Mendocino County Today: Thursday, Aug. 3, 2017

• House Priya
• Croskey Moving
• Work
• Temperature
• Triple Digits
• Hoyle Hug
• Yorkville Social
• Interpreter Bennemann
• Police Reports
• Rasta Bust
• Yesterday's Catch
• Wars
• Little Dog
• Spring and Fall
• Reckoning
• Swallow Chicks
• Kill Permit
• Library Events
• Art in the Gardens

HELP THIS KID OUT, BOONVILLE PEOPLE

(and that's an order!)

“Hello, My name is Priya Tuvell and I'm a Master's of Agriculture graduate student. I have been accepted into an internship at Pennyroyal Dairy in Boonville, however I live in the bay area and would need to find a place to stay on a student's budget so I can complete this internship and take advantage of this great opportunity. The internship would take place 9/29 - 10/7. I thought I would reach out to some local businesses and realtors to see if anyone has any leads. I will be working basically from sunrise to sunset, and just need a place to sleep, shower, and prepare some simple meals like pasta or sandwiches. If you know of anything, or would be able to spread this email around at all, or print and hang somewhere it would be greatly appreciated. Thank you, Priya Tuvell (ptuvell@gmail.com)”

CROSKEY, we hardly knew ye. Georgeanne Croskey, freshly appointed 3rd District Supervisor, will serve out the rest of her term but will not run for re-election. Formal announcement forthcoming. The meteoric supe is re-locating to Ohio where her husband has been offered a job he can't refuse.

DRIVING OVER THE HILL to Ukiah today a little before noon, I couldn't help but see three workers toiling in a defile on a road project. It was about a hundred degrees outside. Whatever these guys are paid they're earning it.

LATER IN THE DAY, I read the following from one of the offices of County government:

“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.”

COUNTY OFFICES are, of course, air conditioned, and this is typical of what goes on in them.

THE POINT? There is work and there is work. The road crew was working, the County crew wasn't. In fact, can't work, because their heads are filled with this kind of prose.

A BOONVILLE CORRESPONDENT WRITES:

Temperature

We have a Davis Instruments weather station at our house here on the valley floor in Boonville. This afternoon the high temperature, at 2:54 p.m., was 112.4 with 13% humidity. If you're interested, I can send you a link to the online information that's recorded by our station. The temperature, humidity, windspeed and precipitation are updated on an ongoing basis, as well as showing the recorded highs and lows.

ED NOTE: Mos def want the link. Thank you

AUGUST'S HOT START

Triple digit readings for Boonville and Yorkville over the past couple days:

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Boonville, Calfire Compound (840' elevation)

Tuesday (Aug 1)
101º 1pm
105º 2pm
102º 3pm

Wednesday (Aug 2)
101º 12am
106º 1pm
106º 2pm
105º 3pm
104º 4pm

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Yorkville, CA Dept of Water Resources (1100' elevation)

Tuesday (Aug 1)
104º 12am
107º 1pm
107º 2pm
110º 3pm
107º 4pm
106º 5pm
100º 6pm

Wednesday (Aug 2)
103º 1pm
106º 2pm
108º 3pm
108º 4pm
103º 5pm

DEPARTMENT OF COGNITIVE DISSONANCE: Mendocino County's famous lawman, Pete Hoyle, at the mere mention of whom the drug community hyperventilates, is currently one-third of a homeless outreach program focused on the area of Ukiah's WalMart, a kind of gathering place for transients. One member of the team is a social worker, another one a fuzzy warm from mental health (I think), and Hoyle.

THE SCENE. Walmart parking lot. A scruffy young man approaches the outreach team. Spotting Hoyle's name tag, the man says, "I'm drunk and I just snorted a little crank, but what I really need, Officer Hoyle, is a great big hug." Hoyle replies, "One step closer, punk, and you'll never need another one."

27TH ANNUAL YORKVILLE ICE CREAM SOCIAL

Summer is almost over and it’s time to celebrate with a nice cold Root Beer Float at the Yorkville Ice Cream Social

Please join in on Labor Day Monday for a day of fun and frivolity. We’ll have ice cream & root beer floats and lots of yummy salads and Baked Goods. There is always the famous BarBQ oysters and delicious grilled burgers, sausages and outstanding pulled pork sandwiches. But get there early ‘cause the pulled pork runs out fast!

