Mendocino County Today: Thursday, Sep. 7, 2017

• Counselor Epstein
• Wheel Man
• Honey Oil
• McGarvey Park
• Teen Shooter
• Safeway Altercation
• Sexual Deviant
• Fort Navarro
• Reno Legal
• Catching Brockway
• Losak Money
• Little Dog
• Bailey Back
• Church Service
• Bank Art
• No Quiz
• Yesterday's Catch
• Banking
• Sexist
• Precious Hurricanes
• Government
• Ain't Misbehavin'
• Plastic Water
• Social Security
• National Debt
• All Things
• Broadband Meeting
• F&G Meeting
• Manchester Mega-sale
• Coup
• Parenting
• Protect Salmon
• Bacon Book

LINDA RUFFING LAUNCHES NUKE

by Rex Gressett

Rob Epstein likes himself. A lot. What’s not to like? Robert Epstein is real smart. He graduated from Berkley with highest honors. He has been elected twice to be the City Attorney from San Rafael. He has worked for San Anselmo, Belvedere, Tiburon, Corte Madera, Novato, Piedmont, and Petaluma.

So when counselor Epstein showed up to insult the City of Fort Bragg, push us around with backroom deals and shower contempt on our rural pretensions to self-government he was not even slightly worried about blowback. Sure enough there wasn’t any.

Fort Bragg was privileged to meet The Epstein at the July 27th Planning Commission meeting. That meeting was the much anticipated showdown with Hostility House. Town Hall was packed. The Epstein made himself right at home, sitting up front on the dais with the surprised Planning Commission. The Epstein was oblivious, but he seemed to most of us startlingly out of place up front which we reserve for those who we have elected to represent us and for those trusted adjuncts of the city staff who administer process for the city. He looked like some grinning kid prankster crashing a family photo. He did not put his feet up, but he made it absolutely clear who was running things.

When our own David Eyster, district attorney for Mendocino County, came to the city to critique the chief of police and argue with the mayor, he was very courteous. And he sat with the rest of us.

The Epstein did not have to actually do anything messy like take over. He gave us to understand that by reason of his inherent greatness he is automatically in charge wherever he goes. Power over city councils follows in his wake like fairy dust.

When Hospitality House came under fire earlier in the summer, the fiction was that the city management had put their administrative foot down. Marie Jones has obliquely made reference in the course of Planning Commission deliberations to her own personal inspections of the town's only homeless facility, and her very shrewd questioning that led to the discovery of the extra beds. Exactly what it is that they mean by a “bed.” Does that mean a visit to the shelter, as in, He got a bed for the night? Are couches beds? Are they beds if no one sleeps on them?

Marie probed deeply.

The assertion that the City, specifically Marie Jones, was diligently attending to the minutiae of municipal regulation when the woeful infractions at Hostility House were discovered is a tiny exaggeration. As you and I recall, gentle reader, the outrages of behavior and physical danger to non-residents that emanated like radiation out of the house on Franklin did not need to be discovered by Marie Jones and her clipboard. The community had been screaming in her ear for years.

In fact, the City administration did nothing at all about violations at Hostility House for a very long time, then switched their tactics to looking the other way. Finally the pressure got so intense that they started reacting disjointedly, like ancient Romans freaking out about the Huns. They took out many of our street benches so they could not be used for day-long loitering. On Mayor Lindy Peters’ suggestion they cut down the trees in Bainbridge Park to erect a fence, all because some cursed brother mayor had told him it would keep the party out of the park.

None of it worked, and while it wasn’t working 196 infractions and crimes accrued over on Franklin Street including, by many accounts, a considerable amount of crapping in the street. (I personally never saw any of that.) In the end, 70 local merchants which, by their numbers, must include just about all of them, signed a bitter petition of protestation and hundreds of residents signed on to it.

I don’t think Marie had to do a lot of looking around to find the problem. But she may have had to look pretty hard to find manageable little problems that she could use to deflect attention from the real problems.

When the City finally posted the notice that a hearing would be held to consider the revocation of the Hostility House use permit, the painfully long list of nuisances and violations of law were observably the work of people other than the city staff. The complaints were compiled by the police, various members of the City Council and community activists, and then shoved down the throat of a foot-dragging Development Department by the same outraged citizens who had been writing letters and sending emails in a continuing ferment of advocacy.

The Development Department copied them verbatim and posted them as if it were their own idea. It was shocking because City administration policy had been to contort themselves to do everything possible to minimize the use of the City by the homeless folks that were coming to use the HH facility that the City Manager had worked relentlessly to create for them.

Then the City did a 180.

When the notice from the City was finally nailed to the Hostility House door, and the long list of complaints were enumerated, a great silence descended on the City of Fort Bragg. It started occurring to people that no other business in the City could get away with even a fraction of what they got away with at our local shelter. The inmates were in a state of continuing insurrection. They don’t call it Hostility House for nothing. Anger, dissipation and addiction poured from the shelter like water out of a sieve. The City had done its best to hide from the HH problem while pouring money into the pockets of the operators of the blight.

And yet through all the perennial abuse by Hospitality House nobody had ever thought to ask the most basic question of all: Could we just shut it down? Did the answer lie with the Planning Commission and a simple revocation of the use permit?

Linda Ruffing, already under the immense pressure that would in a few weeks bring her to the end of her tenure as city manager, contemplated the mess she'd presided over all these years as it grew steadily messier. Her constituency, now a dwindling minority, had given their hearts and voting souls to the City Manager, who they thought could do it all. If this monument to the power of organizers to organize were to fall, the imputation might be that the great untouchable, Linda Ruffing herself, had done a series of questionable real estate deals extending over decades, created a travesty of misguided charity, but in the end had gotten her hand slapped by indignant citizens for doing it.

