Mendocino County Today: Tuesday, June 13, 2017

• Rasta Weekend
• Dubs Win
• Humco Fail
• Juvenile Victims
• Illini Geniuses
• CPS Investigation
• Real Sarahs
• Cheese Workshop
• Marijuana Workshop
• Hop Flat
• Jail Writs
• 1866 Greenwood
• Yesterday's Catch
• Unraveling Financialization
• Little Dog
• Kokopelli Boysenberries
• Albion School
• Performing Birds
• Ballpark
• Grandiose Fantasies
• Craft Beer
• Klown
• Old Socialists
• Cannabis Restoration
• Garage Sale
• Geraniums
• Aubade
• Beemers
• PA Independence
• Still Heavy

RASTAFARIA comes to Boonville this weekend, all weekend. Take it away, Jimmy… A one and a two, and a doobie doobie do —

Your love, lifting me higher

Than I've ever been lifted before

So keep it up

Quench my desire

And I'll be at your side, forever more

 [Chorus]

You know your love (your love keeps lifting me)

Keep on lifting (keeps on lifting me)

Higher (lifting me)

Higher and higher (higher)

I said your love (your love keeps lifting me)

Keep on (keeps on lifting me)

Lifting me (lifting me)

Higher and higher (higher) …

ACCORDING to ESPN’s Darren Rovell, someone purchased a pair of floor tickets for Monday night’s Warriors-Cavs game for $90,000 ($45,000 apiece) on the Warriors’ Ticketmaster resale site. Another person reportedly bought a pair for $82,000 ($41,000 each). Paying top dollar to see Golden State and Cleveland in the Finals is nothing new, of course. A fan paid $99,000 last year on StubHub for a pair of courtside tickets to Game 7.

WE'LL be watching free from Boonville in courtside street recliners with the sound off. (A street recliner is a free chair retrieved from an urban or suburban sidewalk.)

PS. IT WAS WORTH IT. DUBS WON 2017 NBA CHAMPIONSHIP. Durant declared most valuable player. Best line of the night was by Dramond Green: “I had a letdown last year, but like I told everybody before — if Kevin Durant was the consolation prize to lose, thanks for that loss, and we champs this year.”

THE FAILURE OF HUMBOLDT COUNTY’S MEDICAL MARIJUANA PERMIT SYSTEM

by John Hardin

Today, more than six months after the deadline to apply, the Humboldt County Planning Department has received fewer than 200 completed cannabis cultivation permit applications from the entire county. That means that more than 2,000 permit applications remain far from complete. The Planning Department has started sending notices to those applicants to let them know that their cannabis cultivation permit application will be suspended unless they complete the process and bring their operation into compliance. Of course, another 6,000-8,000 Humboldt County growers never even bothered to file applications to begin with, but that hasn’t stopped them from blowing up enormous new grows all over the county, doing an enormous amount of new damage to the environment.

Clearly, Humboldt County’s plan to rehabilitate thousands of black market drug dealers through the cannabis cultivation permit program has failed. The permit program has failed to protect watersheds from the explosion of black market grows and failed to bring Humboldt County’s “legacy growers” into compliance. Not only that, the permit program has failed to protect consumers, and ruined Humboldt County’s reputation for clean, organic high-quality marijuana as upwards of 80 percent of the product from around here now tests positive for pesticides.

Instead of protecting the environment, consumers and “legacy growers,” the Humboldt County medical marijuana permit system has sparked the biggest explosion of gigantic new illegal grows in Humboldt County since the dawn of prohibition. Instead of lining county coffers with the funds necessary to mitigate the damage the black market industry has caused in our community, the permit process has multiplied the damage to the environment and the costs to the community while creating an unmanageable burden on county bureaucracies. I’ve rarely seen a failure so complete.

We should have expected as much. That’s what we get for trusting career drug dealers and politicians. The Board of Supervisors bent over backwards to give Humboldt County’s black market growers amnesty and to encourage them to come out of the closet. Growers testified for months about what they wanted in a permit structure, and got most of it. I couldn’t believe how many of our local enviros rolled over and then set up shop as consultants to the industry. The strongest opposition came from “legacy growers” like HumMAPS.

