Mendocino County Today: Sunday, May 28, 2017

• Judy Isbell
• Coan Arrested
• Humco Bust
• Peace Boat
• Cannabis Hearing
• AV Agenda
• Public Hearing
• Lovers/Strangers
• Boonville Sidewalk
• Philo Remodel
• Floodgate Dining
• Navarro BBQ
• Yorkville Cookies
• Little Dog
• Rent Gouging
• 3000 Plants
• Yesterday's Catch
• Whitesboro Breakfast
• Basic Shithead
• Casino Nation
• Cambodian Dinner
• Library Events
• Documentary Recommendation
• Daytime Animals
• Workers' Party
• Dumbing Down
• Drug Warring
• Cahill Autobiography

JUDY ISBELL NEÉ WAGGONER, 58, has died in Palm Springs. Born and raised in Boonville, Mrs. Isbell had been in failing health for some time. She had left the Anderson Valley for Palm Springs to be near her brother, Mickey Waggoner. Judy Isbell is perhaps best known locally from her years as the Postmistress at Navarro. A full obituary is being prepared.

CASPAR MURDER UPDATE— WHO DID IT?

Suspect(s): Kelley Ann Coan, 39 years of age, Mendocino; Alexander Coan, 20 years of age, Mendocino CA

On May 27, 2017 around 3pm Mendocino County Sheriff's Detectives, after conducting follow-up investigation related to this case, responded to the 10800 Block of Docker Hill Road, in Comptche, where they believed suspect Alexander Coan, 20 years of age, might be staying. Alexander Coan, shown in the accompanying photograph from several years ago, is the son of suspect Kelley Coan and had been questioned on the day of the crime and released. At the time Detectives did not believe there was enough evidence to identify him as a responsible party in the crime.

The Mendocino County Sheriff's Office will not be identifying what evidence was later discovered that led them to name Alexander as a suspect and to seek a warrant for his arrest. The investigation has been ongoing since the day of the crime and Detectives now believe he was an active participant in the homicide. The case is being forwarded to the Mendocino County District Attorney's Office for prosecution.

Alexander was found to be staying on Docker Hill Road in Comptche. He was contacted at that location and arrested on a warrant charging him with homicide (187 PC). He will be booked into the Mendocino County Jail and will be held on $500,000 bail.

The Sheriff's Office is requesting anyone with information related to this case to contact the Sheriff's Dispatch Center at (707)463-4086 or the Sheriff's Tip Line at (707)234-2100.

PREVIOUSLY...

On 5/24/2017 around 5:15 PM the Mendocino County Sheriff's Office was contacted by the San Joaquin County Sheriff's Office and was advised that suspect Kelley Coan was in custody in that county. Apparently the suspect facilitated her surrender in that county, after contacting a private attorney. The suspect had been in possession of the victim's vehicle which was also recovered in San Joaquin County.

Mendocino County Sheriff's Detectives are currently enroute to San Joaquin County to conduct an interview of the suspect and to make arrangements to tow the victim's vehicle back to Mendocino County to be processed for evidence.

The suspect has been booked into the San Joaquin County Jail on one count of homicide (187 PC) and is being held on a no bail status.

* * *

On 5/23/2017 around 8:36 AM the Mendocino County Sheriff's Office received a call from a resident living in 42900 block of Caspar Little Lake Road in Mendocino who reported shots being fired west of his location. A deputy was dispatched to the location, searched the area west of the reporting person's location, as well as the main road, but did not locate anything suspicious nor did he hear shots being fired. This area is densely forested with pygmy forest with residences scattered on large parcels throughout the area.

Around 11:12 AM a medical aid call was received from a resident, who lives south of the original caller, requesting and ambulance for a female who was down and injured. Medical units and Sheriff's Deputies responded where they located victim Jamie Shipman, 57 years of age, deceased. The evidence located at the scene indicated Shipman was the victim of a homicide. Sheriff's Detectives, assisted by investigators of the Mendocino County District Attorney's Office, responded and assumed the investigation.

Detectives learned the victim and her husband have lived on the property for several years as did the suspect, Kelley Coan, 39 years of age, and her son, 20 years of age. The investigation revealed the Coan was upset with the victim and her husband about a dispute related to the property they all lived on. The victim's vehicle was missing from the scene. Evidence at the scene led detectives to believe Coan was responsible for the homicide and a warrant is being sought at this time for her arrest on a charge of murder.

The victim's vehicle is still outstanding and is described as a 2009 Chevrolet HHR, California license plate #6JWT270. A photograph of the vehicle is attached below.

Kelley Coan, shown in the attached photograph from 2007, is also outstanding. She is described as a white female adult, 5'06" tall, weighing approximately 140 pounds, with brown hair and hazel eyes.

The Sheriff's Office is requesting anyone with information related to the whereabouts of the suspect, the victim's vehicle, or pertinent information about this case to contact the Sheriff's Dispatch Center at (707)463-4086 or the Sheriff's Tip Line at (707)234-2100.

LOTS OF THIS IN MENDO, TOO

(You’d think these clowns would at least hide the cash)

Humboldt County Sheriff’s Press Release:

On May 25, 2017 Agents with the Humboldt County Drug Task Force assisted by members of the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office, Humboldt County Code Enforcement, Humboldt County Environmental Health, California Department of Fish and Wildlife, and Illinois State Police served two search warrants.

The first search warrant was served at a residence located in the 2600 block of Visser Court in McKinleyville. When Agents arrived they located one of the home owners, 35 year old Rhett Baker along with 30 year old David Garibay. During the search Agents located approximately 200 pounds of processed/packaged marijuana bud, a digital scale, pay and owe sheets and approximately $150,000 in U.S. currency which was seized as proceeds from illegal drug sales.

