Mendocino County Today: Tuesday, Aug. 1, 2017

• Danger Pond
• Interpreters Strike
• Hot Today
• Airport Day
• Little Dog
• Lawyer's Letter
• Inside Roederer
• Homeless Destinations
• Headline
• Cannabis Crash
• New Chuck
• Navarro Raids
• Padilla Gunshots
• Philo Produce
• Eight Pages
• Yvonne Maurer
• CEO Report
• Yesterday's Catch
• Sam Shepard
• East Hartford
• Rotten Narratives
• Boho Wrap
• Succeeding Generations
• Artwork Needed
• Household Tips
• County Vacancies
• Parenting IQ
• Dawkins Appearance

FORT BRAGG CITY COUNCILMAN Mike Cimolino on the mill pond (via Facebook):

To everyone who cares about Fort Bragg, I need your help!

I haven't used social media to influence people's minds but this is very important to our future. Imagine a 6 foot fence around the large mill pond with DANGER signs greeting us and the tourist with the potential dangers of that area. Not good for the health and vision of our town. I need 500 letters and hope for a thousand. This is really important. For the prosperity of Fort Bragg and the entire North Coast, we have to make our voices heard. We have to tell Tom Lanphar and DTSC "We don't accept that." Clean up is what is needed not status quo. Please send an e-mail to TLanphar@dtsc.ca.gov about cleaning up the mill pond. We all know what a mess that thing is, but one option Georgia-Pacific just wants is to leave it and walk away. Leave us holding the bag, Dioxin for all of us. That's a bad deal.

It is really important that we don't just send in dozens of identical e-mails. They will just be grouped together and it will read 20 people said, "bla,bla..." We each need to say, in our own way, "I do not accept the idea of leaving the mill pond as is." or possibly, "Community acceptance of this terrible G-P plan is out of the question." Maybe some threatening sounding thing like, "If they try to get away with that, this town will explode."

Thank you for caring about your town.

THE SPANISH LANGUAGE INTERPRETER for the Superior Court in Ukiah went on strike this morning, Monday, July 31st, citing long-standing discriminatory labor practices. The strike was part of a statewide effort by court staff interpreters to expose and forestall an engineered artificial shortage of interpreters by withholding funds approved by the legislature and systematically short-changing the interpreters on the benefits enjoyed by other court staff members. The engineered “shortage” – Mr. Timothy Baird is the only court interpreter for all seven courtrooms in Ukiah, and he spends his day on the run from one courtroom to the next – is succeeding because few people want to go through the education and training required for such low pay and a dismal lack of advancement: In ten years you’ll still be making the same as a new hire.

What are the courts up to?

The Ukiah courts’ CEO Kim Turner, who came to us from Petaluma recently, would no doubt earn her lavish salary by phrasing it in unintelligible bureaucratese, but the interpreters themselves know that what’s afoot is a pilot program that would beam interpreters in on video screens. The Video Remote Interpreting Pilot Program has been shown to compromise the quality of the interpretations and, as a result, compromise Spanish speakers’ due process, leading one to surmise it could all be tied to the current trend in stepping up deportations.

Interpreters in 26 counties in Northern and Central California have been working without a contract for more than six months. Bargaining has stalled between CEO Kim Turner and Mary Lou Aranguren, the bargaining rep from the California Federation of Interpreters, and therefore the strike was called for half a day today. However, there is hardly anything going on today in the courthouse, so the timing was planned carefully enough that it would not send a very strong message to the judges. Such a timid action, it seems to this reporter, amounts to little more than begging their honors for a handout.

Camille T. Taiara, the chair of the California Federation of Interpreters Language Access Research and Advocacy Committee, was also on hand, brandishing a placard and handing out leaflets. She recently had a piece in the Ukiah Daily Journal with this notable callout: “Once a National leader, California courts’ language access rating has dropped to 27th in the nation – scoring a mere 31 points on a scale to 100 – California ranked lower than Georgia, Mississippi and Kentucky.”

(Bruce McEwen)

URGENT - WEATHER MESSAGE National Weather Service Eureka CA 242 AM PDT Mon Jul 31 2017

Very hot interior temperatures and heat related impacts expected Monday through Wednesday… Interior regions of northwest California can expect soaring temperatures early this week… particularly Monday through Wednesday. Inland valley locations will see temperatures reaching 100 to 110 degrees each of those afternoons, with the highest temperatures expected Tuesday. This will increase the risk of heat-related illnesses, particularly for sensitive groups.

* * *

Del Norte Interior-Northern Humboldt Interior- Southern Humboldt Interior-Northern Trinity-Southern Trinity- Northwestern Mendocino Interior-Northeastern Mendocino Interior- Southeastern Mendocino Interior- 242 AM PDT Mon Jul 31 2017

…Excessive heat warning remains in effect from 11 am this morning to 11 pm pdt Wednesday…

Temperatures… Afternoon valley temperatures ranging from 100 to 110 degrees…with low temperatures in the 60s.

Impacts: Moderate to high risk of heat illness for those who are sensitive to heat, or for those who are exposed to the sun and active for long durations. This heat will also be dangerous to anyone without proper hydration or adequate cooling. Heat stress is possible for livestock and outdoor pets. Also, area rivers still run cold and fast, increasing the risk for hypothermia and water rescues.

Precautionary/preparedness actions: An Excessive Heat Warning means that a prolonged period of dangerously hot temperatures will occur. This will create a dangerous situation in which heat illnesses are likely. Drink plenty of fluids, stay in an air-conditioned room, stay out of the sun, and check up on relatives and neighbors. Take extra precautions if you work or spend time outside. When possible, reschedule strenuous activities to early morning or evening. Know the signs and symptoms of heat exhaustion and heat stroke. Wear light weight and loose fitting clothing when possible and drink plenty of water. To reduce risk during outdoor work the occupational safety and health administration recommends scheduling frequent rest breaks in shaded or air conditioned environments. Anyone overcome by heat should be moved to a cool and shaded location. Heat stroke is an emergency - call 911.

BOONVILLE AIRPORT DAY & Potluck Dinner.

Saturday August 12, 2017

Festivities begin at Noon. Potluck Dinner at 5pm. Please bring your favorite Potluck dish. Drinks provided!

No RSVP necessary. For additional info contact Cindy or Kirk at (707) 895-2949

Corner of Estate Drive & Airport Road, at the Boonville Airport.

Join us for a fun day at the Boonville Airport. (Kirk Wilder)

LITTLE DOG SAYS, “So, they're standing around looking at this new sprinkler they seem unreasonably proud of, and I say, "Turn it on so I can run through the water." And one of them says, ‘No, Act your age, Little Dog. Ever smell a wet dog? You're bad enough dry.’ That's what I put up with around here.”

THAT NEARY LETTER about the Prather Case

Annotation/commentary by David Severn

* * *

(Original Letter from Neary)

ARGUING THE WRONG CASE

Dear AVA,

David Severn's article, Stealing Sam's Land documents his slanted perspective of the controversy. With the addition of a few facts to the narrative a different picture emerges. There was no theft of land and to say so is a gross misstatement. In 1910 Dr. C.O. Edwards who previously owned Brian's land purchased an easement to use all of the water in a canyon from the prior owner of Sam's land, the easement running with the land and binding on successive owners and binding upon Sam.

In 2008 Mrs. Archambault sued Brian and Sam claiming that she had obtained a superior right to the water from the canyon by adverse possession. Both Sam and Brian successfully defended the right of Brian to use the water, Sam testifying in that case under oath that Brian had the legal right to use the water. Brian advanced all the legal expenses, but Sam reneged on his promise to pay half of the bills. Brian decided to let the nonpayment by Sam go. In 2013 without any warning to Brian, Sam destroyed the water line that had been in place since 1910 leaving Brian's house without any water service. Severn's article implies that the Warden authorized Sam's actions. Sam had told the Warden that he did not know who was using the water, although Brian and his predecessor had been using it for over one hundred years and Sam did not tell the Warden about the easement the validity of which Sam affirmed in sworn testimony in the Archambault case. Even then the Warden did not authorize the destruction as Sam attempted to claim but rather the Warden told Sam that he could address the "trespass" himself because it was Sam's land. The Warden did not know about the easement because Sam did not tell him.