The county gave the industry the deal it wanted, but the truth is the black market marijuana industry is more about cheating the government and society than it is about producing marijuana, and old habits die hard. Humboldt’s dope yuppies never wanted legalization to begin with. They hate government paperwork. Most of them won’t even fill out a census form, let alone apply for a permit. The growers who apply treat the permit process as their first venture into white-collar crime. They’ll push limits and test every opportunity to cheat. With thousands of them working together to confound an understaffed county bureaucracy, they figure — rightly, I expect — that most of them will pull off another bumper crop of unregulated, untaxed, black market marijuana this year. It’s the same game it always was, just not as risky, and on a scale that is orders of magnitude beyond anything we’ve ever seen around here before.

Meanwhile, the problems associated with a flourishing illegal industry also increase by orders of magnitude. Our drug addiction rate has hit an all-time high and we die from drug use at ten times the state average. Last year, we set a new record for murders and violence against the poor and homeless intensified. The county’s housing crisis has only gotten worse, and despite two new laws to criminalize poverty, and the adoption of the “Housing First” strategy, honest working people in our community go without the basic necessities of life on a regular basis because black market drug dealers have squeezed them out of the available housing.

Far from elevating Humboldt County cannabis to the status of Napa County wine, this new permit process has dragged down Humboldt County’s reputation to a new low. Thanks to our Board of Supervisors’ eagerness to partner with black-market growers, Humboldt County has become the place where the black market will make its last stand. What Appalachia is to alcohol, Humboldt County is to herb, with our pesticide-tainted, rot-lung, black market hooch a lasting legacy of poverty and addiction that testifies to the cruelty and inhumanity of prohibition for generations to come. It isn’t pretty, but it’s profitable, for some, for now, and for our Board of Supervisors that appears to be enough.

(John Hardin writes at Like You’ve Got Something Better to Do.)

OFFENSES: SEXUAL ACTS WITH CHILD 10 YEARS OLD OR YOUNGER LEWD ACTS INVOLVING CHILDREN

SUSPECT: BARAJAS, JAIME (36 YEARS OLD, UKIAH)

VICTIM: 13 AND 14 YEAR OLD FEMALE JUVENILES

by Chris Dewey, Ukiah Chief of Police

On June 5, 2017, it was reported that Jaime Barajas had molested the 14 year old victim over a period of time.

During the investigation, it was discovered that there were multiple victims over a period of time. UPD detectives obtained a no bail warrant for Barajas’ arrest and put out a BOLO for Barajas. On 6-9-17, MCSO located and arrested Barajas on the warrant in Redwood Valley. Barajas was lodged at the county jail. Emergency protective orders were served on Barajas which prohibit Barajas from contacting the victims.

UPD detectives are currently attempting to identify and contact possible additional victims or witnesses. Anyone with information regarding this investigation is encouraged to contact the Ukiah Police Department at (707)463-6262.

THEN there was the armed robbery on Harrison Street in Fort Bragg on Sunday by three bandidos from Illinois, one of them a juvenile, Ladarius Washington, of Galesburg, Illinois, and Charles Williams, of Peoria, Illinois/Fort Bragg.

Three guns, three young men, six or seven pounds of dope taken from the Harrison Street address. How did the Illini geniuses find their way to a dope house in Fort Bragg? They met the Fort Bragg person at a dispensary in the Bay Area, and from there it was, “Hey, you look like nice kids, come on up to my place in the redwoods. I’ll cut out the middleman for you fellas on a real good deal on bulk product. Maybe we’ll have time for a walk on the Haul Road and a sea food dinner down in the harbor.” Instead, the nice young men from the Land of Lincoln pulled their gats and soon, as they frantically threw guns and marijuana out their car window near Willits, they hit the spike strips the cops had waiting for them.