The second search warrant was served on a rural piece of property owned by Rhett Baker off Route 1 in Humboldt County. When law enforcement arrived several subjects fled into the brush. One subject, 41 year old Adrian Villagrana was captured.

A search of this property revealed two large indoor diesel grows as well as several greenhouses. Both indoor grows and the green houses contained growing marijuana. In addition a loaded firearm was located along with $20,000 in U.S. currency which was seized as proceeds from illegal drug sales. A total of 5497 marijuana plants were being grown on the property.

At this property it was discovered water was being diverted from a nearby creek to supply to the marijuana grow. Humboldt County Environmental Health Inspectors also noted the diesel tanks on scene contained red dye, no hazmat business plan had been filed, no spill control measures were in place, no secondary containment vessels were present, there was unauthorized waste oil on the soil and they had an unauthorized hazardous waste storage (55 gallon drum of used oil). No applications or permits were completed to grow marijuana on either property.

This investigation began almost 18 months ago when Illinois State Police seized approximately 400 pounds of processed marijuana on a traffic stop. They were able to determine the source of the marijuana was located in Humboldt County.

As a result of this investigation Rhett Baker was arrested for possession of marijuana for sale, cultivation of marijuana, conspiracy, money laundering and violation of probation. Mr. Baker will also face charges associated with the above listed environmental crimes located at his rural property. Mr. Garibay was arrested for possession of marijuana for sales and conspiracy. Mr. Villagrana was arrested for cultivation of marijuana, resisting arrest and conspiracy.

This investigation is ongoing and future arrest are anticipated. Anyone with information related to this investigation or other narcotics related crimes are encouraged to call the Humboldt County Drug Task Force at 707-444- 8095 or the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office Tip Line at 707-268- 2539.

VETS FOR PEACE: SILVER'S AGAIN, HE MUST BE A VERY COOL GUY.

Vets For Peace restored a 1950 Quaker sailing boat - that challenged nuke testing in the Pacific. she's called The Golden Rule & she's coming to Noyo next month!

Fort Bragg: Dinner and presentation with the crew JUNE 13 @ 6:00 PM - 8:30 PM

Join the Golden Rule crew and shore support for dinner and drinks at 6 pm followed by presentations at 7 pm.

We’ll share the history of the Golden Rule Peace Boat and discuss nuclear issues today, including Fukushima and the United Nations Nuclear Weapons Ban negotiations.

We are very grateful to Silver’s at The Wharf for their generous contribution of a dock, hotel room and event space in the restaurant —THANK YOU!

The Golden Rule will be moored right at The Wharf Visiting hours are: Monday June 12 noon to 4 pm,

Tuesday June 13 10 am to 4 pm

Wednesday June 14 10 am to noon

If the weather permits we may take people sailing — call Helen Jaccard at 206-992-6364 to get your name on a passenger list. The Golden Rule Newsletter is Out!

We're excited about the upcoming voyage and hope to see you soon!

You can download the newsletter, including the current sailing schedule, and/or view it below!

Please forward widely, thank you!

Our first event of the season is in Fort Bragg at Silver's on the Wharf, Tuesday June 13 at 6 pm. More details here.

Also, Don’t Forget to apply if you are interested in sailing with us! Fill out the form as soon as possible - we set sail from Humboldt Bay in northern California June 10 and arrive in San Diego August 22. While in San Diego all winter, we could use crew, too!

Nadya Connolly Williams

San Francisco

SURPRISE: MENDO POT PEOPLE DON’T LIKE PROPOSED STATE POT REGS EITHER

http://www.ukiahdailyjournal.com/general-news/20170526/emerald-triangle-cultivators-respond-to-proposed-state-regulations-on-cannabis

AV Unified Board Meeting Agenda, May 30, 2017

Agenda 5-30-17

NOTICE OF PUBLIC HEARING: JUNE 26, 2017, 7:00 PM

The Board of Trustees of the ANDERSON VALLEY UNIFIED SCHOOL DISTRICT, at a public meeting on JUNE 26, 2017, at 7:00 PM at the Anderson Valley High School Cafeteria, 18200 Mountain View Rd., Boonville, California, will conduct a public hearing to present the 2017-2018 BUDGET and LOCAL CONTROL AND ACCOUNTABILITY PLAN [LCAP].

The BUDGET and LCAP will be available for inspection at the Anderson Valley Unified School District Office, 12300 Anderson Valley Way, Boonville, California, on JUNE 21, 2017, 8:00 AM to 4:30 PM.

Published June 14, 2017

THE MEAN STREETS of San Anselmo on a Saturday. I spent the day mostly readin’ and writin’, with time out for a movie, "Lovers," with my wife. She wanted to see it, I was apprehensive, and more apprehensive to see that the audience was mostly women. Not to be too big a Mr. Man, enemy of all things good and true, but the title and the gender composition of the audience added up to a predicted painful two hours. But the movie was good, very good, and I recommend you see it. Earlier in the day, I picked up a free chair off the street. A lady walking her dog smiled and asked if she could help me load it, by which time macho senior elder already had the unreasonably heavy abandoned fucker up and in the bed of my truck. Marin people are always nice in a kind of "Sooooooo nice to see you" way. I told the dog lady that the chair would live happily ever after in Mendocino County where she was welcome to visit it if she ever came through Boonville, that we have a big fire pit out back rimmed with easy chairs off the street where we… She laughed, nervously, and walked on. Always wise to stick to the superficialities these days; anything beyond and people get scared.

