Mendocino County Today: Saturday, Sep. 23, 2017

• Mary Weaver
• Home Invasion
• Ed Desk
• Little Dog
• Ganja Permits
• Fair Faces
• Water Trucks
• Yesterday's Catch
• Woodschlock
• Wonder Plot
• Outlet Creek
• Social Order
• Puerto Rico
• Moral Confusion
• Backyard Garden
• CPR Class
• Tenderloin Life
• Decolletage
• Mafia Business
• Planning Meeting
• Marco Radio
• Gassed
• Baal Teshuva
• Welcome to Willits

MARY CESARIO WEAVER

Long-time Mendocino Coast resident and community activist, Mary Cesario Weaver passed away in her home on Sept. 5, 2017. Mary was born in Syracuse, New York, to Frank and Stella Cesario and had close ties to relatives in Quattropani, Lipari, a small island off the coast of Sicily.

Mary was the devoted mother of Kirsten Maurer and grandmother of Cali Etna Maurer of Fort Bragg. They were her pride and joy. Additionally, Mary is survived by a brother, William (Mary Lou) Rice; a niece, Amy (Tim) Sherwood; and numerous grand-nieces, nephews and cousins in upstate New York. She is also survived by her step-children, Julia Weaver Nickel and William Weaver of Phoenix, Arizona, and countless friends on the Mendocino Coast.

Mary received her B.A. in art education from Arizona State University and taught elementary school in Colorado where she and her husband, the late David Weaver, farmed over 400 acres in the Platte River Valley. She moved to Mendocino County in the late 1970s and ran a sign and house painting business for many years before becoming a realtor with Penitenti/Petersen, Ruby Warner and Big River Real Estate offices.

Mary's talents were plentiful and eclectic. She taught ballroom and country western dancing, ran lights and sound and built sets for the Mendocino Theatre Company, played on a women's softball team, acted in a movie ("The Haunting of Sea Cliff Inn") and several television commercials, and wrote a popular local mystery novel ("A Mendocino Mystery"). She was also an ace poker player who enjoyed monthly card games and political talk with a group of local women who have played together for the past 20 years.

Mary was a tenacious community activist and worked on dozens of political campaigns for progressive candidates at the local, state and national level. She was instrumental in the passage of Measure A, a local sales tax in Fort Bragg that saved the C.V. Starr Center. She served on the board of the County's housing authority (Mendocino County Community Development Commission), the Mendocino Coast Recreation & Park District Board, and the Fort Bragg Planning Commission. She was a member of the Coastal Mendocino Association of Realtors (CMAR) and, in 2013, received the Humanitarian Community Service Award from CMAR for her outstanding contributions and dedication to our community.

A memorial celebration of Mary's life is being planned. Details will be published when available.

BOONVILLE HOME INVADERS MAKE THEMSELVES AT HOME

On 09-21-2017 at about 1:08 pm, Mendocino County Sheriff's Office Deputies were dispatched to a possible burglary in progress in the 18000 block of Hutsell Road in Boonville. Deputies were told a cleaning person went to a vacation rental and found a white Ford Mustang at the location, along with young Hispanic males. The cleaning person notified the home owner, who called the Sheriff's Office. The owner advised he had not given anyone permission to be at his property or in his residence. Deputies responded to the location and contacted four Hispanic males. Deputies learned the males had came to the location on 09-21-2017 at about 2am and entered the residence. Deputies found the males had searched the residence by going through drawers and cabinets inside the home and opening storage sheds. Deputies found the males had drank the owner's alcoholic beverages, bottled water, and ate food items from inside the residence. The males were found to be stealing electricity to charge their cellular phone, iPad, watching TV, and had set up their gaming system and had played video games. The males had slept in the beds and had showered using the owner's towels. The males also had done their laundry at the location, and their clothes were located in the dryer.

Juan Rebolla-Medina, 19, of Philo, was found to have possession of metal knuckles attached to a folding knife. All four subjects were arrested for burglary and conspiracy. Rebolla-Medina was also charged with possession of a prohibited weapon. Rebolla-Medina was booked into the Mendocino County Jail on charges of Burglary, Conspiracy, and Possession of a prohibited weapon. He was to be held in lieu of $50,000 bail. The three juveniles males were transported to the Mendocino County Juvenile Detention Center.