A READER ALERTS us that the perennially troubled and often incompetent Children's Protective Services (aka Family and Children’s Services) agency of Mendocino County may be the object of an NBC Television investigation. In-county complaints about CPS have been ignored for years. We blame the Superior Court for turning a blind eye, as they dependably do when CPS has committed crimes against children, but the Supervisors bear their share of responsibility, too: "I know people working in the Ukiah CPS office who tell me that working conditions there are worse now then they were before the first Grand Jury report two years ago. The middle level management has not changed in years and they continue to make disastrous decisions that leave many kids unsafe. It is only a matter of time until this careless treatment by CPS leads to a severely injured child or, worse yet, a dead child. [Ed note: It already has, as readers recall the Baby Emerald case out of Fort Bragg.] The NBC reporter is very interested in hearing directly from any of the readers in your subscription area who have had problems with Mendo CPS in the past, to call and speak to her and tell her their stories. She will keep their identities confidential if they wish. This would include professionals who are mandated reporters or people who have dealt directly with the department, or former clients who feel like their rights have been violated by CPS, virtually anyone. This will be a story on TV in the coming few weeks. However, time is definitely of the essence because she will be completing her investigation soon. The reporter I speak of is named, Vicky Nguyen, and you have probably seen her prior investigations on NBC Bay Area news. Ms. Nguyen can be reached at 408 432-4584 or Victoria.Nguyen@nbcuni.com."

ENJOYED THE REAL SARAHS latest album called, ‘Afternoon with the Dirty Birds’ which, from what I garnered from half-heard lyrics, seemed to refer to males generally. I enjoyed the music even more knowing that it was a Made In Mendo production led by Sarah Larkin and Sarah Ryan.

SAY CHEESE. A cheese-making workshop right here in Boomsville: “As part of our Homestead Series, Mendocino County Farm Bureau is partnering with Pennyroyal Farmstead, Boonville, to bring this class to our members and community. This will be a two and a half hour workshop.

Reservations are required by July 7th, for the class which is on Thursday, July 13th, 2-4:30pm. Reserving early is recommended as there is limited space.

Cost: $25 for Farm Bureau members $40 for non-Farm Bureau members and a tenner to the AVA for running a free ad.

Checks should be made out to Mendocino County Farm Bureau. 707.462.6664 or membership@mendofb.org

THE ANNOUNCEMENT didn’t arrive in time for last week’s paper, but the County’s Boonville marijuana workshop is Wednesday, June 14, at 3pm in the Senior Center/Vets Hall. It’s guaranteed to be a laff riot.

MALCOLM MACDONALD on Hop Flat, once a bustling little community at the ocean end of the Anderson Valley complete with its own hotel and telephone exchange, now so thoroughly disappeared some of us are confused about where it was: “The railroad associated with the Albion Lumber Company (ALCO) ran beyond Navarro and Floodgate to Christine Landing, approximately where Clark Road is on flat rise is, east of Gschwend Road. There was a large hop farm on the south side of Navarro River, but less than a mile east of the bridge, near mouth of Navarro River. It was a sizable production, large enough to have its own dance floor. Macdonald and Robertson ancestors attended dances there in late 1800s-early 1900s. What you are probably referencing was a large hop farm west of the town of Navarro/Wendling, on the west side of the current highway. This hop farm extended as far west as what used to be the Boy Scout Ranch Road (Masonite Tree Farm). Whether it was also on the south side of the river I don't know - could be? When I was little (late 50s) there were still remnants of hops in open area west of Navarro, south of highway (128). The railroad came into town of Navarro just north of there then more or less paralleled modern 128 from the east side of Navarro/Wendling on out past Floodgate to Christine Landing. There was some sort of hop operation near Christine Landing as well. I believe there was another good sized hop farm approximately where Mountain House Road (near Yorkville) takes off to head toward Hopland - don't know any off hand details about it - there were hop farms of varying sizes all over the county at one time. Remains of small hop operations just west of Macdonald Ranch on south side of Albion River. It dated back to 1800s as well.”

IN COUNTY COUNSEL KIT ELLIOTT’S summary from last Tuesday’s annual budget review we learned that more than half of Ms. Elliott’s legal staff is dedicated to Health and Human Services, and most of that is for Child Protective Services legal work.