Brian's response to the destruction was restrained. He contacted Sam and pointed to the easement and said he assumed that Sam had just had a bad day and that Brian would shoulder the burden of the $60,000 cost to replace the system but wanted Sam's assurance that it would not be tampered with again. All Sam had to do was to affirm the easement. Sam remained silent. Brian then sued Sam for the replacement cost, and for the damages associate with the hostile act of disrupting a neighbor'S water supply.

Sam pressed for Brian to be arrested for trespassing. Charges were filed. Those charges were dismissed when the additional facts were added to the equation that Brian had the legal right by reason of holding an easement to divert water from Sam's land and Sam not only knew it was so, but had affirmed that I:O! knew the easement was longstanding and valid. The Department of Fish and Wildlife was not happy that Sam had manipulated them into filing a complaint stating that Brian had trespassed, and the Department provided no support to Sam in the civil lawsuit.

David Severn's article incorrectly states that Brian and his friends trespassed on Sam's land and cut firewood. Sam made a police report about this as well. Deputy Keith Squires investigated Sam's accusation but Sam was unable to provide any evidence to support his allegation. When Deputy Squires walked the land with Sam and Brian to locate the stumps of the cut trees Sam was unable to point to any stumps or places where trees had been cut. Although Sam had tried to get Brian arrested on that occasion Brian did not press the issue with Sam although it is unlawful to make a false police report.

The article also states that Sam needed the water for his sheep. Sam testified that he did not want his sheep going into the forested area due to predators and that he with Brian's permission maintained several water troughs for his sheep. Ironically, Sam's destruction of the water system also severed the water service to the troughs.

Brian had to file suit to have the Court recognize his easement. Sam was represented by three aggressive lawyers from Redding who made the case as difficult as possible, asserting various theories that the easement was invalid. On the day before a three week jury trial was about to commence and after the three lawyers had caused the case to be very expensive both to the insurance company they were billing and to Brian, the aggressive lawyers from Redding sought to settle the case. Sam was facing damages of about $100,000 for the cost of repairing the water system and Brian's damages of having to truck in water to serve his property. Sam was also facing damages of up to ten times the amount of actual damages for punitive damages if the jury felt such damages were warranted by his surprise destruction of a water system known by Sam to be lawful, or if the jury felt that Sam having made unwarranted police reports, which in one case caused Brian to be wlongfully arrested,justified damages beyond actual damages.

Instead of pressing the matter to trial, Brian accommodated the settlement request by Sam's lawyers by agreeing to accept some land adjacent to his property from Sam, something that would also resolve Sam's claims that property surveys were wrong. The settlement offer was accepted by Brian and by Sam who should have been greatly relieved to avoid trial on his unexplained actions of destroying the quarter mile water line. Although the land was depicted on a map in the courtroom, the location and extent of the land along with its precise dimensions were confirmed in the field by Sam, a surveyor, Brian and the attorneys by their walking the land together and marking the land to be conveyed. Sam agreed to transfer the land to settle the case, and only then was the judgment entered.

Not only was the agreement written, signed by Sam and approved by the Court, but also Sam and Brian shook hands to bury past grievances which act apparently did not have any meaning for Sam because when the surveying work was completed at Brian's sole expense, Sam reneged and refused to sign the deed claiming that the land which was marked in the field was too much land, and the best 7 acres of his 1000+ acre parcel. Another court proceeding was held to enforce the settlement. After hearing testimony the Court ordered Sam to comply with the promises he made to settle the case and avoid trial.

Mr. Severn does a disservice to Sam and to Brian by presenting a slanted version of the controversy. Every controversy has two sides. This controversy was settled by the parties who knew the facts better than anyone. It is a disservice to Sam to suggest that Sam did not know what he was doing when he settled a controversy.

Chris Neary, Attorney for Brian Padilla

Willits

* * *

DAVID SEVERN REPLIES:

Bottom Line: Brian Padilla won, Sam Prather lost. To continue any argument is beating a dead horse.

Yet I am moved to do so but will try to be brief.

To be generous I would say I find Neary's response to my write-up disingenuous. To speak from my heart, I feel it crassly demonstrates a proclivity toward coercive elder abuse of a man who is often challenged to understand what is going on in these types of legal shenanigans. Intellectually, it reads as pure bulldookey to the core.

Neary: "In 2008 Mrs. Archambault sued Brian and Sam  …. for adverse possession water rights.  …. but Sam reneged on his promise to pay half of the bills."

Comment: In 2008 Sam had no intention of joining with and paying Padilla to strip Lynn Archambault of her water. Any semblance of complicity was either coerced or manufactured.

Neary: “In 2013 without warning to Brian, Sam destroyed the water line that had been in place since 1910 leaving Brian's house without any water service.”

Comment: In 2013 it was Padilla who first without warning to Sam twice positioned his two inch pipe outside of and above the 1910 easement thereby taking all of the water from the stream for his marijuana and leaving none for Sam's sheep. Albeit maybe not in use, there was in fact a good well on Padilla's property.

Neary: " … the warden did not authorize the destruction …  told Sam that he could address the 'trespass' …"

Comment: From Warden White’s report: "I advised Prather that it was his property and it was an illegal diversion, so if he would like to remove it (the pipe) he could." Warden White was present and attempting to remove the dam while Sam removed the pipe.

Neary claims that Padilla told Sam he would not charge Sam for $60,000 replacement cost if Sam would agree to not "tamper with it again … Sam remained silent."

Comment: Of course Sam remained silent. For one, $60,000 is an absurd amount for the damage done. And second, why would Sam agree to let Padilla go beyond the easement limits in his lust for more water?

$60,000 to replace the pipe? Give me a break. The quarter-mile claimed is an overstatement especially given that in fact some of the pipe going to the main point of diversion was above and outside of the existing easement. But even at that, at $150 per 100 feet for 2" black pipe the material cost would run around $2,000. A couple days work for two men at $30 an hour each is no more than a $1,000. If they're slow workers, double that.

Neary: "Sam pressed for Brian to be arrested for trespassing."

Comment: No, Sam went to Fish and Wildlife to see if there was a way to get water back for his sheep. The very comprehensive report by Warden White says nothing of Sam wanting to have Padilla arrested. That eight page report can be read here and in my original story at www.theava.com. It specifically says, "Prather had been concerned about returning the water back to the tributary."

The reality of course is that Sam might well be pleased if Padilla got arrested but his primary concern is/was to stop a continuing barrage of neighbor-fomented abuses.

Relative to an issue of Padilla and friends cutting firewood on Sam's land it is Neary who incorrectly states that Deputy Squires could not find "… any evidence …" In this case the firewood incidents did stop when Deputy Squires, upon seeing the stumps. handled the situation as he liked to do by having a strict talk with the perpetrator. In this case Padilla.

The claim of having to truck in water rings hollow faced with the knowledge that Padilla has a well and has in fact survived just fine on it for four years now with no attempt to replace the pipe by him even though the agreement that Sam signed that got him into this mess was made in 2013. That claim added $40,000 to the original $60,000 and since Padilla lives in San Jose any water to the place went to marijuana.

Neary: "Brian had to file suit to have the Court recognize his easement."

Comment: Wrong. The easement by now was recognized though bewildering to Sam as he felt that for years everyone had been using water respectfully. What was at issue and stated by Neary in the same paragraph: "Sam was facing damages of $100,000 …. and Sam was also facing … up to ten times the amount … in punitive damages." If this is not coercion of an elderly man easily confused by legal shenanigans I don't know what is.

I admit to having no knowledge of the " …. three aggresive lawyers …" mentioned by Neary but when Sam's locally hired lawyer Brian Carter referred to the Redding-based insurance "lawyer" (singular) he said that the guy "Was hired by the insurance company because he was cheap." I'll testify under oath to that statement.

When Sam was told to sign the agreement in 2013 by his lawyer Brian Carter he was told the amount of land was three acres. The only hold-up he caused was for approximately two months early in 2017 when he tried but failed to get the 7.6 acre surveyed acreage limited to three acres in court in response to Padilla's finally getting around to having the County make a property line adjustment.

