Mendocino County Today: Monday, Oct. 16, 2017

• Doctor Suicide
• Rain Forecast
• Fire Update
• Boonville Response
• Sticky Buds
• PD Stories
• Firefighter Video
• Firebrand Danger
• Gouge Inn
• Burned Wineries
• Ops Center
• Ledson Castle
• Little Dog
• County Raises
• Burgess Case
• Yesterday's Catch
• Sanitation Contract
• Dented Apples
• Sloth
• Intoxicated
• Operation Gemstone
• Hippies
• Jerry Wrath
• Mental Illness
• Frozen Man
• Assistance Center
• Road Closures
• Evacuations Lifted
• Hazardous Ash
• Smoke Advisory
• Press Conference

THE DRAMATIC SUICIDE last Wednesday (October 11th) in front of the North Coast Family Health Center in Fort Bragg has been identified as Jeff Bruning, a former doctor at Coast Hospital. Bruning, with horrified witnesses looking on, shot himself through the head with a rifle at 5:20pm. Mrs. Bruning, a registered nurse, sits on the Hospital's board of directors.

THE FIRST WINTER STORM of the season is winging its way south from the Gulf of Alaska to the fire areas of Northern California. Meteorologists are predicting light rain late Thursday into Friday.

REDWOOD VALLEY FIRE (MENDOCINO LAKE COMPLEX) INCIDENT INFORMATION:

Last Updated: October 15, 2017 8:26 pm

Date/Time Started: October 08, 2017 10:36 pm

Administrative Unit: CAL FIRE Mendocino Unit

County: Mendocino County

Location: North of Hwy 20, west of Mendocino National Forest, south of Black Bart

Acres Burned: 35,800 acres

Containment: 45% contained

Conditions: Significant progress towards containment continues throughout both fire areas. Firefighters will continue to mop up and patrol the Sulphur Fire with suppression repair still expected to begin on Monday. The Redwood Fire continues to gain containment. The Southeast and Southwest perimeter fire lines continue to hold and firefighters continue to improve containment lines and patrol for hot spots. On the southern perimeter fire line resources continue to actively mop up and extinguish hot spots around structures. There are approximately 900 evacuees affected by the Redwood Fire.

Phone Number: (707) 467-6428 (Fire Information Line )

MUCH OF NORCAL is a tinder box, including the Anderson Valley, of course. Years ago, in the middle 1970s as I recall, I was jogging past the high school in the early afternoon when I simultaneously saw both a fire in the vast field opposite the school and a Boonville fire guy fumbling with the key to the lock on the field's gate. I've always wondered how he happened to be Johnny on the Spot, but the fire took off so fast anything either of us might have done to arrest it was futile. But the fire guy called for help, and the Anderson Valley Volunteers were soon on-site, some of them already on Lambert Lane where the fire had gotten into the trees along Robinson Creek. The Volunteers managed to confine the blaze before it got into central Boonville, but it was close. If the firefighters’ prompt and valiant response had failed, much of Boonville would have gone up.

THERE ARE STILL no solid numbers for the number of marijuana farms lost to the fires, and the industry itself in various reports here are between 3,000 to 7,000 marijuana farms in Sonoma County. In Mendocino it’s estimated that there are 7,000 to 10,000 farms. Hezekiah Allen, often a spokesperson for the industry, told reporters, “If you’re just talking piles of ashes, I think we may be looking at 30 or 40 farms destroyed. But the broader regional impact will have thousands of farms seeing reduced values, with some having to destroy their crop. Any airborne contamination is going to stick to those buds. And there’s a lot of toxins in that smoke.”

PAUL GULLIXSON is an editor at the Rose City daily: "My colleagues here at The Press Democrat have done a phenomenal job of telling the story during the past week of the greatest natural disaster to ever hit our home. They have told in detail the battles to save homes, businesses and lives from Sonoma to Geyserville to Calistoga. But what they haven’t done well — journalists rarely do — is tell their own story. In a nutshell, here is how this community nightmare unfolded for them."

IN FACT, reporting by the Chron and the distant LA Times has been far superior to that of Gullixson's seraglio. I expect the PD to downplay causes and ignore why some subdivisions had been approved to be built without the eventual likelihood as primary safety consideration.

FROM THE ESSENTIAL BETSY CAWN:

Berkeley firefighters arrive in Santa Rosa, encounter devastation.

This is one of the most on-site, real-time, in-person video recordings of what happened on Monday, October 9, 2017, in the City of Santa Rosa, that you will ever see.

Whoever contributed the post-incident production is another kind of hero to whom I extend my deepest appreciation.

http://www.berkeleyside.com/2017/10/14/watch-berkeley-firefighters-arrive-santa-rosa-encounter-devastation-tackle-blazes/

DESPITE CLEAR RISKS, Santa Rosa neighborhood that burned down was exempt from fire regulations

by Doug Smith & Nina Agrawal

Coffey Park was built on city streets, not forested country lanes.

The Santa Rosa suburb was a planned development laid out on a typical grid with sidewalks and landscaped yards. The fire hazard zone shown on city and state maps was to the north and east, on the other side of the 101 Freeway.

Yet when the Tubbs fire swept down the mountain, Coffey Park proved defenseless in its path. In a matter of hours, the neighborhood was almost totally consumed, leaving hundreds of houses burned to the ground and residents in disbelief.

“We live in a subdivision in the middle of freaking Santa Rosa,” said Anna Brooner, whose house still stands on the side of Randon Way that didn’t burn, facing a scene of rubble and ash oddly punctuated by street trees that still have leaves and a plastic recycling bin that didn’t melt.

“I could see living on the outskirts of the mountains, you always have the potential of fire,” Brooner said. “But you would never expect it in a subdivision of this size.”

Surprising as it was to residents, the destruction of Coffey Park wasn’t a mystery to fire scientists. They view it as a rare, but predictable, event that has exposed flaws in the way fire risk is measured and mitigated in California. Because it was outside the officially mapped “very severe” hazard zone, more than five miles to the east, Coffey Park was exempt from regulations designed to make buildings fire resistant in high-risk areas.

California fire officials developed hazard maps in the 2000s that for the first time, tied building codes to geographies based on risk. Max Moritz, a fire specialist with the University of California’s Cooperative Extension, said the maps were an important step forward in assessing fire danger.

But the Coffey Park catastrophe has shown that the methodology, and the law underlying it, were too narrow.

“With a lot of hazard mapping, once you get into a density of development, it’s mapped urban and it’s considered unburnable,” Moritz said. “From its core, our whole approach to fire behavior modeling, we are not talking about burning in urbanized environments.”