One of the highlights of the Social is the Cake Walk. Imagine musical chairs without chairs. You stroll around a numbered circle to great music, when the music stops, if you’re on the right numbered spot, you Win A Cake! An entire cake!

Get there early and get the first crack at the book sale. Hundreds of books for only $1 an inch! You can’t beat that. There are always really great bestsellers this year. You can pick up some great CDs, movie DVDs and books on tape too.

Stock up at the Farm Stand- featuring Yorkville’s finest fruits, vegetables, plants and flowers of the season.

The BIG Draw is a great raffle for you to take home some wonderful prizes from all over the Anderson Valley - wine, gift certificates for local restaurants and services,

t-shirts and art too.

And the best part... you get to socialize with friends and neighbors from all over the valley. Come catch up on the happenings, take a ride in our fire engine and just have fun. The kids always have a good time too, they can cool off in shower of cool water from the fire hose, eat hot dogs and learn all about bugs and wild stuff at the Galbreath Preserve Education Station.

All the proceeds from the Ice Cream Social benefit the Yorkville Volunteer Fire Station and the YCBA Scholarship Fund. If you’d like to donate something or your time, give us a call 707-489-1957. We are lookin’ for cakes, pies, cookies salads and raffle items.

Date: Monday Sept. 4th
Time: 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
Location: The Yorkville Post Office and Fire Station
25400 Highway 128, Yorkville, CA 95494

INTERESTING FOLLOW-UP on the Interpreter strike this afternoon at the courthouse, involving Celcilio Bautista and Marcelino Bautista, indigenous people from Oaxaca, Mexico, charged with cultivation of marijuana in Mendocino County.

Carlos Benemann was brought in – he not only speaks Spanish fluently enough to work (on contract, not as a courthouse employee) as a certified Spanish language interpreter, but he also has a degree in Meso-American anthropology.

So, as Mr. Baird was engaged in the other six courtrooms, Mr. Beneman was working with another contract interpreter, this one specializing in the Triqui language — which these defendants spoke in their native village.

District Attorney David Eyster was prosecuting and he scoffed, professionally, at the idea that these guys needed the Triqui interpreter. And it was certainly apparent that these two guys were nodding their heads eagerly before Judge Leonard LaCasse’s words had been translated into their native tongue — as soon as Mr. Benemann gave the Spanish version, they seemed to understand.

Afterwards, I asked Benemann if he thought they could understand Spanish.

“Certainly they understand a little Spanish. But they don’t speak it in their village, and in fact they’re both illiterate. So, taking the DA’s proposition that they can understand Spanish, let me ask you this: Did you ever take any Spanish in High School or college?”

“I did, yes.”

“Okay then, let us say you go down to Tijuana and have a few drinks and some kid runs out in the street and you hit him with your car, and he dies. Now, when you get to court, and the Mexican judge asks you if you want an interpreter, what will you say? Will you rely on your high school Spanish, which you probably haven’t used much, or will you take the services of the interpreter?”

“Okay, Carlos, I get it. Are these guys brothers?”

“No, I don’t think so. Everyone in the village is probably named Bautista — and they were probably named that by the Spanish.”

(Bruce McEwen)

ED NOTE: Carlos Bennemann, born in Argentina the son of a Luftwaffe pilot, is a former mayor of Ferndale and a high stakes poker player. If any other Courthouse worker has a more varied pedigree, please send in your bona fides.

