Mendocino County Today: Wednesday, Aug. 30, 2017

• Expanding Grows
• Peachland Pine
• FB Leaking
• Home Invaders
• Little Dog
• Heat Warning
• Duets
• Holiday Driving
• Dixieland Dance
• Thistle Removal
• Yesterday's Catch
• Sour Grapes
• Encountering Hate
• Many Sided
• Confirmation Questions
• No Oxycontin
• PA Harborfest
• Liberal Hater
• Banning Zeke

MENDO POT GROWERS EXPANDING GROWS WITHOUT PERMITS OR ENFORCEMENT

While Official Mendocino County has been focusing on (or more accurately stumbling toward) bringing pot growers into the permit process and using their marijuana code enforcement staff to tell unpermitted (or more accurately those who have paid for permits but have not received one) to “self-abate” any violating plants, no one has been concerned about whether the growers are complying with their (applied for) permit or the many rules and regs that a permit would cover. Bringing unpermitted grows into the permit (applied for) process brings big fees into the County, but requiring growers to comply with the rules does not. In fact, it requires real inspections and follow-up, something Mendo is fundamentally incapable of. That’s why the below “concerns” of the Westport Muncipal Advisory Council will only be addressed rhetorically, but nothing will be done about the problem that the Board agrees is “going on all over the County.”

* * *

Thad Van Buren, Chair of the Westport Municipal Advisory Committee. Board of Supervisors meeting, August 29, 2017:

Our community is concerned about implementation of the Mendocino County marijuana ordinance. I would like to stress what we have conveyed to you in a few letters. Based on these concerns, we urge you to remove the ordinance revision from the consent calendar and reschedule it for public comment on September 12. Our community supports regulation of the cannabis industry and feels the ordinance is generally sound. However, concerns exist about the apparent deviations from the scope certified in the environmental document. As well as the lack of transparency in the permit process. A key concern is that small groves are being inappropriately expanded under phase one. For example, Application 111 near Westport proposes expanding a tiny grow into a huge industrial greenhouse operation. This new industrial use is incompatible with the UR zoning and definitions from the CC&Rs in the subdivision. It also reflects a huge departure from the historic cultivation on this parcel. Building permits for five greenhouses exceeding 10,000 squre feet are in construction. Yet no residences, water supply, septic systems are in process as required. The lack of transparency is also a concern. The safety of neighbors is put at risk. Yet permits are kept secret and our complaints go unanswered. How do we verify that our the outcomes of zoning reviews and adequacy of mitigation conditions that are not supplied. Why is a vast expansion of use in phase one not denied because it is effectively a new project? Must we wait until impacts accumulate or armed thugs terrorize our community before these concerns are addressed? We urge you to instruct the county staff that phase one permits should only cover existing operations, not radical expansions. We also recommend requiring use permits for new projects that expand cultivation footprints during phases two and three in residential districts. Neighbors deserve some avenue to express legitimate concerns and weigh in on proposed mitigations measures before the development ensues. We also feel CC&Rs should be considered in the permit approval process. Thank you for considering our input.

Board Chair John McCowen:

The changes requested would not allow the board to go forward today if they were discussed and incorporated. This is not going to be the only opportunity to revise this ordinance I am pretty confident. So with that said, do board members have any comments or a motion?

Supervisor Carre Brown:

We have this happening all over the county. I have had many phone calls. So I feel very strongly like the MAC (Westport Municipal Advisory Committee) does that this is something that has to be considered in the future as we go forward in revising.

Supervisor Dan Hamburg:

I want to echo both my colleagues. We are seeing these problems around the county. I find that some of these situations really need referral to our code enforcement, specifically the cannabis enforcement unit. Some of the things you describe do not sound to me like they are within the parameters of the ordinance as I understand it. So I'm really wondering whether Mr. Taylor (Code Enforcement Officer for marijuana) should be contacted or those in his unit because those do not sound like legal expansions that you are talking about. And this is not the last rodeo or last bite at the Apple. But also for the people who are trying to just trying to live their lives peaceably and truthfully in Mendocino County.

A LONE PINE VIEW

by Larry Smith (March 2000). A long-time resident of Peachland, Mr. Smith passed earlier this week.

Worth more than any blinking traffic light, it guided folks for years. It told them where they were and how to get to where they were going.

It stood alone, overlooking Boonville, like a sentry guarding its northern ridge. Earlier peoples had used it as a guide on their periodic treks to the sea. Tan bark haulers probably cinched up their mule teams on the East-West trail a couple hundred feet below on their way eastward seven miles to the Old Toll Road (Hwy 253). I can visualize old J.P. McNeil putting his old floppy hat back on his head, releasing the brake, urging the mules forward, then looking up at the old Lone Pine and silently saying, “I’ll see you later.”

It was a reference point used by many in their daily lives, as casually as we might use “down by the Little Red School House” to direct someone to Con Creek. It also was the location of the direction, North. On a clear night when the big dipper is visible, find the North Star from a location near Boonville and you will know approximately where the Old Pine lived.

It might have been dead for years, but it posed harm to no one while its distinctive frame stood out from other outlines on the ridge.