The fire hazard zones now need to be recast with more consideration for the impact of wildland fire on developed areas, Moritz said.

Revisions of the hazard maps are in the works and will incorporate lessons from the Tubbs fire, said Dave Sapsis, Research Program Specialist with the state’s Fire and Resource Assessment Program, the unit of Cal Fire that maps fire hazard zones.

“I do believe when we remap we are going to be looking at new data that could potentially expand these very high zones into areas that were not mapped.” Sapsis said.

Though a forensic examination will be required to understand exactly what happened at Coffey Park, the unburned trees still standing in the neighborhood tell wildland fire experts that the cause was not a giant front of flames sweeping out of the nearby hills and fields.

Most likely, the fire was touched off by embers blown from a distance. Firebrands capable of igniting a house can travel more than a mile.

“When you’ve got firebrands going into every crook and cranny, they’re going to find somewhere to start combustion,” Sapsis said.

Fire experts surmise that most of the damage was caused by fire spreading from house to house, leaving some parkway trees and things like trash cans oddly unscathed.

“Those houses are like highly concentrated energy packages just waiting to ignite,” said Donald Falk, a wildland fire researcher in the University of Arizona School of Natural Resources and the Environment. “In that wind-driven situation, I think the predictions of what’s fire-safe and what’s not kind of go out the window.”

Similar urban conflagrations have been seen before. In 1982, exposed electrical wire touched off a fire that was driven by Santa Ana winds through a four-block area of Anaheim, destroying 40 apartment buildings.

And when the Boles fire tore through the Siskiyou County town of Weed in 2014, more than 150 buildings were destroyed or damaged.

“We are seeing it happen more often,” Moritz, the UC researcher, said.

The problem for fire risk management is balancing the huge losses from urban conflagrations with their infrequent occurrence.

The weather events that underlie them — high wind and temperature, low humidity and parched vegetation — are rare in the historical record, said Mark A. Finney, research forester with the U.S. Forest Service’s Rocky Mountain Research Station.

“It’s not as though this stuff is unprecedented,” Finney said. “It’s just rare in any one given spot.”

To establish the probability of a Tubbs fire destroying a neighborhood 10 miles from its starting point, “you have to incorporate all the uncertainty in ignition locations, uncertainty in weather, uncertainties of terrain. That’s a tall order. There are methods. They’re relatively new.”

A broader measure of risk than Cal Fire’s maps is called the wildland-urban interface model. It takes into consideration the proximity of human habitation to wildland areas.

A wildland-urban interface map prepared by the Silvis Lab of Wisconsin encompasses all of Coffey Park and a good deal more of northeast Santa Rosa.

But wildland/interface mapping is also fraught with uncertainty because of the challenge of pinpointing population in wildland areas, Sapsis said.

Although Cal Fire publishes its own wildland-urban interface map, it does not carry any legal consequences, he said.

Another complication is that the legislation underlying hazard mapping only allows Cal Fire to plot “very high severity” zones in areas designated as local jurisdiction, including cities. The hazard zones nearest to Santa Rosa are categorized as “moderate” or “high” and thus would not extend into the city.

“It's likely that if the state had authority to map in local responsibility areas other than very high, much of Santa Rosa would have been included,” Sapsis said.

It isn’t clear how much the designation of a fire hazard zone would have lessened the damage in Coffey Park. The state law, written in response to the 1991 Tunnel fire that destroyed 2,900 homes in Oakland, applies only to new construction and substantial remodeling.

The designation of a fire hazard zone could, however, ensure that as Coffey Park is rebuilt, there would be mandatory building requirements to better protect it against a future conflagration.

Some experts suggested that the startling losses from the Tubbs fire could spark consideration of more aggressive measures such as mandatory retrofits or at least the canvassing of neighborhoods like Coffey Park to identify vulnerabilities that could be remedied such as ensuring that attic vents, the most common source of firebrand ignition in houses, are screened.

Moritz, the UC scientist, pointed to an analogy with the fire councils that obtain grant money for mitigation programs.

“They go through to remove vegetation, support fuel break,” he said. “Very few of these grant funds ever support mitigating ignition vulnerabilities. It goes to mitigating hazard, not vulnerability.”

Experts are reluctant to say that even the most stringent fire proofing would have saved Coffey Park, particularly in light of reports of modern fire-resistant homes and even big-box stores being destroyed in the Tubbs fire.

“It’s anybody’s guess,” Moritz said. “Without a doubt, had that fire come into and hit an interface that was built according to today’s standards, you would have much less a chance of getting as far into that neighborhood as it did. It would have made some difference.”

Falk, the University of Arizona fire researcher, agreed that the effect of stiffer building codes would be hard to predict, but could only have helped.

And he hopes that officials move quickly.

“The shelf life of an event like this, as devastating as it seems now, eventually will dissipate,” Falk said. “Now is the time to have that dialogue.”

(LA Times)

A VISITING READER WRITES: It would appear that Hampton Inn Ukiah may be taking advantage of the refugees if my experience Sunday night is their lowest rate. Monday night’s rate looks to be near $30 above a normal Sunday night.

BURNED TO THE GROUND: Inside the Napa wineries gutted by raging wildfires that has devastated the $63billion industry and killed 40 people

dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4982130/Napa-winegrowers-ask-public-help-feet.html

SHERIFF SAYS COUNTY NEEDS MODERN OPS CENTER

by KC Meadows

On Friday morning, Sheriff Tom Allman could be found in the Sheriff’s Emergency Operation Center on Low Gap Road, moving from one meeting to another meeting, then to a media interview, back over to the call center and into another meeting, and every couple of minutes being interrupted by someone with a question or a bit of information to pass on. Striding down the corridor of the ops center Allman passed a deputy with a plate of fried chicken and BBQ’d ribs.

“Hey! Where’d you get that?” he asked. Lunch had been brought in and set up for the operations center in the parking lot.

Allman pulled aside a colleague. “Could you put aside a couple of ribs for me?” he asked. Done.

While CalFire is in charge of fighting the Mendocino Lake Complex fire, Allman has been the guy in Mendocino County pretty much in charge of making sure that everything else gets done. At the ops center, people are taking calls from local residents worried about their homes, their loved ones, their animals. People asking over and over again when they can go home, or can they just get into the fire zone for a minute to get something important. Vineyard owners want to check on grapes. Marijuana growers want to check on plants. MCSO detectives have been spending their time combing the burned areas for bodies. MCSO Search and Rescue volunteers have spent their time helping get animals out of the burned areas, or making sure animals in place in evacuated areas get fed. MCSO deputies are helping the California Highway Patrol keep road blocks in place and patrolling evacuated areas for looters. The county’s executive office is set up at the ops center to take calls and coordinate the activities of county departments.

