Mendocino County Today: Wednesday, March 15, 2017

• Wright Arrest
• Zip Ties
• California Bar
• Little Dog
• Humco Immigration
• Police Report
• Hungry Animals
• FB Notes
• Nice Photos
• Shoeless Coach
• Election Rigging
• Yesterday's Catch
• Clintons ♥ Trump
• EventualCare
• New Orleans
• Corporate Capitalism
• Obamacare Decision
• Two Poems
• MLT Recognition
• Wildlife Films
• Adoptable Pets
• People Power
• Vote Sako
• Montessori Introduction
• Gardens Events
• Chanting
• Library Events
• Water Plan

PLAYING POST OFFICE

by Derek Hoyle

A minor kerfuffle occurred at the Post Office in Fort Bragg late Monday afternoon, when long-time critic of KZYX board malfeasance, general activist, and crusader against public wrongdoing, Jeff Wright, was arrested while attempting to address an issue with the Post Office staff that he feels is unjust.

Apparently, Mr. Wright was collecting his mail and then requested to speak with Postmaster Denice Sisco about the recent and severe reduction of the lobby hours allowing access to the Post Office boxes, which has negatively affected many boxholders.

He nearly avoided arrest only weeks ago, after staging what he referred to as a "one man protest" over the lobby hours, and that so-called protest only brought three officers, at that time he wasn’t arrested, he was instead invited by Post Office staff to come back during business hours and speak with the Postmaster about the issue.

I was tipped off to the incident by none other than Fort Bragg’s Paul Bunyan his own self, cleverly disguised as Mike Stephens, who witnessed the four police officers involved in the hoopla, as they arrested and packed up Mr. Wright and his bicycle to the police station.

After some research, I was unable to determine if Mr. Wright had been detained and released, or arrested and taken over the hill to the jail in Ukiah, until 11:40 PM, when I accepted a collect call from the Low Gap Detention Center, from one Jeff Wright.

He told me Postmaster Denice Sisco basically stonewalled his questions, and was quite rude while doing so, and that she insisted that the Police arrest Mr. Wright for trespassing, not even giving him a final chance to leave the premises.

Then Mr. Wright informed me that not only was Postmaster Sisco beyond brusque, she was also punitive, and had called the Federal Postmaster, who within hours, canceled his fully paid up Post Office Box, and barred him from the Fort Bragg Post Office, all with no due process.

Now Mr. Wright, an older Air Force Veteran, who rides a bicycle for transportation, has to find another Post Office to get his monthly check, which is at least 5 miles away, so that action appears to be swift and vindictive punishment for complaining and asking questions.

Mr. Wright hopes that he’ll be released in the morning, and can take a bus back to Fort Bragg, after that I believe he’ll be looking into legal recourse for his trouble, so the story continues.

SHERIFF'S OFFICE ZIP TIE PROGRAM

The Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office is pleased to announce that we will resume sales of voluntary zip ties for Medical Marijuana immediately. The zip ties are voluntary and serve the purpose of identifying legal marijuana plants in the field saving Mendocino County Sheriff’s Deputies time when they encounter these plants. The program was temporarily halted while the Board of Supervisors worked on the new county ordinance. Although that ordinance is not completed it will not affect those growing legitimate medical marijuana for personal use. To purchase voluntary zip ties you must come to the Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office stations in Ukiah or Fort Bragg and present a valid medical recommendation and current government photo ID. The cost of the zip ties remains at $25.00 each. This fee may be discounted by fifty percent (50%) for Medi-Cal, SSI and CMSP recipients, and equivalent income qualified veterans.

(Sheriff’s Office Press Release)

THIS STORY led off SF Gate this morning: “Calif. bar exam too tough? Critics ask to lower 'cut score’.”

I defy anyone to spend more than one hour in any courtroom in Mendocino County and say that the Bar exam is too tough.

LITTLE DOG SAYS, “They told me they've got a midget in the armor ready to smack me. That's how dumb they think I am!”

HUMCO SHERIFF ON IMMIGRATION

In recent weeks there have been several inquiries regarding the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office policy regarding immigration enforcement and cooperation with the Department of Homeland Security; US Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

The Sheriff’s Office recognizes that Executive Orders from President Trump and immigration laws are a complex and sensitive matter and this has been highlighted in recent weeks. I acknowledge the necessity of communicating with all federal law enforcement regarding dangerous criminals booked into county jails. This need arises from a desire to protect all members of our community from those who pose a credible public safety threat, not from a desire to enforce immigration law on a day-to-day basis. As the Sheriff of Humboldt County, I serve to protect the public safety above all else.

The Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office mission is to provide competent, effective and responsive public safety services to the people of this community. We recognize our responsibility to maintain order, while affording dignity and respect to all persons. We hold ourselves to the highest standards of professional and ethical conduct while serving the people of Humboldt County.

Enforcement of immigration laws is not the job of the Sheriff and my office does not and will not conduct proactive or reactive immigration enforcement duties in this community. Our #1 priority is to investigate crime and make our community safe. My office would like to encourage the community to continue to report crimes and to seek protection and assistance from the Sheriff’s Office, regardless of their immigration status.

Mike Downey,

Sheriff, Humboldt County

ANOTHER MASTER CRIMINAL OFF THE STREETS

On March 8, 2017 at about 6:00 PM, Deputies from the Mendocino County Sheriff's Office responded to the report of a vehicle burglary at the Talmage Bridge in Ukiah, California. Upon arrival Deputies found a vehicle had been burglarized wherein a chain saw and a fuel can was stolen. Continued investigation revealed the items were hidden in the brush about 30 yards from the scene of the crime. Deputies set up surveillance at the location with the assistance of officers from the Ukiah Police Department. At approximately 8:00 PM Deputies saw a vehicle pull into the location where the crime had occurred and subsequently left the location driving onto Babcock Lane. Deputies were able to determine the saw and fuel can had been loaded into the vehicle and a traffic stop was initiated on the vehicle near the intersection of Babcock Lane and Talmage Road. Deputies contacted the occupants of the vehicle and quickly located the stolen property. A continued search of the vehicle revealed methamphetamine and a methamphetamine smoking pipe. Further investigation revealed a passenger in the vehicle Dale Kleinsorge, 52, of Ukiah, was responsible for the earlier vehicle burglary. Kleinsorge was arrested and booked into the Mendocino County Jail on the listed charges where he was to be held in lieu of $15,000 bail.

NATURE NOTE

Norman de Vall asked Ronnie James: Where have all the raccoons gone? For the past decades they would find any morsels around the house. This year they are gone? Any idea?— Norman de Vall

* * *

And she answered:

The drought had a massive impact on the food chain and all the wildlife that are part of it--except maybe deer. There was also an epidemic of distemper that swept through here a little while ago--due to the drought and people who don't vaccinate their animals. Our raccoon population is very low right now. Keep putting out scraps though, fox, skunk, opossums and raccoons will surely find it eventually. This is the time of year when food is at its lowest--none of the spring babies are born yet and none of the spring vegetation has fruited, so someone will surely appreciate your scraps--especially if they are about to raise a family. By the way, if you see nocturnal wildlife out during the day--it's because they can't find enough food to feed their babies during the night and need to do some extra hunting during the day--spread the word. They are not sick, only hungry.