DO THAT KID A FAVOR, JEFF, AND PUT HIM UP FOR ADOPTION

On Tuesday, July 27, 2017 at approximately 3:20 P.M., Deputies from the Mendocino County Sheriff's Office were dispatched to an ongoing complaint of transients camping at a piece of property in the 900 block of Highway 20 in Willits. The property owner was the reporting party and was attempting to have illegal campers removed from her parcel. This situation had been reported to the Sheriff's Office multiple times and was currently under investigation when Deputies were dispatched to the same property that day. Upon their arrival, Deputies contacted Jeffery Wilson, 27, of Willits, in an encampment on the property. Wilson had previously been warned to clean up and vacate the area on two other dates prior to July 27. The Deputies observed that Wilson's son (2 years-old) was tied to a tree branch in the encampment. The rope was tied around the child's wrist and secured to a tree branch. The child was also lacking basic food and water, was only clothed in a diaper, and was exposed to numerous hazards within the encampment. Upon further examination, Deputies observed several weapons and other dangerous items within the reach of the child that could cause great bodily harm to the child. Based on these findings, the Deputy placed Wilson under arrest for Felony Child Neglect / Abuse. Wilson was also found to be in possession of a controlled substance. During this continuing investigation, Deputies contacted the property owner who placed a citizen's arrest on Wilson for Trespassing. Deputies contacted Animal Control who responded to take custody of numerous animals from the encampment. Deputies also requested that a representative from Child Protective Services (CPS) respond to take custody of Wilson's juvenile child. Wilson was subsequently booked into the Mendocino County Jail where he was to be held in lieu of $25,000 bail.

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LAY OFF THE TWEAK, BUDDY

On Monday, July 26, 2017 at approximately 10:48 A.M., Deputies from the Mendocino County Sheriff's Office were dispatched to contact a State Parks Ranger at the Standish Hickey State Park in Leggett. Upon their arrival, Deputies met with the State Park Ranger and learned that a subject had forced entry into three separate cabins at the Standish Hickey State Park. Based on ongoing issues with a neighbor to the park, the State Park Ranger believed that Daniel Meinecke, 40, of Leggett may be responsible for the crime. During this investigation, the Deputy and State Park Ranger noticed Meinecke was standing approximately 50 feet away on the other side of a chain link fence. The Deputy made contact with Meinecke at the fence and questioned him regarding the forced entry into the cabins. During this continuing investigation, the Deputy obtained statements and physical evidence that proved Meinecke was responsible for forcing entry into the three cabins. It was also determined that Meinecke had stolen multiple items from the cabins after illegally entering the structures. Based on this evidence, the Deputy advised and placed Meinecke under arrest for First Degree Burglary. Meinecke also had a misdemeanor warrant issued for his arrest in Mendocino County for an unrelated offense. Meinecke was subsequently booked into the Mendocino County Jail where he was to be held in lieu of $50,00 bail.

* * *

TRIPLE PLAY

On Friday, July 21, 2017 at approximately 7:45 P.M., a Deputy with the Mendocino County Sheriff's Office was on uniformed patrol in the Willits. The Deputy observed a sedan traveling in the area of Sherwood Hill Drive and noticed multiple vehicle infractions being committed. The Deputy initiated a traffic enforcement stop on the vehicle in the area of Sherwood Hill Drive and Pomo Court. The Deputy contacted the driver, who was recognized from prior contacts as Brandon Lawson, 21, of Willits. Lawson was asked to exit the vehicle because the license plates on the sedan did not match the vehicle that was stopped by the Deputy. Additional Deputies from the Mendocino County Sheriff's Office, along with officers from the Willits Police Department and California Highway Patrol arrived to assist with this investigation. Upon providing the Vehicle Identification Number (VIN) to dispatch, the Deputies learned the vehicle had been reported as stolen from the Lucerne, California. Lawson and the other occupants in the vehicle were detained at that time. During a subsequent search of the vehicle, Deputies located numerous "shaved" and blank ignition keys inside the passenger compartment. The Deputies knew these items to be common tools used to commit vehicle thefts so the keys were secured as evidence. During this continuing investigation, Lawson was found to be on summary probation and was also in possession of methamphetamine. Lawson was advised and placed under arrest for Motor Vehicle Theft, Possession of Shaved Vehicle Key, Possession of a Controlled Substance, and Violation of Probation.

The other passengers in the vehicle were also questioned regarding this investigation. Deputies ultimately advised and placed Heather Schmidt, 29, of Ukiah, under arrest for a felony and misdemeanor warrant for her arrest issued in Mendocino County. Kylee Wood, 19, of Willits, was also advised and placed under arrest for Possession of a Controlled Substance, and Possession of Drug Paraphernalia. Lawson and Schmidt were subsequently booked into the Mendocino County Jail where they were both to be held in lieu of $15,000 bail. Wood was cited and released for her charges at the scene.

