has made a sensational career lately as an ideological provocateur, especially on the campus scene were he got so into the indignant faces of the Maoist snowflakes with his special brand of boundary-pushing that they resorted to disrupting his events, dis-inviting him at the last moment, or finally rioting, as in the case at UC Berkeley a few weeks ago.

Milo’s battles on campus were particularly ripe because his opponents on the far Left were themselves so adamant about their own brand of boundary-pushing along the frontier of the LGBTQ agenda. The last couple of years, you would’ve thought that half the student population fell into one of those “non-binary” sex categories, and it became the most urgent mission of the Left to secure bathroom rights and enforce new personal pronouns of address for the sexually ambiguous.

But then Milo made a tactical error. Despite all the mutual boundary-pushing on each side, he pushed a boundary too far and entered the final dark circle of taboo: child molesting. That was the point were the closet Puritan hysterics went in for the kill. This is what he said on a Web talk radio show:

What normally happens in schools, very often, is you have an older woman with a younger boy, and the boy is the predator in that situation. The boy is like, let’s see if I can fuck the gym teacher, or let’s see if I can fuck the hot math teacher, and he does. The women fall in love with these nubile young boys, these athletic young boys in their prime. We get hung up on the child abuse stuff to the point where we’re heavily policing consenting adults, grad students and their professors, this arbitrary and oppressive idea of consent, which totally destroys the understanding many of us have about the complexities, subtleties, and complicated nature of many relationships. In the homosexual world particularly, some of the relationships between younger boys and older men, the sort of coming-of-age relationships in which these older men help those young boys discover who they are, and give them security and provide them with love…. [Milo is shouted down by his podcast hosts]

So that was the final straw. Milo got bounced by his platform, Breitbart News, and went through the now-routine, mandatory, abject ceremonial of the televised apology required by over-stepping celebrities — though he claimed, with some justification I think, that his remarks were misconstrued. Anyway, I’m sure he’ll rebound on his own signature website platform and he’ll be back in action before long.

His remarks about the “coming-of-age” phase of life prompted me to wonder about the boundary-pushers on the Left, on the college campuses in particular, who are encouraging young people to go through drastic sex-change surgeries, at an age before the development of that portion of their frontal lobes controlling judgment is complete. Who are these diversity deans and LGBTQ counselors who lead confused adolescents to self-mutilation in search of some hypothesized “identity?” Whoever they are, this dynamic seems pretty reckless and probably tragic to me. There ought to be reasonable doubt that an irreversible “sexual reassignment” surgery may not lead to personal happiness some years down the line — when, for instance, that person’s frontal lobes have developed, and they begin to experience profound and complicated emotions such as remorse.

Our sexual hysteria has many more curious angles to it. We live in a culture where pornography, up to the last limits of freakishness and depravity, are available to young unformed personalities at a click. We stopped protecting adolescents against this years ago, so why should we be surprised when they venture into ever-darker frontiers of sexuality? It was the Left that sought to abolish boundaries in sex and many other areas of American life. And yet they still affect to be shocked by someone like Milo.

I maintain that there is a dynamic relationship between our inability to act on the truly pressing issues of the day — energy, economy, and geo-politics — and our neurotic preoccupation with sexual identity. The epic amount of collective psychic energy being diverted from what’s important into sexual fantasy, titillation, confusion, and litigation leaves us pathetically unprepared to face the much more serious crisis of civilization gathering before us.

* * *

Postscript: This item from The Stanford [University] Daily newspaper puts a nice gloss on the stupefying idiocy in the campus sex-and-identity debate. Single-occupancy Restrooms Convert to All-gender Facilities: “Single-occupancy restrooms on campus will soon all be converted to gender-neutral facilities due to new California legislature and ongoing administrative efforts. The Diversity and Access Office (D&A Office) has been spearheading the campaign to convert all single-occupancy restrooms….”

Here’s what I don’t get: if a single-occupancy restroom is going to be used by one person at a time, what need is there to officially designate the sex of any person using it? And why are officials at an elite university wasting their time on this?