R.

FORT BRAGG NOTES

by Rex Gressett

Mayor Peters, as a councilman, initially supported the Hare Creek shopping center. After becoming mayor he kept his pledge to be open and accessible to the people of the city. Understanding from his conversations with the public the depth of indignation and the passion for this green space he reasonably changed his position to support the preservation of the property. Under small pressure he called the owner and obtained from them a price.

First base.

The Fort Bragg City Council last night heard an eighteen thousand dollar report, from marketing guru Carl Ribaudo of SMG marketing (pronounced smug I think) on how we might market our little village to the wider world and so garner to our community much needed money from well padded tourists.

To slightly recap. At the last election Fort Bragg approved an increase in the transit occupancy tax measures AA and AB. This TOT is the surcharge on hotel rooms that is added to your bill as a city tax. Two hundred thousand dollars of that increase in revenue was allotted at the election (AB) for the promotion of the city. This neat symmetry between the source of tax dollars and the use of the dollars to benefit the source of the money has a natural logic that prevailed in the election.

In one of the first instances hinting at the possible existence of city council backbone. The city manager was originally told to keep her hands off the marketing enterprise and the ad hoc committee Visit Fort Bragg was formed and tasked to do the cities tourism marketing. They did it wonderfully well. But the city manager, remembering all slights, lay waiting in her patient and predatory way to recoup losses and for vengeance. Last night she got it.

Imported marketing guru, Carl Ribaudo president of SMG marketing research, presented a simple flow chart of obvious common sense suggestions not evidently tailored to Fort Bragg but presented as though they were. As he spoke to the council he made the point repeatedly that he knows whereof he speaks. He gave to the city for their eighteen grand not only a report but the kind of patronizing condescension that greatly reassures bureaucrats when they are out of their field. Everyone was pleased.

He told us that people come here more than anywhere on the coast. I guess he meant Cleone or Elk. He told us that people come back. Why not? But mostly he told us to do what the Visit Fort Bragg committee was doing. Instagram Twitter Facebook. He wisely told us to do more of it if we wanted greater results. And then in a kind of ecstasy of marketing enthusiasm he pointed out that there are actual reasons that people come here: scenery and clean air and all that. With that he sat down on his wallet.

Under close questioning from the council, city manager Linda Ruffing managed to confess that practically speaking Visit Fort Bragg, which has done such a great job was now a dead animal destined to be buried and forgotten in exactly six months. She did not put it exactly that way, but it was what she said. Marie Jones, doing her best, swore she would, I am quoting here “work her little heart out” to do the job that the best professionals in our town have been doing successfully. She was humble but sincere. I see no reason why an untrained bureaucrat with a long record of failure and no experience should not do our marketing; neither apparently did the city council.

Then without a hint of irony or apparent awareness of any connection to the marketing presentation, the city council working late — the meeting went on from 6:00 to 11:00 — turned their attention to the mill site and the possibilities for the realization of a workable plan of development.

What they were discussing was the great green arch of pristine coast that precedes and crosses and follows the city. What they were grappling with was the abject failure of city hall for 15 years to effect a workable plan for the central 420 acres of that arch, the GP mill site. What they proposed was to scrap the vision thing and divide the property up to sell piecemeal to local interests (one supposes North Coast brewing) and specifically to rezone that property to make it all happen. No one on the council seemed to see the connection between the mill site acreage and the attraction of the city to tourists. Hare Creek to the south is not seen by anybody on the council as relating to tourism, and no one on the council has addressed Pudding Creek at all other than to covet the state insurance money that might result from the partial failure of the dam this winter.

They talked a great deal without saying anything at all. The point was not to discuss, not to debate, not to consider anything, but rather to find an acceptable rationalization for the stunning idea that selling the mill site in bits and pieces was as reasonable as any other proposed use. In the long history of community meetings no one to my knowledge had ever suggested that strange alternative. The city council was thinking outside the box. Marie Jones, the development director, was rambling on and making very little progress doing it. Rationalization is not for the terse. There were five businesses she intoned that were already in the hat, and who wanted to turn the most valuable and beautiful piece of coastline in California into (private factories I guess). The irony of turning the coastline, they wanted people to come see, into an industrial park was not apparent to the council.

Out of a refined professional reticence which the council fully understood Marie felt she could not name these applicants. One however she blurted was in escrow. ESCROW? Quite suddenly, although no one touched a switch, the lights went on. Here it was — the reason for the unexpected appearance of DTSC last month. Here was the reason DTSC wanted to call it a day and leave the toxins alone already. Here was the explanation for the abandonment of planning and the resort to no planning that they proposed. Their buddy had cash on the table, a contract with GP and no value at all in their investment if the City Council was not in the bag. Whoever it is has the juice to pull the big levers.

You won’t read that in the Fort Bragg Advocate.

TRAVEL ADVISORY

David Severn Writes: Finally Mendocino County has ridded itself of the monotonous homage to wine and placed a delightful collection of photographs for the walls of the administration building on Low Gap Road. Jendi Coursey of Indigo Studios has grouped a series of 4 or 5 large and beautiful photos for each of the 5 county supervisorial districts that is well worth a look-see if your over that direction.

NELSON’S CIRCUMSTANTIAL T

Editor,

As someone who's long appreciated Zack Anderson's recollections as an Anderson Valley High School Panther, I will share a long-ago scene I witnessed as an assistant to long-time small school coach Duane Nelson (Laytonville, Willits, Lower Lake). Nelson, who was mentored by the storied Gene Waggoner, and his LHS Warriors, were engaged in a dogfight of a title game against the Potter Valley Bearcats in that team's wraparound standing room only gym. In the final minutes, down by a few points, a questionable foul against the Warriors brought him to his feet; his intensity and an array of faces — outrage, gobsmacked, disbelief! — could both entertain and infuriate hostile crowds, but mostly the latter. But, wow, did he know how to coach.

The teams lined up at the free-throw line but Nelson's loud protests delayed the shot while one ref jogged over to explain the call and calm him, to no avail, and as the ref turned from Nelson and returned to the line, the coach made an energetic kicking motion in disgust — and hundreds of maddened fans watched as Nelson's dress shoe flew across the court and was stopped by his star forward, Josh Firks. The Bearcats fans were apoplectic, jumping and screaming and pointing at both the coach and Firks, who quickly hid the shoe between his own feet and assumed a wholly innocent face. The whole crowd made such a din that the shot was again delayed while the refs huddled at center court — but the din was such that they remained clueless. One ref jogged to the scorer's table and at that instant Firks used his leg like a hockey stick and slapped the shoe back toward Nelson, again unnoticed by the refs. The shoe slid under the team bench — and a moment later the ref was standing by Nelson, looking at his one-sock-only feet. He called the technical foul based on circumstantial evidence!

Nelson called timeout, told his team they were being robbed and "homered" out of the title — and the Warriors rallied for the win. I recall a sheriff's deputy getting us onto the bus and out of there.

I thought of this all two weeks ago while watching coach Josh Firks’ LHS Warriors take down the Mendocino High School Cardinals for the league title.