RASTAS TALK ABOUT POT GARDEN SHOOTING DEATH

Rastafarian church founders speak out after deadly shooting on Northern California pot farm

CATCH OF THE DAY, August 2, 2017

ALFREDO CHI, Fort Bragg. Stolen property, burglary tools, parhaphernalia, ammo possession by prohibited person, resisting.

DARIN HAMMOND, Fort Bragg. Battery with serious injury, first degree robbery.

GARRETT KINDIG, Laytonville. Probation revocation.

JASON MATTHEWS, Stockton/Ukiah. Failure to appear.

TRACY ROGERS, Lakeport/Ukiah. DUI, probation revocation.

TONYA ROWLES, Laytonville. Failure to appear.

SHEILA SOPP, Ukiah. Suspended license.

KNIKAIKA THORNTON, Ukiah. Disorderly conduct-alcohol.

JANICE ZEHER, Ukiah. Controlled substance, probation revocation.

DUNKIRK, THE MOVIE

by Marilyn Davin

I try to limit my viewing of high-budget Hollywood war movies to one every five years or so, and this year was the year. With almost unanimously glowing reviews, I set out to the local multiplex to see Dunkirk, based loosely on the 1940 evacuation of British and French soldiers from beaches near the French town of Dunkirk, where some 300,000 troops were pinned down by the Wehrmacht. It is by all accounts a dramatic story since hundreds of civilian boats from England joined naval ships in the rescue effort.

With the fighter planes, submarines, waiting ground troops and the like joining the rescue effort, the film predictably glorifies the operation (though getting pinned down in the first place with their backs to the sea probably did not make the cut of the list of most successful military strategies taught at West Point).

About halfway through the long and exhausting film, amid the escalating beats of the unusual musical score, I suddenly asked myself: What’s so great about this war, anyway? From Tom Brokaw’s The Greatest Generation to Stephen Ambrose’s Citizen Soldiers, it’s become a cultural article of faith that there is something special about WWII and the Americans who fought it. It deserves a closer look at just how WWII stacks up against some other recent wars, starting with Vietnam (still officially called a conflict instead of a war).

So let’s start with the citizen soldier theme. It turns out that far fewer Americans, as a percentage of population, volunteered in WWII than did in Vietnam. Yes, there were those who promptly answered the call, but there were many others, including my father, who waited until he could join the Marines aviation program – as opposed to his only brother, who was drafted and ended up a grunt in Europe, an experience from which he never fully recovered psychologically.

As it turns out, according to one set of government stats, about 66% of American WWII soldiers were drafted. This as opposed to only about a third drafted for Vietnam. So there were actually far more volunteers, percentage-wise, during the Vietnam War (the economic and racial make-up of those volunteers is a subject for a different story on another day) than there were for the “Good War” fought by our so-called citizen soldiers.

In the never-ending war in the Middle East, now in its 15^th year, three times as long as WWII, we have an all-volunteer military. Our government’s fear that a draft could finally cause the population to put its collective foot down and end the futile effort has kept mandatory conscription at bay. There have been unintended consequences. A general lack of takers as the US economy has improved has caused the unconscionable multi-deployment of what troops there are. Since these troops are paid, including bonuses for re-upping, they don’t technically count as either volunteers or draftees. But their long years of back-to-back multiple deployments have taken a heavy toll, even if technically nobody forced them to sign up.

Moving on, maybe WWII was the greatest war because there was inordinate concern and care for the civilian populations caught in the crossfire – the so-called collateral damage. Though counting civilian deaths is always an inexact science, most official stats put the WWII dead at about 70 million over 6 years, with about two-thirds of the deaths civilian. Though by far the greatest numbers of WWII dead were in Russia and China, the US actively participated in many operations that killed thousands of civilians. To name just two, the fire-bombing of Dresden, a German city with little if any strategic value, killed 25,000 civilians in a single day. The US of course is solely responsible for the civilian deaths in the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki (the first atomic bomb ever used against civilians), both during the bombing and in its immediate aftermath. Some 150,000 in Hiroshima and 75,000 in Nagasaki were killed outright or perished in fires created by the bombs, though again nobody really knows the exact number of dead.