ED DESK

THE NEW YORKER'S letter's section this week features one from my old friend, Greg King. Greg was rightly objecting to this statement by Burns: "The war was begun in good faith, by decent people, out of fateful misunderstandings."

WHICH STANDS the historical reality exactly on its head. There was no good faith, there were no decent people at the power levers, and there were no misunderstandings about what we were trying to do there.

Greg's letter:

"Ian Parker's Profile of Ken Burns offers a rare glimpse into the mind of a man who seems to have rewritten part of our country's history. Parker reports that Burns's new documentary series, about the Vietnam War, begins with the claim that the war 'was begun in good faith, by decent people, out of fateful misunderstandings.' For anyone, much less a chronicler of American history, to make such a claim is incredibly distressing, given that there is overwhelming evidence to the contrary. The Pentagon Papers, released by Daniel Ellsberg, in 1971, revealed a pattern of deception and subversion by American leaders going back as far as 1945. Those documents clearly demonstrate that the people who initiated American involvement in Vietnam were neither decent nor acting in good faith. They understood exactly what they were doing: propping up French imperialism through force (by 1954, the United States was providing France with a billion dollars in military aid annually, an enormous sum at the time), then inventing the Gulf of Tonkin incident to generate popular support for entering the conflict. Any claim of good intentions at the outset of the war seems like dangerous revisionism."

Greg King, Arcata

YOU COULD SAY the same thing about the re-write of much of American history, especially the Bush Gang's destabilization of the entire world with its pretext lie to invade Iraq.

I'VE WATCHED THREE EPISODES of Vietnam so far. Call me stupid, insensitive, whatever, but the three chapters I've watched don't reflect Burns's characterization of the war to the The New Yorker writer. I think it's a very interesting series but, like all Burns's films, a little heavy on the mawk. It certainly makes who invaded whom clearer than clear, and certainly doesn't go light on American atrocities. It also, by their own words, indicts the grand delusions and pure racism of American leaders. Hell, you don't have to be a Nazi to appreciate the brilliance of Leni Riefenstahl's propaganda films.

* * *

A HOUSE FIRE last night (Thursday) on The Land, as it's now called, prompted a major turnout of Boonville's firefighting capacity to the deep end of Ray's Road, Philo. The fast response to the blaze apparently confined it to the upper story of one of the buildings on the place. No word yet on cause.

* * *

THE LAND'S PROPERTY began its human life as a ranch, then it became a summer camp, than an “intentional community” called Shenoa, then a billionaire’s “retreat center” owned by Jeffrey Skoll, a youngish tycoon who made his fortune with eBay. Skoll, perhaps having found more convenient locales to retreat to, sold the property for somewhere around $6 million.

THE BUYERS? Orgasmic Meditation, aka One Taste. Come again (sic)? Orgasmic Meditation, a business “researching and teaching the practices of orgasmic meditation and slow sex….” Founded in San Francisco (where else?) by orgasmic meditators Robert Kandell and Nicole Daedone, the couple parlayed the act of human reproduction into a kind of hooch-koochie center for wealthy sex fiends.

THE ORGASMICS arrive in Philo in droves, most apparently traveling in charter buses from the Bay Area and paying lots and lots to meditate as they orgasm, which seems to me, at least from the term “orgasmic meditation,” an impossible form of multi-tasking.

* * *

BRUCE McEWEN reported yesterday that Caleb D. Silver, a native of Boonville, has been offered 15-to-life if he pleads out, or 25-to-life if he takes his case to a jury and is found guilty. 15-to-life, given the known facts, is the most generous offer from a DA I've ever heard of.

SILVER is accused of using two weapons, a hammer and a knife, to kill popular Fort Bragg resident (also of Boonville) Dennis Boardman and stealing Boardman’s truck, abandoning the truck and Boardman's dog in Ventura. Silver’s lawyer, Eric Rennert, asked that the cruelty to the dog be dropped because he thought it would inflame the jury, as if the terrible murder of Boardman wasn't inflammatory enough. Rennert also wanted no mention of an inmate at the jail who Silver allegedly complained to about how hard it was to cut Boardman’s throat without a serrated knife.

THE DEFENDANT will be back in court on Tuesday at 1:30 to reveal his decision. Silver is a killer, and a fool if he doesn't plead out.