Neil Boyle

Fort Bragg

FROM THE AVA ARCHIVES (April 5, 2000):

KZYX’s Rigged Election: Karen, Jill, Els, & Johanna fixed it for Ottoboni

by Mark Scaramella & Bruce Anderson

“I don’t see how it’s possible for anybody to rig an election.”

—Barbara Lamb, KZYX programmer

Watch this, Barbara. Here’s how you rig an election. As you will see, it takes some doing, but it’s doable — done-able, at KZYX just this March.

There were no allegations of fraud during the recent vote of the membership to elect new people to the KZYX board of directors, but they’re elected separately from the programmer’s representative. The person representing the people who go on the air, for some reason known only to the odd bureaucratic brain who devised the station’s processes, is elected separately. Normally, no one cares who represents the record spinners and the station’s non-verbal talk show hosts and hostesses, but a lot of people cared this time because control of the station was at stake.

The recently elected KZYX board majority went to great lengths to ensure that Karen Ottoboni kept her seat on the Board as Programmers’ Representative. Ottoboni and her supporters seem to think they’re in a death struggle for the soul of the station, not that it has ever been what one of its blues programmers might call soulful. Programming, dominated by NPR’s pre-recorded offerings piped in from Washington, DC, is predictable and safe.

But if Karen Ottoboni had lost her fight to remain on KZYX’s board of directors, she and her supporters seem to feel that KZYX programming would somehow become more conservative, more dominated by the neo-suburbanites who provide more and more of KZYX’s funding. However, it is clear to most station insiders that the Ott-ites want station Manager Laura Miller fired more intensely than any concern they might have about the direction of KZYX’s on-air menu. Why they want Miller fired is unknown; she’s only been station manager for a year and most people connected with KZYX seem pleased with her job performance.

The putschists, having committed election fraud to get Ottoboni re-elected programming rep and a member of the KZYX board of directors, compromising their Ukiah guarantors Robertson & Associates in the process, now have a board majority for Miller’s removal.

To the person looking from the outside in, the latest contretemps at the station seem no more significant than many previous petty personality conflicts between child-like egotists; opaque infighting has characterized the station’s internal workings from its one-man creation a decade ago.

So then, in the just concluded Ottoboni re-election, only the station’s programmers voted. Robertson & Associates, the Ukiah accounting firm, nervously certified the election. Karen Ottoboni received 36 votes, her opponent, Steve Garner of Elk got 34 votes.

But that’s not the whole story.

Ottoboni’s two-vote margin of victory was achieved by votes from persons who may or may not be programmers at KZYX. At least two persons known to have cast programmer ballots had never been programmers at any time, but had been guests on Els Cooperrider’s environment program.

Although Robertson and Associates have affixed their unwitting imprimatur on Ottoboni’s re-election, nobody knows for sure what a programmer is and Ottoboni and her friendly board majority haven’t produced either the names of her mystery margin or a definition of what constitutes a KZYX programmer.

KZYX has never trusted itself to conduct its own elections, with good reason it seems. The non-profit, tax-exempt station’s overseers are selected by vote conducted by paid Ukiah accountants. The accountants send out ballots to the membership based on membership lists supplied to them by KZYX in Philo. The membership votes and sends their ballots back to Ukiah. As with the vote for station trustees, Robertson & Associates conducts the separate election for programmer’s representative. The programmer’s rep is also a voting member of the station’s board of trustees.

Board member Jimmy Humble, the station’s one-person “election committee,” began the programmer election process in early January by asking station manager Laura Miller for a current roster of programmers from which Robertson & Associates would dispatch ballots giving programmers a choice between Steve Garner and Karen Ottoboni.

Miller delegated the request for a roster of programmers to KZYX staffer Jack or “C.J.” Tyselling. Tyselling, who has since become a female person called Lili Dubois, subsequently turned the task over to two unnamed station volunteers, one of whom was known to want Ottoboni off the board.

Although the station maintains a sort of pro forma contract with each programmer consisting of a pledge from the programmer to abide by station rules, these “contracts” — indeed the names of the programmers themselves — are haphazardly maintained. It isn’t clear who’s presently an on-air person, who’s a substitute, who’s signed a programmer’s agreement, who’s on sabbatical, who won’t come on with whom to discuss what, what name the programmer uses on the air, whether or not the programmer is on probation for one offense or another, or even what the programmer’s current address and phone number is.

The chaos worked to the ultimate advantage of Ottoboni, the Yorkville homesteader. She and her supporters, including her long-time companion, Jill Hannum, wasted no time updating the programmer’s roster to the advantage of Ottoboni.

KZYX affairs are complicated by a furtive secrecy comically disproportionate to its grammar school-quality office politics. In-house scheming is constant and intense even though there is clearly a broad consensus among the membership that the station’s bland mix of non-controversial talk and music constitutes a public radio station for Mendocino County. KZYX’s evening news is a sort of idiot’s brew consisting of statements from persons on opposite ends of local controversies served up without context, analysis or, typically, follow-up.

Among Mendocino County’s radio stations, KZYX listener ratings are consistently among the lowest-rated, according to staffers at at least one rival FM station. Untrue, says a KZYXer. “We’re the most listened-to radio station in Mendocino County. The other stations are just jealous.”

That claim may or may not be true; who’s to measure? How to measure? It depends on how you count listeners. But it’s odd that KZYX prepared a brochure boasting of the dominance of its audience over all others the station never mailed out to advertisers, er “underwriters.” NPR stations wouldn’t do anything so crass as engage in the grubby haggling of grassroots free enterprise, one of many delusions characteristic of the higher propaganda offered three times a day by National Public Radio.

The nut of the current dispute is between an endlessly pious cadre of self-certified local activists and conservative-to-Clintonoid retirees, most of them quite wealthy. The latter are arrayed behind station manager Miller, the former behind Ottoboni.

In the middle of this bitter but obscure struggle are people who really don’t care one way or another who represents them so long as blather continues or the music never stops, their thumbs are moist in their mouths and their toes are a tappin’.

It is no surprise that the simple term “programmer” eludes definition at a radio station whose ubiquitous on-site supporters have worked to undermine the persons they’ve hired to manage the place all the way back to its founding father, Sean Donovan. Donovan, by the way, got the public radio station up and running without involving the public. Then he presented the public a $28,000 bill for his organizational services and moved on to a station in Alaska where his boorish abrasiveness quickly got him fired.

Back to the future. As the KZYX search for its roster of programmers began this January, a virtually Talmudic argument about how to define “programmer” also commenced. The Ottoboni forces seemed to define programmer as any person who has ever played a record on the air at the Philo station or, if they’re two votes short, any person who has appeared on a program as a guest who is likely to support Ottoboni.

The persons arrayed behind Garner, who seems to have had no idea what he was in for when he agreed to run for programmer’s rep, thought programmer meant any person who appears regularly on the air.

“We should have a policy on what a programmer is, but there is no policy and there has been no written decision on it,” a station insider says.

But persons who do not now consider themselves programmers got ballots in the just-concluded programmer’s election. The current programmer roster is out of date and a number of the addresses on the present roster are incorrect. Some of the persons listed as programmers have since disappeared, several may no longer be among the living. KZYX doesn’t know how many people actually got ballots or even who got them because the balloting is handled by Robertson, Inc., the Ukiah accounting firm working at the outset of the programmer’s rep election with the “election committee,” i.e., Jimmy Humble.