Neary's claim at the end of his letter that the " … controversy was settled by the parties who knew the facts better than anyone" sums up the arrogance and ethics involved from a lawyer's perspective. And might well explain the dynamics of the act when Neary slapped Sam's lawyer Brian Carter on the back early in the controversy and stated, "Remember you owe me."

A ROEDERER WORKER TALKS ABOUT WHAT IT’S LIKE FROM THE INSIDE

AVA News Service (Interview conducted in October, 1998)

Single guys in Roederer’s worker housing pay $30-$0 each pay check, $60-$80 per month to live there. This includes everything, utilities, cooking stoves. We can stay between work in the fields. But there’s no phone.

Health insurance?

Some have it, but we have to pay part of it. Have to pay for our own family, $300/month. Nobody makes enough money to buy it for their families.

Is Roederer one of the better companies to work for?

All year round, only 15 people work every day. During harvest and pruning, up to 90 people. Roederer’s new fields near Navarro are making everybody pretty busy. Pay is OK, but the 15 year-round guys make as much as guys there 7 years. $7.75 an hour. I started with them at $6, now up to $7.50. Worked Roederer for five years.

Who started the strike?

Roederer started it. They said we had to pay the tractor driver and sugar guys out of workers’ pay. Didn’t want to raise the price to pay the drivers or sugar testers. They said if you don’t like it leave —if you don’t want to pick, leave. We said we waited all year to pick. We want to get a little more, not less. Last year we picked around 1700 tons. People made like $1800-$2000. All the guys in other places picked 400-500 tons and made same amount of money, but did a lot less. Michele [Salgues, manager at the time] said, ‘I’ll pay $95 for the Pinot, and chardonnay same.’ We said $95 is nothing. Next day he said, “OK, I’ll pay for one tractor driver and $95 for the pinot and $90 for the chardonnay.” We said OK, you pay us $90 for everything and you pay for both tractor drivers. He said no. He didn’t like that. He held out until Thursday. Then they brought two crews from Hopland, one got there early and other guys were there. They were told what we wanted: a little more. They were with us for holding the line for a little more. Michele said no, if you don’t like it, leave. Then they decided to call the Sheriff. Keith (Deputy Keith Squires) grabbed one of the guys to take him to jail. Everybody said if you’re going to take him, you’ll have to take all of us, or we’ll sit in the truck. I went and explained things to Keith. He said, ‘They told you if you don’t want to pick get out of here.’ We said, We want to pick, we just want a little more. Keith said they wanted us off the property. So everybody went onto the other side of the fence on Highway 128. They came out and tried to get us to come back to work. We said no. Then they found another labor contractor from Cloverdale. We explained things to them when they arrived. Those guys said that we had a right to ask for a better rate. So we went to the EDD office in Ukiah. No help there. We got in touch with Salvador Mendoza of the United Farm Workers and twelve guys went to explain things to him. He told us our rights. Mendoza came to Boonville on Thursday (September 17th) to meet with all the guys. He told us our rights. We had another meeting at the winery but they wouldn’t give us any more. Then they said they’d think about it for two hours. Then another half hour passed. Five more minutes. Mendoza demanded an answer. They said, Get off my property. They kicked us out. Michelle, and Patrick and some of those guys told us to leave. On Friday, the labor consultants showed up and tried to get people to go back to work. People still wouldn’t go back to work. He asked what we wanted. We wanted $95 on everything and they pay the tractor drivers. And we want UFW representation. Michelle agreed to pay the $95 and pay the tractor drivers so we all went back to work on Saturday. The labor contractors: one was OK, just asking questions. The other was pretty bad. We never saw him after the first day. He told us we’d be better off without the union. He asked how the company treated us before. We said they promised a lot but never did anything. He went back and told Roederer that. He was OK. He would talk to you, no problem. Roederer will probably challenge the contract.

Has Roederer been pretty fair?

They always try to cut corners to save money in ways you don’t notice. They push people around here and there. They have fired a lot of people for no reason. One guy I know well was fired recently. They wanted us to work on Saturday. He couldn’t work, he had an important meeting. He offered to work more hours Friday to make up for the hours he had to miss on Saturday. He said he’d try to get there on Saturday. They had no work for him on Monday. He said if you don’t have work for me today, I quit. They escorted him out. Most of us never deal with Michele. The two field bosses: Bob’s OK but he gets… he gets mad. For any reason he gets mad and jumps on people. Bob and Patrick both speak Spanish. Bob was the one who called the police on the Wednesday of the first strike. Michele was there at the time. They must have discussed it for a few minutes. And then they called them right away.

Were most workers aware of UFW?

No, we just wanted help and we found them through Sonia Mendoza in Ukiah. We were already kicked out by the police and we had to do something. We got a hold of Santa Rosa and Mendoza came up. They have been OK so far. It’s early. If you want good shears you have to buy your own. The old ones they have don’t work. Your hand is going to get tired, but you have to buy them from Roederer.

They do seem to be trying to save some money on the housing.

Nobody knows anything about their workers in France. They don’t tell us anything except when we need to come in and work and where. No profit sharing, no nothing. We know it’s a rich winery. We know they have a lot of money. They have said that no one will be fired. There will be no retaliation. They were happy to get things back to normal. We think they did it at first to see if they could get away with it. We were afraid to lose our job. We asked for a raise, and they’d say go somewhere else. So we’d stay. And there was no raise. And that kept happening. Now this time when they said if you don’t like it leave, we said, We don’t like it and we’re going to stay. If you don’t pay us more we won’t leave until you do. The workers are still sticking together pretty well. Some will return to Mexico after harvest. They are leaving anyway. But the people who are here year round, they care about the pay and the conditions. A lot of guys have been here for up to 15 years.

(Postscript: After the strike, in 1999, Roederer hired the famous union-busting law firm of Littler-Mendelson out of San Francisco. They also hired an infiltrator to pose as a field worker to live with the workers in Roederer housing and convince as many of them as possible that unionization was a bad idea. Anyone who held out for unionization was later fired. There hasn’t been any open talk of unionization since.)

HA - HUMBOLDT POST TELLS HOMELESS GUY TO GO TO MENDO!

John Civ's always interesting Humboldt County blog ("Words Worth") had this exchange from a Humboldt Craigslist post:

"I'm considering relocating to the Eureka area to live in my van to save money. What is the area like? Are cops hard on 'homeless’? I don't do any sort of drugs. Are there a lot of tweakers there? Just looking for a safe, easygoing area that isn't as hot in the summer as bad as most of the state. Thx!"

Here is an answer to the questions:

"Please, please, please go somewhere else. We don't want you. Eureka is already swarming with so-called 'homeless' and we don't need any more. Social services are stretched to the limit, and there are no jobs. There is a strong criminal element in the 'homeless community' here that prey on other bums, so you'll be having to constantly watch your back. The police roust 'homeless' encampments regularly, although they're nowhere near as tough on the bums as most working, taxpaying adult citizens would like them to be. You will get no respect — and no 'spare change' — from employed locals because we are sick and tired of playing host to the drifters, derelicts, 'travelers' and bums who come here from every corner of the country with their hands out crying 'Feed me! House me! Give me a place to park my ratty van! Provide me with SERVICES.' People here are angry and disgusted and getting fed up with the army of entitled bums flooding our community. Please stay in Sacramento, or head down to Mendocino or Santa Cruz or up to Oregon where I'm sure you'll receive a much warmer welcome."

(MendocinoSportsPlus)

HEADLINE from SF Gate: "Man Drowns After Swimming In Lake Tahoe Beach.”

Drowned in the sand?

THE TRUE STATE of the pot business, as expressed by an on-line commenter: "Yep, people sitting on hundreds of pounds from last year and planting as much as they can this year. Big crash coming next year. Endless ads for used greenhouses on Craigslist."