FOLLOWING Ms. Elliott’s summary tacitly confirming the ongoing disaster at CPS, Supervisor Dan Gjerde asked what could be done to reduce the apparently high number of prisoner “writs.” Supervisor Gjerde assumed the writs were nothing but “harassing the jailer,” but Ms. Elliott said they had reduced the number of writs by improving jail policies, meaning that at least some of the prisoner complaints were valid and required policy changes. At the end of the discussion Supervisor McCowen seemed to agree that better supervision and more adherence to policies will also help. However, no one asked why so much legal time is being taken by CPS cases or what can be done to reduce those complaints. (Hint. Maybe hire a smart, compassionate, sensible person to supervise the unit. That might help.)

(YEARS AGO, when I was held in the old County Jail on Low Gap for the most charges of disturbing the peace in state history — 13 counts in all — the first of several stays of less than a month each for me, I organized a mass inmate writ about jail conditions, beginning with illegal over-crowding and on through the unhealthy physical conditions of the jail itself. A bunch of people were immediately released and a new jail was built, which itself is now falling apart. Not saying my writ got the new jail underway, but I am saying that it is definitely good that judges take jail writs seriously. But given the givens of contempo-incarceration, there are seldom sustained complaints about Mendo jail personnel brutalizing inmates, which is just about the worst things that can happen to a prison. Our jail is more like a time-out center for adults. Incidentally, in the old jail, lying around outside on the lawn listening to jail birds swap crank recipes and make plans for the crude crimes they’d commit when they got out, I was startled at a sudden prisoner rush at a small object, with guys piled up scrambling and grappling for the thing. “People drive by out on Low Gap Road and throw tennis balls stuffed with dope over the fence,” came the explanation. Those were the days.)

A BIT OF LOCAL HISTORY

http://keith-skinner.com/uncovering-1866-greenwood-mendocino-county-frontier-town/

CATCH OF THE DAY, June 12, 2017

CURTIS ADAMS, Willits. Failure to appear.

JASON BARTOLOMEI, Ukiah. Domestic abuse, probation revocation.

TRAVIS BONSON, Willits. Parole violation.

TINA CORNWALL, Willits. Controlled substance, paraphernalia, probation revocation.

ERIC LINCOLN, Covelo. Trespassing, controlled substance, under influence, shoplifting.

DEANDRE MCCAIN, Willits. Person under 21 with blood-alcohol of over 0.05%.

ROY MCGREGOR, Fort Bragg. Disturbing the peace, probation revocation.

FRANKLIN PATTY, Ukiah. Under influence, county parole violation.

NICOLE SANDERSON, Laytonville. Controlled substance, paraphernalia, probation revocation.

JOSHUA SLAUGHTER, Willits. DUI.

LADARIUS WASHINGTON, Galesburg, Illinois/Fort Bragg. First degree robbery, receiving stolen property, pot sales, evasion, conspiracy.

CHARLES WILLIAMS, Peoria, Illinois/Fort Bragg. First degree robbery, receiving stolen property, maintenance of drug sales/use place, evasion, conspiracy.

THINGS TO COME

by James Kunstler

As our politicos creep deeper into a legalistic wilderness hunting for phantoms of Russian collusion, nobody pays attention to the most dangerous force in American life: the unraveling financialization of the economy.

Financialization is what happens when the people-in-charge “create” colossal sums of “money” out of nothing — by issuing loans, aka debt — and then cream off stupendous profits from the asset bubbles, interest rate arbitrages, and other opportunities for swindling that the artificial wealth presents. It was a kind of magic trick that produced monuments of concentrated personal wealth for a few and left the rest of the population drowning in obligations from a stolen future. The future is now upon us.

Financialization expressed itself in other interesting ways, for instance the amazing renovation of New York City (Brooklyn especially). It didn’t happen just because Generation X was repulsed by the boring suburbs it grew up in and longed for a life of artisanal cocktails. It happened because financialization concentrated immense wealth geographically in the very few places where its activities took place — not just New York but San Francisco, Washington, and Boston — and could support luxuries like craft food and brews.