DENNIS BOARDMAN'S MURDER outraged many of us. He'd become sober after many years deep in the bottle, and drunk or sober, he was kind and generous. Considering that there are local men languishing in state prison for crimes there is no evidence they committed, an offer of 15 years for a particularly brutal murder is a pure act of prosecutorial charity.

LITTLE DOG SAYS, “My porcine pal from next door has grown a bit, but still comes by to visit, me being a multi-species, big tent, good vibes kinda dog. How he squeezes through the fence I don't know, but it's always good to see him. Good natured dude, too. Told me it was ok if I called him Fatso.”

LOOKS LIKE NATHAN DELMER of Mountain View Road, Boonville, is the first to officially apply for a County pot growing permit in Anderson Valley. He wants approval for a 10,000 square-foot pot garden on a parcel owned by Albert Williams of Berkeley up on Mountain View Road on the other side of Faulkner Park. Delmer has applied to expand an existing grow site at 23000 Mountain View Road under the name “Redwood Heritage Inc.” to a maximum of 10,000 square feet (the maximum sized grow Mendocino’s new pot rules allow). Delmer’s application (AP_2017-0035) says that he might build a processing structure for curing and drying on site at some point, but if not he will contract with a licensed off-site processor.

ALSO APPLYING FOR AN ANDERSON VALLEY pot grow is William Gawthrop who wants to install a similar sized up-to-10k square-foot pot garden a couple of miles north of Yorkville. Gawthrop’s application appears to involve only a grow site because there’s no mention of any processing facilities at the Gawthrop Grow.

PEOPLE WATCHING AT THE MENDOCINO COUNTY FAIR

(Photos by Bonnie Clark)

WATER FOR WATER TRUCKS

To the Editor:

I have a few questions about all of the water trucks delivering water to various prolific gardens around the county. Who’s water are they hauling? If from city wells and water districts, are they paying for it?

In Redwood Valley there is a hydrant on School Way that almost always has a fire hose attached, waiting for the truck to come back. The last few years RV residents were charged a penalty if they went over their monthly quota of water usage for the month. Who is paying for those loads out of that hydrant?

Willits hydrants are being used as well. Is the city being reimbursed for all of that water?

In my rural Ridgewood subdivision (south of Willits) I counted 23 water trucks come in recently. Just one day. The damage they are inflicting on our roads is very worrisome. In the spring I called Mr. Dashiell from our county roads department to discuss the deteriorating conditions of our roads that had been damaged by the heavy winter rains. He said most roads in the county had been hit with damage. I was told there was no money to fix them. That there would be “bandaid” fixes and that was about it.

Now the water trucks are finishing them off. The truck that delivers next door to me once a week, parks against the asphalt curb in front of my house. This curb, that protects my driveway during downpours, is crumbling and breaking down. Who will fix that?

Who’s going to be responsible for these soon to be impassible roads? Once winter hits again they are toast. I’ve been told to call all the agencies, call the supervisors, call call, call… Calls do not seem to be the answer. Everyone seems to know what is going on. But no one seems to be taking action.

Roni McFadden, Willits

* * *

MARK SCARAMELLA NOTES: The County could start by posting vehicle weight limits on County roads. Caltrans already puts weight limits on state highways, but those are probably too high for our deteriorated County roads. California Vehicle Code: “The gross weight on any one axle shall not exceed 20,000 pounds, and the gross weight upon any one wheel, or wheels, supporting one end of an axle, shall not exceed 10,500 pounds.” There would be some enforcement challenges, of course, but if neighbors saw overweight water trucks on their roads they could take photos of them with the plates and report them for starters.

Most standard water trucks range from 2,000 gallons to 4,000 gallons. A 4,000 gallon water truck like this and when full carries up to 32,000 pounds of water (plus the heavy truck).

Water is very dense and heavy. Roads with steeper grades would need substantially lower weight limits. Some roads should prohibit water trucks in the rainy season. Some roads should simply prohibit water trucks except for emergencies. If our supervisors — whose job title is a shortened version of “road supervisor” from the early days — wanted to help (and they probably don’t) they could ask the Transportation Department to propose some rules — after all, everyone admits the county’s roads are in bad shape and some attempt to reduce further damage would certainly be worth pursuing. We’re pretty sure neighbors would be happy to provide suggestions for their own roads.