In her City Hall bunker, the doomed City Manager vowed to save Hostility House. I’ll show those bastards! Get me Epstein!

When the Planning Commission met on July 27, Epstein, sitting up front like he owned the place, informed us that he was representing the Planning Commission. Not advising them, but in charge, eliminating their involvement and curtailing their authority.

The Epstein confronted his own clients in public and presented them with an ultimatum. You might get sued, The Epstein intoned. Don’t go there. I am a lawyer. Defer the matter to the next meeting.

A stunned Planning Commission gave him the green light. None of them liked handing the reins to The Epstein, or seemed to (you can never tell about Hammon). The packed house at town hall muttered, wondered what the hell, and went home.

When the next Planning Commission meeting rolled around on August 23rd, The Epstein had it all ironed out. He told the still blinking Planning Commission that a cute back room deal had been all worked out. No need for their services.

The Commission got the 40-page document right before the meeting. None of them had time to read it. The Epstein graciously allowed the Development Director to read it to them.

It was actually a very funny document, although no one laughed. There were 18 points, none of them dealt with any real problem associated with Hostility House. It was not even a slap on the hand. It was crass capitulation to the people who've damaged downtown Fort Bragg. The City Manager's boy had saved the day for the social workers, leaving the City exactly where we were before the advent of The Epstein.

That of course was the point. The document did require that HH post a sign prohibiting drinking, and add a couple of trash cans. Being actually drunk was still allowed. Irreverence towards the social workers could get you banned. That was not new, but they pretended it was. The matter of what was or was not a bed was carefully defined. As a back-room deal the 40 pages of nothing new was exemplary.

The Planning Commission seemed to be angry. Curtis even went public, or tried to, in the Advocate. They buried him on page 9.

A READER WRITES: This is the driver for the two trespassers/thieves we caught on video last week. He’s driving a gray Ford Ranger pickup truck, license plate 5G88979. He was oviously on drugs and admitted to dropping off people for $100 bucks. I guess they have a trespass grow out on MRC or Redwood One land. We called 911 but they said they couldn’t do anything since he wasn’t currently breaking any laws, just parked on the side of a public road.

ENOUGH to make a paranoid out of a guy. Today's mail arrived with one of those priority mail boxes, a small one. It was addressed to a lady named Cynthia Kotsay with the return address as PO Box 459, Boonville which, of course, is the address of Boonville's beloved weekly newspaper.

THE POST OFFICE had been unable to find Ms. Kotsay in Chandler, Arizona, so the box had been returned to the alleged sender — us. Thing is, we hadn't mailed Ms. Kotsay anything. We'd never heard of her, and only have a hazy idea of where Chandler is in that dusty, politically backwards state.

SINCE the return address was us, and the box wasn't ticking, I opened it. Inside was a small, vacuum-sealed bag wrapped in thick brown paper. Inside the vacuum-sealed bag was a vial containing a rather thick, golden, viscous liquid about the consistency of molasses.

CAREFULLY UNSCREWING the cap — hell, it could be disguised gelignite for all I knew — I was reassured at the faint smell of marijuana. "This must be the famous honey oil that doofuses all over the country are blowing themselves up trying to manufacture," I announced to an audience of two.

MENDOCINO COUNTY, being on the absolute cutting edge of all things marijuana, and the price of the old leafy stuff having fallen so far lots of long-time growers have given up their gardens, the most enterprising, the most determined pot techs have turned to this new concoction.

TO BE CERTAIN what we had was honey oil, possession of which is a felony, which is why I quickly handed it to my colleague, The Major, and told him to put it in his pocket, I called up the ava's resident drug authority who, of course, must go un-named.

HE HUSTLED right over, gave the stuff the sniff test and pronounced it, "Yup, Honey Oil, three, maybe four hundred buck's worth."

I'D ASSUMED the stuff had value given the careful packaging and $7.15 in US postage slapped on the little box just down the road at the Philo Post Office back on Monday, August 21st.

NOT BEING a drug person, the stuff had no value to me. I took it out back and drained it into a gopher hole, and that was that, except for a tiny residual irritation that someone had slapped our return address on Ms. Kotsay's dope.

PARK UNDER OCCUPATION

To the Editor:

McGarvey Park on the west side is certainly a treasure. When my granddaughter comes to visit, she loves to spend hours there among the bushes and the trees to play and use her imagination. Recently, she was up here visiting with my daughter, one of her kindergarten classmates and her mother. My wife likes to show-off Ukiah to out of town guests and their usual thing to do is to take a stroll to downtown and pass by the park.

Unfortunately, they found the park to be populated with transients with their stuff laid out, along with their shopping carts and their dogs. As they passed by, these occupiers called out for “cash.” The bushes smelled foul because they were being used as a toilet. Because of some level of seclusion from passersby on the streets, it is not too far fetched to think that substance abuse is also going on there. Imagine if your child stepped on a needle!

There is a large lawn area with shade just a block away to the southeast. If the McGarvey Park “occupiers” were urged to relocate there, they would not only have access to clean and well maintained restrooms but they would not be infringing on the peace and tranquility of the park. Seems like a win-win to me while the city works out a plan to serve the homeless/transient population.

We always use excuses about having to respect the civil rights of the homeless and transients, but what about the civil rights of the citizens who actually contribute part of their property in the form of taxes to the local government to maintain parks and public areas? Or what about the rights of local businesses who provide jobs and revenue to the government but whose potential clientele might not want to do business there if their front sidewalk is occupied?