Quite a bit of that wealth was extracted from asset-stripping the rest of America where financialization was absent, kind of a national distress sale of the fly-over places and the people in them. That dynamic, of course, produced the phenomenon of President Donald Trump, the distilled essence of all the economic distress “out there” and the rage it entailed. The people of Ohio, Indiana, and Wisconsin were left holding a big bag of nothing and they certainly noticed what had been done to them, though they had no idea what to do about it, except maybe try to escape the moment-by-moment pain of their ruined lives with powerful drugs.

And then, a champion presented himself, and promised to bring back the dimly remembered wonder years of post-war well-being — even though the world had changed utterly — and the poor suckers fell for it. Not to mention the fact that his opponent — the avaricious Hillary, with her hundreds of millions in ill-gotten wealth — was a very avatar of the financialization that had turned their lives to shit. And then the woman called them “a basket of deplorables” for noticing what had happened to them.

And now the rather pathetic false promises of President Trump, the whole MAGA (Make America Great Again) thing, is unraveling at exactly the same time that the financialized economy is entering its moment of final catastrophic phase-change. The monuments to wealth — especially the stock and bond portfolios and the presumed value of real estate investments — will surrender to a process you might call price-discovery-from-Hell, revealing their worth to be somewhere between little and nothing. The accumulated monstrous debts of persons, corporations, and sovereign societies, will be suddenly, shockingly, absolutely, and self-evidently unpayable, and the securities represented by them will be sucked into the kind of vortices of time/space depicted in movies about mummies and astronauts. And all of a sudden the avatars of that wealth will see their lives turn to shit just like moiling, Budweiser-gulping, oxycontin-addled deplorables in the flat, boring, parking lot wastelands of our ruined drive-in Utopia saw their lives rendered into a brown-and-yellow slurry draining clockwise down the toilet of history.

Nobody in power in this country is paying attention to how close we are to that epic moment — at least, they’re not talking about it. If the possibility of all that even occupies some remote corner of their brains, they surely don’t know how to prepare the citizenry for it, or what to do about it. The truth is that societies respond emergently to major crises like the imminent unraveling of our financialized economy, often in disorderly and surprising ways. I suppose we’ll just have to watch the nauseating spectacle play out, and in the meantime enjoy the Russian collusion melodrama for whatever it’s worth — probably more than a ticket to Wonder Woman or the new Tom Cruise Mummy movie.

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

LITTLE DOG

Look at me! The cover of Time Magazine. Every mutt in the neighborhood is asking me to autograph it.

RIPE BOYSENBERRIES!

Kokopelli Gardens boysenberries are ripe. You can order them by a phone call to (707) 829-8185, after 7 a.m., seven days a week. Indicate when you might want to come and get some that we have picked for you. Adults can also U-pick themselves. The harvest will last only into mid-July, after which we will have blackberries to sell. They have been grown without pesticides, herbicides or chemicals, using artisan, permacultural, regenerative, organic, holistic practices.

Prices are somewhere between $35 to $48 for a flat of 12 baskets, depending partly on whether we pick or U-pick and how many flats you buy. Half flats are also available. We are located slightly south of Sebastopol. By appointment only; we sell only what we pick that morning.

If you get the phone answering system, please leave the day you want them, the time you want to pick them up or pick them yourself, and your phone number, twice and slowly. We prefer late mornings for pick ups. Some delivery is possible, for a fee.

Shepherd Bliss

ALBION SCHOOL OPEN HOUSE this Wednesday June 14 at 3:30 pm

Please join us! All incoming TK-3rd grade students and families are encouraged to come meet our new Albion School Teacher Ms. Amanda Martin. Deadline for Applications This Thursday, June 15 Job Opportunity - Program Officer, Full Time The Program Officer serves as an interface with donors, volunteers, and non-profits to implement, monitor and update the Foundation's Grant, Scholarship, Technical Assistance, and Community Engagement programs in Round Valley, Laytonville/Leggett, Willits, Ukiah, Anderson Valley, South Coast and North Coast regions of Mendocino County.

Download complete job posting here: http://www.communityfound.org/site/assets/files/1/full-time_program_officer_job_posting.pdf

Applications due by Thursday, June 15, 2017. Please email resume and cover letter to Megan Barber Allende, CEO, at megan@communityfound.org

CEREMONIAL DOVES?