An estimated two million civilians were killed during the Vietnam War, with about the same two-thirds civilian ratio as during WWII. So WWII was no gentler on civilians than Vietnam was.

My all-time favorite rationale for US entry into WWII is that “We were attacked” – the day that will live in infamy and so on. If being attacked first is a criterion for a good war then war in the Middle East should zoom right to the top of the good-war list since it came on the heels of 9/11.

Yet almost no one would consider the war in the Middle East to be a good war for anyone, either military or civilian. Cities like Mosul, which have survived centuries of war intact, have been reduced to rubble; this is the new definition of “liberation” in a drone-and missile-war that has kept American fatalities down. Perhaps saddest of all is that civilian casualties in the Middle East are rarely even mentioned in the press, much less tabulated and released into the light of day. As American Hellfire missiles ripped indiscriminately through the ancient twisting streets of Mosul, we heard about civilian deaths largely anecdotally.

So why is WWII often called the good war? Perhaps it’s because a different time with a different view of patriotism has wrapped it in a rosy glow. Or maybe it’s the American commitment to reconstruction after the war, which somehow seems to take some of the sting out of the loss of a generation in Europe and Japan. Or maybe we just trusted our government more to do the right thing, even when it meant that thousands of our fathers, brothers, husbands, and sons would die. Or perhaps the war’s aftermath seems to somehow justify the sacrifice.

But when you buy your movie ticket beware of the skillful efforts to dress up Dunkirk with a thrilling music score and turn it into a tale of sentimental patriotism. WWII was just as bad a war as any other – though on the bright side, if such a thing exists, we at least assumed responsibility to rebuild what we destroyed.

LITTLE DOG SAYS, “This guy comes walking up outta the creek yesterday. Who the heck are you, I asked him. ‘I don't answer to dogs,’ he says, ‘but I been living out there for years, not that it's any of your business, mutt. This place still Kendall City? Deputy Matt Kendall's a relative of mine.’ I didn't appreciate him calling me 'Mutt,’ but I took a look at that big gun of his and kept my yap shut.”

SPRING & FALL

by Gerard Manley Hopkins

to a young child

Márgarét, áre you gríeving

Over Goldengrove unleaving?

Leáves like the things of man, you

With your fresh thoughts care for, can you?

Ah! ás the heart grows older

It will come to such sights colder

By and by, nor spare a sigh

Though worlds of wanwood leafmeal lie;

And yet you wíll weep and know why.

Now no matter, child, the name:

Sórrow’s spríngs áre the same.

Nor mouth had, no nor mind, expressed

What heart heard of, ghost guessed:

It ís the blight man was born for,

It is Margaret you mourn for.

ON LINE COMMENT OF THE DAY

The reckoning is indeed upon us. The real monkey hammering will happen in a few years when the fuel pumps run dry. The average person will freak, ask why the government isn’t helping them, and generally blame others for their situation. Failing to prepare is preparing to fail. I thought we might be there already but demand destruction has helped to forestall the inevitable. More time to get gardens growing and cultivate plants and malleable minds is a welcome thing. I never thought I would think this way but given the current state of lack of accountability and moral decay in everything that this country once stood for, I will welcome this final decline into chaos.

THE SUMMER OF 2017

by Manuel Vicent

Translated by Louis S. Bedrock

Perhaps, many years from now, for some children who are now playing in the garden of their house by the sea, this summer of 2017 will be remembered as the one in which the swallows built a nest in a beam on the terrace.

They arrived in April. The female chose a male of her liking for mating and the two of them began to put together small loads of mud with their beaks.

When the work had been completed, she deposited five white eggs with black specks in the nest and the two took turns incubating the eggs.

This was their second brood. It was necessary to move aside some chairs and put an open newspaper on the floor. What was going on in the world at the time?

Small droppings from the swallows spattered the page on which one could read about the bombing of Aleppo or the carnage caused by a suicide bomber in Iraq.

In three weeks five baby chicks whose mouths were always open protruded from the rim of the nest. The parents tried to satiate them with at least 300 flights a day bringing back insects they had caught in mid air.