Just Tell Them

And beyond all that, is maybe the most important responsibility in Allman’s view; keeping the public informed. CalFire likes Allman to take the lead at public meetings about the fire. He is the guy most people in the room already know. Allman has a reputation for being everywhere, even when there’s no fire. If there’s a parade, a community celebration, a public event of almost any kind in Mendocino County, Allman is likely to be there. People joke that he must have clones all over the county. And now, with this unprecedented and devastating fire, Allman remains that guy.

He says he wants every day to make certain that people are getting the information they need and deserve.

“Transparency is the biggest thing,” he said in an interview Friday. “People just need to know that government is not running amok.”

Allman say he instructs the call center people, “If someone asks if their house is OK and we know their house burned down, tell them.”

At the public briefings he gets grilled by sometimes not so polite people who are frustrated that they can’t go back into evacuation areas the fire did not reach. He has said over and over again to these people, “I’m sorry, I know you’re frustrated.”

Allman says he understands why people are angry and it has been his experience that once you explain to people why you made the decision and why things aren’t going as they’d like, mostly they accept it and support it.

Allman has not personally faced a fire evacuation or losing a home to fire. “I don’t know what I would do,” he admits.

County EOC Too Old

“We weren’t ready for this, honestly,” Allman said about the emergency response needs. The EOC, he said, is just antiquated, it leaks, equipment is old.

Allman says this emergency has taught him a few things. One is, the county needs more satellite phones. Another is, don’t send satellite phones out into the field without testing them. He said when the emergency hit, they grabbed the satellite phones because of local communications problems. They were all charged up and ready to go. But when emergency workers went to use them they found that the software in the phones needed updating, so they were useless.

Allman gave a shout out to County CEO Carmel Angelo who he says has been really on top of things.

“I’ve never had a CEO who is as engaged as I am,” he said.

He also gave a shout out to the leaders of the Cahto tribe, and other local tribes, who stepped up to coordinate emergency response on local tribal lands.

The fire emergency has also given Allman a chance to appeal local legislators on the county’s needs.

He told the story of when he was parked in the Sheriff’s SUV for a moment during a tour of the fire zone earlier in the week with Congressman Jared Huffman beside him and Assemblyman Jim Woods and Senator Mike McGuire sitting in the back. Allman says Huffman turned to him and said, “OK you’re sitting here alone with the three legislators from your area. What do you need?”

Allman’s eyes lit up as he recalled the moment. He told them he wanted one 911 center in the county, not five. And he wanted a new modernized EOC center. He’s got his fingers crossed.

Sad About Treatment Of Deputies

With everything that has happened in the last week, there’s one thing that really bothers Allman.

“I can’t stand the sh#%*t some of the citizens having been giving my deputies,” he said, eyes tearing up. “One of my deputies lost his home in the fire and eight guys are out there doing nothing but sifting bones. Can you imagine doing that?” There have been reports of people literally driving at deputies, trying to get around road blocks or rudely harassing them about their own need to get into the fire zone.

“Don’t hurt the people trying to help you,” Allman said, adding that despite these incidents, and the fact that all vacations and time off has been canceled, “no one is complaining.”

Back To Work

Allman had to go back to work. Two large truckloads of Army National Guardsmen had just unloaded in the parking lot. Allman ran over to greet them and shake each hand.

“Where are you from?” he asked.

LA, he was told.

“All of you?” he asked.

Yep.

“Well watch out, your in Giants country up here,” Allman said, and everyone laughed.

(Courtesy, the Ukiah Daily Journal)

SEVERAL LOCALS WERE WATCHING North Bay News coverage when Steve Ledson’s winery — also known as the Ledson Castle — in Kenwood was saved from flames approaching the castle from the forested hills behind the castle by an impressive firefighting effort. Ledson owns the SeeBass tasting room in Boonville and a large ranch near the Johnson Ranch off Highway 253 a few miles outside of Boonville.

LITTLE DOG SAYS, “Right away I got an application from a fire vic babe who wanted to move in with me. Said her name was Nanook, originally from Alaska. I had to tell her she's bigger than my igloo, that she wouldn't fit, that I'd meant a little dog Walmart igloo, not the house-size igloo where she comes from. Like to broke her heart, but what could I do?”

TWO READER COMMENTS re raises for County bosses:

(1) More money going to management while services have declined is ludicrous. The county doesn’t have the money to offer living wages that will attract workers because payroll is so top heavy (far too many upper management employees) that there’s nothing left for the people who do the actual work.

Will the Board of Supervisors ever wake up? The CEO has regularly, quietly increased payroll at the top only. Giving raises a few at a time keeps people from noticing just how much of our tax money is going into so few pockets. She will probably be gone when it all topples. We’ll be left with the mess. Supervisors, please take a good look at how and where departments have changed over the years since Ms. Angelo came to power and stop this madness. It’s ultimately your responsibility.

(2) I would have preferred they took some of that money they threw around on the “Stuff Shirts” manager types and instead had bought some Satellite Phones… The Street says, much of the lack of accurate communication in the beginning of the fire emergency was due to lack of equipment.

Under the circumstances emergency services did an incredible job, but I would suspect, lessons must have been learned. If or when this happens again the County must be better equipped to communicate with other authorities and the public.

As a citizen I am thankful to all who fought to save lives, save property and are restoring services. Without these professionals people like me would have likely been left… to “twist in the wind”…

JAMES MARMON REPORTS: It looks like Sheriff Allman and the County settled with Joelle Burgess (Henry’s daughter) and the lawsuit regarding her mother’s (Gloria) unfortunate death while incarcerated at the Low Gap Rehabilitation Center, if they still call it that?

cases.justia.com/federal/district-courts/california/candce/3:2016cv02414/298400/52/0.pdf?ts=1507795803

CATCH OF THE DAY, October 15, 2017

ANDREW ANLIKER, Redwood Valley. Disorderly conduct-alcohol.

VANESSA BARTELBINDERUP, Ukiah. Controlled substance, paraphernalia, stolen property, probation revocation.

DAVID BYER, Willits. Domestic battery.

MARSHALL EFISHOFF, Fort Bragg. First degree robbery.

TIMOTHY FISCHER, Ukiah. Disorderly conduct-alcohol.

ANDREW HOLM, Ukiah. Failure to appear, probation revocation.

VICTORIA IDICA, Ukiah. Disorderly conduct-alcohol, resisting, probation revocation.

JOAQUIN MARTINEZ, Redwood Valley. Disorderly conduct-alcohol, resisting, probation revocation.