Esel Wafford and his rowdy crew from Willits, in a manner of other evil deeds, robbed all who treasured this old pine by setting it afire as the sun was dropping that sad day.

All the energy it had soaked up in its decades of life was then offered back to the sun that nurtured it in gold colored fire reaching for the sky. When the flames were first visible, some thought the fire was Shorty “Max” Rawles’s cabin afire. No one imagined that anyone would want to burn such a monument as the Lone Pine.

Homer Mannix, fire chief, drove up Peachland Road, stopped to pick up Briana Rowe (Burns) and they were off to round up neighbors to go help. The few Peachlanders there were at the time rallied with all the hoes, shovels, and whatever else they had and joined Homer and Briana on the trek to Shorty’s nook. By the time they neared the area, it was abundantly clear that it was Lone Pine ablaze. The fire crew soon changed focus and directed their efforts to the tree. The old pine was well ablaze by this time but the crew proceeded on up the ridge toward it, willing to do what they could. It was dusky, but someone could be seen near the burning tree. The crew thought someone had arrived before them and had been here fighting the fire alone. Though panting from the climb with their meager tools, they hustled to join this lone person and hear from him if there was hope. As the crew neared the quiet, motionless person, someone of the crew shouled, “We came to help!”

“Don’t want your help,” came the gruff reply. “You’re trespassing! Now GET OUT!”

The crew, now close enough to see the man well from firelight, could also see he had a gun pointed at them. Some other peole were headed toward the burning pine. The crew had but a small moment of hope that Esel Wafford could be dissuaded of his attitude and gunplay before men started arriving by pickup and horses. It was Esel’s crew arriving to back him up. One of the crewmen told Esel that they weren’t trespassing, that he had long ago been given permission by Shorty to be on this property, cut firewood, hunt pigs and anything else he wanted to do for as long as the sun shines in the sky.

Esel quickly replied, “But Shorty’s dead, ain’t he?” Esel’s cronies then escorted the disbelieving, would-be firefighters away, off what once was the Rawles Ranch.

I don’t think anyone thought this kind of encounter was possible these days, though there are tales of earleir conflicts on this spot. In the days of sheep and cattle wars and land settlement conflicts, these kinds of conflicts usually had a different cast.

For example, in Valley lore, three young Rawles men on horseback rode up the Lone Pine ridge and shot dozens of Clem Heryford’s sheep in the shadow of the old pine and left their calling cards — empty 32-caliber pistol cartridges. When the sheep kiling was discovered and reported, Clem gathered his own boys and rode the ridge west and then down north to the Rawles ranch headquarters. Clem owned the ridge at this time and it was important to protect his rights and address his grievance against his neighbors. He and his sons were well armed and capable shots. As they drew up in the front of the Rawles ranch house, the Rawles men could be seen preparing for battle. Clem sat still in his saddle. In short time, old man Rawles came out on the front porch, looked up at Clem and said, “Howdy Clem.” Clem said, “Howdy” back, then stated that “three men on horseback carrying 32s had shot a bunch of his sheep and left them dead. I don’t suppose you know anything about it?”

Old man Rawles looked around at his boys, then back at Clem and said, “Now Clem, those boys hadn’t ought to have done that.”

Clem declared, “Thought ytou might’ve wanted to know,” then turned his horse and his boys around and left. Other than the usual gossip, no more was said of it nor were any more sheep killed.

Most times, it’s a most peaceful spot, offering what some say is the prime Valley View, a hiking destination, a grand family or lover’s picnic spot. The ridge has been subdivided now and houses are beginning to appear on the ridge. It is no longer accessible to the public.

The Lone Pine’s sad, charred, rotting carcass is still there, trying to point the way to the sea from its resting place on the ground.

Recently, a couple of well-respected local men traversed up old Lone Pine Ridge with heavy loads, planting some new trees. True, they were thinking of the old pine, but had no thought of replacing it — they knew better.

Now I don’t know of a person who hates Esel Wafford for burning the old Lone Pine, but I also don’t know a soul who doesn’t condemn his acts.

I salute the symbol of the Old Lone Pine, but I more highly regard the two anonymous men who recently made the trek up the hill with their nature investment.

POST GAME

by Rex Gressett

At the last regular city council meeting, the City of Fort Bragg and the City Council were startled to witness a flagrant violation of state law thrown boldly in our collective faces by the supporters of the now former city manager, Linda Ruffing. Closed session negotiations over the fate of Ms. Ruffing had been leaked and the leak widely circulated. No surprise then that the meeting was packed with Ruffing supporters.

Meg Courtney, evidently the leak recipient and a former City Council person of unfortunate memory had, by prearrangement with her assemblage of fellow sycophants, strode boldly to the podium and was first to let the Council have it. In thin lipped outrage the righteous Courtney harangued the City Council for attempting a “coup” behind the backs of the city.

Whether you characterize it as a coup or simply as the canning of a bad apple, Ms. Ruffing was on the way out. The last nail in her coffin was Meg Courtney.

Ms. Courtney and her leaker, perhaps city councilman Turner, perhaps Ruffing, had stomped on the law of the state of California. They were calmly certain that rich folks like the Courtney-Ruffing bloc possess congenital class immunity from the consequences of legal disobedience under which you and I must labor. Don’t try it at home. For this crowd skirting and breaking the law are a mere technique of governance. No doubt they never gave it a second thought.