HERE in the Anderson Valley, the most happening geography in Mendocino County, if not all of NorCal, we have a new stretch of sidewalk in front of Weintraub Village, local home of yoga, a beauty salon, architect Steve Wood, and the recently vacated All That Good Stuff. The fresh sidewalk runs from the re-done Live Oak Garage — re-done into what we don't know yet, but the structure sure looks good — to the south edge of Mr. W's busy parcel, formerly the site of the much-missed Mannix Building. Yes, in Boonville a new sidewalk is newsworthy.

MOVING ON TO Philo, Tommy Lemons and sons are doing a total re-model of the Libby's Restaurant's former home, having literally raised the roof last week as the ancient structure expands upwards and outwards. Multi-skilled as they are, the Lemons boys are able to do all the work themselves, taking an occasional time out to bring back fresh sea produce to Lemons’ Market they catch far off the coast in their sea-going fishing boat home-ported at Noyo Harbor. The re-modeled Libby's will eventually re-open as a breakfast, lunch and dinner place.

CONTINUING northwest, driving cautiously toward Navarro on Highway 128, now a kind of speedway for cars engineered to go 150 miles an hour, all the better to get them faster and faster to the seaside spas of the Mendocino Coast, the pig writing this, disoriented at the gradual transformation of the Anderson Valley to twenty miles of something else, maybe a linear Healdsburg, passes the consensus best restaurant in Mendocino County, the Bewildered Pig, which this oinker hasn't yet managed to sample, being a more food-as-fuel kind of porker than gourmet.

AT THE AMAZING Dave Evan's Navarro Store, the lively and gifted anecdotalist, Guy Kephart, is on the barbecue grill, and you're missing a sure bet for great eating and story-swapping if you haven't met Guy and downed his done-to-perfection "meat to the heat."

YORKVILLE at the Frisco end of The Valley? A mandatory stop created by Lisa Walsh at the Yorkville Market where she has put the ville back in Yorkville and where the busy young mom and her unfailingly pleasant crew preside over a multi-faceted little restaurant and wine bar where I stop twice a week (at a minimum) to grab a bag of the best oatmeal cookies since grandma's. The cookies are a bona fide Anderson Valley legacy baked item, right up there with the late Ruby Hulbert's pies. Yorkville native Sue Marcott, daughter of the legendary Leo, revived the cookie recipe in Home Ec classes at Anderson Valley High School several decades ago as taught by the irreplaceable Gloria Ross. Sue, incidentally, is also a talented musician, and I promise you her oatmeal cookies will definitely get you dancing. As will the Yorkville Market. The Anderson Valley is a' changin'.

LITTLE DOG SAYS, “Call me neurotic, but I think people eating ice cream cones really outhtta do it privately. They're all over Boonville today, these slurping pedestrians, and I say puhleeze… The Japanese, and not to be too uptight a dog, keep all bodily functions, including eating, private.”

HOUSING CRISIS — SAME-SAME EVERYWHERE IN MENDOCINO COUNTY

Editor,

As a response to Ukiah’s housing crisis, the proposed 121 home, environmentally absurd subdivision paving Lovers Lane vineyards misses the objective completely. There is no crisis in Ukiah homes for sale, as anyone who walks or drives around town will remark; nearly every street has one or more homes for sale. And we all know that were the tract homes to be approved (in opposition to existing General Plan law) a good percentage would be converted by out of town speculators to high priced rentals.

It is Ukiah renters who experience the housing crisis. And while new rental construction is underway, in pleasant environments like ours demand always outstrips supply. The crisis always returns regardless of new units built.

The only way a caring community can prevent rent gouging in a tight, crisis market is to institute rent control. Modern (Constitutional) rent control must guarantee the owner a fair return on investment, allowing inflation and improvement costs to be passed through. Ukiah already established rent control for its mobile home parks in 2010. This will make it easy then for our Ukiah City Council to tackle rent gouging by simply expanding it for all Ukiah rentals of three units or more built before the year 2000.

Phil Baldwin

Ukiah

THREE THOUSAND POT PLANTS REMOVED FROM SOCO OPEN SPACE

http://www.pressdemocrat.com/news/7036420-181/sonoma-county-staff-cut-3000

CATCH OF THE DAY, May 27, 2017

SCOTT CHAPMAN, Fort Bragg. Drunk in public, controlled substance, probation revocation.

KELLEY COAN, Caspar. Murder.

MICHAEL DONAHE, Ukiah. Drunk in public. (Frequent flyer.)

EMERY ELLINGWOOD, Kelseyville/Ukiah. Probation revocation.  (Frequent flyer.)

JOSE ESCAMILLA, Ukiah. Drunk in public.

DAVID GONZALEZ-GARCIA, Ukiah. Drunk in public.

SHAWN GOTT, Ukiah. Drunk in public.

JAMES JONES JR., Ukiah. Under influence.

JUSTIN JUSTICE, Lakeport/Ukiah. Drunk in public.

CURTIS KING, Ukiah. Domestic abuse.

STEVEN KING, Ukiah. Petty theft, conspiracy.

JOHN LAIN, Fort Bragg. Vehicle theft, receiving stolen property.

NICOLE MARINO, Ukiah. Domestic abuse, assault with deadly weapon not a gun.

ADAM PEARSON, Ukiah. Parole violation, vandalism.

VICTORIA RULO, Ukiah. Petty theft, receiving stolen property,, conspiracy.

WALTER STOUGH, Albion. Paraphernalia, probation revocation. (Frequent flyer.)

NEESHA WATTS-BROWN, Eureka/Hopland. Probation revocation.

LEONARD WHIPPLE, Covelo. Controlled substance, county parole violation.