CATCH OF THE DAY, September 22, 2017

MELISSA DOTSON, Willits. Fugitive from justice.

ALICIA ELLIOTT, Ukiah. Probation revocation.

JOSHUA GUEVARA, Ukiah. Failure to appear.

THOMAS HANOVER JR., Covelo. Paraphernalia, probation revocation.

LAURIE HARRIS, Willits. Pot cultivation, pot possession for sale.

ALAN HOLLIDAY, Ukiah. Disorderly conduct-alcohol. (Frequent Flyer)

LUIS RAMIREZ, Ukiah. Under influence, probation revocation.

JUAN REBOLLO-MEDINA, Inglewood/Boonville. Burglary, petty theft, conspiracy.

TARA SHEPARD, Willits. Failure to appear, probation revocation.

DAYNICE SHILLINGS, Ukiah. Escaping while charged, controlled substance, paraphernalia, protective order

JEREMIAH SUSAN, Point Arena. DUI, resisting, probation revocation.

RONALD VALENTINE JR., Ukiah. Failure to appear. (Frequent Flyer)

BAD MOVIE, SET IN THE REDWOODS

Grieving Among the Redwoods in a Pretty but Dull ‘Woodshock’

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/19/movies/review-woodshock-grieving-among-the-redwoods.html

REDWOOD RESEARCHER PRESENTS ON HISTORIC FRITZ WONDER PLOT

Fort Bragg, CA (September 19, 2017) — The Mendocino Land Trust, Save the Redwoods League, and California State Parks are pleased to announce a public presentation on the historic secondary-growth redwoods of the Fritz Wonder Plot. Located 8 miles upstream of Big River, The Fritz Wonder Plot has been the subject of continued study since its trees were measured and mapped in 1923 by Berkeley Professor Emanuel Fritz.

Due to the regular flooding of the plot, the soil proved unusually fertile for redwood growth and as result the plot has been an invaluable asset for research into forest health, growth rates, and the effects of soil deposition on a forest ecosystem.

Robert Van Pelt, Affiliate Assistant Professor at University of Washington, and long-time forest ecology researcher will be presenting on the history of the plot, his current work of continuing and expanding the measurements initiated by Professor Fritz, and how this research fits into the larger picture of the importance of redwood forests in the face of climate change.

The presentation will begin at 6 pm on Tuesday October 3^rd at the Russian Gulch Rec Hall. This event is free and open to the public. For more information call the Mendocino Land Trust office at (707) 962-0470.

OUTLET CREEK SUMMER MONITORING ENDING – FIELD TRIP SEPTEMBER 30

The Friends of Outlet Creek (FOC) funded extensive monitoring of Outlet Creek and its tributaries during the summer of 2017. Fisheries scientists Pat Higgins is coordinating the watershed wide effort that has led to the placement of 22 water temperature gauges and will result in an over-all aquatic habitat conditions report to be released later in fall. On Saturday, September 30 there will be a meeting at the Willits Hub from 10 AM to noon and then the group will visit sites where temperature probes will be retrieved during the afternoon.

Water temperature data have been collected at about a dozen sites historically in the Outlet Creek watershed, which includes all the streams above the city of Willits. Gauges were placed this year at two places in Baechtel Creek, three places in Broaddus Creek and two in Willits Creek. Many other major tributaries have little historic data, so the 2017 monitoring constitutes baseline monitoring, whereas trends can be assessed at sites with previous records. Cherry Creek is a large tributary of lower Outlet Creek joining it from the north, and four gauges were placed in that stream in cooperation with local land owners to collect baseline data. Long Valley Creek and Sherwood Creek also have two water temperature gauges each in different reaches that will be retrieved soon. The main channel of Outlet Creek, from its inception below Willits to its confluence with the Eel River at Eight Mile Bridge on Highway 162 has water quality and stream health that is variable, and five temperature gauges were placed in various reaches.

The Eel River Recovery Project (ERRP) is now a tenant at the Willits Hub and is a cooperator in this project. Although ERRP has done extensive water temperature monitoring of the Eel River since 2012, only eight Outlet Creek locations have been monitored previously. Major conclusions of previous ERRP reports are that streams that are flow depleted tend to warm and that some streams and river reaches that formerly flowed year around now seasonally dry up or disconnect. Stream conditions are also documented photographically at each location, and spring and fall photos can record desiccation. Annual ERRP temperature reports include maps of stream reaches that went dry.