Will Lee, who had worked closely with the City manager as City Councilmen of good intention must, sat silently through twenty-three lockstep speakers enumerating a long list of spurious accomplishments by an incomparable City Manager; two speakers at the end of the line were not quite so sure.

It would be wonderful to know councilman Lee's thoughts as he watched the partisans of privilege lining up to trample the the public meeting laws that he had been sworn to uphold. Certainly the easiest thing for Will to do would have been to simply let it slide. Councilman Lee is still technically a newbee, although by every account a fast learner. In the history of the City Council professional courtesy, congeniality as they call it translated as 'letting it slide,' have been routine rather than otherwise. It should not be, but Will's rebuke and invocation of the law was extremely unusual in Fort Bragg. Certainly no insider like Meg Courtney has ever had to sweat bending the rules a little, even a lot.

Will Lee may have learned a great deal about the practical mechanics of local government in his short experience on the council, I am sure he has, but when he stood up quite alone to champion the law and insist on fair play it was not something that he learned. He was being something that he is. He waited until the torrent of obfuscation and sycophancy had passed and the council had taken a break and then, with the courage of a man working without a net, and turning apple red doing it, Will Lee said what everyone was thinking and no one else had the stones to say. He earned his community’s gratitude. He is on vacation in Scotland as you read this. I genuinely hope he has a good time. He deserves it.

What he said was that someone sworn to uphold the sanctity of closed session had alerted the Courtney Gang that city manager Ruffing would not be staying on as Fort Bragg's boss.

A post-resignation Ruffing has been careful to show her ever smiling face attentively in public meetings as a mere observer. We saw her sitting in on the abortive planning commission meeting on Hostility House not saying anything. Hiding is not an option since the pretense that she was not fired but just retired is such a convenient fig leaf. Committing mayhem on a closed session of the City Council is supposed to be a serious violation of the state's public meeting laws. She either leaked the news of her looming departure or someone did it for her.

Councilman and former mayor, Dave Turner, in a casual moment in the meeting, always the gentleman, remarked to me as he does when occasion presents itself that I was entirely wrong. Your contention that Linda led us around by the nose was a mistaken impression saith he; it was we who led her by the nose. Then with a significant look he told me just you wait, we will just hang around and when you, (I guess he meant the City Council and the city,) have messed things up with your foolish pretensions to govern Fort Bragg without the able assistance of the forces of the good and true, well, we shall see what we shall see.

It was the former mayor, good soldier that he is, who took the rap for the closed session leak, spinning it lamely, but he might well have been deflecting. I think Ruffing leaked it to Meg Courtney and Turner just took the heat.

I had arrived early for the Mayor's open Monday morning meeting. Linda Ruffing, Dave Turner and our esteemed and ever agile Mayor Lindy Peters were sitting grimly around the large conference table at City Hall. I could see them through the plate glass windows that surround the first floor conference room. They looked like Stalin, Roosevelt and Churchill at Yalta. Of course I asked Lindy what it was about. He told me sternly they were planning the public meetings on the mill site. I told him they were commendably serious about it. He did not comment.

The fall of Linda Ruffing was necessary but not inevitable. Three of the council showed real courage and integrity to at last move her along. They kept the promises that they had made to the people both formally and informally that they would work to undo a series of bad decisions. They were our true representatives when we needed them very badly.

Leading the whole business off, Bernie Norvell must be given basic credit for firing Linda Ruffing. His loyal voters are cheering in their quiet not-at-the meetings way. Cimolino never wavered. His toughness in the face of abuse and disrespect, and his persistent technical contribution to the processes of government in spite of obstruction and egregious misrepresentation by the City Manager, were and are the anchor of City Council effectiveness. Will Lee stood up alone and courageously when his legal duty his patriotism and his good judgment said that he should.

Then there is the minority council, Turner and Lindy Peters.

Dave Turner liked the way Linda operated or, as he corrected me, the way he operated her. Turner and I disagree on most things. We both find it worrisome and mutually check our navigational bearings when we happen to agree on something. But it does happen and occasionally on important issues. He is frankly divergent from my insistence on popular government and democratic inclusion. He says and thinks that a small elite can get things done. Take care of business, is the way he puts it.

I don't think his elite are any better at anything than anyone else; in fact to my observation they are mostly incompetent. They screw the people without the mitigating salve of guilt. But given his elitism Turner is if not honest at least forthright.

Lindy saw his circus go out of control. The posturing and gesture-making at which the mayor excels are comforting to the comfortable and ridiculous to the rest of us. I personally do not mind him being mayor, and he loves it so much. In his capacity as mayor Lindy is what he is in life, a DJ spinning the disks and spinning the story are all in his line.

ROUNDING UP THE HOME INVASION BANDIDOS

Since the initial investigation began in July, the Mendocino County Sheriff's Office has continued to investigate this case, identifying two additional suspects.