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

THE MONARCH & THE MYSTERY

Wildlife Film Fest showcases flight of the butterfly

The second evening in a five Friday night series of international wildlife films features “Flight of the Butterflies” (55 min.), the award-winner for best science content at the International Wildlife Film Festival. The screening takes place Friday, March 3^rd, at the Ukiah Civic Center, 300 Seminary Avenue. Doors will open at 6:15 p.m. with live music featuring Chris Gibson and Char Jacobs (Midas Well). Films begin screening at 7 p.m.

The stunning Canadian documentary “Flight of the Butterflies” weaves the life cycle of the monarch butterfly (Danaus plexippus) into a dramatization of Dr. Fred Urquhart’s nearly 40-year-long scientific investigation of the monarch and the mystery of where they spend the winter. The U.S. National Science Foundation awarded a three million dollar grant to Canadian SK Films to develop the film; the resulting production has been compared to “March of the Penguins” in the way it cleverly balances entertainment and education. The Washington Post declared the film a “critic’s pick” and “armchair travel at its most engaging.” It is highly recommended for adults and school-age children.

Also showing, “Medieval Monsters” (10 min.) features the use of macro, slow motion and time lapse filming techniques to reveal the astonishing lives of dueling dragonflies, acid-firing ants and jousting stag beetles in an ancient English forest.

In addition, a surprise short bonus film from the Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation will be shown by special arrangement.

The Redwood Valley Outdoor Project (RVOEP) is proud to present this tour of award-winning films from the International Wildlife Film Festival (IWFF). IWFF is an annual wildlife and conservation-themed film festival held each April in scenic Missoula, Montana. The event draws in hundreds of filmmakers, scientists, and conservationists.

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.

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.

For more information about the RVOEP and a full schedule of films and music, visit the RVOEP website at http://rvoep.org. For further inquires contact Maureen Taylor, RVOEP Education Coordinator, at 707-489-0227.

UPCOMING Workshops & Events

Follow the links below for more info

Sustainable Home Vegetable Gardening

Getting Started with Seeds | Class #1 of this 4 part learning series

FEBRUARY 25 from 10:00am–3:30pm (Lecture 10:00am–1:00pm; Hands-on 1:30pm–3:30pm)

This extended learning series offers four classes of hands-on, brains-on training. MCBG Lead Gardener Jaime Jensen teaches the essential skills to develop a strong vegetable garden for years to come. CLICK HERE for more details.

Rhododendron Propagation

MARCH 18 from 10:00am to 12:00pm with Dennis McKiver, President of the American Rhododendron Society's Noyo Chapter. Learn how to grow rhododendrons from seed and cuttings with hands-on demonstrations.

Call 707-964-4352 ext. 16 or stop by The Garden Store to sign up.

March Pet Adoption Day

MARCH 18 | Mendocino Coast Humane Society will be at MCBG with a bunch of adorable adoptable animals! They will be at the Gardens on the 3rd Saturday of each month March through October with a few furry friends looking for a place to call home.

Monthly Walks...

All walks meet on the Plaza at MCBG and are free with Gardens admission!

Rhododendron Walks

MARCH 11, APRIL 8, and MAY 13 | meet on the Plaza at 1:30pm

Learn about the Rhododendron Collection here at the Gardens, in this monthly walk and talk with local expert and current president of the American Rhododendron Society's Noyo Chapter, Dennis McKiver.

Bird Watching Walks

Join the experts from our local Mendocino Coast chapter of the Audubon Society and learn more about our avian friends.

- Beginning Birding Walk: The 1st Saturday of each month at 9:00am

- Early Bird Walks: The 3rd Wednesday of each month at 8:30am (Nov–Mar)

Natural History and Collections Walks

1st Monday of each month April–October | meet on the Plaza at 1:30pm

Join MCBG Naturalist Mario Abreu to explore the fascinating world of the Gardens. Each walk and talk are different and based on what is blooming at the Gardens.