One of the chicks, the weakest, was thrown out of the nest in the fierce struggle over the food. One day, it was found dead on top of another headline of the newspaper that reported the sinking of a raft with a hundred immigrants aboard in The Alborán Sea. The children tearfully buried the chick beneath the lemon tree.

However, the fratricidal battle for life continued. A few days later, another chick fell from the nest and expired over the news of a massacre in Afghanistan. There was another burial in the garden.

The three strongest siblings grew and, one day, abandoned the nest. Their parents continued to feed them as they perched on a wire. They taught them to fly and to hunt, and when they had learned their lessons, they disappeared.

Many years after this vacation, the children will not remember any other event. It will be the summer of 2017, the summer in which they buried two baby swallow chicks beneath the lemon tree.

CALIFORNIA DFW ISSUES PERMIT TO KILL ENDANGERED SALMON & SMELT IN DELTA TUNNELS

by Dan Bacher

The deal made between the Jerry Brown and Donald Trump administrations to fast-track the construction of the Governor’s Delta Tunnels project, an unholy alliance that I predicted on election night 2016, is becoming more apparent every day.

On July 28, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW), under the helm of Director Chuck Bonham, issued an “incidental take permit” for the construction and operation of California WaterFix in “compliance” with Section 2081(b) of the California Endangered Species Act (CESA).

The mission of the CDFW “is to manage California's diverse fish, wildlife, and plant resources, and the habitats upon which they depend, for their ecological values and for their use and enjoyment by the public.”

However, in an apparent violation of its mission, the permit allows the project to kill state-listed species, including Sacramento River spring and winter-run Chinook salmon, Central Valley steelhead, Delta and longfin smelt and other fish species, during the construction and operation of the two massive 35 mile long tunnels under the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta.

“Issuance of this permit represents another significant milestone in the WaterFix planning process,” proclaimed the announcement about the permit on the California WaterFix website. “As described in the permit application, WaterFix will implement measures for construction and operation of the project to fully mitigate the impacts of any incidental take of state-listed species, and will provide additional protection through real-time operation of the facilities in a manner that avoids and minimizes incidental take.”

Representatives of fishing, conservation and environmental justice groups were reviewing the over-200 page document at this time.

“A number of the staff and attorneys of various organizations are examining the documents for the possibility of litigation,” said Bill Jennings, Executive Director of the California Sportfishing Protection Alliance (CSPA).

The complete incidental take permit is available at: cms.capitoltechsolutions.com/…

A number of issues with the incidental take permit and related documents are apparent after a quick look at the permit.

First, the operations plan in the permit and the EIR/EIS recently released by the Brown administration are different from those proposed in the petition for water rights by the Bureau of Reclamation and Department of Water Resources to change the points of diversion for the Central Valley Water Project and State Water Project. They are also different from the biological opinions released by the National Marine Fisheries Service and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service that claim that the tunnels will not harm endangered fish species.

Second, there is no signed and committed adaptive management plan or plan to finance adaptive management in the incidental take permit.

Third, the federal biological opinions that approved the construction of the tunnels project need to be followed by a subsequent biological opinion so the tunnels can be connected to the Sacramento River.

“The federal government has only released a biological opinion on the construction of the tunnels—the public will have to wait for future biological opinions on the intakes and operations of the project,” explained Jennings. “In essence, they’re asking contractors to commit to paying for construction without knowing how the projects will be operated and how much water can be exported.”

On July 26, the Trump administration released a no-jeopardy finding on the biological assessment to build the tunnels, claiming that the California WaterFix will not jeopardize threatened or endangered species or adversely modify their critical habitat. The biological opinion is available here: https://www.fws.gov/sfbaydelta/HabitatConservation/CalWaterFix/Index.htm

Four days later, four fishing and environmental groups filed two lawsuits challenging the Trump administration's biological opinions permitting the construction of the Delta Tunnels. The lawsuits said the biological opinions are “arbitrary, capricious, an abuse of discretion."