On July 17, 2017, Joshua Hanover, a 29 year old male who lives in the Redwood Valley area, was stopped on Highway 101 in Redwood Valley and arrested on an unrelated warrant from Sonoma County. Subsequent to that arrest and this investigation Sheriff's Detectives determined Joshua was a suspect in this robbery. A case was submitted against him to the DA's Office and he was subsequently charged with kidnapping for robbery and armed during the commission of a felony. His bail was set at $525,000. Detectives also identified Trevor Michael Jackson, 34, a transient in Redwood Valley as a suspect. For approximately a month and a half, Mendocino County Sheriff's Deputies and Allied Law Enforcement Agencies have been attempting to locate and arrest Jackson. He has fled several times, on motorcycles and all terrain vehicles when deputies approach.

On August 26, 2017, at approximately 5:00 PM, based on a tip from a community member, Jackson was located hiding on a piece of property in the 4800 block of Black Bart Trail in Redwood Valley. Jackson was arrested without incident and booked on a felony arrest warrant stemming from this case. His bail on this case was set at $500,000. This case is still under investigation and Jackson is a suspect in numerous other thefts that have occurred in the area of Redwood Valley. Sheriff's Detectives anticipate filing several additional cases with the DA's Office for review of charges. These charges will include motor vehicle theft, grand theft/possession of stolen property, weapons possession, and burglary charges. Any persons with information about this case are encouraged to contact the Mendocino County Sheriff's Office.

On July 16, 2017, at about 2:33 AM, a subject called 911 to report that numerous armed subjects had just come onto his remote, rural property in several vehicles claiming to be law enforcement officers. Based on their appearance and demeanor the subject recognized that they were not law enforcement officers but were actually there with the intent to steal his marijuana crop. The subject fled to call 911, after suspects fired, and he believed that another resident was hiding on the property. Mendocino County Deputy Sheriff's were nearby and contacted the subject on Hwy 162, where he described what happened and the vehicles involved. The Deputies drove to the property where they encountered a truck matching one described by the victim. Upon seeing the deputies the vehicle attempted to flee, driving just out of sight and stopping. Deputies subsequently searched the vehicle, locating firearms and stolen property, but no suspects. The other resident was located, unharmed, and said that he had been contacted at the house by 5-8 men wearing ski masks, armed with firearms, claiming to be law enforcement officers. These subjects questioned the victim at gunpoint about the location of valuable items and people on the property and forced him into a truck, threatening to shoot him if he did not comply. The subject was robbed of his personal belongings and forced to assist the suspects as they stole marijuana plants. The subject was released when the suspects drove away. Deputies at the scene requested the assistance of the Mendocino County Special Weapons and Tactics team (SWAT) to assist in searching the wooded remote area for the armed suspects. At about 11:00 AM three suspects were located and arrested without incident.

All three suspects, Daniel Hernandez-Sanchez, Matthew Sturges, and Alejandro Nunez were lodged at the Mendocino County Jail for Armed Robbery, Kidnap for Ransom, and Criminal Conspiracy with bail set at $150,000. The incident remains under investigation and anyone with information is requested to call (707) 234-2100 or e-mail to crimetip@mendocinosheriff

LITTLE DOG SAYS, “Since these people went solar they've been walking around saying stuff like, ‘We can run the AC round the clock now. It's free.’ And another one said, ‘Remember those fans people used to walk around with? Maybe we should look into those.’ And then there's my house. You see any signs of AC in there?”

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE in Eureka has issued an excessive heat watch from Thursday afternoon through Monday evening [Aug 31 - Sep 4]. Locations include most interior valleys, such as Laytonville, Willits, Covelo, Boonville, Ukiah, and Hopland. High temperatures between 100 and 115, with overnight lows ranging from 55 to 65 in cooler valleys, to 65 to 75 in higher elevations. 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.

DUETS

by Jeff Costello

Funny how things will stick in one's memory. The bit on Sacco and Vanzetti in a recent AVA column reminded me of other infamous duos from the dark distant past that have stayed with me since I was a kid. The Everly Brothers. Louis Prima and Keely Smith. Great stuff. Even Sonny and Cher, not so great but still floating in the archive. But it's not musical entertainment I'm thinking of, it's crime and punishment. Sacco and Vanzetti. The Rosenbergs. Sometimes I'll wake up in the morning with a song in my head, and not always a good song, but they're in there and have to come out. The other day I woke up to the memory of Leopold and Loeb. They were old news but still getting air and print time when I was young. Famous. The Rosenbergs, Julius and Ethel, executed by electric chair for passing nuclear bomb information to agents of the Soviet Union. Their guilt or innocence is still unclear. Strictly guilty however, were Leopold and Loeb, two rich kids from Chicago who, under the influence of Nietzsche's idea of the ubermensch or superman, decided they fit the description. According to Nietzsche, the superior man is above conventional morality and laws. Leopold and Loeb, not entirely unlike Donald Trump, seized on this notion, and plotted the "perfect crime." They would murder a kid named Bobby Franks and get away with it. They didn't get away with it. Who is the "superior man?" As with the issue of eugenics, the question of who decides who stays and who goes is "Me. I am superior and I decide." After waking up to this historical business I had to refresh my memory with the wikipedia page on Leopold and Loeb. Classic case of hubris and ego far out of reality. Almost a hundred years later, the human condition doesn't seem to have improved but gotten worse with overpopulation. Not enough room for all the egos. Loeb was murdered in prison when his family allowance was cut to five dollars a week and he could no longer pay protection money. Leopold became a model prisoner and was paroled in 1958. He lived until 1971. Clarence Darrow, later of Scopes monkey trial fame, secured life sentences plus 99 years on the basis of arguing against the death penalty. Maybe tomorrow I'll wake up with a Sonny and Cher song in my head, or maybe the Beatles if I'm lucky.