MONICA MARTINEZ, Ukiah. Disorderly conduct-alcohol, probation revocation.

JUAN NARANJO-RODRIGUEZ, Ukiah. Domestic battery.

LAURA PARKER, Ukiah. Elder abuse.

SAMUEL SANCHEZ, Ukiah. Disorderly conduct-alcohol, probation revocation. (Frequent flyer.)

JUAN VARGAS, Hopland. Probation revocation.

OUTRAGEOUS CONTRACT

To the Editor:

Earlier this week, while the county is in crisis, the Ukiah Valley Sanitation District just approved a very dangerous contract that affects all ratepayers in a “Special Meeting” scheduled on Monday in the height of the local fire chaos.

This “Special Meeting” contained no information that couldn’t wait one week for the regularly scheduled meeting, it was a ruse to swiftly pass and approve what they wanted without the community or its ratepayers having the ability to oppose as they are focused on a crisis.

This board also changed the date of their meetings to be the same date and time as the Ukiah City Council meeting and specifically refused to make any accommodation that would not conflict with City Council, like the second Wednesday of every month.

I have never witnessed such a gross display of arrogance from a board that has absolutely no regard for the people it is representing. As a local citizen and a local business owner who is paying for this lawsuit between UVSD and the City of Ukiah, twice, I have grave concerns about the proposed new contract for the Law Offices of Duncan M. James. I would urge you all to reject this contract completely as it is. And here is why:

Item 6. Says that they will charge $110/hr for paralegal but this also includes support services so in addition to paying for the lawyers’ time you are also paying $110/hr for a secretary to type a 2 page letter or someone in their office to make copies — literally anything anyone does is billed at a minimum of $110/hr. This is not normal practice to charge for support staff.

And, $110 per hour for paralegal (paralegal includes, without limitation, paralegal, legal support/services, law clerk, and other legal support staff)

Item 10. The at-will clause is useless when they are contracting payment for everything above that clause until June 30, 2022 which not only includes all current matters named in the contract but also future matters. In other words you can terminate them but they still get paid for everything up through 2022 because it is written in the contract.

This includes attorney’s representation for and in all of the District’s litigation and administrative matters, as well in assisting the District’s General Manager to draft new governance policies and ordinances. The District is also involved in discussions with adjoining agencies related to real property opportunities for future planning and development, including potential District facilities. Attorney—Law Office of Duncan M. James—or its successor, represents the District in these negotiations and discussions, for administrative matters, and in other legal matters, including the referenced litigation. For these reasons, but not limited only to such, the District desires to, and hereby agrees to, retain the Law Office of Duncan M. James, or its successor, uninterrupted, through June 30, 2022 under the terms and conditions of this Agreement.

Item 12. A. We’ve already determined that this law firm is grossly overcharging for its services based on item 6, but this is the real concern. This states that it doesn’t matter what a Judge, Jury or any Tribunal decides is a fair cost. For instance if they charge us $60,000 and we go to court and a judge looks over the billing and says that $35,000 are reasonable attorney fees and rules that’s what we owe, this contract supersedes that! Duncan James can charge us whatever they want even 10X more than reasonable and we have to pay it.

If recovery of attorney’s fees, costs, and/or expenses is sought on client’s behalf in any matter, client understands that any amount awarded does not establish what fees, costs, and/or expenses that client is obligated to pay attorney (that amount is governed by the terms in this Agreement); and, does not mean that only those fees, costs, and/or expenses that were awarded are reasonable and necessary. Client agrees that, whether or not attorneys’ fees, costs, and/or expenses are awarded in a matter, client remains responsible for the payment, in full, of all fees, costs, and/or expenses in accordance with this Agreement. Additionally, client understands that, in the event client is required to pay fees, costs, and/or expenses to other parties, payment of any such amounts shall be entirely client’s responsibility and will have no bearing on client’s obligations to attorney under this Agreement.

Chris Ostrom, Ukiah

APPLES FOR HORSES

On 10/14/2017 10:58 PM, Lynn Kiesewetter wrote:

I wonder if you can ask the  produce managers at the grocery stores for some dented ones?

Marco McClean replies:

Trust me; you're just buying somebody else's problems. It'll be in the shop more often than on the trail. And are you sure you want the market to encourage the production of dented ones? I just read an article about Arabian horses deliberately bred to have weird bent-over necks and giant dents in their schnoz line, all to try to match the silhouettes of fanciful animals in Medieval tapestries.

It's as cruel as breeding hip dysplasia into German shepherds, or the pushed-in faces of pug dogs who must struggle to breathe and sound like the dregs of a milkshake even when they're asleep, or Midwestern girls eight years old but already with a bust like a big bed pillow made of heavy fat shoved up inside their sweater and tied there with straps that wear painful permanent grooves into their back and shoulders.

Also Equus. Genius, but frightening and disturbing and sad. Speaking of which, I saw Mendocino Theater Company's Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf last week and it's amazing. It's about alcohol. The run ends Sunday, Oct. 22; there's still time for you to get in. Box office: 707 937-4477.

ON LINE COMMENT OF THE DAY

We are all free to choose what we do and what we get out of life and no one shoe fits all feet that is true. But things have not gotten “better” over time, and asserting so says nothing. Life is different, and humans have to do less real work and turn more tiny knobs and push little buttons instead of actually working, but how is that “better”? Obesity to the tune of 300, 400, 700 pound lard asses that have to have Obamacare to keep them alive because they cannot afford to pay the medical bills themselves is somehow better? No, it has gotten EASIER, and easier breeds sloth which destroys everything. Fortunately the destruction comes slowly so it can be denied, but it comes. It is inevitable. Mankind was meant to strive for betterment, not loaf about tippy tapping its way into oblivion. But we shall see, I am a very patient man.

PROBABLY WON'T HAPPEN

Editor:

As a teenager, 65 years ago, I often heard my grandmother say, “Just once before I die, I hope I can see all four of my boys sober at the same time.” It never happened. Now that I’m the age she was then, near the top of my bucket list is finding a single day without a Press Democrat article about wine, pot, beer or the deadly ramifications thereof. I don’t hold out much hope.

Maybe I’m naive, or maybe it’s an epigenetic relay from Grandma, but I wonder what in this beautiful, prosperous and hospitable era and place is so hard to handle that it requires so much of our population to get buzzed to make it through a day, and then I wonder why the kids get into drugs. The international reputation we have acquired isn’t what I imagined for my home for the past 66 years, this almost perfect place on earth.