It’s not clear, for example, if the legendary Sister Yasmin got a programmer’s ballot. She was taken off the air outside the station’s own procedures for, well, her unfortunate lack of interpersonal skills, but Miss Yasmin still occasionally appears at the Philo mikes to present special programs.

The issue of who’s a voting programmer and who’s not has never been much of an issue because historically nobody coveted the position. But this year, with the station’s board of directors balanced between the “activist” warm-fuzzies behind Ottoboni, and the merely fuzzy-warms aghast at the Ottoboni-ites maneuvering against station manager Laura Miller, the aghast fuzzy-warms urged Elk music programmer Steve Garner to run against Ottoboni.

The ensuing contest to represent the programmers became contentious, and the faction-fighting kicked in, with both sides telephoning programmers to lobby for either Garner or Ottoboni.

At first a list of 90 or so programmers was dispatched to Robertson & Associates in Ukiah. But Robertson & Associates promptly notified KZYX by letter that it wasn’t clear who was eligible to vote; there was not a precise description of what constitutes a programmer. The accountants firmly suggested that KZYX’s definitions be defined, a task still not completed or even addressed as of the first week of April. Soon after the list was sent to Robertson & Associates, Cooperrider et al got hold of a copy and realized that Ottoboni’s re-election was in doubt.

Board President Cooperrider then called an emergency board meeting to address the Ukiah accountant’s perplexed letter forcefully suggesting that the knotty problem of who and what is a KZYX programmer be resolved. The one-man Election Committee (and Board member) Humble refused to even attend, apparently having had his fill of the roster machinations. Several other board members couldn’t make the meeting because they hadn’t been notified about it in time to attend.

Only three board members, Els Cooperrider, Johanna Cummings and Guy Rowe (since resigned in disgust) attended the momentous session that would finally decide who was a KZYX programmer and which list of programmers Robertson & Associates should use to dispatch ballots for programmer’s rep.

Despite there not being a quorum present to constitute a legal meeting of the KZYX board of directors, the three directors who did show up valiantly plunged ahead with their mission: What is a KZYX programmer? Would we know one if we saw it? Does it eat pizza? What kind of music does it like?

The intrepid trio of trustees spoke to Miller, DuBois/Tyselling and former programming director Scott Southard about how to define “programmer.” Opinions were offered about who should be on the list and what a programmer is. (Volunteer programmers are considered “unpaid employees” under the California Corporations Code. Technically, they are supposed to be treated like employees, with certain rights and obligations. But — 1. employees don’t really have many rights unless they’re unionized, and 2. KZYX has never honored its or the FCC’s procedures when the station’s dominant personalities have felt the rules were inconvenient to their dominance.)

As the February three-member emergency board meeting continued on into the night, the non-quorum attempted to also determine the final programmer roster to meet the looming election deadline. Unkempt file folders bulging with programmers past, present, mythical, deceased, disappeared, unknown were presented and reviewed, but no decision was made as to what the criteria should be for determining who is and who is not a programmer although there seemed to be consensus agreement that a dead person was probably unable to fulfill programming duties. (This radio station is over ten years old, believe it or not.)

But immediately after this irresolute session ended with the three trustees and their on-site staffers still scratching their heads about how to define programmer, an email list of 11 supplementary programmer names began circulating. It was accompanied by an authoritative but unsigned note saying, in effect, “A board majority has agreed that these names should be submitted to Robertson & Associates. Will you approve?”

Five board members, constituting a board majority, were reached by telephone at their homes by one or another of these three persons: trustees Els Cooperrider, unelected busybody Jill Hannum, and the forceful trustee Johanna Cummings and urged to approve the 11 new Ottoboni-friendly programmers. The five trustees said yes, apparently not understanding that the 11 names they’d just approved as programmers had been rounded up by the Get Miller Girls, all of whom were of course supporting Ottoboni.

The mystery 11 were rushed to Robertson & Associates and the ballots were mailed out. There were still no criteria for what constituted a programmer; several of the names on the supplementary list were definitely not current programmers, and a couple of the names listed as programmers were people who had never been more than guests on public affairs shows. But they were a cinch to vote for Karen Ottoboni for programmer rep.

Robertson had already sent the first 90 or so ballots out and received some back — how many Robertson did not reveal. They then rushed out the extra 11 ballots and issued the results: Ottoboni was announced the winner by two votes.

Then even more unhappiness descended on the Philo radio station.

Joyca Cunnan, one of the five who voted for the 11-name supplementary addition to the programmer’s roster, stood up during the public comment period of the recent board meeting at which the rigged election results were announced and said, “Of all the votes I ever made in the three years I was a director, the only one I regret was the vote I made to approve that supplementary list of 11 names.”

Cunnan had not run for re-election.

Eventually 97 to 101 people got programmer ballots; no one seems to be certain what the precise number of official ballots is. The best estimate is the 90 or so programmers on the original programmer’s roster got ballots and then, after the Ottoboni crew were finished vetting it, 11 more people were cleared for programmer status, making the total number of eligible voters in the Ottoboni-versus-Garner election 101. The result was 36-34 for Ottoboni, with 70 “programmers” returning ballots to the Ukiah bean counters at Robertson & Associates.

No one can be sure how many of the original 90 or so names got ballots because the station’s address information is out of date. At least two of the original 90 or so names are not current programmers, and at least two of the supplementary list are not current programmers. That Ottoboni squeezed to victory as programmer’s rep by two votes is pure coincidence, of course.

The 11 additional names approved by five board members reached by telephone were not approved in anything like democratic circumstances. The minority trustees did not know about the new names and had not approved a telephone serial meeting of the KZYX board of directors. They didn’t even know the telephone process was underway. The ad hoc 11 were appointed programmers by three women arm-twisting one board member at a time via phone, fax and email. Trustees who may have been inclined to argue against the hand-picked, hurry-up 11 were not invited to participate in the process.

With five board members in line to support the Cooperrider-Cummings-Hannum supplementary list, Ottoboni, programmer rep and therefore a trustee, with a breathtaking hypocrisy spectacular even by KZYX standards, nobly recused herself from voting on the supplementary list on the grounds that she had a conflict of interest!

If democratic principles applied at KZYX, Ottoboni’s election would be invalidated, an open process to establish an official programmer voting list would be employed and the election would be held over again. If the election is not re-done, the station’s board of directors should be sued. (Robertson & Associates seems only vaguely aware that they have been party to voter fraud.)

One long-time station observer states the obvious. “I don’t know why we even have a programmers’ rep on the board. The board is supposed to represent the listeners. If the programmers want representation let them form a bargaining unit and elect their own representative.”

To date the station has taken no formal action on the Robertson & Associates demand that a formal policy and process be put in place to establish and maintain an official programmer’s list. Robertson & Associates second suggestion that a firm and final definition of programmer be established, has also been ignored.

At this point there are two vacant seats that the board must fill by appointment. The KZYX board of directors now consists of an Ott-ite majority of Cooperrider, Cummings, Ottoboni, and DuCharme. And they’re not expected to appoint people who don’t support Ottoboni.

Contrary to rumors circulating in Philo, the next KZYX election will not be conducted in Paraguay.