DEPARTMENT OF HOLLOW LAUGHTER: “Too many Americans don't know what we stand for,” said Democratic leader Chuck Schumer last week as he unveiled a new party agenda as irrelevant and as cringing as the old one. The prob, Chuck, is that Democrats, like Republicans, are wholly-owned subsidiaries of the oligarchy. Anything that upsets them, upsets you.

NO PRESSER YET from the Sheriff’s Department, but there was a large-scale pot raid in Navarro last Friday afternoon. The raid team had assembled near the Masonite Road so, presumably, the bust was either out the old haul road or somewhere in Rancho Navarro. There were four arrests, but three persons ran and remain on the loose. One bustee somehow suffered a serious gash to his forehead and had to be airlifted outtahere.

NEIGHBORS counted 35 shots fired from the Padilla place on Indian Creek Road on Saturday, but when one nabe called Padilla to request a cease fire, fire ceased. Padilla’s compound is ringed with security cameras, which apparently recently captured Dave Severn having a look at current neighborhood water arrangements up the hill from Indian Creek Road. As Severn, 75, was walking to his car a junior Padilla roared up menacingly on an ATV for an exchange of unpleasantries. The days of free range hiking in the Anderson Valley are long-gone, as are the days when lawyers and courtrooms were the absolute last resort.

THIS WEEK AT BLUE MEADOW FARM

Cherry, Early Girl & Heirloom Tomatoes

Walla Walla Onions, Zucchini, Zappallito

Corno di Toro, Gypsy, Bells, Pimento Peppers

Padron, Anaheim, Poblano Peppers

Rosa Bianca, Black & Asian Eggplant

Strawberries, Sunflowers, Snapdragons, Zinnias & starting 7/25, Misha’s lovely flower bouquets

(Blue Meadow Farm, 3301 Holmes Ranch Rd, Philo  95466   895-2071)

"WE THOUGHT the years would last forever. They are all gone now, the days we thought would not come for us are here." That's from a Rexroth poem, as cited by Louis Bedrock, but those days we thought would never come have arrived for this newspaper. This week we go permanently to 8-pages. Like the large-circulation papers the internet has overtaken us. We've always depended on stand sales and subscriptions to pay the printer and the post office. Newsstands have mostly disappeared, as have paper-paper readers. (We've just learned that Village Spirits, the liquor store in Mendocino, a reliable outlet for years, is closing its doors. Corners of the Mouth, the "liberal" market in the village, has always refused to sell the ava, apparently on the grounds of repeat deviationism from, I dunno, some kind of party line never quite articulated by a party no correct-thinking person would want to belong to.  Corners, btw, has no prob with the chain papers owned by hedge funds, but we’re not talking about people capable of connecting many dots.

OUR OLDER READERS still prefer paper newspapers, our younger readers, assuming we have some, now get all their information via cyber-space and television comedians. On-line is where the bulk of the ava will now be found at www.theava.com. The paper-paper will be a stripped-down version of the on-line paper. Old subscribers can, if they want, get both for the price of a paper-paper subscription.  Out of state people will have to pay a hundred bucks for a sub. (Out of state subs cost us more than is reasonable at current postal rates. We'll focus on in-Mendo matters in the paper-paper, with the longer pieces on random subjects that many of our readers enjoy found on-line. Onward!

YVONNE MAURER

Yvonne Chase Maurer passed away peacefully in Castro Valley CA at age 95. She was born February 15, 1922 in Navarro, Calif., to Cynthia Zanoni and Guiseppe Modenese, predeceased by her only sibling, Mary Jane Giovannetti. She graduated second in her class from Anderson Valley High School on June 9, 1939. She went to UC Berkeley majoring in Social Work. She married Harold Chase in September of 1940. After Harold’s passing in 1980, she married Walter Maurer in 1990 and they were happily married until his passing in 2004.

She worked at Montgomery Ward in Oakland and then Alameda County Welfare Department until her retirement in 1976. She enjoyed gardening and cooking for family and friends in her Oakland Hills home, but most of all she loved traveling, RVing and ballroom dancing. She belonged to many dance groups and was a long time member of the Five Spot RV Club. She enjoyed her membership in the Colombo Club Women’s Auxiliary and volunteering at the Children’s Home Society (Sleepy Hollow Branch) thrift store.

She is survived by her only child Lonnie Chase, daughter-in-law Helene Chase, adored granddaughters Julie and Cynthia, and her beloved great-granddaughter Chloe Hoyer. She was like a mother to her niece Gail Leland and nephew Kenneth Giovannetti and their extended families.

A celebration of her life will be held on Friday August 4, 2017 at 11am at Albert Brown Mortuary, 3476 Piedmont Avenue Oakland CA 94611. Interment following at St. Mary’s Cemetery. In lieu of flowers, please donate in her memory to a children’s charity of your choice.

O YEA

CEO Report Now Available on County Website

https://www.mendocinocounty.org/Home/Components/News/News/56/

(Ed note: The above county-supplied link is not correct. After much searching in the County’s new — but terribly organized, cluttered and nearly unsearchable website mendocino.org — we finally found the correct link:

https://www.mendocinocounty.org/home/showdocument?id=9948

We hope the following paragraph from the CEO report is an unsuccessful attempt at humor:

“The Work of Leadership: The HPO Project Teams have begun their initial meetings to work on specific issues identified by the Mendocino County Executive Leadership Team (MCELT) with input from the Expanded Leadership Team. Approximately 60 County employees representing all levels of service have volunteered to participate on project teams addressing communication, recruitment and retention, economic development, employee engagement, customer service, performance plans, and operational processes. The Leadership Reading Group will meet again on August 3rd, 12:00- 1:00pm in Conference Room B, 501 Low Gap Road, Ukiah. The current book is The Five Dysfunctions of a Team, by Patrick Lencioni.”

CATCH OF THE DAY, July 31

JASON BARTOLOMEI, Ukiah. Probation revocation.

JASON BELLEGANTE, Arcata/Willits. Domestic battery.

STEVE COUTHREN, Ukiah. Parole violation.

MICHAEL DONAHE, Ukiah. Recklessy causing fire to structural or forest land, disorderly conduct-alcohol. (Frequent flyer.)

MONALISA DURAZO, Covelo. Probation revocation.

MANUEL FREASE, Covelo. Community supervision violation.

DANIEL LEEDS, Arcata/Ukiah. Probation revocation.

RONALD VALENTINE JR., Ukiah. Disorderly conduct-alcohol.

ANDREA WRIGHT, Ukiah. Probation revocation.

PLAYWRIGHT, DIRECTOR AND ACTOR SAM SHEPARD PASSES AWAY AT 73

Survivors include his children, Jesse, Hannah and Walker Shepard, and his sisters, Sandy and Roxanne Rogers.

"The family requests privacy at this difficult time," said the spokesman for the family, Chris Boneau.

Funeral arrangements remain private. Plans for a public memorial have not yet been determined.

Shepard is the author of forty-four plays as well as several books of short stories, essays, and memoirs. Shepard received the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1979 for his play Buried Child. He was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his portrayal of pilot Chuck Yeager in The Right Stuff (1983).

Shepard received the PEN/Laura Pels International Foundation for Theater Award as a master American dramatist in 2009. New York magazine described him as "the greatest American playwright of his generation."

His many plays include: Cowboys, The Rock Garden, Chicago, Icarus's Mother, 4-H Club, Red Cross, La Turista, Cowboys #2, Forensic & the Navigators, The Unseen Hand, Oh! Calcutta! (contributed sketches), The Holy Ghostly, Operation Sidewinder, Mad Dog Blues, Back Bog Beast Bait, Cowboy Mouth, The Tooth of Crime, Geography of a Horse Dreamer, Action, Angel City, Suicide in B Flat, Inacoma, Curse of the Starving Class, Buried Child, Tongues, True West, Savage/Love, Fool for Love, A Lie of the Mind, A Short Life of Trouble, Baby Boom, States of Shock, Simpatico, Tooth of Crime, Eyes for Consuela, The Late Henry Moss, The God of Hell, Kicking a Dead Horse, Ages of the Moon, Heartless and A Particle of Dread.