The FOC project involves more than a dozen land owners that are cooperating in monitoring stream reaches on their property. Scientifically valid data collected in cooperation with local residents provides an assessment of aquatic conditions that can be help build community trust. If problems are apparent, then ERRP helps provide information on how they can be remediated. An example of this is the regenerative cannabis farming education program that ERRP will be featuring at the Hub. FOC has also recently won a Rose Foundation grant that will involve Willits schools in stream monitoring.

The meeting Saturday morning September 30 will be at the Willits Hub at 630 S. Main Street two blocks north of Highway 20. Coffee, bagels and fresh fruit will be served beginning at 9:30 AM and the morning discussions will extend from 10 AM to noon. In addition to planning equipment retrieval and setting a time line for reporting results, school outreach and other potential ERRP Willits activities in fall and winter will be discussed. For more information, call Pat Higgins at (707) 223-7200.

IN THE MURK

by James Kunstler

Ricardo Ramos, the director of the beleaguered, government-owned Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority, told CNN Thursday that the island’s power infrastructure had been basically “destroyed” and will take months to come back

“Basically destroyed.” That’s about as basic as it gets civilization-wise.

Residents, Mr. Ramos said, would need to change the way they cook and cool off. For entertainment, old-school would be the best approach, he said. “It’s a good time for dads to buy a ball and a glove and change the way you entertain your children.”

Meaning, I guess, no more playing Resident Evil 7: Biohazard on-screen because you’ll be living it — though one wonders where the money will come from to buy the ball and glove? Few Puerto Ricans will be going to work with the power off. And the island’s public finances were in disarray sufficient to drive it into federal court last May to set in motion a legal receivership that amounted to bankruptcy in all but name. The commonwealth, a US territory, was in default for $74 billion in bonded debt, plus another $49 billion in unfunded pension obligations.

So, Puerto Rico already faced a crisis pre-Hurricane Maria, with its dodgy electric grid and crumbling infrastructure: roads, bridges, water and sewage systems. Bankruptcy put it in a poor position to issue new bonds for public works which are generally paid for with public borrowing. Who, exactly, would buy the new bonds? I hear readers whispering, “the Federal Reserve.” Which is a pretty good clue to understanding the circle-jerk that American finance has become.

Some sort of bailout is unavoidable, though President Trump tweeted “No Bailout for Puerto Rico” after the May bankruptcy proceeding. Things have changed and the shelf-life of Trumpian tweets is famously brief. But the crisis may actually strain the ability of the federal government to pretend it can cover the cost of every calamity that strikes the nation — at least not without casting doubt on the soundness of the dollar. And not a few bonafide states are also whirling around the bankruptcy drain: Illinois, Connecticut, New Jersey, Kentucky.

Constitutionally states are not permitted to declare bankruptcy, though counties and municipalities can. Congress would have to change the law to allow it. But states can default on their bonds and other obligations. Surely there would be some kind of fiscal and political hell to pay if they go that route. Nobody really knows what might happen in a state as big and complex as Illinois, which has been paying its way for decades by borrowing from the future. Suddenly, the future is here and nobody has a plan for it.

The case for the federal government is not so different. It, too, only manages to pay its bondholders via bookkeeping hocus-pocus, and its colossal unfunded obligations for social security and Medicare make Illinois’ predicament look like a skipped car payment.

In the meantime — and it looks like it’s going to be a long meantime — Puerto Rico is back in the 18th Century, minus the practical skills and simpler furnishings for living that way of life, and with a population many times beyond the carrying capacity of the island in that era. For instance, how many houses get their water from cisterns designed to catch rain runoff? How many communities across the island are walkable? (It looks like the gas stations will be down for quite a while.) I’ve been there and much of the island is as suburbanized as New Jersey — thanks to the desire to be up-to-date with the mainland, and the willingness of officials to make it look like that.

We’re only two days past the Hurricane Maria’s direct hit on Puerto Rico and there is no phone communication across the island, so we barely know what has happened. We’re weeks past Hurricanes Irma and Harvey, and news of the consequences from those two events has strangely fallen out of the news media. Where have the people gone who lost everything? The news blackout is as complete and strange as the darkness that has descended on Puerto Rico.