CATCH OF THE DAY, March 14, 2017

JAMES BRAY, JR., Fort Bragg. Public begging, probation revocation. (Frequent flyer.)

THEO CORCORAN, Talmage. Burglary, receiving stolen property, probation revocation.

MARK GOWAN, Little River. DUI.

RAFAEL MALDONADO-MATA, Ukiah. Probation revocation.

KATHRYN MCEWEN, Fort Bragg. DUI.

JACQUELINE POLLARD, Fort Bragg. Probation revocation.

JAMES QUILTER, Willits. Domestic assault.

DARBI RICCI, Ukiah. Possession of meth for sale, controlled substance, paraphernalia, more than an ounce of pot.

MACHADO TORRES, Ontario/Ukiah. Domestic assault.

JEFFREY WRIGHT, Fort Bragg. Trespassing.

CLINTONS ♥ TRUMP

Editor,

Sidney Blumenthal (“a senior adviser to Bill Clinton from 1997 to 2001,” as described in a recent London Review of Books) neglected to mention one important thing in his piece on the Trump family: the past closeness of the Clintons and Trumps. Bill and Hillary were favored guests at Trump’s marriage in 2005 to Melania Knauss, going on to join the happy couple at the Palm Beach reception. Trump was a generous donor to the Clinton Foundation and made a substantial financial contribution to Hillary’s Senate and 2008 presidential campaigns. “I like him. And I love playing golf with him,” Bill said of his pal Trump in 2012. According to Blumenthal, Trump’s ascent to the presidency represents “the triumph of an underworld of predators, hustlers, mobsters, clubhouse politicians and tabloid sleaze… A world in which the Clintons gave every impression of feeling at home.

Harry Harmer

Eastbourne, England

SINGLE PAYER BERNIE SANDERS MARK CUBAN RALPH NADER INDIVISIBLE — NOT

It’s not a question of whether.

It’s a question of when.

With the accelerating collapse of Obamneycare, it’s only a matter of time.

Single payer is on the way.

But time matters for millions of Americans who are being squeezed by the Democrats defending Obamneycare and the Republicans cutting further into what’s left of the social safety net.

As Senator Bernie Sanders is proving, you have to choose — single payer or Obamneycare.

You can’t defend both.

They are incompatible.

During the 2016 primary election season, Bernie sided with the American people and single payer.

During the general election and since, Bernie settled in with the corporate Democrats and Ombaneycare.

Bernie has yet to introduce his single payer bill into the Senate — despite promises from his health care legislative assistant that he will do so.

(A Sanders aide told one single payer supporter that “Senator Sanders will definitely introduce a single payer bill in the Senate this Congress.” When asked to be more specific, the aide told the caller they can’t be more specific “because we don’t want to give the opposition time to organize against the bill.”)

And at a town CNN healthcare debate with Senator Ted Cruz earlier this year, Bernie embarrassed himself when he was asked a question by a small business owner in Texas.

LaRonda owns five hair salons in Texas and employs just under 50 workers. She keeps it under 50 because under Ombaneycare, more than 50 workers means that she has to buy them health insurance.

“How do I employ more Americans without either raising the prices to my customers or lowering wages to my employees?” LaRonda asked Sanders.

Sanders could have answered – “Well LaRonda, if we had my preferred plan – single payer – you wouldn’t have to bankrupt yourself by buying defective high priced health insurance from for profit health insurance companies. Under my plan, every American at birth gets a birth certificate and a Medicare card. They would be covered and you can hire employees to your heart’s content.”

Instead, Bernie answered with this:

“Let me give you an answer you will not be happy with. If you have more than 50 people, you know what, I think — I’m afraid to tell you — I think you will have to provide health insurance.”

The single payer bill in the House (HR 676) now has 65 co-sponsors. But it’s a rare single payer supporter in Congress who has mentioned it during the ongoing heated debate over the repeal of Obmaneycare.

And many single payer supporters in Congress refuse to co-sponsor HR 676.

Why?

One of those is Congressman Don Beyer (D-Virginia).

When asked why he refuses to co-sponsor HR 676, a spokesperson for Beyer said “Congressman Beyer supports securing affordable healthcare for all Americans.”

“One avenue to that is through a single payer system, a concept he has voiced support for in the past,” the spokesperson said. “This Congress however, with President Trump and Republican majorities in the House and Senate committed to decimating the Affordable Care Act and our Medicare and Medicaid systems, his immediate priority is protecting the healthcare achievements of President Obama.”

The Democrats are pursuing this losing strategy around the country through groups like Indivisible.

Local meetings are being led by professional mediators who are asking questions like — how do you keep people who disagree with you from leaving the group?

Get it?

Indivisible.

At one meeting last week in West Virginia, it was clear that the majority of the people in the room were former Sanders supported who didn’t vote for Clinton.

“That’s why Trump’s President,” said one Clinton supporter. “And that’s why Richard Nixon became President in 1968 because the anti-war Democrats didn’t vote for Hubert Humphrey.”

No blame on Humphrey and Clinton.

It was the anti-war Democrats and the Bernie supporters who caused the problem.

Indivisible was created by beltway Democrats who want to keep the party from fracturing or collapsing.

But the birth of single payer may see the death of the Democratic Party.

And some, like former Bernie staffer Nick Brana, hope that it does.

Brana (draftbernie.org) wants Bernie to bolt the Democratic Party and create a new party — one devoted to issues, like single payer, that made Bernie popular in the first place.

But Bernie is too comfortable with the likes of Chuck Schumer, the Senate Democratic leadership and the beltway Democrats.

That doesn’t mean that a successful single payer third party effort can’t win in 2020.

Last week, Dallas Mavericks owner and rumored presidential hopeful Mark Cuban came out for single payer.

And Cuban has the billions in the bank to make ballot access a slam dunk.

In a recent letter to HR 676 lead sponsor John Conyers (D-Michigan), Ralph Nader wondered out loud “why the 64 members of the House who have signed on to HR 676 – the single payer/full Medicare for all legislation – have not individually or collectively put this proposal on the table.”

“Since the media is all over the drive by the Republicans to replace or repair or revoke Obamacare, there is an obvious opening to make HR 676 part of the national and Washington dialogue. After all, this proposal is more comprehensive, more humane, more efficient and greatly simpler for the millions of Americans who are fed up with complexity and trap door fine-print. Your 64 or more cosigners come from around the country, where they can make news locally on a health insurance policy that is supported by about 60 percent of the American people, according to a recent Pew survey. When 60 percent of the American people can support single payer without a major effort to publicize and support it by the Democratic Party, that’s a pretty good start wouldn’t you say?”

“In today’s Wall Street Journal, no friend of single payer, the lengthy lead editorial closes with these words: ‘The healthcare market is at a crossroads. Either it heads in a more market-based direction step by step or it moves toward single-payer step by step. If Republicans blow this chance and default to Democrats, they might as well endorse single-payer because that is where the politics will end up.’”

“Do the Wall Street Journal corporatist editorial writers have more faith in the energy and initiative of the cosigners of your bill than the cosigners of your bill do?” Nader asked. “At long last, let’s get going on HR 676 besides nominal support by its cosigners.”