Shepard's plays are chiefly known for their bleak, poetic, often surrealist elements, black humor and rootless characters living on the outskirts of American society. His style has evolved over the years, from the absurdism of his early Off-Off-Broadway work to the realism of Buried Child and Curse of the Starving Class (both 1978).

Shepard began his acting career in earnest when he was cast as the handsome land baron in Terrence Malick's Days of Heaven (1978), opposite Richard Gere and Brooke Adams. This led to other important film roles, including that of Cal, Ellen Burstyn's love interest, in the film "Resurrection" (1980), and most notably his portrayal of Chuck Yeager in The Right Stuff (1983). The latter performance earned Shepard an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor. By 1986, his play Fool for Love was getting a film adaptation directed by Robert Altman, in which Shepard played the lead role; his play A Lie of the Mind was being performed Off-Broadway with an all-star cast (including Harvey Keitel and Geraldine Page); and Shepard was subsequently working steadily as a film actor - all of these achievements put him on the cover of Newsweek.

Throughout the years, Shepard has done a considerable amount of teaching on writing plays and other aspects of theatre. His classes and seminars have occurred at various theatre workshops, festivals, and universities. Shepard was elected to The American Academy of Arts and Letters in 1986. He was elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1986.

(Variety)

* * *

Sam Shepard, the Oscar-nominated actor and Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright who premiered many of his works at San Francisco’s Magic Theatre, died Thursday at his home in Kentucky.

The cause of death was complications from Lou Gehrig’s disease, his family confirmed. He was 73.

Over a career that lasted more than five decades, Mr. Shepard brought American theater out of the polite parlors of the East Coast and South and into the wild West.

He first started writing off-off-Broadway and off-Broadway, winning Obie Awards for plays like “La Turista,” “Red Cross” and “The Tooth of Crime” in the 1960s and early 1970s. Many of his most enduring and widely produced plays premiered at the Magic Theatre, where he was playwright in residence for a decade beginning in 1975, including for the writing of three of his quintet of family plays: “Buried Child” (1978), which won the Pulitzer Prize in 1979, “True West” (1980) and “Fool for Love” (1983), which starred Ed Harris and Kathy Baker.

Cut off geographically and psychically from middle class norms, his characters forge their own mythos. The American Dream doesn’t figure into their consciousness; if they strive for anything, it’s often to run away from or return to lovers and kin. His men, in particular, are always embarking on sweeping road trips, much like the peripatetic Mr. Shepard himself. (Also like their creator, many of Mr. Shepard’s male characters are scarred by an abusive or absent father.)

You get the sense, though, that it never matters whether his characters are in close physical proximity or far apart. They can’t really hear each other even when they’re right next to each other, everyone stuck in his or her own stunted perspective. Yet futilely assert their realities to one another they must, for kin is all they have; the rest is bare refrigerators, trailers stuffed with magazines. Mr. Shepard’s families are blood tribes. It’s them against the rest of the world — their destinies sealed together by shared secrets and shames, by mysterious supernatural forces that feel as ancient as the land itself.

“Sam Shepard was the defining American dramatist of his generation, theatrically testifying to the nightmare underpinnings of the ‘American Dream,’” writes Larry Eilenberg, longtime professor of theater arts at San Francisco State and the Magic Theatre’s artistic director from 1992-93 and again from 1998-2003.“His best works represent a convergence of (Eugene) O’Neill’s brand of tragic family drama and (Samuel) Beckett’s bleak absurdism, with Sam’s father and the Mojave never far from view.”

Mr. Shepard’s association with the Magic Theatre continued long after his official residency, with 24 productions in total. That included the star-studded world premiere of “The Late Henry Moss” in 2000, which featured Woody Harrelson, Sean Penn and Nick Nolte, as well as the company’s more recent multiyear, multi-company “Sheparding America” project, which, beginning with the playwright’s 70th birthday in 2013, honored his legacy by reviving many of his most beloved plays. Other local theater companies Word for Word, American Conservatory Theater and Crowded Fire also participated.

“A lot of us make theater because of the work that he made, his groundbreaking writing,” said Magic Theatre artistic director Loretta Greco. “It’s not just that he was prolific, but, let’s face it, he wrote across all mediums equally beautifully.” That includes the screenplay for “Paris, Texas,” which won the Palme d’Or at the 1984 Cannes Film Festival, and collections of short stories and poems as well as longer fiction.

“He never stopped,” Greco said. “He started in his teens, and he was writing when I saw him last, in April.”

His career as an actor on stage and screen also spanned decades. With a rangy build and rugged good looks, somehow only enhanced by his very uneven teeth, Mr. Shepard was a natural in macho Hollywood roles that were much like the cowboys and drifters he created in his plays. He received an Oscar nomination for his performance as Chuck Yeager in “The Right Stuff,” also giving memorable performances in “Days of Heaven,” “Baby Boom,” “Steel Magnolias,” “The Pelican Brief” and “Black Hawk Down,” among more than 40 other roles.

“He’s such a great looking guy, and he held himself so well,” Harris, who also starred in “The Right Stuff,” said by phone. He had most recently worked with Mr. Shepard on a production of “Buried Child” in London this winter. As an actor, Harris said, Mr. Shepard was “always very centered. He has such a low tolerance for bullshit.”

Mr. Shepard often directed his own work or consulted on notable productions of it, and his actors describe a similar hewing to the essentials. Local actor Will Marchetti, who played the Old Man in the Magic’s world premiere of “Fool for Love,” remembers Mr. Shepard as “a man of few words.”

“I was a little intimidated by him, by his silence really,” Marchetti said by phone. That silence was much more likely to break over Tequila at Tosca’s in North Beach than in the rehearsal room. “I realized early in the game that questions weren’t permitted.” Without having to say so, Marchetti said, Mr. Shepard clearly felt that “if you don’t get it right at the start, something’s really wrong. You’ve got to understand what I wrote. I’m not here to answer questions.”

Luckily, Marchetti says, “the play kind of directed itself.”

But if Mr. Shepard was old-school in his macho reticence, that doesn’t mean he wasn’t generous to his artists. Local actor Rod Gnapp remembers Mr. Shepard greeting him backstage after the first time he went on as an understudy in the world premiere of “The Late Henry Moss.” “Sam met me in the dressing room with a shot of bourbon and just a big smile and a hug,” Gnapp recalled by phone.

As a director, Mr. Shepard hailed from an earlier time. Gnapp said Mr. Shepard used phrases like “make it organic” or “just do what you feel,” in contrast to many other directors’ more “marionnette kind of approach.” Gnapp said that although Mr. Shepard was “very attentive to every period and comma,” he’d also say things like, “Let’s just get up and move around and pretend were animals,” frequently punctuating his speech with hippie phrases like, “Cool, man.”

His plays were full of vivid, even grotesque images. Mr. Shepard’s language, said Harris, “is extraordinary. Especially having just done ‘Buried Child’ in London, one of the things you realize is that there’s just no end to exploring this stuff. It’s like a bottomless pit, playing these characters that he’s created.”

“His theatrical monologues — arias really — brim with the spirit of American tall tales, of Pecos Bill and Calamity Jane, and the oversized lies we tell to sustain us,” said Eilenberg.

Perhaps one of the most striking examples of his imagery comes from the end of “Curse of the Starving Class,” when Wesley and his mother, Ella, remember a tale their patriarch used to tell, about an eagle capturing and flying off with a cat:

“Ella: ...They fight like crazy in the middle of the sky. That cat’s tearing his chest out, and the eagle’s trying to drop him, but the cat won’t let go because he knows if he falls he’ll die.

“Wesley: And the eagle’s being torn apart in midair. The eagle’s trying to free himself from the cat, and the cat won’t let go.

“Ella: And they come crashing down to the earth. Both of them come crashing down. Like one whole thing.”

Samuel Shepard Rogers III was born on November 5, 1943, in Fort Sheridan, Ill., to a mother who was a teacher and a father who was a pilot in World War II, a Fulbright Scholar and an abusive alcoholic.

He was married once, to actor O-Lan Jones, from 1969 to 1984, and with whom he had a son, Jesse Mojo Shepard.