Necia Liles

Sebastopol

OPERATION GEMSTONE:

When Dirty Tricks Were Really Dirty

by Mark Scaramella

When my brother Hugh was an enthusiastic 20-year old Republican at UC Davis, it was the pivotal year of 1968. Hugh had finagled himself a part-time summer intern position for Republican State Assemblyman Ernie Mobley of Fresno. Mobley was a delegate to the 1968 Republican convention in Miami Beach and had invited my brother to join his delegation. Mobley was a supporter of candidate Ronald Reagan who was California governor at the time.

The three primary presidential contenders in 1968 were Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan and Nelson Rockefeller.

Before he died of cancer in 2014, Hugh told me that at one point during the two weeks he was at the Convention he mistakenly walked into an unmarked white trailer thinking it was a bank of restrooms. What he discovered was a dozen or so men, white shirts and ties, sitting at consoles on both sides of an aisle down the middle of the trailer. They all had headphones and were sitting in front of large reel-to-reel tape recorders with control buttons and knobs, feverishly taking notes. My brother was brusquely ordered to leave.

Curious, he asked a Mobley staffer what was going on and was told that he had probably stumbled into then-candidate Richard Nixon’s political spy operation. Nixon’s team had bugged key locations in the Rockefeller and Reagan campaigns to monitor their conversations to get whatever opposition intelligence they could get for Nixon.

Rockefeller later said that he was certain that his hotel suite had been bugged by Nixon operatives working for Nixon's thuggish campaign chairman, John Mitchell who later became Nixon’s Attorney General. Via the bugging, the Nixon campaign learned, among other things, that Reagan and Rockefeller were considering joining forces to thwart Nixon’s nomination. In retaliation, the Nixon team began planting negative stories about Reagan and Rockefeller with their respective campaign staffs to sow animosity.

Nixon was a long-time friend and ally of FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover all the way back to the late 1940s when Nixon first came to National prominence by posing as a hard-line anti-Communist, joining with Joseph McCarthy to root out alleged commies in the federal government. Over the years, Hoover provided contacts, tips, intelligence operatives (mainly retired FBI and CIA agents) and personal intelligence (aka “dirt”) on Nixon’s (and Hoover’s) “enemies” to Nixon and his campaign staff.

Richard Nixon’s paranoia and his fixation on “enemies” real and imagined was legendary and, as we now know, even included other Republicans like Rockefeller and Reagan.

The specific origin of the Watergate break-in and subsequent scandal which ultimately lead to the resignation of President Nixon is still somewhat fuzzy because it stemmed from the fevered mind of  Nixon who, after narrowly losing to JFK in 1960, developed an intense hatred of losing to anyone. By the time of Watergate, Nixon was heavily medicated and drinking heavily. His aides took steps to ensure that his nastier and loonier proposals went unacted upon, but they were not always successful.

In late January of 1972, Nixon’s paranoia manifested itself in his cadre of zealous political operatives, including numerous impressionable young Republicans and a weird mix of older loyalists and well-paid former clandestine service operators, the whole gang funded out of Nixon’s infamous cash slush funds, some obtained from the fascist generals who at the time had taken over the government in Greece and who wanted US funding and aid for their regime.

One of Nixon’s young supporters and campaign workers was Jeb Stuart Magruder. Magruder invited the sociopathic G. Gordon Liddy, a lawyer and former FBI agent, to present a slew of illegal clandestine campaign projects Liddy collectively called “Operation Gemstone.” Gemstone's ideas were presented to then-Attorney General John Mitchell, White House Counsel John Dean and Magruder for final approval. At that time Attorney General Mitchell was planning to resign his government job to become chairman of Nixon’s Committee to Re-Elect the President: aka CREEP.

John Dean later became a reluctant Watergate whistleblower. He'd resisted Nixon's demand he perjure himself under oath at the Congressional hearings in the aftermath of the Watergate break-in.

Dean wrote about his recollections of Liddy’s presentation: "So I came over and Liddy laid out a million dollar plan that was the most incredible thing I have ever laid my eyes on: all in codes, and involved black bag operations, kidnapping, providing prostitutes, to weaken the opposition, bugging, mugging teams. It was just an incredible thing."

At the time of Liddy’s “incredible” presentation Liddy was listed as CREEP’s in-house lawyer, but that was a cover for his real job: the White House Plumber in Chief, assigned to identify and plug leaks in the first term of the Nixon administration. Liddy had been involved in a number of illegal clandestine operations for Nixon already and was regarded by many of his colleagues as a dangerous, humorless man who was feared yet grudgingly respected by people as ethically flexible as he was. Liddy would do literally anything he was asked to do to support Nixon’s political objectives.

Backed up by his friend, retired CIA Agent E. Howard Hunt, the former FBI agent presented the elaborate “Gemstone” plan to Mitchell — at the time the nation’s top law enforcement official — and to Dean.

Liddy had seven separate flowcharts propped up on easels, each titled with the name of a gem. Essentially, it was an interconnected conspiracy to violate a number of federal laws including kidnapping, burglary, and warrantless wiretapping, all in the noble cause of re-electing Richard M. Nixon.

“Diamond” was a plan to kidnap anti-Nixon demonstrators at the 1972 Republican national convention (also by coincidence in Miami Beach where the Republicans had convened four years earlier), drug them, and “disappear” them to Mexico where they would be dumped to fend for themselves with no recollection of what had happened. The subtitle of the “Diamond” chart read “Nacht Und Nebel” (“night and fog”), a term used by Nazi storm troopers who disappeared people in pre-World War II Germany.

“Opal” was a coordinated series of black bag jobs to plant electronic bugs at the headquarters of likely Democratic presidential candidates like Edmund Muskie and George McGovern.

“Emerald” was a widespread electronic eavesdropping program which included putting bugs on the campaign planes of Democratic candidates and their staffs.

“Quartz” was a program to tap in to and listen in on microwave telephone traffic.

“Topaz” involved breaking into Democratic candidates’ offices and headquarters in Washington DC and at the Miami Beach convention halls and hotels and steal or photograph whatever documents they found.

“Ruby” would place moles, spies and provocateurs in the field organizations and headquarters of various Democratic candidates.

“Turquoise” would employ fomer CIA Agent (and Bay of Pigs invasion veteran) Hunt and some of his Cuban exile campadres from the Bay of Pigs invasion (the same crew who were later caught breaking into the Watergate Hotel complex) to sabotage the air conditioning at the main hall of the Democratic Party convention and make the Dems look sweaty and unattractive on national tv.

“Sapphire” would fill up a houseboat docked in Miami Beach with prostitutes wearing wires who would lure key Democratic politicos into compromising prone positions which the Nixon campaign could use to threaten or blackmail them.