WHITESBORO GRANGE PANCAKE B'FAST SUNDAY

A traditional pancake breakfast will be served by the Whitesboro Grange on Sunday, May 28th. Breakfast includes orange juice, pancakes with maple and homemade berry syrups, ham, eggs your way, and coffee, tea or hot cocoa. The public and visitors are invited to join neighbors and community for a hearty pancake breakfast. Adults $8, ages 6-12 half price, children under 6 eat FREE. Breakfast is served from 8 to 11:30 a.m. THANKS to your appetites, the Grange is able to support local families in need, the Albion-Little River Fire Department, Project Sanctuary, Redwood Coast Senior Center, 4-H, Hospitality House, Veterans, food banks and other community service organizations. Whitesboro Grange is located 1.5 miles east on Navarro Ridge Road. Watch for signs just south of the Albion Bridge.

JARED KUSHNER: ‘BASICALLY A SHITHEAD’

(Politico)

Jared Kushner is an abusive landlord and, according to someone who worked for him at the New York Observer, "is basically a shithead."

Harleen Kahlon was an experienced digital media maven when she was hired by Kushner in 2010 to boost the paper’s digital outreach. The two worked closely to redesign the website, with a weekly one-on-one meeting in her office in which Kushner would come in, put his feet up on her desk and check in on the progress of the site’s redesign, for which he hired one of New York’s top digital firms…

At the end of the year, when she went to collect her performance bonus at his real estate office for meeting agreed upon metrics on page views and audience growth, Kushner told her that they couldn’t pay, citing financial concerns, and asked her to “take one for the team.” Instead, Kahlon abruptly quit. Ever since, whenever she sees him on TV or on the streets of New York, she points him out to people as: “the guy that stole my money.”

Just before the election, Kahlon described her former boss on Facebook thusly: “We’re talking about a guy who isn’t particularly bright or hard-working, doesn’t actually know anything, has bought his way into everything ever (with money he got from his criminal father), who is deeply insecure and obsessed with fame (you don’t buy the NYO, marry Ivanka Trump, or constantly talk about the phone calls you get from celebrities if it’s in your nature to ‘shun the spotlight’), and who is basically a shithead.” (Meet the Real Jared Kushner)

CASINO NATION

In a weapons producing nation under Jesus

In the fabled crucible of the free world

Camera crews search for clues amid the detritus

And entertainment shapes the land

The way the hammer shapes the hand

Gleaming faces in the checkout counter at the Church of Fame

The lucky winners cheer Casino Nation

All those not on TV only have themselves to blame

And don’t quite seem to understand

The way the hammer shapes the hand

Out beyond the ethernet the spectrum spreads

DC to daylight, the cowboy mogul rides

Never worry where the gold for all this glory’s gonna come from

Get along dogies, it’s coming out of your hides

The intentional cultivation of a criminal class

The future lit by brightly burning bridges

Justice fully clothed to hide the heart of glass

That shatters in a thousand Ruby Ridges

And everywhere the good prepare for perpetual war

And let their weapons shape the plan

The way the hammer shapes the hand

(Jackson Browne)

ON LINE COMMENT OF THE DAY

I recently watched some YouTube videos featuring some rather attractive young Cambodian farm women fishing – one totes two five gallon buckets and an adze. She uses the adze to damn up both ends of about 12 feet of paddy dike, then bails the water out until she can pick up the fish, eels, frogs, and snails revealed, and toss them in the other bucket. Meanwhile her sons are out hunting paddy rats with home-made spears. Back home, it all goes into the pot, along with rice and some greens. I suspect all the world’s bankers could be sent to Uranus, and their lifestyle wouldn’t change a whit. Well, maybe they wouldn’t have to worry about the cops kidnapping the women to force them to work in Nike garment factories.

LIBRARY EVENTS

June Line-up of Sunday Matinee Movies at Ukiah Library

Ukiah Library is delighted to continue offering great films on Sunday afternoons in June. The series, Sunday Movies at Your Library includes a rotation of PBS documentaries, Indie films, Lincoln Center performances, and, newly released children’s movies. All performances begin at 2 pm. PBS & Independent films will be screened in the Meeting Area. Lincoln Center performances and childrens & family films will be screened in the Children’s Room.

The films for June:

June 4^th – The Genius of Marian is a “visually rich, emotionally complex story about one family's struggle to come to terms with Alzheimer's disease.” This event is a collaboration with POV, the award-winning independent non-fiction film series on PBS www.pbs.org/pov

June 11^th – Hail Caesar,--“A Hollywood fixer in the 1950s works to keep the studio’s stars in line.” An Indie comedy by Ethan and Joel Coen.

June 18th – Aurelio—Singer-songwriter, guitarist, and percussionist, Aurelio Martinez, is a major tradition-bearer of the Garifuna music of Honduras. Garifuna music is a mix of West African, indigenous Central American and European rhythms. Major Support for Lincoln Center Local: Free Screenings is provided by the Oak Foundation. Additional support is provided by the Booth Ferris Foundation and the Altman Foundation.

June 25 – Monster Truck—for FAMILIES AND KIDS. “Looking for any way to get away from the life and town he was born into, Tripp builds a Monster Truck from bits and pieces of scrapped cars. After an accident at a nearby oil-drilling site displaces a strange subterranean creature with a talent for speed, Tripp may have found a new friend and a way out of town.”

For more information, call 463-4490 or visit Mendolibrary.org

* * *

District Teens Leadership Council

Saturday, June 10^th

Saturday, July 8^th

Saturday, August 13^th

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 résumés. 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.

For more information – please contact Melissa at the Ukiah Library: 467-6434

* * *

2017 Summer Reading Program

Starting Saturday, June 10^th 2017 the Mendocino County Library begins its annual Summer Reading Program!