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

A VERY SIMPLE TRUTH is buried in millions of dollars of [Burns and Novick’s] filmmaking rubble…Did Vietnamese troops invade the United States? Did the Vietnamese air force spend years spraying millions of tons of Agent Orange onto forests and crops in California and Ohio? Are there pictures of naked girls fried with napalm in Alabama that we haven’t seen? Were hundreds of thousands of civilians in Canada and Mexico killed to pursue Vietnamese military objectives in the U.S? Did Vietnamese troops massacre women, old people and babies and dump their bodies into mass graves in Missouri, Montana and Michigan?… The United States government invaded Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos; not the other way around. Before that, the U.S. provided financial and military support to the French war to keep Vietnam a colony. Any suggestion that the U.S. was somehow the victim of the war is not just wrong, it is yet another example of the moral confusion for which our nation pays a far greater price than we are willing to admit.

–Frank Joyce notes on AlterNet

ON LINE COMMENT OF THE DAY

Living in far northern New York it is hard to imagine complete and total collapse. If I lived in Houston or Tampa or Charleston or San Juan it might be easier to imagine. I have a feeling that all the bad news from the hurricane zones will be suppressed going forward just because there’s too much of it and it doesn’t support the sunshine and happiness agenda. Little towns across the northeast and sufficiently far from the coasts are starting to look like better places to live all the time. I am harvesting the best crops ever from my backyard garden and am looking to buy a little more land just outside of town to grow even more food next year. Hurricane refugees would be welcome here if they were to come with good hearts and open minds.

FREE HANDS-ONLY CPR CLASS & DEFIBRILLATOR DEMO

Come join us and learn to save a life by attending the FREE Hands-Only CPR Class being held at the Elk Community Center on Saturday, October 28th at 10am. The class will only take about an hour and you'll also get a bonus demonstration on how to use the Automated External Defibrillators (AED) that are showing up in more communities. The class will be taught by Theresa Gowan from Medstar Ambulance of Mendocino County, Inc, a non-profit community service. So bring a friend, or a few friends and learn to save the life of a loved one. Email Jane at jsinclair@mcn.org to reserve your spot.

DEAREST SAN FRANCISCO,

I hope you know that I love you. I really want to talk about Cable Cars and Alcatraz. Bridges and Bays. Muir Woods and Angel Island. Full House and Mrs. Doubtfire. The majesty that is you.

But I can't right now.

Because, I worked in the "Tenderloin" every day.

This downtown neighborhood is so horrific, so ravaged by homelessness, drug addiction, violence and mental illness that it's impossible to overlook while trying to gaze lovingly at all things Golden Gate.

While working there, I saw countless needles in arms, public nudity, urination, defecation and masturbation. I saw a man beaten senseless by a dozen kids who stole his jacket. I was screamed at, threatened and strategically followed. Every night, I walked home close enough to the street to stay in view of cars, but not close enough that the vultures on bikes could snatch Maggie's bag while riding by. (Yes, they tried). I saw things stolen in front of me daily, from purses to dogs. Yes. Dogs.

And finally, my last weekend there, I saw a dead man having a sheet pulled over his face before being put in an ambulance, while two kids waited furiously nearby in handcuffs.

Here's the saddest part. I genuinely don't know how to solve this problem. These people are so far gone, ravaged by addiction and mental illness, that I genuinely don't know what to do with them. How do you help those whose hearts and minds are set on self-destruction? I don't want them to simply get pushed to some other dark corner of America, but they shouldn't be in such a hub of tourists, families, and children either. They prey on those unfamiliar with the surroundings. It's so bad that the cops (yes, there is police presence) know all of their names, and when you report something awful, like being bitten (ask one of the dressers at the Orpheum) or being violently grabbed on the face by a crazed woman (yes, ask our drummer Brad), the cops respond "Oh, that's Sharon. She does that," with no seeming plan of action or discipline.

It's been like this for decades.

You have me horrified and stumped San Fran.

I know there are millions of problems facing us at the moment, but I hope we can shine some light on this asap.

I have received wonderful recommendations for organizations that are helping. Donate now.