The groups said the tunnels would divert millions of acre-feet of water from the Sacramento River before it reaches the San Francisco Bay-Delta Estuary, noting that freshwater flows are "particularly important" to endangered species, including spring and winter-run Chinook salmon, Central Valley steelhead, green sturgeon and Delta and longfin smelt. The water will go to corporate agribusiness interests, Southern California water agencies and oil companies conducting fracking and other extreme oil extraction methods.

The lawsuits claim that the biological opinions not only unlawfully fail to protect native salmon and other fish from extinction, but "allow river conditions to degrade further."

“Decades of research and study demonstrate that unsustainable diversion of water from the San Francisco Bay estuary is the single most important factor driving the decline of numerous fish and wildlife populations,” said Jonathan Rosenfield, lead scientist for The Bay Institute. “The tunnels do not change that reality and neither will an amorphous ‘adaptive management’ program that amounts to wishful thinking."

Over the past couple of weeks, the Jerry Brown administration has incurred the wrath of environmental justice advocates, conservationists and increasing numbers of Californians by ramrodding Big Oil’s environmentally unjust cap-and-trade bill, AB 398, through the legislature; approving the reopening of the dangerous SoCalGas natural gas storage facility at Porter Ranch; and green lighting the flawed EIS/EIR documents permitting the construction of the Delta Tunnels.

To make matters worse, Governor Brown showed his authoritarian bent by accusing AB 398 critics of practicing “forms of political terrorism that are conspiring to undermine the American system of governance” in an interview with David Greene of NPR (National Public Radio) on July 25: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2017/7/27/1684343/-California-Governor-accuses-opponents-of-Big-Oil-s-cap-and-trade-bill-of-political-terrorism

While many reporters and editors in the mainstream media and so-called “alternative” media falsely depict Jerry Brown as a “climate leader” and the “resistance” to Trump, he is in fact collaborating with the Trump administration in the destruction of salmon, the San Francisco Bay-Bay Delta and West Coast fisheries and the devastation of California by the fossil fuel industry.

The release of the CDFW incidental take permit is just the latest action in Jerry Brown’s campaign to plunder California’s fish, wildlife, people and environment to serve the greed of Big Ag and Big Oil.

On February 6, twelve public interest groups, led by Consumer Watchdog and Food & Water Watch, unveiled a comprehensive "report card" on Jerry Brown Administration’s environmental record showing that he falls short in six out of seven key areas, including oil drilling, fossil fuel generated electricity, toxic emissions, the California Environmental Quality Act, coastal protection and water. Read the report “How Green Is Jerry Brown?” at: http://www.consumerwatchdog.org/isbrowngreen

LIBRARY EVENTS

Gene Paleno Book Signing At Ukiah Library

On Thursday, August 3^rd at 6:30 pm, local author and UDJ columnist, Gene Paleno, will read excerpts from his new book, The Wish Machine.

“In the 35 years he’s been writing, he has written books about history, science-fiction and fantasy. “To know our past is to be prepared for our future. Science -fiction and fantasy give us a ringside seat on the future,” says Gene.

Science fiction has always been Gene’s first love. He’s written a score of novels and stories about parallel worlds, the meaning of time, time travel, artificial intelligence, intelligent alien life and fantasy. The Wish Machine has just been released.”

Have you ever wished you could go back in time and change a part of your life? With Dr. Samson Candella's Wish Machine you can. The Wish Machine is a doorway to your past. The Wish Machine can transport you to any past moment you wish. You will have your same body but at the younger age you were in that past. What is more, you keep your present awareness and knowledge.

You enter an alternate reality. It's a near perfect duplicate of this world and every bit as real as this one. Once there, you can change anything you wish. You may be there for years but you will return to the present within an hour, none the worse for wear and tear.

After a dozen trials with volunteers Dr. Candella enters his own invention. He, like most of us, wants to right a mistake he made when he was young and foolish. He succeeds… but at a cost not imagined.

* * *

Depot Designs

On Friday, August 11^th at 2pm the Mendocino County Library, Ukiah Branch is hosting Depot Designs.

Home Depot is coming to the Ukiah Library! Kids are invited to join us for an afternoon of construction and painting in creating their own wooden take-home projects. Just bring your creativity! Materials and aprons will be provided. This free, kid-friendly event is sponsored by Home Depot.