All ages are invited to sign up for the Summer Reading Program at any Mendocino County Library branch (including the bookmobile) or online. Categories include “pre-readers” or ages 0-5, kids, teens, and adults. This year’s theme is “Reading By Design” and each library will have various events and performers scheduled to keep fun and learning going all summer long! For more information or to sign up, visit www.mendolibrary.org or stop by your local Mendocino County Library branch.

* * *

Ukiah Library is Closed until Tuesday May 30th due to flooding

We are very sorry for the Inconvenience.

Renew your items automatically by phone: (707) 566-0281

Or by web at: www.mendolibrary.org

The bookdrop is now open if you need to return items.

The Gaming Tournament that was scheduled for today will be rescheduled for June 17th, 3-8pm to coincide with the start of the Summer Reading Program. Make sure to join us for gaming & pizza!

A READER WRITES:

If you or your readers have any questions about what happened this past november, watching GET ME ROGER STONE will illuminate how and why we are where we are. And why the Golden Golem of Greatness, as James Kunstler called Trump, is where he is. This documentary is the saddest thing I’ve ever watched. And Roger Stone is certainly one of the planet's most despicable humans… And he would agree.

PERFECTLY NORMAL

Skunks, foxes, etc. out in the daylight… Woodlands Wildlife

Absolutely normal to see adults and babies outside during the day in summer as well as occasionally in winter. Babies don't distinguish much between day and night and will often play outside their nest or burrow. Adults will often be seen outside during daylight hours because they can't find food for their whole family in the night and need additional hours to hunt. Also, if you lived in a small hole in the wall with a bunch of toddlers scrambling about, wouldn't you like to get out and sit in the sun (or fog) for a little alone time once in a while? Skunks won't usually spray unless they are startled by loud noises (don't clap your hands to try to shoo them away) or rapid motion (like a lunging dog) too close to them. Just back away, and go around.

Ronnie James, Woodlands Wildlife

BUILDING A PARTY PROGRESSIVES CAN CALL HOME

By Scott Galindez, Reader Supported News

Okay, so I am a dreamer, I’m idealistic, a tree hugger, a bleeding heart, and I probably care too much. I believe in shared responsibility. Republicans are proud to stand for individual responsibility. Republicans want lower taxes and, they say, smaller government. The reality though is they want the government to focus on supporting big business. Progressives and many liberals want to focus on the needs of individuals.

We believe the government should concentrate on healthcare, education, housing, environmental protection and ending poverty. That is why progressives tend to support labor, and the GOP supports management. That is why progressives support universal healthcare, and the Republicans want people to save their money and take care of themselves.

Far too often Democrats are trying to appear friendly to management and corporate America, and in the process they are leaving workers and the people they should be organizing and representing unrepresented.

I believe progressives must continue the fight to open the doors to the Democratic Party, but if the Democratic Party continues to resist, workers need a party that puts them first. I still believe that under our current system, forming a new political party is a foolish endeavor. However, let us look at a scenario where creating a progressive people’s party would work.

An impeachment of Donald Trump could cause a split in the Republican Party, with folks like Steve Bannon leading an effort to form a new party. You might then have groups like the Freedom Caucus and the Progressive Caucus working together to reform the political process. The only way we can break up the two-party system is if there is a split in both sides that leads lawmakers to make it easier for new parties to compete. Forget the term “third party” — if there isn’t a fourth splitting up the other major party then it won’t work.

I attended a conference 20 years or more ago where the Green Party, Reform Party, libertarians, and others met to discuss how to end the two-party system. It didn’t go anywhere, and today the Democrats and Republicans still have total control of our political system despite the fact that more people consider themselves independent than a member of either party.

My fellow Democrats, if you want to avoid a scenario where the party splits between progressives and corporate-friendly Democrats, then let’s become a workers’ party again.

A workers’ party would never have supported NAFTA or the TPP. A workers’ party would see that the private insurance industry is not working for health care and that a single-payer universal system is the solution. A workers’ party would see that education should be free from pre-school to college graduation. A workers’ party would protect the environment over corporate profit. A workers’ party would represent everyone, gay or straight, whites and people of color, men and women.

That is the Democratic Party that Bernie Sanders and his political revolution is trying to create. He doesn’t call himself a Democrat, yet. Build a Democratic Party that he would be proud to join fully and he might join. If not, progressives might have to find a home that we are proud of.

(Scott Galindez attended Syracuse University, where he first became politically active. The writings of El Salvador's slain archbishop Oscar Romero and the on-campus South Africa divestment movement converted him from a Reagan supporter to an activist for Peace and Justice. Over the years he has been influenced by the likes of Philip Berrigan, William Thomas, Mitch Snyder, Don White, Lisa Fithian, and Paul Wellstone. Scott met Marc Ash while organizing counterinaugural events after George W. Bush's first stolen election. Scott moved to Des Moines in 2015 to cover the Iowa Caucus.) Courtesy, Reader Supported News, the Publication of Origin for this work. http://readersupportednews.org)

IDIOCRACY: THE GREAT DUMBING DOWN

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=-N9nVLXMhPc

THE LEFT/RIGHT CHALLENGE TO THE FAILED ‘WAR ON DRUGS’

by Ralph Nader

The Left/Right Challenge to the Failed “War on Drugs”

More and more conservatives and liberals, from the halls of Congress to people in communities across the country, are agreeing that the so-called “war on drugs” needs serious rethinking.

First, we should define our terms. The “war on drugs” that was started by Richard Nixon in 1971 and persists to this day, refers to illegal “street drugs” – cocaine, heroin, marijuana and variations thereof. It is not used to mean a war on legal pharmaceuticals, whose excessive and often inappropriate prescribing takes over 100,000 lives a year in our country. Ironically, prescription opioids alone took 35,000 lives last year – about equal to traffic fatalities.