He moved in with actor Jessica Lange in 1983, having two children with her: Hannah Jane Shepard and Samuel Walker Shepard. Their relationship lasted until 2009. He is survived by his three children and by his sisters, Sandy and Roxanne Rogers.

The family is planning a private funeral. The Magic Theatre will host a Bay Area celebration of Mr. Shepard’s life and work in September; more details to come.

(SF Chronicle)

* * *

“This isn't champagne anymore. We went through the champagne a long time ago. This is serious stuff. The days of champagne are long gone.” — Sam Shepard

ON LINE COMMENT OF THE DAY

Well, news here is a 5 year old was gunned down in a drive by shooting, just a few hours after another ‘nonviolence rally’ (really, these ‘peace vigils’ and ‘nonviolence rallies’ have to stop, somebody invariably ends up shot soon after) the surprise here it was in East Hartford, not Hartford or New Haven. This noteworthy event occurred in East Hartford, until the 1940s a little rural village of tobacco and truck farms; then Pratt & Whitney built their giant aircraft engine factory in the fields and that changed everything. Vast tracts of housing were developed to domicile thousands of workers needed to build the wasp piston engines that won WW2, housing that sensitive writers like JHK and the late John Cheever deplore. They weren’t too bad when new, about 1200 sq ft, a grassy yard and a driveway for the chevy. 50 years on things have changed. I remember diving thru these neighborhoods in the 70s, the homes neatly kept, the grass cut, the men in the plant working. Now there is no grass, but 4 or 5 Toyotas with opaque tinted windows parked in the bare patch of earth where the lawn used to be. The houses themselves are in bad repair. You see idle young men hanging around the streets in the middle of the day, pants hanging down below their asses, sometimes walking pit bulls, holding them back on a heavy leash. (get the picture?) The prosperous industrial age in East Hartford has ended; it didn’t last long, merely 6 decades. Oh, they still build jet engines there, but the highly paid union employees have bought larger homes further out, way in the country, miles and miles from the plant. In East Hartford it is no longer the age of industry but the age of welfare and govt dependence, where no one works, drug abuse is endemic, 80% of kids have no father, and little 5 year olds get gunned down playing on their front porch.

NARRATIVES ARE NOT TRUTHS

by James Kunstler

The polity is a social organism, of course, meaning that it adds up to more than the sum of its parts, a body of politics, if you will, just as each of us adds up to more than just our bodies. It’s alive as we are alive. We have needs. We have intentions in the service of those needs. Those intentions animate us and turn us in one direction or another to stay alive, and even more than that, to thrive.

The American polity is not thriving. It has been incrementally failing to meet its needs for quite a while now, playing games with itself to pretend that it is okay while its institutional organs and economic operations decay. It turns this way and that way ever more desperately, over-steering like a drunk on the highway. It is drunk on the untruths it tells itself in the service of playing games to avoid meeting its real needs. Narratives are not truths.

Here is a primary question we might ask ourselves: do we want to live in a healthy society? Do we want to thrive? If so, what are the narratives standing in the way of turning us in the direction?

Let’s start with health care, so called, since the failure to do anything about the current disastrous system is so fresh. What’s the narrative there? That “providers” (doctors and hospitals) can team up with banking operations called “insurance companies” to fairly allocate “services” to the broad population with a little help from the government. No, that’s actually not how it works. The three “players” actually engage in a massive racketeering matrix — that is, they extract enormous sums of money dishonestly from the public they pretend to serve and they do it twice: once by extortionary fees and again by taxes paid to subsidize mitigating the effects of the racketeering.

The public has its own narrative, which is that there is no connection between their medical problems and the way they live. The fact is that they eat too much poisonous food because it’s tasty and fun, and they do that because the habits-of-life that they have complicitly allowed to evolve in this country offers them paltry rewards otherwise. They dwell in ugly, punishing surroundings, spend too much time and waste too much money driving cars around it in isolation, and have gone along with every effort to dismantle the armatures of common social exchange that afford what might be called a human dimension of everyday living.

So, the medical racket ends up being nearly 20 percent of the economy, while the public gets fatter, sicker, and more anxiously depressed. And there is no sign that we want to disrupt the narratives.

A related narrative: the US economy is “recovering” — supposedly from a mysterious speed-bump that made it swerve off the road in 2008. No, that’s not it. The US economy has entered a permanent state of contraction because we can’t afford the fossil fuel energy it takes to continue expanding our techno-industrial activities (and there are no plausible adequate substitutes for the fossil fuels). We tried to cover up this state of affairs by borrowing money from the future, issuing bonds to “create money,” and now we’ve reached the end of that racket because it’s clear we can’t pay back the old bonded debt and have no prospect for “making good” on issuing new bonded debt. Recently, we have been issuing new debt mainly to pay back the old, and any twelve-year-old can see where that leads.

Reality wants us to manage the contraction of that failing economy, and because that is difficult and requires changing familiar, comfortable arrangements, we just pretend that we can keep expanding the old system. Of course, all the work-arounds and games only increase the fragility of the system and set us up for a kind of sudden failure that could literally destroy civilized society.

Another popular narrative of the moment — a dominant preoccupation among the “educated” elites these days — is that we can change human nature, especially human sexuality and all the social behaviors that derive from mammals existing in two sexes. This set of narratives is deeply entwined with fashion and status-seeking, with the greatest status currently being conferred upon those opting out from being either one sex or the other, along with the biological imperatives associated with one or the other. This has been identified by the essayist Hugo Salinas Price as an updated form of Gnosticism and is now the official reigning ideology of the college campuses. Some call it “cultural Marxism,” but it is really a form of religion. It offers colorful distraction from the more difficult adult tasks of managing contraction and rebuilding the political economy with its social armatures.

So, these conditions might prompt us to ask the more general question: how much longer do we, as a polity, want to pretend that narratives are the same as the truth? As I’ve averred previously, I think reality itself has to force the issue by delivering circumstances so compelling that it is no longer possible to keep telling yourself the same old stories. And that reckoning is not far off.

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

BOHEMIAN GROVE WRAP UP--2017 (expanded version)

by Mary Moore

I prepared an earlier, shorter version of this a few days ago. Here is a fleshed out version of this year’s Lakeside Talks thanks to some research done by Don. One of the main points we’ve made over almost 40 years of protests, is just who is speaking up there along with their subjects. And the fact that these talks concern public policy concepts without any public scrutiny.

* * *

Boho Wrap 2017 by Don Eichelberger, Bohemian Grove Action Network

This year’s glimpse in to the Bohemian Grove encampment of the ruling elite was a unique one. We were not able to get a copy of the grove schedule as we have often in the past, but one intrepid worker was able to get cell phone photos of an unnamed member’s schedule, complete with margin notes. While there were a number of interesting titles and presenters for the daily Lakeside Talks and other events, the margin notes offered extra insights about the more spontaneous occurrences not documented in the program.

Among documented events, William Bratton spoke on “Policing in 2017: Everything Old is New Again.” The former NYC Police Commissioner was a first advocate of "Broken Windows Policing," which includes intolerance of “antisocial” behavior (however you define it?), and favored going after minor infractions to avoid drift toward more major law breaking, stop and frisk being a major tool. Prediction: Right wing police methods will continue to escalate.

An interesting Museum Talk, “The Case for Climate Engineering” was given by Harvard climate scientist, David Keith. We don’t have a text of his speech, but we do have his 2013 book by the same title. His speech likely updates his thesis that climate change is real and that even with big cuts to carbon production, carbon will continue to accumulate in the atmosphere for a long while, causing warming. We must therefore implement ways to actively combat the effects of increasing carbon, and his company, Carbon Engineering is working on it. The 2013 book sets out plans to spray 250 thousand tons a year of sulfuric acid above 60,000 feet to help reflect solar radiation back in to space. Has he done it? Perhaps only the Bohos know.

We can only echo the warning by author Naomi Klein, who called climate engineering a “lunatic approach” to global warming, involving worldwide applications of various chemicals or devices into the atmosphere or the oceans to reduce rising temperatures. The Law of Unintended Consequences is likely to crop up here but, by then, the “solutions” cannot be undone. [See Naomi Klein, This Changes Everything: Capitalism and the Climate.]