NEW ORLEANS RISES

Been to New Orleans lately? It has been completely revitalized and reclaimed. The old dirt dikes are gone and replaced by massive, steel-reinforced concrete ones. A huge amount of money has been invested in NOLA and its surroundings. New Orleans is the one city Louisiana absolutely cannot do without. The tourism revenue generated by New Orleans is staggering. Here is a photo from a couple of weeks ago, a new streetcar line on land below sea level in a completely revitalized neighborhood on St. Claude Avenue: tinyurl.com/zwctvf6

Mike Patrick

“THE RULING CORPORATE ELITES no longer seek to build. They seek to destroy. They are agents of death. They crave the unimpeded power to cannibalize the country and pollute and degrade the ecosystem to feed an insatiable lust for wealth, power and hedonism. Wars and military “virtues” are celebrated. Intelligence, empathy and the common good are banished. Culture is degraded to patriotic kitsch. Education is designed only to instill technical proficiency to serve the poisonous engine of corporate capitalism. Historical amnesia shuts us off from the past, the present and the future. Those branded as unproductive or redundant are discarded and left to struggle in poverty or locked away in cages. State repression is indiscriminant and brutal. And, presiding over the tawdry Grand Guignol is a deranged ringmaster tweeting absurdities from the White House.

“The graveyard of world empires—Sumerian, Egyptian, Greek, Roman, Mayan, Khmer, Ottoman and Austro-Hungarian—followed the same trajectory of moral and physical collapse. Those who rule at the end of empire are psychopaths, imbeciles, narcissists and deviants, the equivalents of the depraved Roman emperors Caligula, Nero, Tiberius and Commodus. The ecosystem that sustains the empire is degraded and exhausted. Economic growth, concentrated in the hands of corrupt elites, is dependent on a crippling debt peonage imposed on the population. The bloated ruling class of oligarchs, priests, courtiers, mandarins, eunuchs, professional warriors, financial speculators and corporate managers sucks the marrow out of society.”

— Chris Hedges

ON LINE COMMENT OF THE DAY

My favorite part of Obamacare was when they stole $700 from my tax return for not having it. Yet, if I had bought it, that would had cost me a minimum of $1300 for the year. Either way, a service I didn’t ask for or receive any service from. If I smoke, which I like to do, that costs me more. Yet, if I want to eat Mcdonald’s twice a day and sit on a couch doing nothing, no extra charge. I thought I read somewhere about no taxation without representation….

TWO POEMS BY JOSÉ IOSKYN

Translated by Louis S. Bedrock

The Loner

Written by José Ioskyn

Translated by Louis Bedrock

 

I am a woodcutter; I am a loner.

I don't want a family or a wife.

I strike large trees with my ax:

They fall to the ground like heads.

 

Behind the doors of Hell

Every night, I watch with joy

As Hera and Aphrodite go in.

The Goddesses of love and marriage,

Holding hands, entering Hell together,

Which is where they belong.

 * * *

The Slave In The Cemetery

Behind the hospital

for disabled veterans

is a small cemetery

where vases hold flowers

that bow down

looking for their owner beneath the tombstone.

 

In the afternoon, a slave

fills the flowerpots with water:

it's his job, the wage is minimal.

On occasions, with broken teeth

and a hole in his smile

he receives a coin from a relative

quickly, surreptitiously

stuck in his pocket

as if performing

an indecent act.

MENDOCINO LAND TRUST EARNS NATIONAL RECOGNITION

Strong Commitment to Public Trust and Conservation Excellence

Fort Bragg, CA (February 22, 2017)

At a time of political change, one thing is clear and consistent: Americans strongly support saving the open spaces they love. Since 1976, Mendocino Land Trust has been doing just that for the people who love Mendocino County. Today, Mendocino Land Trust has announced it has achieved national recognition – joining a network of only 372 accredited land trusts across the nation that have demonstrated their commitment to professional excellence and to maintaining the public’s trust in their work.

“Achieving national recognition is an honor for our Mendocino County community, and we are an even stronger organization for having gone through the exacting accreditation process,” said Ann Cole, MLT’s executive director. “Land Trust accreditation assures our donors, our partners and the public that we are trusted to permanently protect our beautiful part of the world and to make it an even better place for our residents, our visitors and their families. This comes just as we are taking on some of our most ambitious conservation projects ever.”

Mendocino Land Trust (MLT) had to provide extensive documentation and undergo a comprehensive, independent review as part of its accreditation application. The Land Trust Accreditation Commission awarded accreditation, signifying MLT’s demonstrated commitment to excellence and confidence that Mendocino Land Trust’s lands will be protected forever. MLT is the first land trust based in Mendocino County to earn the accreditation seal.

MLT is a countywide nonprofit land conservation group that has protected more than 14,000 acres of land all across Mendocino County. MLT played a vital role in the protection of signature lands that are now part of the state park system including the Big River Estuary, Glass Beach and Caspar Beach. With growing community support, MLT has permanently protected 16 family farms, preserves and forests and has designed and built numerous trails that provide public access along the coast. The Land Trust has five beautiful coastal preserves under permanent stewardship: Pelican Bluffs Preserve in Point Arena, Navarro Point in Albion, and Hare Creek Beach, Seaside Beach and the Ten Mile River Estuary in the Fort Bragg area. The Land Trust also owns and stewards the Noyo River Redwoods Preserve in the Willits area.

“It is exciting to recognize Mendocino Land Trust with this distinction,” said Tammara Van Ryn, executive director of the Commission. “Accredited land trusts are united behind strong ethical standards ensuring the places people love will be conserved forever. Accreditation recognizes Mendocino Land Trust has demonstrated sound finances, ethical conduct, responsible governance, and lasting stewardship.” The process is rigorous and strengthens land trusts so they can help landowners and communities achieve their goals. Almost 20 million acres of farms, forests and natural areas vital to healthy communities are now permanently conserved by an accredited land trust.

MLT is one of 1,363 land trusts across the United States, according to the most recent National Land Trust Census, released on December 1, 2016 by the Land Trust Alliance. This comprehensive report also shows that accredited land trusts have made significant achievements.

A complete list of accredited land trusts and more information about the process and benefits are detailed at www.landtrustaccreditation.org.

About the Land Trust Accreditation Commission

The Commission is an independent program of the Land Trust Alliance, a national land conservation organization. The Commission recognizes conservation excellence by awarding the accreditation seal. More information about land trust accreditation can be found here.

About the Land Trust Alliance

Founded in 1982, the Land Trust Alliance is a national organization that works to save the places people need and love by strengthening land conservation across America. Based in Washington, D.C., and with several regional offices, the Alliance represents about 1,000 member land trusts nationwide.

The Alliance’s leadership serves the entire land trust community — its work in the nation’s capital represents the policy priorities of land conservationists from every state; its education programs improve and empower land trusts from Maine to Alaska; and its comprehensive vision for the future of land conservation includes new partners, new programs and new priorities.

Connect online at www.landtrustalliance.org.

DEEP IN THE WOODS:

Film on world's forests screens at Wildlife Film Fest

The International Wildlife Film Festival’s post-festival tour continues this Friday, March 17, with the screening of an award-winning film that teaches us about the importance of saving the world’s forests. Taking place at the Ukiah Civic Center, 300 Seminary Avenue, the evening opens at 6:15 with the lively music of Gibson Creek featuring Tommie Thompson, John Harper, John Morris, Scott Yandell, and Brian Wood. Films will begin at 7 p.m.