The argument to criminalize “street drugs”, and severely punish their sellers and users, is largely based on the assumption that a “tough on crime” approach will reduce addiction and abuse of these dangerous substances. Criminalizing drug use consistently fails to address the health problems of addiction, and drives the drug trade underground where crime, violence and death flourish.

Our country learned this hard lesson firsthand when it prohibited the production and sale of alcoholic beverages in 1920 through the 18th Amendment to the Constitution. That led to an underworld of organized crime and illegal undercover stills making “moonshine”, whose victims could hardly go for medical treatment. Considered a failure, the amendment was repealed in 1933 with the 21st Amendment.

This national experiment with prohibition verified the wise observation of the famous dean of the Harvard Law School, Roscoe Pound, who said that there were certain human behaviors that are beyond “the effective limits of legal action.” In short, the law couldn’t stop the addicting alcohol business; it could only drive it underground.

Legalizing the sale and possession of alcohol allowed people suffering from alcoholism to come out of the shadows and find support through thousands of successful chapters of Alcoholics Anonymous and other treatment options. Alcoholism is still a problem in our country, but it is out in the open where a rational society can address it.

Nicotine from tobacco products is one of the most addictive drugs that people can ingest. Lawmakers since the days of the Virginia tobacco growers in the 17th century have not prohibited the smoking of tobacco. For generations, smoking cigarettes and cigars was not considered harmful; it was said to help concentrate your mind on your tasks. The mass media perpetuated such false statements through ads that claimed doctors preferred Lucky Strikes because they were “less irritating.”

Then the historic and widely reported US Surgeon General’s Report of 1964 concluded that cigarette smoking is a cause of lung cancer and laryngeal cancer in men, a probable cause of lung cancer in women and the most important cause of chronic bronchitis. Over time, accumulating scientific knowledge connecting smoking to lung cancer and a host of other diseases began changing habits.

In 1964 about 44% of American adults smoked regularly; now it is down to 17%. Now smokers cannot indulge on airplanes, buses, trains or in schools, waiting rooms and most office buildings. Had we driven tobacco use underground, organized crime would have claimed the tobacco market and smokers and low-level dealers would have been jailed. If alcohol prohibition taught us the limitations of drug criminalization, efforts to reduce tobacco use have shown what is possible when dangerous products are taxed and regulated and consumers are educated.

So, what about “street drugs?” The drug trade is tearing Mexico apart. Just in the past few years, over 50,000 people have been slain by the fights between drug cartels and against police, judges, reporters and innocents who just happen to be in the way of the machine guns. Fear, anxiety, outright terror and political corruption grips large regions of our southern neighbor as the cartel’s violently work to meet the black market demand in the US and elsewhere.

Drug dealers in the US fight each other, producing violent crimes and terrorized neighborhoods.

To suppress this drug trade the US is spending tens of billions of taxpayer dollars a year. Drug cases are clogging our court dockets and crowding out important cases involving corporate crimes and negligence. Low-level drug offenders continue to receive mandatory minimum sentences; filling our prisons and leading to the expansion of the private prison industry whose lobbyists prefer a status quo that commodifies the ruined lives who sustain their profitable inventory.

For decades, conservatives like William F. Buckley and progressives like the then Mayor of Baltimore, Kurt Schmoke, have called for decriminalization, or legalization and regulation, of illegal drugs. We don’t jail alcoholics for being alcoholics, or incarcerate people for smoking highly addictive cigarettes. Their addictions are treated openly as afflictions to be treated individually and more broadly through sound public policies.

Despite the many calls for reform, the arch-reactionary Attorney General, Jeff Sessions, has recently ordered 5,000 federal assistant US attorneys to charge defendants peddling street drugs, many of whom are addicts themselves, with the most serious crimes and impose the toughest penalties possible.

Not so fast, say a growing group of liberal and conservative members of Congress. From Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) to liberal Patrick Leahy (D-VT), lawmakers on both sides of the aisle are joining together to sponsor a bill to end mandatory minimum sentences. Senator Paul said such sentences “disproportionately affect minorities and low-income communities” and will worsen the existing “injustice” in the criminal justice system, while Senator Leahy declared that as “an outgrowth of the failed war on drugs, mandatory sentencing strips criminal public-safety resources away from law-enforcement strategies that actually make our communities safer.”

The bipartisan bill, S.1127, is already supported by 37 Senators and 79 members of the House. Both the NAACP and the Koch brothers support this legislation!

We need more open debates about the impact of the “war on drugs.” As Justice Louis Brandeis said years ago – “sunlight is the best disinfectant.”

To learn more about the need for drug policy reform, and the history of the failed war on drugs, watch this informative video from the Drug Policy Alliance.

(Ralph Nader is a consumer advocate, lawyer and author of Only the Super-Rich Can Save Us!)

SINGING FOR OUR LIVES

by Tom Cahill

(Ed Note: Tom Cahill was a long-time resident of Ten Mile, Fort Bragg. He now lives in France. This concludes his autobiography.)

* * *

(Written and best sung by Holly Near)

We are a gentle angry people and we are singing, singing for our lives

We are a justice-seeking people

and we are singing, singing for our lives

We are young and old together

and we are singing, singing for our lives

We are a land of many colors

and we are singing, singing for our lives

We are gay and straight together

and we are singing, singing for our lives

We are an anti-nuclear family

and we are singing, singing for our lives

We are a gentle, loving people

and we are singing, singing for our lives

My conscience dictates to me that especially at my age (80)--and in winding up this memoir--that I leave a legacy of hope for all living things. For most of my adult life I have witnessed a massive crime-in-progress against ALL humanity. I've tried to help blow the whistle but have met with very limited success. I need a bigger pulpit to reach more like-minded people. I believe as Abbie Hoffman did that "Democracy is not something you believe in or a place to hang your hat, but it's something you do. You participate. If you stop doing it, democracy crumbles."