LABOR DAY ENFORCEMENT

Labor Day MEP release

BOB AYRES' THE DIXIE DEVILS at Eagles Hall on September 3rd!

The community is invited to support Gloriana Musical Theatre with an authentic Dixieland dance concert featuring Bob Ayres' The Dixie Devils. Please come support the reappearance, after too many years, of real Dixieland music and dance in Fort Bragg! (And bring your dancing shoes!)

• 4 PM to 7 PM
• Location: Eagles Hall, 210 N. Corry St at Alder St, Fort Bragg
• Beer/Wine/Soft drinks/Snacks
• $15 at the door
• For more info contact Walter at: 707-962-3085

THE ETERNAL BATTLE

Navarro Point thistle removing Wednesday, 10am-noon.

Hello. You are invited to join us as we remove thistles at Navarro Point this Wednesday, August 30th, from 10am until noon. I know we usually meet on the 2nd Wednesday of the month, but this is a key time to get those thistles before they bloom and release their seeds.

You can find us in the parking lot on the west side of Highway 1 a half mile south of the Navarro Ridge Road turn-off at 10am. No tools or previous experience are necessary, altho gloves and clippers would be helpful.

We hope to see you there this Wednesday at 10am. Contact me if you have questions. Tom Wodetski, 937-1113, tw@mcn.org

CATCH OF THE DAY, August 29, 2017

DANIEL BUTLER, Ukiah. County parole violation.

RICHARD CHRISTENSEN, Ukiah. Disorderly conduct-alcohol.

CHRISTOPHER DOTTERWEICH, Ukiah. Controlled substance.

KLYNT LOWRIE, Nice/Ukiah. Lewd-lascivious with child under 14.

BRADLEY LUCIDO, Fort Bragg. Probation revocation.

HARVERY MCCARTY, Ukiah. Disorderly conduct-alcohol.

JESSE RODRIGUEZ, Ukiah. Probation revocation.

PETER ROSE JR., Point Arena. Concealed dirk-dagger, probation revocation.

MICHAEL SIKORA, Willits. Domestic abuse, damaging power lines.

ROBERT VALADEZ, Ukiah. Disorderly conduct-alcohol.

RONALD VALENTINE JR. Ukiah. Disorderly conduct-alcohol. (Frequent flyer.)

ON LINE COMMENT OF THE DAY

It’s just a myth believed in by ordinary people, that rich people have unfair advantages in this country. Politicians don’t hobnob any more with millionaires and heads of corporations than they do with Joe the mechanic down the block. We’re all equal here, just like it says in Animal Farm. The very idea that congress would pass legislation that favored the wealthy or corporations over the interests of common citizens is too laughable to even consider. It’s all sour grapes perpetrated by people who are too damn lazy to get out & make their money the honest way, by working two or three part time jobs. Besides, the rich should get tax breaks, they’re the job creators, and they deserve a little consideration for the effort they put forth for the benefit of this country and for the average citizen. For all the bad press they get, they are more to be pitied than scorned. God bless them each and every one.

FIRST-HAND HATE

by Frank Somerville

I experienced hate firsthand today.

It came from these people dressed in all black at a protest in Berkeley. Ironically they were all chanting about no hate.

Some had shields and gloves. Some had helmets. Some had gas masks.

I was watching them and taking it all in. I came there on my own time. Because I wanted to see things first hand. I was dressed in shorts and a tank top.

At one point I took out my phone to take a picture.

And that's when it all happened.

(And just to be clear they were playing for the cameras in front but I was toward the back. And since there were already so many people taking their picture I didn't think it would be an issue.)

I took two pictures and afterward they started screaming at me. I thought for sure they were going to attack. I was just waiting for it.

I wasn't scared. But I stayed calm even though I thought this may not end well for me.

Here's how the conversation went.

And as you're reading this keep in mind that they were yelling at me and their words were filled with venom, anger, hate and intolerance. There's just no other way to describe it. I was stunned.

Them: Hey! No pictures or we'll take your phone!

(At that point I'd already taken shots)

Me (In calm voice): You're on public property and I can take a picture if I want to.

Them: Oh, so you're a big man with a camera?

Me: No I just wanted to take a picture and talk with you.

Them (rushing toward me): We outnumber you and we will take your camera!

Me: You're not going to take my camera and you're not going to tell me what to do. Why can't we just have a respectful conversation?

(I then touched one of them on her hand to say it's okay I just want to talk.)

Them: Don't touch me!

Me: I'm not trying to do anything. I just want to try to understand and have a respectful conversation.

Them: We'll block your shot!

Me: That's fine. All I wanted to do was have a conversation.

Them: Now is not the time.

(In fairness, he was the one person who was respectful.)

Then as I started to walk away a woman started screaming at me saying: We're not interested in talking to you! We're not interested in talking to you!