The feature film, “EARTH: A New Wild: Forests” (55 min.), journeys deep into the great forests of the Earth with Dr. M. Sanjayan to discover a new way of looking at these wild places and the animals that live there. Sanjayan, a leading ecologist, speaker, Emmy-nominated writer, and executive vice president for Conservation International, travels into an uncharted area of the Amazon that scientists believe is the most biologically diverse place on Earth. From there he follows unique animal behavior in the Great Bear Rainforest of Canada and then meets the farmers in Portugal’s cork forests. Frightening elephant battles explode on the edge of the forest in Sumatra; in the Amazon, ancient remains help change our perception of how to value the world’s great forests. (Note: Contains tribal nudity. Viewer discretion is recommended.)

Also playing: “Sun Bear” (11 min.) imaginatively discusses the issues of poaching and habitat loss in Borneo from the bear’s perspective.

Tickets are available at Mendocino Book Company or at the door for a $10 suggested donation for adults and $5 for children. Films are appropriate for older children.

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 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.

THE UKIAH ANIMAL SHELTER located at 298 Plant Rd. is proud to announce that we will be partnering with Bissell Pet Foundation and joining shelters all over the USA this Saturday March 18th. With Bissell's financial support all adult dogs and cats in our shelter will have their adoption fees waived. Adopters will need to pay only for a dog license. To see our adoptable pets log onto www.mendoanimalshelter.com. For more information about adoptions email Amy at campbella@co.mendocino.ca or call 467-6453 The shelter hours are 10 am to 4 pm.

ACLU EVENT

Editor,

The first American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) training at the Redwood Coast Senior Center in Fort Bragg on Sat. March 11 drew more than 50 local participants. The live-streamed teleconference was broadcast in 2000 locales throughout the country to help guide citizens concerned with threats to the Bill of Rights by the new administration in Washington.

Among the subjects discussed were health care, immigration, civil rights, and suggested rules for public demonstrations, a virtual protestor's guide to civil discourse on streets, sidewalks and in public parks, as well as the rights that demonstrators have if arrested (such as the right to remain silent). ACLU attorney Lee Rowland said large demonstrations generally require a local permit, but government can’t typically shut down protesters in public places without good reason.

Called People Power, the event broadcast from a sports arena on the University of Miami campus was live-streamed to locations in all 50 states. ACLU Executive Director Anthony Romero said 200,000 people had signed up to attend one of an estimated 2,000 local events.

“We will bring all the lawsuits necessary to defend your rights,” Romero said. “We’ll do the work in the courts. You do the work in the streets. People are motivated. They want to be engaged.”

The ACLU also launched a new grassroots online organizing platform (PeoplePower.org). It’s billed as a way for people considering a local protest or rally to connect and coordinate with others around the country with similar intentions, and to provide details of ACLU initiatives.

Another plan is creation of “freedom cities” around the country that would encourage local officials to pass laws resisting Trump policies such as stepped-up deportations of people living in the country illegally, said Faiz Shakir, ACLU national political director.

For more information: rkarch@mcn.org

VOTE SAKO

My opening statement at tomorrow night's KZYX Candidates Forum, March 15, at 7 pm:

Good evening voting members of KZYX. And good evening to the regulators at the FCC, CPB, IRS, and the CA Attorney General's Office and CA Secretary of State, who may be listening tonight. Thank you for listening tonight.

My opening statement is not a declaration, but a series of questions of the other candidates. Indeed, it's a series of questions I have for the entire Board of Directors at KZYX.

Here we go.

From Section 309 of the California Corporations Code (and I'm reading word-for-word):

(a) "A director shall perform the duties of a director, including duties as a member of any committee of the board upon which the director may serve, in good faith, in a manner such director believes to be in the best interests of the corporation and its shareholders and with such care, including reasonable inquiry, as an ordinarily prudent person in a like position would use under similar circumstances."

I want to know from the other candidates what is your idea of "reasonable inquiry"? What are a director's reasonable inquiry responsibilities?

Also I want to ask, is your idea of reasonable inquiry anything like requesting annual four-year line item information for operating statements, balance sheets and cash flow statements from the GM, as KZYX policy requires?

Finally, I'm asking the other candidates what measures you think should be taken if the GM fails to provide annual four-year line item information for operating statements, balance sheets and cash flow statements?

–John Sakowicz

MONTESSORI 101 
— An introduction to Maria Montessori's life and work.

Presented by Sharon Richardson

Saturday, March 25, 2017 4:00-5:00 PM

Find out about Montessori philosophy used in the the education of children, the method and curriculum. Interact with Montessori learning materials and an experienced Montessori teacher. View a screening of “Creating a Learning Community”, from Montessori Guide, an resource for Montessori practitioners. See why many local families choose Montessori for their preschool and school aged children. This talk is open to anyone interested in learning more about the Montessori method. There is no childcare provided, this is a gathering for adults only, please.

The “new” Albion School
30400 Albion Ridge Road (3.3 mi) Albion, CA 95410
707 937 2968
RSVP (707) 357-3336
srichardson.sprouts@gmail.com

RHODODENDRON PROPAGATION for the home gardener! This Saturday - March 18, 10:00am to 12:00pm in the Gardens Meeting Room at Mendocino Coast Botanical Gardens 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. Since rhododendrons are relatively difficult to propagate the techniques you learn in class can be applied to the propagation of many other plants. Plus take one or more rhody cuttings to root at home! Other topics covered - Explore ground layering and air layering techniques, learn about the tropical Vireya rhododendrons that can be rooted in a glass of water, the history of rhododendron propagation and why we no longer propagate by grafting in the U.S.

Class size is limited, class cost is $20 for Gardens Members and Master Gardeners; $30 for non-members (includes Gardens admission for the day). Payment is due upon sign-up. Please note, all workshop fees are non-refundable unless the workshop has been canceled or rescheduled by the Gardens. Reserve your space by phoning 707-964-4352 ext. 16 or just stop by The Garden Store at MCBG.

OTHER UPCOMING EVENTS:

Docent Training

BEGINS TOMORROW - March 15, 22, and 29

10:00am to 12:00pm

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.

March Pet Adoption Day

March 18

11:00am to 3:00pm

Have you noticed more furry friends strutting about the Gardens in colorful leis and bandanas lately? That may be due to this spring’s frequent visits from the Mendocino Coast Humane Society (MCHS). The MCHS Mobile Adoption Van will be at Mendocino Coast Botanical Gardens 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. SIX PETS WERE ADOPTED at the 2016 Pet Adoption Days... let's keep up the good work and find some wonderful homes for more loving adoptables!

Bee Hive Garden Walk & Learn

April 1, 2017

10:00am to 12:00pm in the Gardens Meeting Room with Christine Casey, Ph.D. of the Haagen-Dazs Honey Bee Haven at UC Davis (Co-sponsored by the Fort Bragg Garden Club and Fort Bragg Bee City Committee)

Spring is a great time to create a pollinator-friendly garden... learn to create a "bee haven" in your own back yard! Flower-filled gardens support countless species of bees and other beneficial pollinators. Bee pollination brings us much of our food and supports most of our wildland plants. Interest in helping bee pollinators has never been greater, but what can you do in your own garden to make sure it is bee-friendly? Christine Casey of the Haagen-Dazs Honey Bee Haven at UC Davis will present a review of common bees, what they need to thrive, and how we can provide that in our gardens. The class will continue out in the Gardens for a look at plants and bees.