(Rob McClure, well known stage actor)

Sophia Loren (L), Jayne Mansfield (R)

MAFIA & TRUMP by Jeff Costello

Sammy "the Bull" Gravano has been released from prison. He's the one who turned snitch and brought down John Gotti, then head of the Gambino "crime family." Gotti was part of the conspiracy to kill Paul Castellano, who was shot dead outside a steak house in New York. I had recently read "Underboss," about Gravano's life in La Cosa Nostra. Unlike Donald Trump's book, Gravano's ghostwriter is not only acknowledged but named on the cover.

During much of Sammy the Bull's career as a hit man and underboss, the Boss was Paul Castellano. Not exactly a Vito Corleone type, Castellano nonetheless embraced "legitimate" business. According to Gravano, the Boss "loved the construction business." To this end Castellano managed to get control of nearly all the concrete used for building in Manhattan.

A note here about my own experience with or close to the "Mafia." I worked as a musician in two clubs owned by a man who used a fake name in public but signed his real name, one you might well recognize, to the checks. He was the most straightforward, honest club owner I had worked for, and got on well with him. I had free reign in the kitchen and was welcome to make myself sandwiches any time. He also paid the band very well. I was also personally acquainted with a "hit man," who was married to my ex-wife's friend, the sister of a famous - now deceased - California singer and songwriter. This guy was soft-spoken, very polite and friendly. His job, as they said in the Godfather, was business, not personal.

Lest I create an overly benign impression of these folks, I hasten to add that their treatment of you depended entirely on your treatment of them. Back in the 60's there was an entertainment/red light sort of district in downtown Boston locally known as the Combat Zone. It was, in SoCal terms, pretty gnarly. Most or all of the nightclubs were mafia-run. One place employed a popular singer called Roger Pace. Pace was a heroin addict and sometimes showed up for work too stoned to go on.

If so, the owners kept a barrel of ice cubes handy and would beat Pace's face into the ice until he was ready to perform. The Combat Zone, according to a friend back there, is no more.

Paul Castellano loved the construction business and controlled most of the concrete used in Manhattan buildings. Hence, Trump. I can't imagine his not dealing with Castellano, nor Castellano not enjoying a deal with fellow "big shot" Trump, who I suspect paid his concrete bills on time.

Of course this is not proven, anecdotal at best, or maybe inevitable given the known elements. I suspect that business in New York city could not be done at the Trump level without the Italians.

PLANNING COMMISSION MEETING Agenda For October 5, 2017, is posted on the department website at: https://www.mendocinocounty.org/government/planning-building-services/meeting-agendas/planning-commission

ANOTHER MEMO OF THE AIR night-before-the-end-of-the-world show. From Fort Bragg, a good place to be right about now.

If you want to talk about your project on KNYO in person --or bring your instrument(s) and fellow instrumentalists and actually play music-- you can drop by 325 N. Franklin, Fort Bragg after 9pm tonight (Friday) and just walk in. Also we have a new phone thing that I haven't used yet, but I'm assured it makes callers sound better than the old thing we had that I made out of parts from broken thrift store appliances, so if you want to call it in the number's still 707 962-3022. If you like to swear, wait till after 10, otherwise it agitates the weasels.

I have an unusual amount of locally written material to read tonight, which is good because the Christian numerological acupuncture astrologists inform us that the imaginary planet Nubidoo - Naboomu - I don't know, it starts with an N; anyway it'll be crashing right into Earth Saturday afternoon, Greenwich time, rather Saturday morning our time, with the force of several trillion naquadah bombs. The deadline for emailing me your work is always about 5 or 6pm the the night of the show, sometimes closer to 5, tonight closer to 6, so you have a moment now to gather and send it. In the body of the email as plain text is best.

Memo of the Air: Good Night Radio: Every Friday, 9pm to about 4am on 107.7fm KNYO-LP Fort Bragg, including midnight to 3am 105.1fm KMEC-LP Ukiah. And also there and anywhere else via http://knyo.org or http://TuneIn.com (until the end, which is nigh, see above).

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

DULCE ET DECORUM EST

by Wilfred Owen

Bent double, like old beggars under sacks,

Knock-kneed, coughing like hags, we cursed through sludge,

Till on the haunting flares we turned our backs,

And towards our distant rest began to trudge.

Men marched asleep. Many had lost their boots,

But limped on, blood-shod. All went lame; all blind;

Drunk with fatigue; deaf even to the hoots

Of gas-shells dropping softly behind.