There are those who feel that having food and shelter is a civil right. So, if you are approached by a panhandler asking for money for food and you don’t give them any, are you then violating his civil rights? If you get a knock on your door one evening from a transient who asks to stay in your spare bedroom, are you violating his civil rights by saying no?

I think most of the city residents would rather not see transients and homeless on our streets. They also do not want people out-of-sight camping along the river, in creek beds or out on vacant land either. Most of us are realistic enough to know that they just are not going to ‘go away.’ There are also a lot of us who do feel compassion for their situation and want to help ... but not to enable and sustain this kind of lifestyle and certainly not to attract people from other areas.

The solution, as I see it, is multi-fold, and we will have to open our wallets:

Many on the streets have mental illness and need to be institutionalized. So, this time around, we need to get behind Sheriff Allman’s initiative for a proper mental health facility.

A homeless services center would work if the purpose was to get each individual into a suitable case management program. Maybe some need help with substance abuse issues. Maybe others are down on their luck and need to land a job to get back on their feet.

I am sure there are others who feel that being homeless is fine and dandy, but in this day and age, this is unacceptable. They need to be sheltered and be given work to do such as picking up trash, cutting weeds along rural roads and highways, or other forms of community service in exchange for meals, a place to bathe and sleep, and other basics.

The per capita income in Mendocino County is such that it cannot afford to take all of the homeless and transients who may want to come here for our mild climate and services. So, those who are not from here or otherwise have no roots here, need to be sent back.

Our very popular Sunday pundit often voices concerns about organizations which provide such services, having an incentive to serve more people so they can expand. This kind of skepticism, which likely has some truth to it, does discourage some people from helping out. He could be proved wrong through observation and information such as:

Seeing fewer and hopefully one day zero homeless and transients in the streets and public areas.

Fewer and fewer encounters noted in police and sheriff’s logs.

Less and less trash needing to be cleaned up in creek beds and along the river.

The various organizations which serve the homeless and transients show a decrease in ‘guests’ each month until the number stabilizes. It will never go to zero, as there will always be people who suddenly find themselves down on their luck or who succumb to substance addiction.

It really is high time for our City Council and the city and county governments to get to work on this issue. It is about quality of life in our community, personal security and reduction in property crime.

D.E. Johnson, Ukiah

14-YEAR-OLD GUNMAN

On Tuesday, September 5, 2017 around 6:39 PM, Mendocino County Sheriff Deputies were dispatched to a report of gunfire with three young males being shot at the intersection of Portlock Lane and Lake Mendocino Drive in Ukiah. Deputies responded to the area where they learned two 17 year old males and one 18 year old male had all been shot at least one time by what has been described as three young Hispanic males, either in their late teens or early twenties. One victim sustained a gunshot wound to the chest, one a gunshot wound to the leg, and the third victim suffered a gunshot wound to the groin area. The three victims appear to have been shot while walking on Lake Mendocino Drive. All three victims were transported to various hospitals to be treated for their wounds. Initial contacts indicate the three victims appear to be uncooperative with law enforcement. Sheriff's Detectives were called to the scene, which is in the roadway near the above intersection. Lake Mendocino Drive has been closed while law enforcement crime scene work is being conducted on the roadway. At this time it is unknown if the suspects were in a vehicle or on foot. At this time it is unknown if there was one shooter or more than one shooter. The shooting does appear to be gang related. The Mendocino Multi-Agency Gang Suppression Unit was called to assist the Mendocino County Sheriff's Detectives with the investigation.

UPDATE

On the afternoon of Wednesday, September 6, 2017 Mendocino County Sheriff's Detectives, aided by members of the Mendocino Multi-Agency Gang Suppression Unit and the Mendocino County Probation Department, developed information identifying the shooting suspect in this case as a 14 year old male who lived in the area. The investigation led detectives to believe there was an altercation between the suspect, the victims, and perhaps additional parties who have yet to be identified. At this point in the investigation the 14 year old suspect is the only person who was identified as having fired a firearm during this incident. Around 1:50 PM Detectives served a search warrant in the 300 Block of Lake Mendocino Drive. During the services of that search warrant the suspect arrived home and was taken into custody. While Detectives believe some of the involved parties are either gang affiliates or gang members the exact motivation behind the altercation is not clearly known. The suspect was later transported and lodged into Juvenile Hall on a charge of attempted murder. This investigation is ongoing and the Mendocino County Sheriff's Office is encouraging anyone with pertinent information to contact Mendocino County Sheriff's Communications Center at 707-463-4086 of the Mendocino County Sheriff's Tip Line at 707-234-2100.

GANG PUNKS FIGHT AT FORT BRAGG SAFEWAY

On Monday, September 4, at approximately 12:05 am, officers of the Fort Bragg Police Department were dispatched to Safeway for the report of an in-progress physical altercation between multiple suspects. When officers arrived on scene approximately two minutes later, the initial reporting party was able to direct officers to two of the fleeing suspects in the 500 Block of South Franklin Street.

Officers contacted Andrew Hurtado (age 18) and Nickolas Wade (age 19), both known members of the Norteño criminal street gang.

While interviewing Hurtado and Wade, officers located two knives discarded in the area where both suspects were initially observed. A records check showed that both Hurtado and Wade are on summary probation out of Mendocino County with a court ordered term that they not to associate with known criminal street gang members.

Based on the clear violation of both suspects’ court ordered probation, Hurtado and Wade were placed under arrest. Both suspects were cited and released for misdemeanor violations of their probation.

During the course of the initial investigation, officers obtained multiple witness statements which detailed a suspected physical altercation between members of the Norteño criminal street gang and members of the Sureño criminal street gang in the Safeway parking lot.