I walked away stunned. I grew up in Berkeley. I marched in anti-war protests during the sixties. It's one thing to read about hate. It's another thing to be right next to it. In my opinion, these people dressed in black are just as hateful and intolerant as the people they are protesting against.

Afterward I was talking to several other protesters (not dressed in black). One of them actually stood up for me as the people dressed in black were threatening me. I was touched. They were just as disappointed as I was. They said that the people dressed in black represent a small minority and that they "hijack" the protests.

And I agree.

Most of the people out there in Berkeley were non-violent. They were there for the cause. They just wanted to come out and stand up against hate. I totally support them.

But I do not support extremists, whether they are on the right or the left.

Hate is hate.

And I experienced it firsthand today.

It was sad to see.

(Frank Somerville is a contributor to SFGATE and anchors the 5, 6, and 10 p.m. news on KTVU. This post originally appeared on his Facebook page.)

GOV. JERRY BROWN'S UTILITIES COMMISSIONERS MUST FACE MORE QUESTIONS BEFORE A SENATE FLOOR VOTE

by Dan Bacher

The California Senate Rules Committee voted 3 to 0 on August 23 to confirm Governor Jerry Brown’s nomination of Clifford Rechtschaffen and Martha Guzman Aceves as commissioners on the California Public Utilities Commission, but Senate leaders said the two have serious questions to answer before the confirmation is put to a floor vote.

Consumer advocates speaking at the hearing strongly opposed Rechtschaffen because of his history of coziness with Big Oil and Big Gas interests under the Brown administration. Nobody at the hearing voiced specific opposition to Aceves’ confirmation.

Carmen Balber of Consumer Watchdog noted in a blog post (www.capitolwatchdog.org/) that Senate President Pro Tem Kevin De Leon “took the unusual step of withholding his support for Governor Brown’s nominees to the Public Utilities Commission (PUC), arguing that they have many questions to answer before de Leon agrees to give them a vote by the full Senate.”

After questioning Rechtschaffen and Guzman, de Leon said he didn’t vote on the confirmation because he still had questions about how the appointees will rebuild public confidence in an agency that has been enmeshed in numerous scandals in recent years.

"You're getting out by the skin of your teeth right now," de Leon said after the vote. Senator Anthony Cannella also abstained from voting.

While a number of issues were brought up by Senators and the public at the hearing, one of the most alarming was the poor response of Rechtschaffen and other state regulators to the blowout at the 2015 Aliso Canyon Gas Storage facility in Los Angeles that began in October 2015.

“We don’t have yet a conclusive report on the origins of the spill,” de Leon told the Senate Committee and the two new commissioners. “We don't yet have a report on the seismic risks of reopening. Yet, the regulators are moving forward with the methane injection of wells.”

He also pointed out that it took three months for the CPUC to respond to a letter he sent them regarding the Porter Ranch disaster.

“Why did it take so long? If it took three months to respond to me, how long would it take to respond to me colleagues and peers?” de Leon asked.

Rechtschaffen responded, “I don’t know how it took so long...but I’m positive that this issue is very much alive and being considered.”

Members of families in Porter Ranch and the Northern San Fernando Valley sickened by gas facility blowout traveled to Sacramento to speak out against his confirmation.

They testified how Rechtschaffen, Governor Jerry Brown’s former top oil and gas advisor and his nominee to the CPUC, ignored regulations that could have prevented the blowout that released 100,000 tons of methane into the air. The blowout is considered the second biggest oil or natural gas disaster since the BP Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico in April 2010.

State regulators earlier this month permitted the Aliso Canyon facility, closed for nearly two years, to reopen on a limited basis in spite of the lack of a full environmental or seismic review. Regulators also failed to disclose the cause of the leak or who was responsible,

Alex Kim, who emigrated from Korea in the mid-1970s and hasn’t protested since his student days in Seoul, said he was forced to protest once again against the mismanagement of the gas blowout, since his wife suffers ongoing nosebleeds and headaches and his grandchild suffered rashes that he attributes to the blowout.

“I was disappointed that the Senate let Rechtschaffen’s confirmation go forward,” said Kim, a semi-retired business owner, after the hearing. “In the hearing, Rechtschaffen said the safety of the people is a priority, but that was not the case at Aliso Canyon.”

“The CPUC is supposed to watch over gas facilities and make sure everything is OK so people can go about their lives,” said Kim. “Somebody has to be held responsible. People need to get fired or disciplined. I never saw anybody investigated for what happened at Porter Ranch. They are just pointing fingers at one another. They are covering their butts, but still get paid the same.”

Melanie Demont, a retired school teacher, said she was forced to evacuate from her home for months until the leak was capped. She ended up in urgent care and the ER, due to respiratory symptons resulting from exposure to the methane gas and other gases released in the blowout. Like Kim, she asked the Senate Rules Committee to reject Rechtschaffen’s nomination to the CPUC.

Representatives from Food & Water Watch, Consumer Watchdog and Save Porter Ranch said they also opposed the nomination because of Rechtschaffen’s history of interceding on behalf of the oil and gas industry.