Registration for the lecture cost $15 per person and includes Gardens admission for the day. Payment is due upon sign-up. Please note, the class registration fee is non-refundable unless the presentation has been canceled or rescheduled by the Gardens. Reserve your space by phoning 707-964-4352 ext. 16 or just stop by The Garden Store at MCBG.

WOKE UP THIS MORNING…

Chanting in the Abyss of Postmodernism

Woke up this morning and immediately began mentally silently repeating the Krishna mahamantram: Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare. The performance of japa (chanting) will continue until laying down the body in the bed for rest tonight. And then upon awakening in the morning, immediately beginning mentally silently repeating the Krishna mahamantram until laying down the body in the bed for rest at night. Considering the stupidity of postmodernism, there is no reason for me to follow any other spiritual path in the forseeable future. I am sending out this email update because I have been receiving messages from many of my associations regarding how I am doing generally, what my current views are socio-politically, what I believe ought to be done in lieu of the Trumpocalypse and its deconstruction of all environmental governmental entities, and lastly, inquiries as to where precisely I am at spiritually nowadays. Please know that I have a lease at a travel inn located in the lower Nob Hill section of San Francisco until June 1st. I have no plans beyond that. All creative suggestions will be considered. What would you like to do?

Craig Louis Stehr
EMAIL: CraigStehr@inbox.com
Mechanics Institute Library
San Francisco

CALLING ALL CIVIL WAR ENTHUSIASTS!

Local author and Ukiah Daily Journal columnist Gene Paleno will be joining us Wednesday, March 22nd at 2pm to read from his new book, The Porter Conspiracy.

On Thursday, March 16th from 6pm to 7pm the Mendocino County Library, Ukiah Branch is hosting St. Patrick's Day Stories. Come listen to some Celtic folktales just before bed on the eve of St. Patrick's Day! Kids are invited to wear their pajamas and participate in a craft while Barbara Last tells stories about leprechauns and other Celtic lore. This event is free and family-friendly.

On Friday, March 17th from 3:00pm to 4:30pm the Mendocino County Library, Ukiah Branch is hosting a Maker Space - Sun Catchers. Had enough of the dark gloomy rainy days? Chase them away by joining us at the library to create dazzling cut paper window sun catchers. This event is family friendly, free to the public and sponsored by the Ukiah Valley Friends of the Library.

The Mendocino County Library, Ukiah Branch is hosting: District Teens Leadership Council, Saturday, March 18th, 3 - 4 pm. Teens are invited to join the library's Teen Leadership Council (TLC). Teen leaders can volunteer & apply for credit toward community service hours while building their resumes. Teens will have a chance to be heard & make a difference in the community. District Teens Leaders will gain valued skills & experience:

• Collaborating to design our new teen space
• Planning & organizing events
• Recommending books & other materials for library purchase
• Developing leadership & conflict-resolution skills
• Contributing to the Ukiah community by expanding teen resources

Come and find out if this is the group for you! Pizza will be provided.

RESTORE THE DELTA RELEASES SUSTAINABLE WATER PLAN FOR CALIFORNIA

by Dan Bacher

Stockton - Proponents of Governor Jerry Brown’s Delta Tunnels plan constantly claim that the project, called the “California WaterFix,” is the “solution” to addressing California’s water supply and ecosystem needs, while tunnels opponents say it will do nothing to address either.

As a sustainable counter proposal to the environmentally destructive and enormously expensive California WaterFix, Restore the Delta (RTD) today released a survey of water projects and proposals that improve California’s regional water sustainability and provide good-paying jobs.

“California’s Sustainable Water Plan highlights projects in communities statewide that are far smarter investments than Jerry Brown’s controversial and expensive Delta Tunnels (CA WaterFix) proposal,” according to a news release from RTD.

“The Oroville Spillway crisis this winter was a loud warning siren,” said Barbara Barrigan-Parrilla, executive director of Restore the Delta. “The evacuation of 180,000 Californians for two days has brought into sharp focus the need to invest in California’s water infrastructure,. Rather than building out Jerry Brown’s massively expensive Delta Tunnels to serve large corporate farms, we should invest in projects that create good jobs and water sustainability in communities statewide.”

She said federal agencies now considering permits for the Delta Tunnels “remain unconvinced the proposal can meet clean water standards to protect the San Francisco Bay-Delta,” the largest estuary on the west coast of the Americas. The State Water Resources Control Board continues to conduct its permitting review process.

Last week the American Society of Civil Engineers estimated that needed repairs to California’s water infrastructure amount to over $50 billion.

RTD said cost-effective solutions outlined in the California Sustainable Water Plan “help address California’s emerging water needs while protecting the San Francisco Bay-Delta estuary in the process.” These projects improve urban and agricultural water conservation, reuse and recycle water, and capture and store local rainwater.

“The expensive and ecologically suspect Delta Tunnels would starve California cities, counties, and local water agencies of resources that could fund local and regional water projects that deliver a far bigger bang for the buck and create long-term jobs for each region of the state,” the group said.

The introduction to the plan proposes the document as a counter to the controversial California Water Action Plan that supports the Delta Tunnels project:

“This evolving document is offered as a counter to the 2014 California Water Action Plan. While that plan includes many projects that are not controversial and should receive full funding, the plan does not prioritize needed flood control projects which can help to restore groundwater basins and make supply; ignores the multitude of small projects that we need in California to augment regional self-sufficiency; ignores repairing the 678 dams that need repair to sustain our present water supply; fails to plan for upgrading water mains to increase by our urban water supply by 15 percent; and does little to address floodplain restoration.”

The plan points out: “Our infrastructure is failing. The Oroville Dam spillway crisis has shown how far California has fallen behind in essential upkeep of our existing water infrastructure. Recent urban water main breaks, like the one near UCLA, also illustrate California’s water infrastructure maintenance deficit.”

The solutions to California’s water problems discussed in the document include urban water conservation, agricultural water conservation, toxic farmland retirement, floodland restoration, water recycling and stormwater capture. These solutions are spelled out in considerable detail, with examples of current projects and potential sustainable water projects throughout the state listed.

The report cites data from University of the Pacific Center for Business and Policy Research Director Jeffrey Michael, who has said that the investments in water conservation create 15 to 20 jobs per million dollars of spending, “as opposed to the five jobs per million dollars of investment that is touted for the Delta Tunnels.”

The report concludes:

“With so many needs and opportunities for investment in California’s water infrastructure, we believe the Tunnels Project (WaterFix) should neither be approved, financed, built, nor operated. The Tunnels will accelerate deterioration of the Bay-Delta Estuary by starving it of freshwater flow.

The expensive and ecologically suspect Delta Tunnels would starve California cities, counties, and local water agencies of resources that could fund local and regional water projects that deliver a far bigger bang for the buck and deliver long-term jobs for each region of the state.”

For more information, read California’s Sustainable Water Plan.