During that altercation at least one vehicle was damaged and it is reported that weapons other than firearms may have been brandished. The investigation did not directly yield evidence connecting these crimes to these suspects.

This investigation is ongoing and anyone with any information related to the above incident may contact Officer O’Neal at (707) 961-2800 ext. 167 or on our anonymous Crime Tip Hotline at (707) 961-3049.

(Fort Bragg Police Department)

THE END TIMES, MENDO BRANCH, Episode 25,685,510

On 09-05-2017 at about 6:50 PM Mendocino County Sheriff's Deputies were dispatched to the Ukiah Valley Medical Center regarding a reported sexual abuse case. Deputies contacted a mother of a 2 year-old female child who had discovered her boyfriend, Mark Austin Boughton, 25, of Ukiah, had committed sexually lewd acts upon her daughter earlier in the evening.

The acts were recorded on a "Nanny Cam" in the couple's home and the video footage was shown to the Deputies. Deputies confirmed evidence existed showing Boughton had performed sexually lewd acts upon a child in violation of penal code section 288. Boughton was subsequently located and arrested in the 200 block of Mason Street in Ukiah. Boughton was booked into the Mendocino County Jail on the above charges and was to be held in lieu of $75,000 bail.

REMARKABLE NAVARRO RIVER 'FORT' STILL STANDING

MendocinoSportsPlus heard from Chris Skyhawk who sent along these photos of a beautiful "fort" constructed on the Navarro River Beach from driftwood. MSP "toured" the fort at the beginning of the summer and saw a note inside asking that the fort not be destroyed as it was constructed for kids — and miraculously — it still stands. We heard scanner traffic dispatch local fire departments and CalFire to Navarro Beach several times this summer and we figured someone finally torched it. But it still stands. Nice.

RENO LEGAL

by William J. Hughes

Reno. Excuse the pun but I wouldn’t go there on a bet. But now in Nevada there is legal marijuana. “Mmmm, marijuana…”

I’ve been to Denver’s legal as I’ve written about here in the AVA.

So now Reno. Plus, electrical work where I live so I had to get out for a few days.

Hot, auto air-conditioning going up into the forested foothills above Sacramento and on up and over the granite Sierras of California and into Nevada. The only reason for Nevada to exist is to get you across to Idaho and Montana.

I’ve never actually been in Reno. It’s awful with a touch of charm with the Truckee River running through town. And to add some spice this is Hot August Nights, preserved hot rods like the crown jewels of Kerouac, a James Dean orgy, streets blocked off among the casinos. I don’t know, maybe nine or ten classic cars, but row upon row, street upon street, but high school and all our thunder cars.

Can’t find the Visitors Center. There it is under an overhang, lookin’ more like a large gift shop than a welcome to our state resource. But I get what I need from the little desk. I need a Super 8 motel and where is the nearest pot shop. Motel nearby, pot shop around the corner.

Around the corner I go, hot, more custom cars, cheap casinos, homeless, 132 2nd Street, mynt-Cannabis Dispensary. Good on ya, Nevada. California next up. What a Circus Circus that will be.

Mynt is a clean building sitting on a desert like landscape with its own parking lot.

It has its own security guard, checking my ID, must be 21, before I enter the efficient, calm, dentist office-like waiting room. Show ID through the bank glass, take a number, sit and wait to be called. The stuff is in another room.

My number is called. I’m assisted by a young man who tells me I can get a military discount. What’s the lowest price I can go, I ask him. A gram is $15, he tells me. That’s what I’ll go with, next visit, admiring the efficiency, the busy deli counter of it, nothin’ fancy. Press some buttons on some doors to exit.

Down Virginia Street, a row upon row of motels and take out franchise horror show. Super 8 is a dump which comes as a surprise. But the price in $7.99 for prime rib land is just right.

Right, Carson City, capital of Nevada, surprisingly close by south down the sort of rural Route 395. Thunder and lightning, thunder showers. Great! Flash flood warnings on the radio.

Charming Judge Roy Bean Capitol building in a charming park. Feels like you are out west. That particular of California — you head east to go west.

Settle in a brew pub across the street, noticing something I continue to notice — how fat America is — how indifferent are our citizens to any self-discipline when it comes to our available excess, everywhere.

Since I’m back here in Reno, one of the casinos for a glance. Did some in Las Vegas — some of the saddest places on earth.

Here it's no different, the Atlantis Casino, gigantic, sad, folks rooted to their slot machines. I guess I must. One dollar in a 5¢ slot machine. There are 1¢ slots. Rode in drivin’ a $50,000 Mercedes. Rode out in a $200,000 Greyhound. I don’t win a dime.

Buffet for dinner in the casino is tempting but I’ve been in here too long already.

Black Bear Diner seems the most normal. All white folks, not a minority of any kind in sight. Guys on golf outings, retirees who couldn’t find an Applebee’s. Damn fine pork shops and gravy.

The morning is hot and dirty, the Black Bear Diner again with the same colorless families, damn fine eggs, biscuits and gravy.

It’s all gravy now, parked in the mynt parking lot. Security guard passing me through, ID’d inside. No. 96, take a seat. Ten or so other folks, quiet, patient, orderly, Chicanos, Afros, gringos, ladies and gentlemen.

“No. 96,” from the open door. I answer the call, young lady waiting for me at the door.

At the counter I know what I want and it’s right there like batteries or cigarettes in a Kiwki Mart, a couple of buds in a plastic pouch.

The young lady places my purchase in a security ziplock pouch. Pay up, press the green buttons to exit, a bald woman with a surgical mask, looking very much like a cancer patient is on her way in. Nevada does have a soul after all. With a head, home.

