Mendocino County Today: Saturday, Oct. 28, 2017

• Keegan Tantrum
• Grant Money
• Mental Housing
• Ed Notes
• Cannabis Fines
• Every Apple
• Ukiah Dispensary
• Rebuilding Homes
• Little Dog
• Home Invasion
• Yesterday's Catch
• Sexual Deviancy
• UraniumGate
• Fire Fundraiser
• Fawn Facilities
• Verboten Costumes
• Tidal Turbines
• Trump Abyss
• Billionaire Bloat
• Archive Findings
• Embarrassment
• Epic Poem
• Retirement Meeting
• Tranquil Navarro
• Ring Thief
• Gang Girl
• Listening Tour
• Marco Radio
• Library Closures

QUITE A SCENE this morning (Friday) at the Wells Fargo Bank, Ukiah. A bellicose young man in a retro tie-dye shirt startled a lobby full of customers when he walked up to District Attorney David Eyster and loudly, profanely and persistently denounced the DA. And wouldn't stop. Ukiah is a small town. Mendocino County is big in area, small in population. If there are two people everyone who lives here recognizes it's the Sheriff and the DA, but like any other citizen both are in theory free to go about their business unmolested.

SO THE DA is standing in line for a teller with a person he does not know raining down obscenities on him. The audience for this un-bank like scene is frozen, looking on, poised to do whatever people do when a nut case goes off in a public place, and hoping like all people to go about their business with a minimum of participation in psychotic episodes.

THE DA cooly asked, "Who are you?"

"YOU KNOW WHO I AM. You charged my father with murder!"

THE OAF in the retro garb then resumed cursing Mendocino County's top law enforcement officer.

THE BANK MANAGER hustled up. "We don't allow that here." And just as a staffer was reaching for the phone to call the police, the oaf strode for the door.

KEEP IT CLASSY, KEEGANS.

THE OAF accosting the DA was subsequently identified as Luke Keegan, one of two sons of the murderous medical doctor, Peter Keegan, presently charged with bludgeoning his wife of 32 years to death. The Keegans' other son, presumably less unhinged, teaches at Ukiah High School.

NOT TO BE TOOOOOO judgmental here, but the arrogance of this punk is breathtaking. "You know who I am." Robert DeNiro? Donald Trump Jr.? The Duke of Ook?

TANTRUMING seems to run in the family.

PROFOUNDLY PINK, FEARFULLY FRAGILE

Giant Grant Score for Parents and Friends

by Rex Gressett

The Fort Bragg City Council met October 23, in a fast-moving session that gave away $3 million bucks to the richest not for profit in the city instead of putting money into your long neglected and ancient sewer and water system. They had a clear choice.They knew the facts. You might even say it was an emergency. They did it in cold blood anyway.

The meeting opened once more in its customary swirling glamor as a very well dressed council circulated amidst a crowd of interested citizens. The whole room sort of orbited around the stunning Sam (Samantha) Zuttler, our departing City Attorney. She was dressed in a pink that I would not call hot pink but something profoundly pinker. It was a pink that just had to be expensive. A dark byzantine pink, a pink to remember. I really should not be sorry to see Sam Zuttler go, but how can I not be? She was a team player on the other team, but she was certainly an ornament to the city process, intellectually and esthetically.

They gave her a plaque and introduced the new city attorney.

Russell Hildebrand is a partner with Jones-Mayer which is reputed to be a little lower to be on the prestige tree than Sam’s Burke, Williams and Sorenson. He seemed very formidable personally. His firm represents cities and municipalities. We do that, we don’t do anything else, he told us. He is getting ten grand a month as a retainer. That buys us 45 hours a month at $205 bucks an hour. If we don’t use it the money is forwarded to the next period. We hired his associate Mr. Jones as deputy attorney.

He somehow conveyed by his lawyerly presence the idea that he had lovingly adopted us since we had lovingly purchased him. This is my town now, nobody is going to mess with it, he stressed with body language. He was quite fierce in a controlled courtroom way. I don’t think he approved of my scatological mutterings and repressed guffaws as I sat through the evening’s discussion. He stayed to the bitter end of the meeting.

After we had performed the ritual of switching attorneys the meeting crawled through a few trivialities down to the evening’s principle entertainment. We were happily gathered together in the presence of our new attorney to spend some big money. Everybody got focused. The Parents and Friends supporters who tookup a whole section sat up in their chairs. Jennifer Owens, CDBG superstar, stepped up to the plate to patiently give confusing contradictions in simple direct language. She described the terms and conditions of this year’s (2017) CDBG grant and gave the council a clear choice between two options.

Down at our cordial and well-lit town hall we celebrated the good news that from Olympian heights the gods of Community Development Block Grants had manifested their annual bounty. This year $27 million in cold cash would be dumped with all due consideration into to the indecently ravenous maws of 195 California municipalities. A velvet competition would ensue. Monday night our local assembly was collectively confident that Jennifer Owens would once again get us our share.This money is how small cities and rural counties live. Five million was on the personal plate of Fort Bragg. The rule is that any project had to be shovel-ready the same year that the money is allocated.