Dove Release Ceremony

Unless the "doves" are homing pigeons and fly back to their coop (not store bought, but hand-raised, kept, and trained by a professional). A friend's folks have a business releasing homing pigeons for ceremonies and events (with a complete return rate, apart from an occasional bird taken by a hawk), but they live clear out in Colorado. Too far for your clients' event on our coast. I don't know what mile radius is typical for homing pigeon release services, but I imagine Ukiah or Santa Rosa would be within range. Maybe even the Bay Area. It's worth researching, and asking the bird trainers/keepers. I'd be curious to know what you find out.

Cheers, Molly

Frank Hartzell notes: Seagulls don't get doves. Osprey and hawks do. They have to eat too.

ON LINE COMMENT OF THE DAY #1

In case you’re wondering why pop culture is so saturated by and preoccupied with comic book superheroes it’s because American men are no longer permitted to enact the petty heroics of everyday life, including the ability to support a family by working for a living. (What a quaint idea, I know!) So there is nothing left for them but absurd grandiose fantasies of what it means to be a man. Destroying the boundaries between sexes, and denying that biology even enters into the matter, will only make it more difficult for this nation to navigate through the straits of extreme economic distress.

ON LINE COMMENT OF THE DAY #2

The term ‘Craft Beer’ is just a euphemism for; “Look how trendy and refined I am buying and drinking this special brew”.

They might drink a pint, (at far more cost than $5.00), then order another to wash down an over-priced pizza produced in a wood-fired oven.

Funny story alert. My son’s childhood buddy was doing the obligatory fishing trip with his new father-in-law….his wife’s step dad. Anyway, the young man brought the beer as the oldster supplied the boat and tackle. Wanting to impress the ‘dad’, the kid reached into his cooler and pulled out a crafty dark brew in a special big can and handed it over. The oldster looked at it, popped the top and took a sip. He promptly tossed it over into the chuck and popped a Lucky Lager.

A READER COMMENTS: Thanks for your comment on Bill Maher. Awful man. A real dick. If you want to see how PC our country has become, try to get the danish TV series, Klown. It was compared to Larry David, but funnier. And shows how unconstrained the Danes are when it comes to being offensive. Makes fun of everything and everybody. Anyway, for years it was available on hulu etc. But not now. Even amazon has removed it. You can view the film, Klown, tho not as funny.

NOBODY SAW THIS COMING, at least not until the very final days of the campaign. Jeremy Corbyn, the Brit Labour leader, played it brilliantly. He was judicious, authentic (or at least seemed so), and had a strong message: Conservative austerity was hurting the nation’s future, in part by hurting the young. He offered an agenda that most mainstream analysts considered electorally crazy: higher taxes, more spending on welfare, free college. Capturing 40% of the vote was a serious political achievement on Mr Corbyn’s part. Like Sanders in the US, the Labour leader reached parts of the electorate that others could not; especially disenchanted young voters. Not many people would have predicted that old, white, male, grey-haired socialists would have become such attractive political figures.

—The Independent

CDFW SEEKING GRANT PROPOSALS to Restore Habitat Impacted by Cannabis Cultivation

The California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) is now accepting proposals for habitat restoration projects within the California watersheds most impacted by unregulated cannabis cultivation. Contingent on the Budget Act for Fiscal Year (FY) 2017-2018, a total of $1.5 million in Timber Regulation and Forest Restoration funds will be made available through CDFW’s Cannabis Restoration Grant Program. The program will focus on the North Coast watersheds extending from Sonoma County to the Oregon state line, as they have been most heavily impacted by cannabis cultivation. “Existing damage to our watersheds due to unregulated cannabis cultivation is at crisis levels in terms of threats to habitat for aquatic and wildlife species,” said CDFW Director Charlton H. Bonham. “While many grow sites have been abandoned or shuttered, the infrastructure and ongoing damage remains. We are poised to initiate this critical and missing step in the process of decommissioning unwanted grow sites.” California’s fish and wildlife are severely impacted by unregulated cannabis cultivation practices including unlawful water diversions for irrigation, conversion of lands, and prohibited herbicides, rodenticides and other environmental contaminants. The most impacted areas require immediate action. Assembly Bill 243 (Wood, Medical Marijuana) provides direction to CDFW to restore watersheds impacted by cannabis cultivation. “Our beautiful, pristine North Coast forests have become havens for these rogue grow sites,” said Assemblyman Jim Wood, who represents five of the county areas eligible for these grants. “These sites have been ravaged by lethal chemicals, often-banned rodenticides which are used to keep animals away, but remain in the ground and eventually run off into rivers and streams, destroying everything in their path, including endangered fish species such as coho salmon. I am grateful that the Governor and CDFW are making these funds available for this much-needed cleanup.” The FY 2017-2018 Proposal Solicitation Notice, application instructions and other information about the Restoration Grant Program are available at wildlife.ca.gov/Conservation/Watersheds/Cannabis-Restoration-Grant