WONDER WHAT BROCKWAY ONE AND TWO WERE LIKE

On 09.02.17 Mendocino County Sheriff Deputies took a report that Robert Brockway III, 30, of Little River, had assaulted his girlfriend, who resides in the 30000 block of Simpson Lane, Fort Bragg.

At that time Deputies learned that Brockway is on formal probation, with terms that include that he is not to 'disturb the peace' of the victim. Brockway had fled prior to the arrival of the deputies. On 09.04.17, at approximately 10:50 PM, Deputies were again called to the 30000 block of Simpson Ln. by the victim, who said that Brockway was outside the house with a handgun screaming at the victim and kicking her car. Brockway again fled before the arrival of the deputies, and the victim provided a description of the vehicle he was driving, which corroborated information already obtained by the responding deputies. The deputies were searching for Brockway and found his vehicle backed into a driveway on nearby Boice Lane. The vehicle accelerated away, turning north on Hwy 1 with a deputy in a marked Mendocino County Sheriff's Office patrol vehicle, emergency lights activated, in pursuit. The vehicle turned east on Simpson Lane, crossing over double yellow lines to pass slower vehicles and reaching speeds of 80 MPH. Brockway continued south on Mitchell Creek Drive, where he was eventually forced to stop due to the road ending. The driver, and sole occupant of the vehicle, was identified as Robert Brockway III. Brockway was taken into custody without further incident and was found to have a handgun and a dagger concealed on his person, and numerous live rounds of ammunition in his vehicle. Brockway was lodged at the Mendocino County Jail for Possess firearm by felon, Alter serial number of firearm, Carry concealed dagger, Evading a peace officer while driving in a reckless manner, Driving on the wrong side of the roadway while evading a peace officer in a vehicle, Carry a concealed weapon in a vehicle with a prior conviction, Violation of Probation and is being held without bail.

FORMER DEPUTY COUNTY COUNSEL VS. DOUG LOSAK AND MENDOCINO COUNTY: WHAT THAT DEBACLE (and others) COST US

AVA,

County spending $$$$$$$$$ without authorization ?

Item 1 & 3 will be on the BofS agenda 11/12/2017

Item 3 is over $300,000 thanks, Mr. Losak.

The payment of County funds with NO prior authorization as per county Policy/Procedure.

1. Construction Training Program Mendocino County Probation. Contractor Northern California Training.

Original contract Agreement No. 15-100 amount $175,494.00 from 12-3-2016 thru 1-1-2017 ?

On the 6-20-2017 BofS agenda 5c after the fact approval for $64,585 for services already rendered. With no approval. Item was pulled and has not came back to the BofS for payment.

2. Provide Employer/Employee Relations Services, Contractor Liebert Cassidy Whitmore, Contract Attorneys

Original Contract Agreement No.16-037 amount $165,000. approved by BofS.

On Agenda 7-11-2017 consent I asked for it to be pulled, it was pulled and never saw the light of day, to date.

The consent was to add $60,000 that was over the approved contract.

3. Legal services for a lawsuit at the County Counsel Office over a lawsuit brought by a former Deputy County Counselagainst County of Mendocino and Attorney Losak former County Counsel.

Contractor Liebert Cassidy Whitmore, Contract Attorneys

Original contract unknown, final amount five times over the original approved.

The attorney’s bill was much more that the settlement.

All of the above are over the approved dollar amount, and now staff is trying to find a way to pay the contractors off without getting Board approval. The overage will be several thousand dollars. The County set up a process and this should not occur.

It appears this has become standard practice. If this takes place and gets approved, why do we need a Board of Supervisors ?

Checks and Balances are set up to protect the Tax payer and must be maintained at all cost.

Respectively,

Lee Howard

Ukiah

LITTLE DOG SAYS, “Three old guys are sitting around this morning waiting for another old guy to bring the paper-paper up from Healdsburg when one of them says, "When he gets here we'll huddle up and do like a WalMart pre-shift cheer, something like, 'Team AVA! Go! Go! Go!' Little Dog can woof along with us." Well, I immediately put the kibosh on that foolishness. I'm tellin' ya, I'm the only sane one on the premises, and I'm only a dog!”

FOOTBALL PLAYER WHO HAD STROKE AT CARDINAL NEWMAN OUT OF COMA

Bailey Foley, the Fortuna High School senior injured during a football game at Cardinal Newman High School Aug. 25, was taken out of his medically induced coma Tuesday and is no longer fighting pneumonia.

pressdemocrat.com/news/7386620-181/injured-fortuna-football-player-out

COMMUNITY CHURCH SERVICE

Boonville Fair Sunday

September 17th 2017, 8:30 AM

Apple Hall Auditorium, next to the Fair Office

Pastor Dave Kooyers from Valley Bible Fellowship will present;

What does it mean to receive Jesus?

Why do some believe and yet not receive?

Free admission/Everyone Welcome

Please come and worship with us, and then enjoy the fair for the rest of the day.

For additional information please feel free to call Pastor Dave Kooyers (707) 895-2325, or the Fair Office at (707) 895-3011, or visit their website at; http://www.mendocountyfair.com/

SUSIE DE CASTRO WRITES: "Mural" at the new Community Bank in FB (notice camera in trestle?)

NO QUIZ THIS WEEK

Tomorrow is the first Thursday of the month so there will be not be a Quiz taking place at Lauren’s Restaurant. The Quiz continues on its 2nd and 4th Thursday format so we shall resume on Thursday, September 14th. Hope to see you there.

Cheers, Steve Sparks, The Quiz Master

CATCH OF THE DAY, September 6, 2017

LUCIA BARAJAS, Redwood Valley. Domestic battery, probation revocation.