“Crystal” was a related proposal that would secretly record and photograph those houseboat liaisons for further potential blackmail or manipulation.

Last but not least was “Coal,” a plan to finance the longshot campaign of Congresswoman Shirley Chisholm, the first black woman to run for president. (“Coal,” was chosen for this “gem” because it’s black and clearly NOT a gem in the overt racism of the time.) This, Liddy theorized, would divert black Democrats and other civil rights activist Democrats from supporting whoever their more likely nominee was.

Howard Hunt said he could finance the entire operation for less than $1 million (over $10 million today).

The Attorney General listened to the entire presentation without objection, but concluded by saying it was not what he had in mind as a campaign intelligence operation. Apparently he thought certain unspecified aspects of it might be going too far and that it was too expensive. He told Liddy to scale the plan back and return with a cheaper proposal at, say, half a million — “Oh, and burn those charts.”

At a second meeting, less than three weeks later, Liddy presented a scaled-back, $500,000 version of the plan; Mitchell turned it down too — not because of illegality or immorality, but because it was still too large, expensive and subject to discovery.

But a couple of weeks later Mitchell finally approved a $250,000 version, according to Magruder, by then Mitchell’s deputy campaign manager. It focused primarily on intelligence-gathering on the Democratic Party opposition through wiretaps, break-ins and outright burglaries — e.g., Watergate.

A few years later my brother, with his political science and law degrees from UC Davis, became disenchanted with the Republicans in the wake of the Watergate disclosures  and became a Democrat, and stayed a Democrat for the rest of his life. As time progressed, he also abandoned the practice of law and went to work for Mendocino County as an eligibility worker — another story in itself.

HIPPIES

by Herb Caen (1967)

The most interesting thing about the hippies is not whether they are dead or alive — but, as always, the reaction they elicit (or provoke) from so-called established society. It may well be the twilight of this peculiar manifestation (one hesitates to call it a movement) of quiet outrage and noisy estrangement. But if it needed a raison d’être — and even its most articulate champions seem unable to give it a point — it has been provided, ironically, by its unbelievably foamy-mouthed critics. In the face of the hippies’ implied disdain, a truly well-established society would not have lost its poise, would not have blown its cool, would not have cried its outrage in such lamentable fashion.

It is quite true that society has inflated their importance grotesquely beyond their weight and numbers, and it would take a psychoanalyst to unravel the reasons (a love-hate syndrome, or just plain old-fashioned guilt?). Whoever wrote the “official” funeral notice for the Death of Hippie observance a few days ago knew what he was about when he described the deceased as “Hippie, devoted son of Mass Media,” for indeed the hippies used the media for all it is worth, and media seemed pathetically eager to be used.

All this razzle-dazzle aside, the hippies, even if they’re dying, have made a tremendous impact on the City of San Francisco — and, for that matter, the world. They constitute a frontal assault on everything that our frayed society holds dear, and, to make it more unnerving, they do it only by indirection. Writers who report, to this day, “the hippies sneer at the straights” are guilty of wishful thinking: a sneer can easily be canceled by a counter-sneer. The general hippie attitude is more one of pity (now that hurts). The more important facets of their criticism are merely implied: a guilty society makes the interpretations. The celebrated dirtiness of the hippies is one of the best examples. This is such an outrage in our world of “What, you left your family defenseless? Get off my sand dune!” that even reasonably intelligent people have been reduced to saying, in frustration, “Don’t they know that cleanliness is next to godliness?” (Who wrote that, anyway — a soap salesman?).

By just standing there (or sitting, sleeping, turning on, shacking up), the hippie is an affront to all segments of The Establishment, even Joan Baez, who also seems to have a thing about soap. It’s not just the conservatives and reactionaries who feel threatened. Old Bohemians, once frowned on themselves, frown on them as “going too far”; the Old Bohemians know they themselves never went far enough. One self-styled “liberal” commentator in this city has gone absolutely crackers over what he calls the “creepies,” boiling them in the kind of invective once reserved for witches; if this were 1692, he would be setting torches to hippies — and so much for liberals. The Puritans among us are, of course, haunted as always by the dark suspicion that somewhere, somebody might be having a good time. And, as always, without them. As for those dear souls who hope to “understand” the hippies, they’re wasting their time. They’ll have to find their absolution elsewhere.

For all their dirt, disease, slovenliness, laziness; for all their hedonism, clannishness, and undoubted egomania; for all the possibility that they might be in their death throes, the hippies have a message, even if few can be bothered to articulate it. As a wise old doctor once observed rather sadly, “They are our consciences, walking around in bare feet.” It simply is not enough to flog them, as Establishment critics do, for dropping out, “for refusing to integrate themselves into a meaningful protest movement” (the old liberals heard from again), for using drugs, “for creating an unnecessary burden on the taxpayer” (there’s a hollow phrase for you), for leading “lewd and immoral” lives, for not flushing the john, or whatever they do that bugs the critics; anyway, most of the foregoing applies equally to Brooks Brothers types living at Good addresses.

No, what really bugs the critics is what the hippies are saying without saying a word: “What are YOU doing, brother, that’s so damn important?” And this is the question — with its ghostly overtones of Vietnam, taxes, bigotry, hypocrisy, corruption, cancer and all the other ills of established society — this is the question that has no answer except fury.

As Voltaire might have said, if the hippies hadn’t existed, it would have been necessary to invent them.

(SF Chronicle)

* * *

OCTOBER 18, 1967: Police — swinging clubs like scythes — cut a bloody path through 2500 anti-war demonstrators who had closed down the Oakland Armed Forces Examining Station yesterday. At least 20 persons were treated at Highland Hospital. The crowd had come to prevent draftees from entering and had expected at worst to be hauled away in paddy wagons. What actually happened was a lot rougher. At 6:50 a.m. a reedy, mechanical voice ordered the crowd to disperse and a few minutes later officers began to pour out of a garage across the street. Police — ten lines deep — attacked, beating through the thin line of frightened demonstrators. Charging down Clay Street, officers squirted liquid mace and rattled clubs against anyone who didn’t move fast enough. Newsmen were clubbed and kicked — whether or not they wore press badges.

Halfway down the block an additional 100 demonstrators were sitting at the station’s side entrance. After facing each other for a few minutes, officers suddenly surged down the street, their clubs mechanically flailing up and down, like peasants mowing wheat. Bodies began to pile up around the entrance and the cries of women could be heard as clubs thudded into them. The beatings, which lasted 20 minutes, sickened a dentist who is a former paratrooper, a veteran of World War II and Korea. “The cops came at a little girl who was scared to death,” said Donald L. Gerber of Chico. “My God these were Americans they beat up today… I’ve never seen anything like this in my life.”