Proposals must be submitted online at soar.resources.ca.gov

The deadline to apply is Friday, June 30, 2017 at 4 p.m.

15th ANNUAL PACK RAT SALE

The greatest garage sale on the Coast!

FORT BRAGG, CA—June 12, 2017—The Friends of the Gardens, a 501(c)3 non-profit organization is sponsoring the 15th Annual Pack Rat Sale at the Mendocino Coast Botanical Gardens on Saturday, July 8th from 8AM to 4PM. This annual fundraiser has earned its recognition as the “greatest garage sale on the coast” having raised over $165,000 in the 14 year history; 100% of the proceeds benefit the Gardens and enhance visitor experiences. Early arrivals have the best selection of items; those arriving later benefit from price reductions throughout the day. Community donations result in a huge inventory of all kinds of items, priced fairly and with quality service provided by the all-volunteer staff. Donations for the sale may be made at the Gardens daily from 9AM to 4PM on Monday July 3rd through Friday July 7th (but not on Tuesday, July 4th as we will be celebrating the holiday with family and friends). Earlier delivery and assistance may be arranged by calling the Pack Rat Sale message line at 707-964-4352 ext 17. Support the Mendocino Coast Botanical Gardens by donating and attending this fun event.

Roxanne Perkins

marketing@gardenbythesea.org

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

AUBADE

by Philip Larkin

I work all day, and get half-drunk at night.

Waking at four to soundless dark, I stare.

In time the curtain-edges will grow light.

Till then I see what’s really always there:

Unresting death, a whole day nearer now,

Making all thought impossible but how

And where and when I shall myself die.

Arid interrogation: yet the dread

Of dying, and being dead,

Flashes afresh to hold and horrify.

 

The mind blanks at the glare. Not in remorse —

The good not done, the love not given, time

Torn off unused—nor wretchedly because

An only life can take so long to climb

Clear of its wrong beginnings, and may never;

But at the total emptiness for ever,

The sure extinction that we travel to

And shall be lost in always.

Not to be here,

Not to be anywhere,

And soon; nothing more terrible, nothing more true.

 

This is a special way of being afraid

No trick dispels. Religion used to try,

That vast moth-eaten musical brocade

Created to pretend we never die,

And specious stuff that says No rational being

Can fear a thing it will not feel, not seeing

That this is what we fear—no sight, no sound,

No touch or taste or smell, nothing to think with,

Nothing to love or link with,

The anaesthetic from which none come round.

 

And so it stays just on the edge of vision,

A small unfocused blur, a standing chill

That slows each impulse down to indecision.

Most things may never happen: this one will,

And realisation of it rages out

In furnace-fear when we are caught without

People or drink. Courage is no good:

It means not scaring others.

Being brave Lets no one off the grave.

Death is no different whined at than withstood.

 

Slowly light strengthens, and the room takes shape.

It stands plain as a wardrobe, what we know,

Have always known, know that we can’t escape,

Yet can’t accept. One side will have to go.

Meanwhile telephones crouch, getting ready to ring

In locked-up offices, and all the uncaring

Intricate rented world begins to rouse.

The sky is white as clay, with no sun.

Work has to be done.

Postmen like doctors go from house to house.

* * *

(For Larry, my friend for sixty years, who died Friday night of complications while being treated for bone cancer. Age 71, survived by wife Marcy, daughters Liz and Diana, and four grandchildren. I will miss him.)