MARK BOUGHTON, Ukiah. Lewd/lascivious with child under 14.

JODY FERRILL, Ukiah. Suspended license.

DWAYNE MCKENZIE, Ukiah. Failure to appear, probation revocation.

EROS NELSON, Fort Bragg. Domestic battery, probation revocation.

PAUL POLLAY, Willits. Failure to appear.

MONIQUE VALADOR, Fort Bragg. Domestic abuse, probation revocation.

SHERRY VEALS, Clearlake/Ukiah. Failure to appear, probation revocation.

DONALD WILLETT, Willits. Willful cruelty to child with possible injury or death, under influence, under influence in possession of weapon, probation revocation.

KELLY WOOD, Willits. Under influence, concealed dirk-dagger, probation revocation.

IF YOU OWED THE BANK a buck, you were a deadbeat with an overdraft. If you owed a billion, you were rich and the bank was working for you.

— Salman Rushdie, 2017; from "The Golden House"

IN APPRECIATION OF HURRICANES

by George Tzindaro

There are plenty of reasons to refrain from doing anything to prevent hurricanes. Anyone at all familiar with ecology would realize at once that it would be a serious mistake to prevent or weaken hurricanes. They are a normal and necessary part of the global environment we live in and are essential to the functioning of the coastal ecosystems of the regions where they occur.

Because they are a regular, seasonal phenomena, hurricanes are a part of the expected annual series of weather events and all species that live in a hurricane zone are adapted to their regular recurrence. They are therefore a part of the process that keeps the ecology in dynamic balance. Many species are dependent on them for creating the conditions they need.

A few examples:

1. Hurricanes over water stir up bottom sediment which provides extra nourishment to plankton, which are the base of the oceanic food chain, so for several weeks after a hurricane all aquatic life flourishes.
2. Swift-churning waters break off small pieces of coral reefs, which are carried some distance away and sink to the bottom to grow into new reefs. This is one important way in which coral propagates, so without hurricanes the reefs would continue to grow in size, but could not spread to other areas to start new reefs.
3. When a big tree falls, the gap in the canopy allows sunlight to reach a lot of seedlings and underbrush which need sunlight to grow and could not grow in the shade of the big tree. Many species in a forest community need these gaps and the sunlight they permit to fill their role in the forest ecosystem.
4. While a big fallen tree is being recycled back into the forest floor to provide nutrients for a next generation of trees, it is also providing years of food and habitat for the insects and microbes that do the recycling.
5. It also is providing habitat for many species of animal life that hide in the tangle of broken branches to protect them from predators.
6. In areas where hurricanes are common, all native species are adapted to them. Non-native species in adjacent areas, which are not so adapted, therefore are kept out of the area by the recurring hurricanes. If the hurricanes stopped, they would be able to invade the former hurricane zone, to the detriment of the native species there, as all introduced species are always destructive to native species that are not adapted to them.
7. In areas where hurricanes are common, a significant portion of the yearly water supply comes from them. Without hurricanes there would be a water short-fall amounting to a major drought.
8. The water shortfall could not be made up by additional less intense rainstorms because the heavy downpour typical of hurricanes provides enough water all at once to flush out coastal ecosystems and rejuvenate them. Since this is an annual event, these coastal ecosystems are adapted to it and need it.
9. Low-lying coastal areas in the tropics and subtropics are the richest, most diverse ecosystems on earth. Many such areas are under heavy threat from unrestricted development. Other areas are still relatively intact because the frequency of hurricanes discourages human occupation. If hurricanes were no longer a factor, these fragile coastal ecosystems would soon be overrun by development from which they are now protected by the fact that hurricanes are common there.
10. These huge powerful storm systems transport large amounts of tropical heat from the equatorial regions toward the poles, helping to keep the temperate zones warmer than they otherwise would be. Without this mechanism of heat transport, the temperate zones would have a much colder average annual temperature.

From these few examples, it should be plain that a program to prevent hurricanes or weaken them to the point of any significant alteration of their major features, would be a dangerous mistake. To interfere with this life-giving process is the worst possible crime against the earth. It is nothing less than blatant attack on the planetary life-support system, a war against the earth and all its inhabitants. Nothing could be conceived of which would be a more horrendous crime against humanity.

Yet, there are those who would like to do just that. In hubristic disregard for the continued viability of this planet, they would like to prevent or destroy our precious hurricanes, upon which all life depends, and they in their supreme ignorance, imagine they would be doing something good and would be "saving lives". Nothing could be farther from the truth. What any such project would really be doing would be killing the earth.

AIN'T MISBEHAVIN'

Cast Announced for 42nd Street Moon's Ain’t Misbehavin’

On behalf of 42nd Street Moon, I am pleased to announce the full cast for their 25th Anniversary Season's opening production, Ain’t Misbehavin’. A beloved celebration of the music of Fats Waller, Ain’t Misbehavin’ was originally conceived by Murry Horwitz and Tony Award-winner Richard Maltby, Jr. 42nd Street Moon’s production of Ain’t Misbehavin’ will be directed and choreographed by Jeffrey Polk, with music direction by Dave Dobrusky. The Company will feature Erica Richardson as “Nell,” Katrina Lauren McGraw as “Armelia,” Ashley D. Gallo as “Charlaine,” Aris-Allen Roberson as “Andre” and Branden 'Noel' Thomas as “Ken.” Ain’t Misbehavin’ runs from October 11-29, 2017 and will perform at the Gateway Theatre (formerly the Eureka Theatre).