While Keith raises many of the same concerns, he comes down on the side of engineering. With Bohemians taking up the subject of climate engineering at their secret retreat, the investment opportunities must be endless.

Spooks and the military dominated Friday, July 21, with a Lakeside Talk titled “Disorderly Conduct--at Home and Abroad” from Robert Gates, former Secretary of Defense and CIA Director. It would be interesting to know what disorderly conduct is being discussed, but this info is for Boho ears only.

On the same schedule page is a penciled notation, “10:00 Bobby Inman @ Hillside 9:30.” Inman is a member of Hillside camp and has served as Director of Naval Intelligence, also Vice Director of the Defense Intelligence Agency, then Director of the National Security Agency, then as the Deputy Director of the Central Intelligence Agency, a post he held until June, 1982. To his credit, Inman criticized the Bush administration's use of warrantless domestic wiretaps, making him one of the highest-ranking former intelligence officials to criticize the program in public.

Also on the same page, Gates’ name is circled with an arrow pointing to another notation, “* 1:15 Hillbillies fun (?) ‘The Presidents’ w/ Medal of Honor winners.” Also in the margins, several names, including Gates and some others. One name, “Walter Huss” may be Walter Hussman, Jr., a Bohemian in Valley of the Moon camp who runs a string of newspapers in the south, including his flagship Little Rock (Arkansas) Democrat-Gazette.

We wonder if another Lakeside Talk presenter was invited. Speaking on “When Duty Calls . . . and Everything Changes Forever” Jack Jacobs, Colonel US Army, (ret'd), is listed as a Medal of Honor recipient.

On the page listing the Colonel’s talk is a penciled notation, "5:45 Fireside Chat Paul Tagliab??.” While the last two letters are a little hard to read, odds are they’re talking about Paul Tagliabue, former commissioner of the NFL. Wanna talk sports the Boho way?

“The New Populism: Where It Came From & Where It's Likely to Go” is a Lakeside Talk given by JD Vance, US Marine (Ret'd). He is author, according to Amazon, of “Hillbilly Elegy,” telling of his family’s escape from the poverty of the Ozarks. It describes his social rise culminating with a Yale degree and his family’s difficulty breaking free from the ravages of their class (and insights in to votes for Trump?).

This page also has a penciled-in note, "5:15 Campfire Chat, Don Rumsfeld” speaks for itself. Another note, “4:00 Spot Haas Ross Levine ŒGlobalization’” could refer to UC Berkeley Haas School head and, according to Wikipedia, last year’s tenth most quoted economist with insights to share on world economics. The last entry promises “6:15 Heavy appetizers.” One can only wonder.

“How Smart Could/Should/Will Cities Get?” by Steve Koonin, NYU Center for Urban Science and Progress is a compelling title, given these are men who “could.” It would be interesting to know if they “should,” and what criterion he uses.

“An Actor's Life for Me” from actor/director Charles Siebert sounds tame, but the page includes several penciled notation that are curious and enticing, like the phrase written across the top, “Cave Man Economics.” Wonder if they’re talking about Caveman Camp? Another entry, "Kissinger @ ? Midway" offers promise of face time with the great backroom dealer. The question mark may refer to time, or possibly doubt about where; Kissinger’s camp is Mandalay, which sounds a lot like Midway. Hope he found it.

Another notation on that page, “1:15 Hill Billies Wine Lunch” has an arrow pointing to the name C. Covington, which is crossed out, and beneath it written enticingly in parentheses, “see back page.” This could refer to Christopher Covington, an investment banker in biotechnology and healthcare, a member of Cool-Nazdar Camp. Unfortunately, the back page was not photographed, so we’ll never know why he was crossed off.

“When the Prosecutor is the Problem” has preeminent trial lawyer, David Boies, famous for trying to break up Microsoft and representing Al Gore in the losing Gore v. Bush supreme court case that won Bush the presidency in 2000, talking law.

“Why Music is Great” features bass virtuoso, Victor Wooten, sharing a Lakeside Talk on the wonders of music, one of which is allowing a black man to enter this bastion of rich, white men.

Another interesting musical event has musicians Lawrence Hobgood and Tom Scott, with “special guests” discussing musical beat. With Grateful Dead Percussionist, Mickey Hart now a grover, and Scott’s history of playing with the band, it could be an interesting drum circle.

Same with the “midnight: guitar picking around the campfire” noted at the end of the day of the Cremation of Care; a campfire listed as “Care’s Wake.” Bobby Weir is noted more as a rhythm guitarist, but he may pick a tune if inspired. Only the Bohos know for sure.

MAKE THE WORLD’S FUTURE GREAT

by Nicolette Ausschnitt

I wrote the following as a result of my visceral reaction to hearing the hit ad on 30 year old Jon Ossof. The tone and attitude disgusted me and as a senior I was appalled at the childishness. I believe it is the duty of elders to encourage, applaud, educate, and aid the younger generations, not demean and disgrace them. I encourage the young to stand their ground and fight for what they know is right.

This country was formed by young people. The average age of the signers of the Constitution was 44 but many were in their 20’s and 30’s. They could see their future under King George and fought to change it. Our present government is managed by old men with the ages of our current regime ranging from 60 to 80. Their avuncular and demeaning attitude toward the younger generations appears to derive from insecurity and fear. Conservatism is often the provenance of the old and just as often is rooted in the fear the father has that his son will not turn out like he, the father, is or wants to be.

It is time to shove the old men aside. Treating the young as ignorant, inexperienced, untested, childish, and directionless, in short, as needing “a father”, should be seen for what it is, a fear of ageing and death - a fear of change. In my view, the job of the elders in government is to encourage the young of all sexes to become involved in politics and governing. Their role should be as advisors giving direction when requested. We are now experiencing the last gasp and grasp for power and relevance, for control, of a fading generation. The world it grew up in has changed and continues to rapidly. These men need to step aside or be run over.

We need young thinkers to take on the major world-wide issues we humans have created and that face the entire planet. To our peril we have disconnected from our instincts, our senses, our animal-ness, and from all of nature. Environmental disasters loom and overpopulation continues apace. These are dangers to the entire world, not limited to America, that can’t and won’t wait for change to happen slowly. We should be looking to the future for the world’s greatness, not into the past as these old guys are doing by building walls and limiting their desire for greatness to America. Youth needs to step up, speak up, and wrest power from their hands. Greatness to me is defined by a world in balance on a healthy planet. Our country’s and the world’s greatness is not going to be in the “again”, which implies the past, but in the future as it is shaped by succeeding generations.

WILLITS THEATRE SEEKS ART FOR ONSTAGE GALLERY

Einstein and Picasso walk into a bar—followed somewhat later by a visitor in blue suede shoes. It’s Paris, it's 1904, and an actual bar called the Lapin Agile is a hotspot attracting avant-garde artists, musicians, radical thinkers—and, in this play, one colorful time-traveler. Willits Community Theatre will present Picasso at the Lapin Agile, written by comedian Steve Martin and directed by Jim Mastin, from September 24. The play is a hilarious but profound celebration of the major themes of the 20th century. WCT is seeking paintings or sculptures that look like something a brilliant but undiscovered artist might have bartered to pay a bar tab. These pieces would ideally be from our own local artists (discovered or otherwise) and compatible with the art of the period. The artwork will become part of the theatre set or lobby display during the run of the play, and will be sold after the play closes, as a fundraiser for Willits Community Theatre. The pieces will be considered outright donations to the WCT fundraiser, but unsold pieces can be returned to the artist after the play closes, or half the sales price can be provided to the artist for pieces that are sold. This will give artists the opportunity to display a piece of their work to be seen and available for purchase by hundreds of audience members. Artists will be acknowledged in publicity for the play (if submission is in time), will be listed in the play program, and may receive a tax deduction as well. Artwork must be submitted by Saturday, August 19.

For more information contact Mary Buckley, 707-621-0339 or marybuckley_@hotmail.com  by Saturday, August 12.