* * *

A Virtual Reality Demonstration Day

Thursday, August 10^th 10:30am-3pm

On Thursday, August 10th, from 10:30am to 3pm, the Mendocino County Library, Ukiah Branch is hosting a Virtual Reality Demonstration Day. A new collaboration between the California State Library and Oculus VR, a division of Facebook Inc., has brought virtual reality technology to patrons in nearly half of the library jurisdictions throughout California, including Mendocino County Library. We invite people ages 13+ to come test out our new Oculus Rift system! Get hands on experience and learn what the virtual reality craze is all about. VR experiences include globe-trotting with Google Earth, becoming an astronaut on the International Space Station, traveling to an alien land, or creating a digital work of art.

The Oculus Rift will be open to Mendocino County Library cardholders on a first come, first served basis for 15 minute increments per person. There will be a sign-up sheet the day of the event, so that people can schedule a time slot for themselves. Only one person can use the VR system at a time, but we will have the Rift connected to a TV monitor that will allow others to see the user’s virtual point of view. All adult participants, or legal guardians of teens ages 13-17, must sign a liability waiver and have a Mendocino County Library card. People are able to wear eyeglasses while using the Oculus Rift, though suggested measurements for eyeglasses are 50mm (2 inches) or less in height and 142mm (5.5 inches) or less in width.

The Virtual Reality Experience Project is managed by Califa, a nonprofit, and is supported in part by the U.S. Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act, administered in California by the State Librarian.

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4 Shillings Short Concert

On Saturday, August 5^th at 3pm the Mendocino County Library, Ukiah Branch is hosting a concert with musical duo “4 Shillings Short.”

Formed by international husband and wife pair Aodh Oh O’Tuama and Christy Martin, 4 Shillings Short performs a mix of traditional and original music from the Celtic Lands, Medieval and Renaissance Europe, India and the Americas. The audience will be able to hear a range of instruments from the Hammered and Mountain Dulcimer, Mandolin, Mandola, Bouzouki, Tinwhistles, Recorders, Medieval and Renaissance Woodwinds, North Indian Sitar, Andean Charango, Medieval Psaltery, Banjo, Bodhran, Guitar, Ukelele, Percussion, and even a Krumhorn.

This concert is family-friendly and free to the public!

Aodh Og O’Tuama grew up in a family of poets, musicians and writers. He received his degree in Music from University College Cork, Ireland and received a Fellowship from Stanford University in California in Medieval

and Renaissance performance. He plays Tinwhistles, Medieval & Renaissance woodwinds, Recorders, Doumbek (from Morocco), bowed Psaltery, Spoons and sings both in English, Gaelic & French.

Christy Martin grew up in a family of musicians and dancers. From the age of 15, she studied North Indian Sitar for 10 years, 5 of them with a student of master Sitarist Ravi Shankar. She began playing the Hammered Dulcimer in her 20’s and has studied with Maggie Sansone, Dan Duggan, Cliff Moses, Robin Petrie, Tony Elman and Glen Morgan. In addition she plays Mandolin, Mandola, Bouzouki, Banjo, Guitar, Bodhran (Irish frame drum), Charango, bowed Psaltery and sings in English, Irish, Spanish and Sanskrit.

DISCOUNTED ADMISSION TO ART IN THE GARDENS

Final days to get the discounted pre-sale price for tickets to THIS Saturday's spectacular event ART in the GARDENS!

http://www.gardenbythesea.org/calendar/aig-2017/

General admission tickets $20 in advance or $30 at the door ($5 children ages 6 to 16; Free for children under 5)$25 additional for wine or beer tasting

This year we celebrate the 25th anniversary of Art in the Gardens (AIG)! Over the past quarter of a century, AIG has showcased extraordinary creations such as ceramics, glass, paintings, sculpture, textiles, and woodworking. The very first event consisted of cookies, lemonade, and floral art by a handful of local artists displayed in the Perennial Garden at Mendocino Coast Botanical Gardens. It has since blossomed into a full day of fun spread across our 47 acres including more than 80 artists of all different mediums, live art demonstrations, music, food, beer, and wine. Please join us at this important fundraiser for your local non-profit botanical garden.