“We called on the Committee to deny Rechtschaffen’s appointment because of his record during the Brown administration of favoring the oil and gas industry at the expense of everyday people,” said Adam Scow, California Director of Food & Water Watch. “We need a regulator on the commision who will stand up to industry and to the Governor when he's wrong.”

He added that “Rechtschaffen has dutifully carried out” some of the worst things Governor Brown has done, incuding the firing of regulators trying to make oil companies comply with the law, reopening Aliso Canyon, and allowing oil corporations to get exemptions for disposal of toxic waste.

“We just can’t have a yes man on the Commission,” emphasized Scow. “The point is that it is wrong to pollute and destroy our groundwater.”

Mike Mattoch, lawyer for Consumer Watchdog, testified to Rechtschaffen’s 2011 firing of two oil and gas regulators, Elena Miller and Derek Chernow, at the behest of Occidental Petroleum. This led to the weakening of well safety standards, as reported in court filings in a RICO lawsuit filed by San Joaquin Valley farmers and clean water advocates in 2015.

He emphasized that Rechtschaffen, while directing the Department of Conservation’s Division of Oil, Gas and Geothermal Resources (DOGGR), blocked rules that could have prevented a worker death, protected aquifers from oil wastewater contamination and stopped the Aliso Canyon blowout.

Balber noted that Rechtschaffen must be approved this year, or the governor will have to replace him.

“Senator de Leon says he’s going to demand answers. The question now is: What are the questions?” she said in her blog post.

She suggested some key questions the Senate must ask ask about Rechtschaffen:

“For the public to have any confidence in the Senate’s oversight of the governor and the Public Utilities Commission, they must include:

- Why did Rechtschaffen fire two key regulators who were enforcing well safety and permitting standards, and then weaken standards that could have prevented the contamination of our groundwater and the Aliso blowout?

- What was Rechtschaffen’s role in the emergency proclamation issued by Governor Brown on Aliso Canyon that moved the investigation into the cause of the leak behind closed doors?

- How does Rechtschaffen justify the reopening of Aliso Canyon in light of protests from Los Angeles County that a seismic review to determine the earthquake risk at the Aliso Canyon facility is necessary before its reopening? How does he justify the reopening, for reliability purposes, in light of a Los Angeles County study that found Aliso is not needed to keep the lights on?

- What was Rechtschaffen’s role in the governor’s attempts to push California into a regional western electricity grid, subject California to dirty energy imports and subordinate local regulation to FERC and Trump administration appointees?”

Richard Mathews, a board member of Save Porter Ranch, said in regard to Rechtschaffen’s confirmation, “This is a hiring decision. When you hire somebody, you start off by looking at their resume and see if they meet the basic requirements. Rechtschaffen meets the basic requirements.”

“But the thing that the Senate has to ask: is this the best person for the job . He clearly isn’t. We can do better — we must do better,” Mathews concluded.

In contrast with representatives of Porter Ranch families, Food and Water Watch, Consumer Watchdog and Save Porter Ranch, staff from the Environmental Defense Fund, Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), Community Water Center, Clean Water Action and a number of energy companies recommended the confirmation of both Brown appointees.

To learn about Jerry Brown’s deep familial conflict of interest regarding the Aliso Canyon gas facility, read Consumer Watchdog’s new report questioning how Kathleen Brown’s million-dollar payout from Sempra influenced the Brown administration’s repeated decision-making in favor of the energy giantand its utility subsidiaries, including the ill-advised reopening of the facility.

While the media often fawningly portrays Brown as a “climate leader” and the “resistance” to President Donald Trump as the Governor jets off to international climate conferences, the reality is much different, according to public trust advocates. In fact, Brown has collaborated with Trump on fast-tracking the construction of the controversial Delta Tunnels and the exemption of California oilfields from the Safe Drinking Water Act.

Over just the past few weeks, the 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

Green-lighting the flawed EIS/EIR documents permitting the construction of the California WaterFix

Issuing a “take” permit to kill endangered salmon and Delta smelt in the Delta Tunnels.

HARBOR & SEAFOOD FESTIVAL SEPT 3!

18th Annual Harbor & Seafood Festival, Sunday September 3, 2017 — Noon to 6pm, Point Arena Cove & Pier

This is an event that you don’t want to miss: a perfect setting with amazing food, stunning views, great company and all for a good cause — to raise money to keep our local pier operating all year long! This year’s “Harborfest” menu features oysters, albacore kebabs, fish tacos, and abalone cakes! Libations include craft beer courtesy of North Coast Brewery, assorted wines, and non-alcoholic beverages including soft drinks and homemade lemonade. This year’s bands include local faves Fast Company, OZONE BBQ, and Chuckwalla as well as the Nelson Lunding Trio and 3 Sheets to the Wind. The kids area hosts a bouncy house, face painting and a sea-themed sidewalk chalk art competition. There is no entry fee and parking is free. Bring the kids, but please leave the dogs at home. For more information or to get involved please call Point Arena City Hall at 882-2122.