Abbie had to stand on his head while juggling live hand grenades and singing the "Star Spangled Banner" to get his message across. In the end, one of the grenades exploded. He was "suicided," probably by the CIA who he personally offended more than once.

His closing words from his last speech at Vanderbilt University in April 1989 resonate deeply with me and have helped keep me an activist since the Sixties.

"In the nineteen sixties, apartheid was driven out of America. We didn't end racism, but we ended legal segregation--Jim Crow. We ended the idea that you can send a million soldiers ten thousand miles away to fight a war the people don't support. We ended the idea that women are second class citizens. Now it doesn't matter who sits in the Oval Office. Even George Bush has to talk about child care, the environment... We were young, we were reckless, we were arrogant, silly, headstrong. And we were right. I regret nothing."

A few days later he was dead at age 52. "Authorities" claimed he was depressed and deliberately overdosed on drugs. Yes, he was a druggie and often depressed. But he wasn't depressed at the time of his death. He was still actively "engaged" with life, trying to ring the "Liberty Bell," so to speak, to wake enough Americans to action. From personal experience with depression, I insist Abbie's death was NOT the act of a depressed person. Abbie was "engaged" with life and a threat to the ruling elite. at the time of his death.

So, inspired by Abbie Hoffman and my other heroes including Joan of Arc who probably WAS delusional, here in the "Anderson Valley Advertiser" this 27th of May 2017, I hearby announce my candidacy for President of the United States of America in the election of 2020.

You're damn right I'm nuts, but I'm not insane like many if not most of the leaders of the USA who are watching and doing nothing about the TRILLIONS of tax dollars flowing down rat holes in the Federal Reserve Bank and the Department of Defense. This "unaccounted for" tax money makes up almost the entire US National debt of $20 TRILLION and counting.

You got it right ! Yessss, a crazy, 80-year-old, unreconstructed hippy, former garbage collector living in an old folks home in France is the first candidate for POTUS to declare his intention to try to save the USA and the world from self-destruction.

This is MY way of standing on my head and juggling live grenades, but I refuse to sing the "Star Spangled Banner." I prefer to sing "Ode to Joy" also known as the "Song for Liberty," best sung by Nana Mouskouri of Greece.

As a 17-year-old Air Force recruit, I pledged to defend my country's Constitution from all enemies foreign and DOMESTIC and have kept my promise ever since.

` Of course I can't do the job alone. Voting has NEVER been enough and besides, "If voting changed anything, it would be illegal," said Emma Goldman, Mark Twain and others.

Even if by some miracle I was elected, I would depend on the consensus of my "kitchen cabinet" that would be comprised of former Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney, Prof. Lara Stemple, Dr. Daniel Ellsberg, Former Congressman Dennis Kucinich, Anna-Marie Stenberg, Dr. Steven M. Greer, Ralph Nader, former Governor of Minnesota Jesse Ventura, Ivanka Trump, former Congressman Alan Grayson, Catherine Austin Fitts, Former Congressman Ron Paul, Peter Reilly, Joan Baez, Prof. Nancy Scherper-Hughes, Sen. Elizabeth Warren, Sen. Bernie Sanders, Susan Sarandon, and Dr. Allen L Roland,

And in my personal intelligence department; Ray McGovern, Robert Morrow, Prof. James Fetzer, Robert David Steel, Kevin Shipp, Richard Dolan, Julian Assange, Edward Snowden, and Chelsea Manning.

I would turn all the bedrooms in the White House into dormitories, fill the rooms with Army double bunks, like I slept on comfortably for three and a half years, and place Porta Potties in the Rose Garden if necessary to make our Kitchen Cabinet comfortable until they found better accommodations.

Still laughing?

My first act as POTUS would be to demand ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment to the US Constitution that was passed by both houses of Congress in 1972, and has been languishing in some state legislatures for ratification every since. Phyllis Schlafly almost single-handedly sidelined this issue but she died September 5, 2016. In her memory, the ERA needs to be ratified. I have long believed a woman can do anything a man can do plus one thing a man can't, and that's give birth.

My second issue of most concern is Israel. We would continue the policy started by Pres. Kennedy to take a new, hard look at Israel and it's influence on US foreign and military policy. NOOOOO, I am not anti-semetic but I AM anti-zionist that has become a threat to not only Israel but the the entire world.

Third on my do list is to warn Wall Street that anyone found messing with the US economy will be charged with HIGH TREASON and hung if found guilty. I am not a pacifist and I believe in the death penalty for high politico/economic crimes. There will be no repeat of 1929 or even the financial crisis of 2007-08 on my watch. I would order the entire Intelligence Community to keep an eagle eye on Wall Street. Heads of the Intel Community will be held accountable for any intelligence failures such as "false flag attacks" on my watch. They will not be fired, but will be demoted down the ranks until the janitors are running the agencies. Those resigning will lose their pensions.

Still laughing ?

The corporate media monopoly must be broken up with anti-trust laws. This monopoly is a direct threat to democracy. The USA ranks 41st in freedom of the press according to Reporters Without Borders in 2016, so Pres. Trump isn't too far wrong in his criticisms. Remember "Operation Mockingbird?" Then Google it !

Still laughing?