— Louis Bedrock

INDEPENDENCE CELEBRATION 2017

Annual Independence Celebration July 1 & 2!

Fireworks ~ Street Fair ~ Parade

The most highly anticipated event on the South Coast – the Point Arena Independence Celebration – will occur the weekend of July 1 & 2, 2017! Join us for food, fun and the largest display of fireworks in the region in beautiful Arena Cove!

Saturday, July 1 – Street Fair & Fireworks Extravaganza

Festivities kick off Saturday, July 1 at 4:00 pm with food, bands, arts and crafts and entertainment. The Fireworks Extravaganza will explode into the night sky starting at dark. Food and craft vendor spots are available for the Street Fair on July 1. For a vendor application, please contact Point Arena City Hall at 882-2122 or visit the website at www.cityofpointarena.net.

Sunday, July 2 – Downtown Parade

The Annual Downtown Parade steps off at noon on Main Street. The theme this year is “Diver-City.” Groups are welcomed to join the parade. Since this is a family-friendly parade, we ask you to keep things classy, safe, and fun. For parade entry forms, please contact Point Arena City Hall at 882-2122 or visit the website at www.cityofpointarena.net.

How You Can Help!

This spectacular event doesn’t just happen out of the blue – it takes many hours of planning and lots of work by a dedicated group of volunteers and City staff. An event of this size runs on volunteers. Please consider helping make this event a success. Volunteers will receive free admission and a special t-shirt. Please contact Barbara Burkey at 882-2683 for more information.

We are also seeking sponsorships and donations for the event. If you would like to help sponsor or donate to the Celebration or volunteer please contact City Hall at 882-2122.

Please Note…

Admission to the street fair and fireworks is $10 for adults and $5 for kids aged 12- 17. Kids under 12 are free. A family of four is $20.

Dog are not allowed. Please leave your pets at home.

Parking for the street fair and fireworks will be available at City Hall and in parking lot locations on Port Road. No on street parking is available on Port Road. A shuttle bus will run from City Hall to the Cove from 4:00 P.M. until 11:00 P.M.

More information at: http://www.pointarena.net/events-festivals/4th-of-july-fest.html or the City’s Website at: www.cityofpointarena.net or call City Hall at 882-2122.

We look forward to seeing you at Arena Cove for fireworks on Saturday and downtown for the Parade on Sunday!

SIX POUNDS LIGHTER, STILL HEAVY

Immortality in Crazy Times

Having just spent four hours at the Kabuki Spa in San Francisco's Japan Town, watching six pounds of sweat go down the drain, there was lots of time in the steam room to mull over the current global state of affairs. The real pain is just living in a world which is dangerous and unstable, which compounds the basic fact that having a modicum of security is helpful, particularly when society is not being cooperative, and there is no guarantee that one will have security. This basic problem extends to "spiritual groups", by the way, as well as general social and business associations. The idea that joining a "spiritual group" would automatically take care of one's essential needs for life has been disproved by the experience of many. Swami Prabuddhananda of San Francisco's Vedanta Society once remarked to me: "It's not so important to be a monk. What's important is to live from your heart." That instruction has been a guiding one, as opposed to looking outwardly for my survival, which never worked at all. And so, I go to my rented room downtown and sit alone on my meditation cushion, relentlessly watching the mind. Watching the thoughts of fear, doubt, and righteous indignation. Watching the thoughts about being alone in my room watching the thoughts about fear, doubt, and righteous indignation. I am waiting for another opportunity to defend the earth from the maniacs who have sold out to the monster of materialism. I am waiting for another opportunity to advance the agenda of peace and justice. I am waiting for the next opportunity to be in association with others who choose not to be lost, but who choose to be centered and live from their hearts. As the summer season approaches, I wish everyone the courage to cultivate a spiritual life. It's been my discovery that this is difficult. And yet, the alternatives are below our collective level of intelligence and binding, never liberating. Those who appreciate this message are in my sangha. That's the way that I want it to be.

Craig Louis Stehr

Email: CraigStehr@inbox.com