CONTACT: Daren A.C. Carollo / 415-871-7523 ( tel:408-283-7142 ) or daren@42ndstmoon.org

PLASTIC IN DRINKING WATER

theguardian.com/environment/2017/sep/06/plastic-fibres-found-tap-water-around-world-study-reveals

SOCIAL SECURITY NOT BROKE

Editor,

Politicians are using the Nazi “Big Lie” to cheat American workers out of their Social Security.

For decades billionaire Foundations and conservative politicians have been spreading the big lie that Social Security is broke (https://www.cnsnews.com/commentary/romina-boccia/social-security-going-broke). Adolf Hitler’s Nazi Minister of Propaganda Joseph Goebbels wrote, “When one lies, one should lie big, and stick to it”. The fact is that the US Government has borrowed some $3 Trillion from the Social Security Trust Fund—money now owed by Uncle Sam to millions of working Americans. Social Security is only broke if Uncle Sam defaults on its debts to us!! The debt to Social Security is less than 20% of the total US Government’s debt. Most of the debt, $14.5 Trillion, is owed to other countries and financial institutions of the rich 1%. But today’s propaganda fuses together ALL Uncle Sam’s debt to create the big lie that Social Security is the greatest debt problem. Democrats and Republicans have recently introduced the Social Security Commission Act of 2017, whose ultimate goal is to cut and privatize Social Security.

Politicians have not only borrowed from Social Security to run the government, but 70% of the national debt has been borrowed from banks, financial institutions, corporations and rich individuals. The politicians borrowed because instead of taxing the rich banks and corporations, they cut their taxes. As a result, workers taxes and Social Security payments provide almost 90% of the federal government’s revenues. Over decades the politicians have allowed major corporations to escape paying billions in taxes, they have given subsidies in the billions to corporations and agribusiness, and they have allowed tax breaks for the oil and gas companies in the billions of dollars. Albert Einstein’s comments about politicians was right on target when he wrote; “members of legislative bodies are selected by political parties, largely financed or otherwise influenced by private capitalists….the consequence is that the representatives of the people do not in fact sufficiently protect the interests of the underprivileged sections of the population.” (https://monthlyreview.org/2009/05/01/why-socialism/)

We must bust the monstrous Nazi Big Lie—

Uncle Sam - pay your debts to our Social Security!

The rich 1% who benefitted from the national debt must repay the debt now!

Millions in the streets WON Social Security and only Millions in motion can save it.

Dr. Nayvin Gordon, Oakland

gordonnayvin@yahoo.com

Dr. Gordon is a Family Physician in California who has written many articles on health and politics.

LITERARY CRITICISM OF VERY BAD POEMS: PART III OF III

by Louis S. Bedrock

All Things Bright and Beautiful

All things bright and beautiful,

All creatures great and small,

All things wise and wonderful,

The Lord God made them all.

Each little flow’r that opens,

Each little bird that sings,

He made their glowing colors,

He made their tiny wings:

Have you ever read such dreck? Fortunately, there’s not much for me to write about because Monte Python wrote their own, improved version. You can find the full song on YouTube.

All things dull and ugly,

All creatures short and squat,

All things rude and nasty,

The Lord God made the lot.

Each little snake that poisons,

Each little wasp that stings,

He made their brutish venom.

He made their horrid wings.

All things sick and cancerous,

All evil great and small,

All things foul and dangerous,

The Lord God made them all.

SOME DAY, SOME WAY, TRISH IS GONNA GET US BROADBAND

Broadband Alliance meeting this Friday 9-8-17

Hi Everyone,

The agenda for the next Alliance meeting *this Friday* (10 am, Community Foundation in Ukiah) is attached. I hope everyone can make it or call in.

And since I'm here in your inbox, I've included a few links to articles that you might find interesting.

http://www.sfchronicle.com/business/article/One-man-s-DIY-Internet-service-connects-12175313.php

https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/paax9n/rural-america-is-building-its-own-internet-because-no-one-else-will

http://www.dailyyonder.com/fcc-proposes-fix-rural-broadband-changing-definition/2017/08/31/21168/

Thanks and hope to see you on Friday.

PS: Don't forget that we are on Facebook and that our website has a lot of good info too!

Trish Steel
707-354-3224

MENDOCINO COUNTY FISH & GAME COMMISSION SEPTEMBER MEETING, UKIAH

The regular commission meeting of September 12, 2017 in Fort Bragg has been rescheduled to a special meeting September 19, 2017, 6:00pm, Conference Room A, County Board of Supervisors Chambers 501 Low Gap Road, Ukiah.

F&GAgenda

Elizabeth Salomone
Fish and Game Commission Secretary
860 North Bush St, Ukiah, CA 95482
www.co.mendocino.ca.us/dfg/
707-234-6094

MANCHESTER COMMUNITY CENTER MEGA SALE THIS Saturday and Sunday - Sept 9 & 10

The Manchester Community Center/Garcia Guild (formerly the Grange) is having a giant garage sale this Saturday and Sunday, Sept 9 & 10. There is still time to sign up for a space to sell. Outside - people can rent space to sell their garage sale items. Guild/Grange members are free (including members of other Guilds and Granges in the area). For others - it is $20 for the two days. Inside - a crafts/art fair - People who do art, jewelry, make candles, woodwork, homemade jams..... The cost for the two days inside is $40 - again free for Guild/Grange members (including members of other Guilds and Granges in the area). There will be hamburgers and hot dogs. Also - if you do not want to sell at the garage sale- you can donate items to the Guild as we'll also have our own booth with the donated items. All the money will go to the Guild Hall. We'll be painting the front in the next month or so. Hopefully, the Mega Sale will make enough money for the front being painted. And we need so much work in our kitchen. To reserve a space or to donate items, contact Lisa Giacomini at lmortimeyer@lanmor.net or call the Guild at 882-3425 and leave a message.