— Charles Howe (SF Chronicle)

JERRY V. JERRY

Editor,

Jerry Kim Jong Un Brown is at it again. He just signed a bill to shorten sentences for criminals who have committed violent crimes with a gun. And a bill to be a sancetury state. He vetoed a bill to clean around the PG&E lines and poles saying it wasn’t necessary. I wonder how he feels now with more than 40 dead and unimaginable damage?

The liberal Democrats are pushing to have all guns banned from the American people. That’s what they eventually want. Well, they can have my gun, willingly. But they’re going to get it barrel first with bullets flying out of it.

As far as the NFL goes, those people who don’t stand for the national anthem are a bunch of rotten anti-Americans SOBs. I would love to see them run out of the  US altogther.

Jerry Kim Jong Un Brown is just as rotten as they are and anyone who doesn’t like it can kiss my you know what.

God Bless Donald Trump.

Jerry Philbrick

Comptche

PS. I think the inmates fighting the fires are great. They’ve been doing that for years and they do a good job. They put out 100%. Good guys. But letting felons who committed a crime with a gun out early and then have these ridiculous gun laws for the rest of us is BS. Even some congresspeople have said it’s hypocrisy. Everywhere I go they hate Jerry Brown.

PPS. I would like to see the National Guard crush that Antifa bunch into the ground like vermin.

UNDERSTANDING THE IMPACT OF STIGMA ON PEOPLE WITH MENTAL ILLNESS (Part II)

Along with Public and Self Stigma are also Perceived Stigma; the belief that others have negative beliefs about people with mental illness, Labeled Avoidance; when a person chooses not to seek mental health treatment to avoid being assigned a stigmatizing label, Stigma by Association; when the effects of stigma are extended to someone linked to a person with mental health difficulties, Structural Stigma; institutional policies or other societal structures that result in decreased opportunities for people with mental illness, Health Practitioner Stigma; takes place anytime a health professional allows stereotypes and prejudices about mental illness to negatively affect a patient’s care.

The first step in reducing stigma is identifying what stigmas and prejudices we each have. Many of us do not even realize that we are promoting stigma.

Some are easy to identify such as ignoring your mentally ill sister on the street, avoidance and fear of the person talking to themselves, thinking that all are violent, the sensationalism and overplay of the media just to name a few. Others are more difficult to recognize such as while acting on their behalf, one does not include the person with the illness in the process. A parent who feels guilt or fear of blame, might hold off treatment.  One may automatically and instinctively be fearful when a person expresses normal emotions such as anger. Those who suffer with mental illness are human beings who deserve respect, dignity and equal treatment.

See the person, not the symptoms: People need to be identified separate from their condition. Rather than referring to someone as depressed, see them as a person experiencing depression. They suffer from schizophrenia they are not a schizophrenic, the latter being a “label” not a medical condition thereby defining the person as such which can be very difficult for someone to overcome. We don’t refer to a person with cancer as cancerous.

Lack of education is a major factor contributing to our fear of what we do not understand. When we or a loved one are diagnosed with a serious medical illness, we react with fear, but we educate ourselves and others around us, resulting in the understanding and knowledge needed to unite and fight the illness.  Stigma is fostered due to people in general who don’t associate mental illness as being a medical illness.  Mental illness can develop in anyone regardless of their status, sex, age, or race. Stigma acts as a deterrent for those who need understanding, support and the ability to feel free to openly discuss the illness with others to help manage it.

Educating our children at an early age along with teachers and parents will help with the understanding of mental illness. Most mental illnesses manifest prior to age 25 with 50 percent prior to age 14. Being educated will help to identify the onset of the disease and not to be mistaken for behavior faults or drug use. This will move society forward with more knowledge, care and understanding along with quicker treatment and better outcomes.

According to many studies, effectively reducing stigma pointed to one intervention: making contact with someone successfully managing a mental illness. One example of this is NAMI’s “In Our Own Voice” program. People with mental health conditions share their powerful personal stories in this free presentation. When NAMI Mendocino presents “In Our Own Voice” everyone is encouraged to attend.

The bottom line, stigma is a deterrent to everyone’s well-being. Even if you do not have someone in your family that suffers with mental illness you do know someone very close to you who does. We can make a change if we work together by being conscious of our own behaviors and our reactions to those who are suffering. With our own awareness we can help by starting open, frank and honest conversations with others. Let us all work together and get rid of the ignorance that is stigma.

Pokie Dunlap

NAMI Mendocino County

LOCAL ASSISTANCE CENTER FOR THOSE IMPACTED BY THE REDWOOD FIRE

Mendocino County will be coordinating a Local Assistance Center (LAC) beginning this Tuesday, October 17, 2017, for individuals, families, and business impacted by the Redwood Fire.

The LAC provides a single facility where those impacted by the fire can access available disaster assistance programs and services. This multi-agency facility will include representatives from local, state, and federal agencies (building, employment, public health), non-profit agencies, counseling services, and other support services.

If you need replacement of vital records or a new driver's license, you can apply for those at the LAC. If you need assistance with food, clothing, temporary housing, or medical appointments you will be able to access all of this through the LAC.

Mendocino College has provided their gymnasium at 1000 Hensley Creek Rd in Ukiah to be a one-stop center for local assistance related to the fire. The LAC will be open from 10:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. daily for the next two weeks beginning this Tuesday, October 17. Mendocino County will continue to provide services through the LAC as long as needed to meet the needs of our local residents.

For more information, visit www.mendocinocounty.org/fireinfo or call (707) 467-6428.

Carmel J. Angelo, Chief Executive Officer

ROAD CLOSURES

Road Closures for the Redwood Valley and Potter Valley communities will continue to be in effect.

These road closures (you will not be able to pass this location) will be located at:

1. Tomki Road at Cave Creek Road
2. Tomki Road at West/East Road
3. Eel River Road at Oat Gap
4. Potter Valley Road south of Stroh Ranch

We appreciate your continued patience. Stay aware of your surroundings.

* * *

Safety Check Locations

Some remaining evacuated residents of Redwood Valley, Potter Valley and Pine Mountain will be able to return to their property beginning at 12:00 (noon) on October 15, 2017.

For returning residents in the Redwood Valley and Potter Valley communities, there will be safety checks. Personal protective equipment will be available at the controlled entrances, as well as safety information. It is highly recommended that you wear protective clothing.

Safety check locations are as follows:

1. Laughlin Way at Bakers Creek Road
2. West Road at Laughlin Way
3. East Road at Held Road
4. Busch Lane at Powerhouse Road
5. Gibson Lane at Hawn Creek Road

Allow ample time and anticipate slow traffic.