Looking for a great way to keep track of all of the wonderful workshops and events at Mendocino Coast Botanical Gardens?  CLICK HERE to subscribe to the MCBG Events Feed on Facebook!

CALIF. GOV. BROWN TAKES ACTION TO BOLSTER DAM SAFETY, REPAIR INFRASTRUCTURE AFTER WINTER STORMS

By Christopher Simmons

https://californianewswire.com/calif-gov-brown-takes-action-to-bolster-dam-safety-repair-infrastructure-after-winter-storms/

ORANGE MAN ON THE ATTACK

Journalists from a number of news outlets were blocked from entering a White House press briefing Friday — just hours after President Trump’s railed against “fake news” and reiterated charges that the media is the “enemy of the people” during a speech to the Conservative Political Action Committee.

Reporters from The New York Times, CNN, Buzzfeed and Los Angeles Times were among the outlets that were banned from the off-camera gaggle with Sean Spicer, the White House press secretary.

Reporters from NBC News, CBS, ABC, Fox, Breitbart News Network, Washington Times and One America News Network were allowed to attend Spicer’s briefing.

The Associated Press and Time magazine boycotted the briefing.

A daily press briefing had not been scheduled following President Trump’s speech, however reporters were told a gaggle would take place in the briefing room.

In his CPAC speech, Trump criticized the media and said, “I want you all to know that we are fighting the fake news. It’s fake, phony, fake.”

Trump’s statements came one day after CNN reported that the FBI rejected a White House request to publicly “knock down” claims that Trump’s advisers were in touch with Russian intelligence officials during the presidential elections.

MORE GOVERNMENT PER CAPITA THAN ANY OTHER CITY IN THE STATE

Point Arena City Council

Mayor Scott Ignacio ~ Vice Mayor Barbara Burkey ~ Richey Wasserman ~ Anna Dobbins ~ Jonathan Torrez

Agenda - February 28, 2017

REGULAR SESSION – 6:00 P.M.

1. CALL TO ORDER & ROLL CALL

III. READING – Councilmember Wasserman

1. APPROVAL OF AGENDA
2. 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. 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. The public will be allowed to speak concurrently with the calling of an agenda item following the staff presentation of that item.
3. CONSENT CALENDAR Notice to the Public: All matters listed under this category are considered to be routine by the City Council and will be enacted by one motion. If a member of the public would like an item on the Consent Calendar pulled and discussed separately, the request shall be made to a Councilmember prior to the meeting. Unless a specific request is made by a Councilmember, the Consent Calendar will not be read. There will be no separate discussion of these items
4. Approval of City Special Council Meeting Minutes – January 14th, 2017
5. Approval of City Regular Council Meeting Minutes – January 24th, 2017

VII. COUNCILMEMBER REPORTS – Items in this agenda section are informational or scheduling purposes only

1. Council Committee Updates
2. County & Regional Assignment Reports

VIII. REPORTS/ACTION ITEMS – all items in this Agenda section are for discussion and possible action.

Treasurer’s Report – December 2016

Presentation about Code Enforcement program for Point Arena by Trent Taylor of Taylor Code Consulting, Inc.

Presentation by Karen McBride & Mary Fleming from “Rural Communities Assistance Corporation” About Services Offered by RCAC

Property Owner Request for Partial Refund of Annual Sewer Fee for Tax Year 2015-2016 for 255 Main Street

Request for Cost Share for Drainage Ditch Maintenance and Driveway Repair at 425 Lake Street.

City Attorney Contract Renewal

2016-2017 Mid-Year Budget Review

2017 Council Strategic Planning Session (continued)

1. CITY MANAGER/CITY ATTORNEY REPORTS
2. FUTURE AGENDA ITEMS (next 45 days)

City Fee Schedule

Special Council Meeting March 21 (possible)

Next Regular City Council Meeting March 28

1. ADJOURNMENT

If open session items cannot be completed by 9:00 p.m., the meeting may be adjourned to the next regular meeting or Council may vote to extend the meeting