HOUSEHOLD TIPS FROM MARCO:

Lynn Kiesewetter wrote:

A leak under the kitchen sink dripped about a cup of water into a plastic bucket where I've been storing dead household batteries while waiting for Hazmobile. What do i do with it in the meantime now??

Marco McClean responds:

Lynn, spill the water out and don't worry. Flashlight batteries are not nuclear waste.

* * *

Re: Yellow jacket nest removal help

Cecilia Townsend wrote:

Underground, under a heather, so far 3 cans of spray and 2 cans of foam and still see them going into the cave.

Marco McClean responds:

Shop-vac. Lay the end of the hose near the cave, switch it on. Leave it running for a couple of days. Then spray the poison into the hose just before you shut it off.

* * *

Cecilia Townsend wrote:

Thanks to all, never would have thought of all those ways that have worked. I’ll give them a try.

Marco McClean responds:

Just don't do them all at the same time. Flammables and cleaning equipment don't mix. Google vacuum gasoline for some examples of this.

Here's my favorite:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jRXhnUVyDgE&t=1m13s

YOU TOO CAN BE A RUBBER STAMP

Boards & Commissions Vacancies

The list of vacancies, due to term expirations and/or resignations, for County boards and commissions has been updated with new vacancies. A list of all new and existing vacancies is available on the County website:

https://www.mendocinocounty.org/government/board-of-supervisors/boards-and-commissions.

THIS STANDARD WILL HALVE THE AMERICAN BIRTH RATE

Controversy as Oregon couple are forced to give up their children to social services after they were deemed 'not intelligent enough' to care for the babies

by Jessa Schroeder

An Oregon couple has been fighting a legal battle after they lost custody of their two kids as both were designated not intelligent enough to care for them in a safe and proper manner.

Amy Fabbrini, 31, was reportedly unaware about her state of pregnancy when she grew far into her third trimester with her now eldest son, Christopher.

Fabbrini did not receive formal examination or treatment within the ninth month term and went into advanced labor at the family's home, where she gave birth Sept. 9, 2013.

Fabbrini's partner, Eric Ziegler, 38, was receiving financial aid through the Social Security and Supplemental Security Income program on the behalf of a mental disability he was diagnosed with.

Earlier this year, Social Services acquired and fostered the pair's second newborn baby, Hunter, while he was in the hospital, following past allegations brought against them.

According to the Portland Oregonian, a relative to the couple initially expressed concern in a complaint to authorities regarding the Christopher's well-being under the care of Fabbrini and Ziegler.

A child welfare report alleged Ziegler had been 'sleeping with the baby on the floor and almost rolled over on him.'

Fabbrini's father, Raymond, said he and his wife were acting as the primary caregivers at the time, as he believed his daughter did not possess the 'instincts to be a mother.'

After taking a required IQ test, Ziegler scored a meager 66 and Fabbrini a 72. The IQ of the average person ranges anywhere from 90-110.

Ziegler's IQ score categorized him under the mild 'intellectual disability' range, while Fabbrini 'extremely low to borderline range of intelligence,' according to the report.

Fabbrini had been working as a grocer to help provide for her family at the time. Ziegler was unemployed due to his health condition.

Board member of Healthy Families of the High Desert and advocator for the couple, Sherrene Hagenbach, said the decision to place Christopher and Hunter up for adoption lacks substantial ground work and may be even more detrimental to the family as a whole.

'They are saying they are intellectually incapable without any guidelines to go by,' Hagenbach said.

'They're saying that this foster care provider is better for the child because she can provide more financially, provide better education, things like that.

'If we're going to get on that train, Bill Gates should take my children. There's always somebody better than us, so it's a very dangerous position to be in.'

Domestic abuse and neglect were not factors in the custody case.

Fabbrini's aunt, Lenora Turner, told the Oregonian she believed the decision was unfair in the grand scheme.

'I honestly don't understand why they can't have their children. I go to the grocery store and I see other people with their children and they're standing up in the grocery cart.

'I think, how come they get to keep their children? How do they decide whose child they're going to take and whose child can stay?' Turner said.

Fabbrini and Ziegler insisted that they have complied to all of the state's orders over the course of the past several years.

'We've just done everything and more than what they've asked us to,' Fabbrini said.

'It doesn't seem like it's good enough for them ... They're saying, 'Who would parent Christopher better, the foster parents or the parents?' is basically what they're going on.' Ziegler added.

So long as Oregon's parental rights law stays in effect, both children will remain under watch by foster care.

The parents will continue to have visitation rights under the supervision of another.

(Daily Mail)

ATHEIST AUTHOR RICHARD DAWKINS TO SPEAK AT BOOK PASSAGE; IS CORTE MADERA NEW HOME OF FREE SPEECH?

Evolutionary biologist’s event was cancelled in Berkeley, then picked up in Corte Madera

by Angela Hill

A Corte Madera bookstore has stepped up to host an event with evolutionary biologist and atheist Richard Dawkins just days after Berkeley public radio station KPFA abruptly canceled a similar event, citing Dawkins’ criticism of Islam.

“As an independent bookseller, we are in strong support of independent thinking,” Karen West, events director for Corte Madera’s Books Passage, said in a statement. “We would never censor one of the greatest thinkers of our time!”

Book Passage will hold a book signing and discussion of Dawkins’ latest work, “Science in the Soul: Selected Writings of a Passionate Rationalist.” The event is scheduled for 7 p.m. Aug. 9 — the same date the original Berkeley event had been planned.

Dawkins, 76, known as an ardent critic of many religions, was scheduled to speak that night at a ticketed fundraiser for Berkeley’s KPFA listener-supported, progressive radio station. Then on July 20, organizers sent out an email to ticket holders, citing “Dawkins’ abusive speech against Muslims,” and saying in part, “We had booked this event based entirely on his excellent new book on science, when we didn’t know he had offended and hurt — in his tweets and other comments on Islam — so many people.”

According to The New York Times, KPFA was responding to some objections to Dawkins’ past comments, such as a tweet in 2013 in which he called Islam “the greatest force for evil in the world today.”

Receiving swift criticism for the cancellation that seemed to fly in the face of free speech — especially in Berkeley — KPFA followed up with a tweet the next day, posting, “KPFA exercises its free speech right not to participate with anyone who uses hateful language against a community already under attack.”

KPFA was contacted for this report, but did not immediately respond.

Dawkins told the New York Times last weekend that he only learned about the cancellation after a ticket holder forwarded the KPFA email to him. He then launched his own online offensive, demanding an apology from KPFA. And when Book Passage eagerly agreed to host Dawkins, he tweeted about the event, saying, “Were you a victim of @KPFA’s sanctimonious hypocrisy? Ticket returned? SORRY. Short notice substitute event here.”

“For decades, Richard Dawkins has been a brilliant scientific communicator, consistently illuminating the wonders of nature and attacking faulty logic,” the Book Passage statement reads. “’Science in the Soul’ brings together 42 essays, polemics, and paeans — all written with Dawkins’s characteristic erudition, remorseless wit, and unjaded awe of the natural world.”

In recent months, Berkeley, where the Free Speech Movement was born in the 1960s, has been embroiled in accusations of censorship. UC Berkeley received heavy criticism for cancelling a speech by right-wing commentator Milo Yiannopolous in February after a violent protest about his appearance erupted on campus. Then in April, the university also was accused of censorship after cancelling a speech by conservative author Ann Coulter, citing security concerns.

Bill Petrocelli, co-owner of Book Passage, says the feedback they’ve had about the Dawkins event has so far been positive and he expects a crowd of several hundred in attendance.

“We had no idea he’d been scheduled in Berkeley,” Petrocelli said. “It wasn’t until that event was canceled and the publisher contacted us to find a new venue that we heard about it, and we were happy to do it.”

Petrocelli said Dawkins has spoken at Book Passage previously. “He’s a very articulate and personable speaker,” he said. “He’s provocative, no question. He has a point of view about things, but he’s a learned, well-respected scientist.”

Though Petrocelli doesn’t anticipate protesters, standard crowd-control staffing will be in place.

Tickets to the Book Passage event are $32, and include a signed copy of the book; (415) 927-0960, www.bookpassage.com.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gct4KpDjLUM