Be sure to make any necessary notifications to your insurance company before disturbing any damaged or destroyed property.

We appreciate your patience. Stay aware of your surroundings.

RE-POPULATION FOR REDWOOD VALLEY, POTTER VALLEY AND WILLITS

The following areas will be repopulated starting at 12:00 PM,

October 15:

Redwood Valley in the following areas:

• South of Tomki Road. This includes all feeder roads in Redwood Valley area south from of the intersection of Tomki Rd at East/West Rd

Willits in the following areas:

• Pine Mountain Subdivision
• All areas between Eastside Rd and Tomki Rd south of Canyon Rd

Potter Valley in the following areas:

• West of the intersection of Gibson Ln and Hawn Creek Rd
• West of the intersection of Busch Ln and N. Busch Rd
• Shale Lane north of Potter Valley Rd

The following road closures will be in effect:

• Tomki Rd at East/West Rd
• Laughlin Way at Bakers Creek Rd - Safety Checkpoint
• West Road at Laughlin Way - Safety Checkpoint
• East Road at Held Road - Safety Checkpoint
• Tomki Rd at creek crossing north of Redwood Valley
• Old Boy Scout Rd at the Y
• Bear Canyon Creek Rd at Mariposa Creek Rd
• Ridgeway Hwy at Oat Gap Rd
• Eel River Road at Old Logging Rd
• Eel River Rd south of Stroh Ranch
• Busch Ln at N Busch Rd - Safety Checkpoint
• Hawn Creek Rd at Gibson Ln - Safety Checkpoint

Evacuation ORDERS for these areas are lifted, but will remain under an EVACUATION WARNING. Residents should be prepared to evacuate again should conditions change. Intersections with SAFETY CHECKPOINTS will provide safety equipment and information for returning residents.

HEALTH & SAFETY ADVISORY

Returning to Burned Homes

Redwood Fire Ash and Burn Debris Clean-up and Removal 

If your home was burned: 

Do not touch the debris.

Ash is a hazardous waste and can cause you injury.

It is very understandable that a property owner wants to sort through the ash to see what they can find. DO NOT DO THIS.

The burned materials can become concentrated in ash and soil following a fire. It is important not to expose yourself, your family or your pets to any of these materials. Exposures can occur by sifting through and/or moving ash and debris, causing ash to become airborne and inhaled or ingested which may be harmful to your health.

To be eligible for state funded debris cleanup by CalRecycle you cannot move or spread the debris. If you expand or move the footprint of the fire debris, CalRecycle may consider you ineligible for this program.

Do not transport ash or debris to landfills and transfer stations at this time.

CalRecycle will help property owners remove debris in the coming weeks.

Wear Closed-Toed Shoes, Long Pants, Eye Protection, A Mask and Gloves

A mask and gloves will be provided at the designated entrance points.

Follow the instructions provided for how to wear the mask so that it protects you.

Do Not Turn Your PG&E service back on.

Either PG&E has been there and your gas is back on, OR you must wait for them to do this. Please call them at 800-743-5000.

For More Information, Use the Emergency Operations Center Call Center 707-467-6428

(County Press Release)

AIR QUALITY ADVISORY

Sunday, October 15, 2017

Inland areas of Mendocino County are experiencing episodes of 'Unhealthy ' ranges. This may continue for the rest of this week and the next until the fires are out.

Weather forecast models are for light and variable winds with patchy smoke. Warmer temperatures along with higher pressures have brought more frequent episodes of smoke impacts. Communities surrounding these wildfires are most likely to be impacted: Redwood Valley, Potter Valley, Calpella, Ukiah, Hopland, and Willits. While surrounding wildfires are active expect unpredictable intense smoke impacts to air quality followed by periods of some relief.

Air quality in the 'Unhealthy' range affects everyone. When air quality is in this range, it is advised to limit prolonged or heavy activity and time spent outdoors. If possible, stay indoors and avoid strenuous activity.

Smoke in heavy concentrations can cause eye and throat irritation, coughing, and difficulty breathing. People who are at greatest risk of experiencing symptoms due to smoke include: those with respiratory disease (such as asthma), those with heart disease, young children, and older adults. These sensitive populations should stay indoors and avoid prolonged activity. Even healthy adults can be affected by smoke. When air conditions are 'Unhealthy,' everyone should limit prolonged or heavy exertion activities outdoors.

Persons experiencing any of the following symptoms should contact a health care provider: Headache; Repeated Coughing; Chest Tightness Or Pain; Difficulty In Breathing; or Nausea.

According to Mendocino County’s Public Health Officer, Constance Caldwell, M.D., “Heavy smoke can pose a danger to everyone. If you can smell or taste smoke, or experience itchy eyes or a scratchy throat, this is unhealthy and you should stay indoors as much as possible. Those with heart or lung disease, including asthma, should consider leaving areas of heavy smoke if possible. If not, individuals with these health conditions should stay indoors with doors and windows closed as much as possible. In heavy smoke, everyone should avoid unnecessary strenuous outdoor activity.”

New fire activity and wind directions and wind speeds can change at any time. It is advised to be prepared and stay informed. Impacts to the air quality will be most noticeable in the evening to early morning hours.

The Mendocino County Air Quality Management District has particulate monitors running continuously measuring our air quality. These monitors report particulate matter concentrations hourly to the air District’s website. To get the latest air quality information for Mendocino County visit: www.mendoair.org.

STATE AND LOCAL AGENCIES to Hold Press Conference on Mendocino Lake Complex Fire to Discuss Response and Recovery Operations

State and local officials will hold a press conference on Monday, October 16, 2017, at the County Administrative Center with the latest information regarding what state agencies are doing to support and assist local officials with the October 2017 California Statewide Wildfires and the Mendocino Lake Complex.

When: Monday, October 16, 2017 at approximately 3:30 p.m.
Where: County Administrative Center – 501 Low Gap Road, Ukiah, CA 95482

Who:

Mike McGuire, California State Senator
Jim Wood, California State Assemblyman
Mark Ghilarducci, Director, CA Governor's Office of Emergency Services Chief Ken Pimlott, Director, Cal FIRE
Warren Stanley, Acting Commissioner, California Highway Patrol
David Baldwin, Adjutant General, California National Guard
Bob Fenton, Regional Administrator, FEMA Region IX
Mendocino County Sheriff Tom Allman
Mendocino County District Attorney David Eyster
Mendocino County Board of Supervisors

Live Online: This media briefing will be streamed live on the Mendocino County Facebook page and YouTube Channel.

For more information please contact the Executive Office at (707) 463-4441.