"First they ignore us, then they laugh at us, then they fight us, then we win," said Mahatma Gandhi, who also said, "Where there is only a choice between cowardice and violence, I would advise violence." I repeat this because I support the death penalty only for high treason such as "false flag attacks" and tampering with the economy such as the Wall Street Meltdown of 2008 in which those Too Big To Jail received huge bonuses when the should have at least been imprisoned for life. Crime in the suites is far more damaging to society than crime in the streets.

Need I continue?

"You may say I'm a dreamer but I'm not the only one," sang John Lennon in his song "Imagine." And that's exactly where I am--dreaming the impossible.

"The impossible is a blessing from God, for the world can only be renewed by the impossible," wrote Rev. Dietrich Bonhoeffer in his cell just before being executed for Nazi resistance in 1945 at the age of 39.

And lastly, "I would rather be ashes than dust," as Jack London wrote. "I would rather my spark should burn out in a brilliant blaze than it should be stifled by dryrot," he wrote.

The greatest generation wasn't the one that fought fascism in WW II, as Tom Brokaw and others believe. It is yet to come. The greatest generation will be the one that ends fascism in American. Buddah said, "Beware lest you become what you fight." And look what happened with "Operation Paperclip."

Late breaking news to me: Trillions of "unaccounted" tax dollars are being spent on "black budget" programs for the highly classified "Breakaway Civilization," according to Richard Dolan, author and historian. This may include information being denied the public about underground cities, UFOs, a reduction in world population from about six billion to one half billion, super weapons, mind control, etc.--all what much of the public enjoys watching on TV but avoids in real life. Even if it's a hoax performed by the CIA that is good at this sort of thing, it could make entertaining reading. And DO get back to me please if you find this to be "fake news."

I would like to end this memoir with my all-time favorite poem written by Padraig Pearse who was executed by the British for his leadership role in the "Easter Rebellion" in Dublin in 1916.

* * *

THE REBEL

I am come of the people,

The people who sorrow,

Who have no treasure but hope,

No riches laid up but a memory

Of an ancient glory.

My mother bore me in bondage

In bondage my mother was born

I am of the blood of serfs

The children with whom I have played

The men and women with whom I have eaten

Have had masters over them,

Have been under the lash of masters

And--though gentle--have served churls,

And now I speak, being full of vision.

I speak to my people and I speak in

My people's name to the masters of my people.

I say to my people that they are holy

That they are august despite their chains.

That they are greater than those

Who hold them and stronger and purer

That they have but need of courage

And to call on the name of their God,

God the unforgiving,

The dear God that loves the people

For whom he died naked.

Suffering shame.

And I say to my people's masters

Beware--beware of the thing that is coming

Beware of the risen people who shall take

What you would not give.

Did you think to conquer the people

Or that law is stronger than life

And people's desire to be free?

We will try it out with you,

You who have harried and held,

You who have bullied and bribed.

Tyrants, hypocrites, liars.

=============================

AND 999 SHALL BE THE NUMBER OF THE SHOW.

"I’d like you to join me in welcoming these weird little wonders. Ladies and gentlemen, all the way from Modesto, Harold and Fanny Shitbang’s latest find, the Mini Margarets! ...Oh, my God. Oh, terrible. Oh, no. DROP THE CURTAIN! DROP THE CURTAIN!"

The recording of last night's (2017-05-26) KNYO and KMEC Memo of the Air: Good Night Radio show is available to download and enjoy via http://MemoOfTheAir.wordpress.com

A master of disguise who called himself Farther Further stopped by, on his way to either Guardians of the Galaxy or Pirates of the Caribbean, to talk about the bright technical future the Mendocino Coast could have. There’s the political prose poetry of Paul Krugman as well as a sad, soft poem by Allie Coleman about depression and its temporary antidote: trees. There's the latest installment of Jay Frankston's historical novel El Sereno leading up to and including the Spanish Civil War. Scott Peterson's Highway 61, a true story of elite money vampires sucking on Fort Bragg. Ezekiel Krahlin's dream-take on Psalm 91. A couple of new ideas about how we think and about what memory is really for. Alex Bosworth called. He’s out of the hospital again, with news of dozens of new stories he had time to write there. Firesign Theater. It's a pretty good show, if I do say so myself, and why shouldn't I?

Speaking of which, as the economy craters and sub-craters like a screensaver of cratering craters because of the one percent drinking everyone's milkshake out from underneath it, the sort of people a little radio station like KNYO relies on for operating money more and more need that money to take care of themselves and keep body and soul together. And KNYO, unlike high-power commercial stations, is not allowed to sell advertising. Nor, unlike high-power so-called noncommercial stations like KZYX, for example, can it get hundreds of thousands of dollars a year in grants to, basically, advertise for giant multinational corporations and keep troublemakers like me off the air. So if you are in a position where you can spare what amounts to coffee-and-tea money, please go to KNYO's website, click on the big red heart that bravely cries out donate now, and help out the Noyo Radio Project on a one-time or recurring basis. Real radio doesn’t need much money, but what it needs it really needs. Please help the wonderful, admirable and recently bereaved Bob Young keep us downtown and on the air. Do it now, while you’re thinking about it.

Anyway, also at http://MemoOfTheAir.wordpress.com you'll find directions to many non-radio-useful though worthwhile goods that I found while putting radio shows together. Items such as:

The good Mona is the Mona on the left. Leonardo's student's copy. Also, here’s a neat trick: cross your eyes until the heads overlap and examine the result: Medieval stereoscopic 3D.

http://boingboing.net/2017/05/22/its-official-reddit-users-d.html

New old bulbs and how we get them.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MbZW4ghzquw

And a short video essay on apocalyptic fiction.

https://aeon.co/videos/why-do-we-crave-the-awful-futures-of-apocalyptic-fiction

–Marco McClean