Last year when Fort Bragg got CDBG money a newly elected City Council was still in heated election mode indignation over decades of diverting CDBG money into local social services agencies exactly at the cost of said infrastructure. The realignment of the council into a newbie majority and a very diminished minority meant in practice that the 2016 money did not get spent on social services. The reformist council bought a water tank. They have been bragging about it ever since.

We had a year to do it and we knew the rules but we could not get the tank money spent. If we had finished putting up our new CDBG watertank we could have gotten two CDBG projects in 2017 but since we were remiss to build our tank we won’t. I don’t know how far along they are on the tank project. Not far, I hear. At least they are not by any means on time by CDBG standards as they are obliquely informing us. The city council in its customary see no evil, we appreciate each other mode, spoke not a word of remonstrance of any party whatsoever. It is live and let live management.

Graciously the gods of CDBG granted Fort Bragg a “waiver” which will still permit us one project if we are deemed sufficiently worthy according to an arcane mathematical analysis to qualify at all. Jennifer Owens is reputed with no contradiction to be to the Queen of competitive CDBG mathematical formulas like Babe Ruth was King to baseball. Trusting her implicitly is bedrock city council policy.

A the winter darkness settled down over sleepy Fort Bragg and the City Council met in in their lighted hall, somewhere out in the weeds and the darkness down by the river the ancient pumping stations that without glamor keep our sewage moving are clunking and chugging into their last hours of usefulness. They are forty years old. They are on their last legs. The anticipated failure would be, as city workers describe it, catastrophic.

Fort Bragg’s old, battered pumping stations are another unheard heartbeat of our old town. They are faithful but faltering and fearfully fragile. They are an open joke with city workers. They are our long term impending emergency. The muttered urgency of city waterworkers is why they were being discussed at all. The pumping stations ought to be a humble but inflexible first priority for any responsible government.

Here is what the council was told: Since we can only do one project and we have only two projects remotely qualifying as shovel ready, you the council have to pick between an $800,000 rehab of the humble sewage pumping stations (that happen to be dying before your very eyes and threating to overflow every toilet in an uncomfortably wide area.) Or! Your other option is giving #3 million to Parents and Friends as the possible last payment from the outgoing city manager’s long term patronage and support of that local mega agency. It’s not that they need it, but it’s there, so they want it. Linda Ruffing maneuvers fiercely to toss them the bone.

Here is how it happened. Danco, the city’s favorite subsidized low income housing contractor was originally going to be our CDBG project and get $1 million. Their deal did not fly so Rick Moon of Parents and Friends plunged in from left field and grabbed $3 million in cash by dumping his old project that the city council had already given him money for and announcing his new project that would cost much more. He was clever. He was just in time. He gets the whole burrito if Jennifer can pull out another rabbit.

Getting our new majority city council to back off much needed infrastructure seemed unlikely. We now have a clear majority that have always opposed in principle twenty years of social service spending at the expense of civic infrastructure.

It did not look like it was going anywhere, but Linda Ruffing confidently moved in on them with her regular prepackaged conclusions and implicit instructions. It was clear to the City Manager that getting $3 million was a lot better than getting $800,000 no matter what it has to be used for.

Bottom line: She swore piously that the sewage pumps were the very next thing. We will do them when we do the main sewage treatment plant, she assured the council. We already have the money for the whole sewer rehab project grants and loans, $15 million, it’s all sewed up. This was news to everybody. I believe it is the first they have mentioned this important milestone. Dave Turner had an opportunity to nudge the resisters remarking that Linda Ruffing’s notes clearly indicated Parents and Friends were a smart choice over some old pumps. “It’s right in the numbers,” he pointed out.

What it means is that the City Manager is fired but still firing back and with what ammunition we do not know.

When the vote came the city council split as it always now must and as it should. Lindy Peters and Dave Turner of course support the social services industry without qualification. Will Lee and Bernie Norvell stood solid for infrastructure. Cueball Cimolino defected.

Parents and Friends get two four-bedroom houses for $1 million each and $1 million more in connection services and street improvements in free city cash.

The pumps … can wait.

 