THERE HAS BEEN A MILITARY COUP in the United States and nobody noticed, least of all our president. Just when we were following the MSM down the Russian rabbit hole convinced that the deep state would eventually pull us out of this nose dive and perhaps even collude in the impeachment of the apricot-hued one, along come the Generals – Kelly, Mattis and McMaster – to join the other adult in the room, Rexxon Tillerson, to right the ship of state and navigate it back on track towards the end of the world.

— John Davis

ON LINE COMMENT OF THE DAY

You know what the worst degradation today is? People, and I mean damned near everybody, simply do not care about anything, even their own children! Before Care, After Care, Day Care, Summer Care, nannies, you name it — the parents of the past decade or two have little to no use for their own spawn, much less than the millions of strangers across the nation. Yes they will donate their $10 to the cause, pat themselves on the back, and say how it is all better now and then get back to their doping, drinking and other distractions. As a former PTA president, County PTA president, Mayor and now current Committeeman and (2) CERT team member, I have more contact with the residents around my county on a daily basis than most people have all year and it is bad, real BAD and getting worse. I would shout out STOP – CHANGE NOW, but I’d probably be arrested. Nope, it ain’t gonna get better, only worse.

INDIGENOUS CALIFORNIA WOMEN LEADERS JOIN FORCES TO PROTECT SACRED SITES AND SALMON

Ohlone leader Corrina Gould of the Confederated Villages of Lisjan and Chief Caleen Sisk of the Winnemem Wintu will hold a press conference at the West Berkeley Shellmound site (1900 4th Street – corner of Hearst Avenue) this Friday, September 8 at 2:00 PM. The two highly respected women leaders will announce their mutual alliance to protect California’s indigenous sacred sites and the state’s endangered salmon runs from development.

Berkeley’s historically landmarked Shellmound Village Site at 1900 4th Street is threatened by a proposed five-story residential and commercial development. The West Berkeley Shellmound was at the heart of the oldest Ohlone village site on San Francisco Bay, believed to have been inhabited for at least 5,000 years. Local Ohlone oppose the proposed development, as do more than 1,800 Berkeley residents, community leaders and experts in anthropology, archeology, history, law and engineering who provided public comment opposing development earlier this year.

Up north in Mt. Shasta’s McCloud River watershed, Chief Caleen Sisk is making a parallel stand to protect Winnemem Wintu sacred sites. These sites, in continuous use for thousands of years, are threatened by the U.S. government’s proposal to raise the height of Shasta Dam, a public works project that would flood more than 40 Winnemem sacred sites.

Gould and Sisk are joining forces this fall to raise awareness of the negative impacts that development projects have on California’s indigenous communities. In addition to protecting their sacred sites on their traditional territories, Gould and Sisk are launching their alliance by working together on the Run4Salmon. The Run4Salmon is a participatory, prayerful journey taking place from September 9th to 22nd, to raise awareness and build public support to help protect and restore declining salmon populations, California river systems and indigenous lifeways.

Native California peoples relied on salmon for thousands of years. Today the salmon are on the verge of extinction due to climate change, pollution, extreme water diversions, and the proposed Delta Tunnels, which environmentalists and tribal leaders say would nearly guarantee the destruction of California’s salmon runs. The fight to save the salmon and preserve sacred sites has brought these two leaders together.

Ohlone leader Corrina Gould said, “The salmon that came up our rivers and took care of my ancestors are the same salmon that spawn in Chief Sisk’s river and took care of her ancestors.”

Winnemem Wintu Chief Caleen Sisk added, “Our tribe has an ancient prophecy, ‘When there are no more salmon, there will be no more Winnemem Wintu people.’ For this reason, we believe that we must do everything we can to bring back our salmon. This is our Dakota Access Pipeline: we have to wake the people up before we are standing in front of bulldozers, and we will.”

A prayer ceremony from 3:00 to 4:00 PM will follow the 2:00 PM press conference. The following day, the Run4Salmon opening ceremony will take place at Sogorea Te near Vallejo at 4:00 PM. Both ceremonies are open to the public. Interviews and photo opportunities will be available on site.

For further information:

Contact: Chris Oakes: 510.500.5777 — chrisoakesoak@gmail.com

West Berkeley Shellmound Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1328362423841558/?ref=br_rs

Run4Salmon website:

http://www.run4salmon.org/

Sacred Land Film Project blog (contains list of all Shellmound media coverage to date): https://blog.sacredland.org/berkeley-sacred-site-threatened

IN THE FIELDS OF THE NORTH, TWO NEW REVIEWS, TWO BOOK EVENTS

"WE are not animals. We are human beings."

In an impressive and important new book David Bacon effectively counters the racism and xenophobia advanced by our current president and promoted in right-wing media by providing hundreds of photos and clear descriptions of the real life and work of the immigrants harvesting the food we eat.

Bacon does so by interviewing farmworkers and photographing farmworkers in their "housing" and in their work. He reports and records the humanity of the thousands of people who come north to harvest our crops and to feed their families as best they can. In interviews and photos farm workers and their families tell their own stories with dignity and humanity.

http://www.dsausa.org/in_the_fields_of_the_north_en_los_campos_del_norte

Book Events In Northern California

• September 12, UC Berkeley Labor Center, 6PM, 2521 Channing Way, Berkeley
• September 13, Food to Farm Event, 5:30PM, Guy West Plaza, Sacramento State University, Sacramento
• September 15, Green Arcade Bookstore, 7PM, 1680 Market Street, San Francisco