Gas! GAS! Quick, boys!—An ecstasy of fumbling

Fitting the clumsy helmets just in time,

But someone still was yelling out and stumbling

And flound’ring like a man in fire or lime.—

Dim through the misty panes and thick green light,

As under a green sea, I saw him drowning.

In all my dreams before my helpless sight,

He plunges at me, guttering, choking, drowning.

If in some smothering dreams, you too could pace

Behind the wagon that we flung him in,

And watch the white eyes writhing in his face,

His hanging face, like a devil’s sick of sin;

If you could hear, at every jolt, the blood

Come gargling from the froth-corrupted lungs,

Obscene as cancer, bitter as the cud

Of vile, incurable sores on innocent tongues,—

My friend, you would not tell with such high zest

To children ardent for some desperate glory,

The old Lie: Dulce et decorum est

Pro patria mori.*

*(Horace: “It is sweet and fitting to die for one’s country.”)

ISRAEL'S BAAL TESHUVA

To my Jewish friends and colleagues:

During this Rosh Hashanah season (September 20-22), you can lead your family as a "master of repentance" or "master of return".

Jews call it: baal teshuva

In Hebrew, it's called: בעלת תשובה

Jews believe that God is especially open to repentance during period from the beginning of the month of Ellul through the High Holiday season, i.e. Rosh Hashanah (the Day of Judgement).

The ritual is that you "throw bread on the water". The bread represents your sins from the past year. The water is symbolic of God's forgiveness.

The way it works is that you go to some body of water, any body of water that is flowing, i.e., a river or the ocean, and you rip up pieces of bread and throw it out on the water and ask for God's forgiveness.

The flowing water will sweep away the bread down river, or out to sea, never to be seen again.

It's a very powerful ritual.

I think that we should especially ask God for forgiveness for Israel's 50 years of oppression of the Palestinian people.

It's been 50 years of relentless war crimes.

Israel commits war crimes in the form of collective punishment, disproportionate force, targeting of civilians, and other violations of the Geneva Conventions and international law. Despite these repeated war crimes and other human rights violations, the United States government continues to give Israel economic, military, and diplomatic support in violation of its own laws.

Israel repeatedly violates the Geneva Conventions by:

* Targeting, killing, and collectively punishing non-combatant men, women and children

* Moving its own population into an occupied zone

* Imposing unnecessary curfews and closures

* Exercising disproportionate use of force

Israel defies international law and hundreds of U.N. resolutions by:

* Refusing to end over 50 years of military occupation

* Expanding and adding Israeli settlements

* Building the Apartheid Wall to take over Palestinian land and water resources

* Denying the right of return for millions of Palestinian refugees

May God forgive us.

Shanah tovah,

John Sakowicz, Ukiah

WELCOME TO WELCOME TO WILLITS!

New Indie Slasher Flick Combines Meth, Growers, Psychopathic Aliens and Willits

by Hank Sims

Do you like gory low-budget D-list gross-out horror movies?

Do you like Willits?

Well, there’s a new indie horror film that takes violent meth-addled drug dealers and places them, for some reason, in and around the Mendocino County town of Willits, which may or may not also be under siege by murderous extraterrestrials. This movie is called Welcome to Willits, and it’ll play in local theaters soon. Stars Dolph Lundgren!

Here’s your IMDB summary:

Deep in the Northern California woods, in the heart of the notorious Emerald Triangle, lies a remote cabin. The residents struggle to fight off the repeated attacks and abductions by mysterious creatures that have plagued them for years. When a local pot farmer is caught up with a wayward group of campers the situation quickly escalates into total carnage.

Let’s check out a trailer.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BvhOiwnh5zA

Welcome to Willits, we learn, is based on a short “proof-of-concept” film that Tim and Trevor Ryan, sibling filmmakers, debuted at the South by Southwest festival a couple of years ago, to some acclaim. In an interview with Modern Horror, the brothers — originally from upstate New York, but born with the show biz bug — said they came up with the idea for the Willits saga while one of them, Trevor, was serving time in federal prison for flying weed into Wisconsin from his then-home base of Ukiah.

Welcome to Willits opens today at the Minor Theatre in Arcata. Here’s the full SXSW short to whet your appetite. It’s called Welcome to Willits: After Sundown, and uh …

https://vimeo.com/79080785