Harborfest Money Update

The Harbor and Seafood Festival (HarborFest) is an important and critical event for the Point Arena Pier. All proceeds from this volunteer-led event go to the Pier Repair and Replacement Fund (R&R Fund). Last year’s HarborFest was the most successful ever, netting over $18,000 for the R&R Fund. The City of Point Arena would like to make clear that money in the R&R Fund is used solely for repair and maintenance of the Pier. No funds are expended on operational salaries, even though significant staff time has been used this year mitigating storm damage and performing ongoing repairs. In the past year, the City has expended money from the Repair & Replacement fund for the following projects: * Hoist Repair and Certification; * January 2017 Storm Damage Engineering by City Engineer to apply for disaster funding from FEMA & CalOES; * Emergency Repairs and Mitigation to ensure Arena Cove and Pier were functional after the January storm, including clearing the parking lot, rebuilding the berm next to Arena Creek and securing the floating dock piling; * Ongoing Repair and Maintenance, including forklift repair, bathroom refurbishment, hoist junction box replacement, and new lifting harness and suspension straps for the floating dock. The City is currently working with the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the California Office of Emergency Services to secure funding for repairs to pilings on the pier and to enhance the safety of Arena Cove. The Pier operates at a loss of approximately $40,000 per year. Ensuring the safety and stability of Arena Cove and the Pier are of paramount importance to the City, as evidenced by the City Council’s willingness to fund the deficit in pier operations out of the General Fund. Again, HarborFest is a key event for the Point Arena Pier, perhaps more so than ever given the storm damage in January 2017 and the projects that are needed at the pier. We look forward to the fishing community’s participation in another successful event €¦for the benefit of the Pier!

GIMME ONE REASON

Letter to Editor,

Every week you print a rant-filled letter from Jerry Philbrick. He really hates all liberals, but never gives even one reason why.

I challenge him to submit a letter giving at least one reason why liberals are bad. I hope that when he gets to be 65 he will realize that it was a bunch of liberals who brought in social security and Medicare. If he is consistent, he will refuse to accept either.

Lee Simon, Round Hill Farm, Virginia

TO ZEKE OR NOT TO ZEKE

The right thing to do is still the right thing to do.

Marinela emailed:

Marco, A while back you asked me to appear on your show. I considered it though I ended up declining at the time, saying I might in the future. In the last few weeks, however, you seem to be encouraging the person who’s been trolling our local discussion list [MCN Discussion listserv] to go beyond free speech and into harassment of a number of local people, not just myself.

I’m guessing that your silent encouragement of this troll’s behavior is in order to increase the audience for your show, using similar tactics to those of smut newspapers like the National Enquirer. I don’t know whether this will, indeed, gain you more listeners, but I won’t be one of them and will NEVER appear on it — not a big loss for you, probably.

You may assuage your conscience by stating that you’re supporting free speech, but I find your behavior of standing by and silently encouraging bullies just as reprehensible as his. Shame on you!

Marinela

* * *

Marco McClean:

Marinela, if you're talking about Zeke, and of course you are, all I encourage him to do is to send me his work so I can read it on the radio. Sometimes he calls on the phone to read it. So far on the show I don't think he's even mentioned the MCN Discussion listserv except in passing. He writes essays related to his gay advocacy, and science-fiction and private detective stories involving characters in his real life.

Your guess is incorrect. I have promised since at least 1985 to print and/or broadcast everything anyone sends to me to print and/or broadcast. If you want nothing to do with my current project, it's unfortunate, because often you have valuable things to say and I'd like you to think of it as something worth participating in, but I can't make an exception for you and shut out someone else from participating just because he irks you.

Zeke is clearly lonely and he's had a busy life of real suffering, and real harassment and violence and bullying all aimed at him and the group he identifies with, suffering that goes far beyond merely enduring a few harsh words in a newsgroup. It looks to me as though he's harmlessly showing you what he feels like in trying to make this point or that and it's going right over your head.

Use my show or don't; that's up to you. If you don't like Zeke, all you have to do to erase him entirely from your world is to make a filter in your email program for anything from him or containing his name, and poof, he's gone. I've said the same thing to everyone on the Discussion listserv in exactly these simple terms. And yet a half-dozen of you continue to punch yourselves in the nose about him, and no less than three of you have emailed me privately to order me to ban him not only from the air but from my life, as if that will solve all your problems for you. I've been the target of whispering campaigns and bans myself (see KZYX); nothing on the level of what Zeke has endured, nor for so long, but enough to grasp the right thing to do here, and that's to continue doing what I promised, that apparently nobody else anywhere will, and publish what people write, whether I like it, or them, or not. Memo of the Air is mainly a literacy project, and Zeke's idiosyncratic work is a small part of the whole.

Speaking of which, Stuart Cohen, who's come to KNYO to play guitar and sing maybe a dozen times in the last couple of years, had surgery a few weeks ago to remove a tumor from his brain. He's in hospital in Santa Rosa. I went there two weeks ago and again today. He's doing well in physical therapy and can walk on his own using a brace; he'll be going home to Fort Bragg this Friday. They don't know whether the cancer will come back, but they can keep it away for quite awhile with medicine. He might even be able to play the guitar again. He'll certainly be able to sing. He's as witty and present and articulate as ever. Chipper and wry. Yay, science!

I'm finding and collecting the recordings of every time he came to the station and putting it all in one place. When it's ready I'll make the folder available on the web and tell you.

Marco McClean
memo@mcn.org
http://MemoOfTheAir.wordpress.com