SHERIFF ALLMAN CONFIRMS

New Jail Wing In Ukiah Not For Measure B Patients

Mendocino County in June was awarded a $25 million state grant to build a new wing at the Mendocino County jail for mentally ill prisoners, but Sheriff Tom Allman says that wing has nothing to do with the need for Measure B on the Nov. 7 ballot, because the people to be treated at the facility Measure B would build are not criminals. “It’s not illegal to be mentally ill,” Allman said explaining the difference between the jail facility and the mental health treatment center which would be funded by Measure B. While the Measure B mental health center would have a locked area for critically mentally ill people who need to be kept away from the public and protected from themselves, these are not people who belong in jail – a critical component for the need for Measure B, Allman explained. For years, the mentally ill who “act out” on the streets have been hauled to jail because it was the only place to take them, but they belong in a facility that has mental health care, not just custodial care, Allman said. The jail mental health wing “is not a psychiatric health facility” by any means, said Allman, referring to the more intensive type of custodial care which would be housed at the Measure B facility. The new jail wing is especially necessary, Allman said, because as part of the state’s “realignment” program to empty state prisons and send prisoners back to county jails, the county now has mentally ill prisoners who are sentenced to serve time but the jail has nowhere to put them separate from the general population when they are violent toward jail staff or other prisoners or even to themselves. State mental hospitals are full up and can’t take them, Allman said. Both sentenced and unsentenced long-term prisoners with mental health issues would be housed in the new mental health wing of the jail, which would have 64 beds. The state grant for the jail wing is part of a four-year grant program the state undertook to help counties deal with all the mentally ill prisoners being sent back to local counties. The county’s application was approved this spring in the last round of grants the state will make. The county will spend $1 million in matching funds, making the project cost a total of $26 million. It is expected that the new wing will be operational by spring of 2020.

(Courtesy, the Ukiah Daily Journal)

ED NOTES

MANUFACTURED HOMES have been widely suggested as a hurry-up means to house the people displaced by The Fires. We bought two of them to put on the bare ground we bought in Boonville, and I'm here to tell you that when I emerge from seven hours of technicolor unconsciousness, I could be awaking in the palace at Versailles. These units are all-round solid and comfortable. Of course there are people who lost, and require, much grander housing, but for people of modest means like most of the people who lost their homes are, you'll be pleased with a manufactured home, at least as a fast interim.

THE DRAWBACKS? Lots of banks won't loan money on either bare ground or bare ground with a manufactured home on it. Why? Who knows, but at the moment banks don't seem to be loaning money period. Why should they, what with the government printing up fat batches of cash every day and handing it to them? On the subject of The Fires, according to at least one business page story, individual property owners are financially responsible for the clean-up, which doesn't surprise me but a lot of the neighborhoods wiped out by the catastrophe were mostly home to people of modest means who won't be able to afford the clean-up costs imposed on them.

* * *

CAN'T remember the last time I ate at a fast food place, which I don't preface these tedious observations out of either snobbishness or food fetishes. But the other day, suddenly famished in Healdsburg, a kind of gastro paradise, I ordered up a beef burrito at Carl's Jr. There was no beef in it, although it was tasty enough with lots of beans and rice, and darned if it didn't taste kinda like beef. So I got out my scalpel and took a closer look at the thing, concluding the beef taste was derived from something that appeared to be beef soup, some kind of beef extract, maybe melted down beef bullion cubes.

* * *

IN THE ONGOING fallout from the Harvey Weinstein revelations, male sexual boorishness seems far more widespread than even a hep cat like me assumed, and about here is where I'll lose most of you. I think the widespread sexual abuse of women is relatively new, and what we're hearing, or much of it, amounts to what used to be viewed as sexual assault, a felony.

HOLLYWOOD CASTING COUCHES, I guess, are nothing new, but how would I or most of us have any idea for sure what the cretinous degenerates responsible for our moronic sex drenched entertainment really do in the privacy of their vulgar offices? Who cares except their silent victims?

WATCHING the Chuckle Buddies recite the news the other night, the beautiful female reporters wrapped up like painted sausages, who pops up saying that a Democratic Party big shot grabbed her when she was a young staffer and plunged his tongue into her mouth? Jackie Speier, now a congressman herself. As an extremely uptight, old school prude myself, I think it's all a combination of the so-called sexual revolution, pornography, immodesty both male and female, and the lack of the normal social restraints that used to make pariahs out of men who mistreated women.

* * *

48 HOURS, the tv show, called a couple of weeks ago for background on the Keegan murder case. But, boiled down, it's not very interesting from a show biz perspective. In fact, it's depressing as hell, notable only for the fact that it involves a medical doctor being prosecuted by the former consiglieri for the People's Temple. The facts of the murder itself involve no mystery, no narrative that lends itself to the formula format of these tv shows. A man flips out in the middle of the night and kills his wife by hitting her on the top of her head with a blunt instrument. Why does he flip out? Because she gets half of their community property, and she's moving on, and happy to be moving on.

$10,000 PER DAY FINES FACE MARIJUANA GROWERS NOT IN THE PERMIT PROCESS – Notices Began To Be Sent Out This Month

by Kym Kemp

Earlier this month, warning letters from Humboldt County’s Planning Department went out to a mere handful of growers, but the numbers are snowballing. This last week, 42 marijuana cultivators not in the permit process were sent correspondence informing them that they had a 10 day period to remove or mitigate environmental issues related to illegal cultivation or face $10,000 per day fines. If they did not pay the fines, their property could be seized and sold.

The letter contains two notices. According to Humboldt County Planning Department Director, John Ford, “One is a notice to abate and one is a notice violation…It is a way to let people know that the County is serious.” [Read the notice templates here–NOV (1) and NTA (1)]

“People who are in the permit process are not targets,” Ford said. However, he said, there are still code enforcement actions that are being taken to make sure that they also are not harming the environment.

Those who are receiving the letters are worried and angry, according to emails we’ve received. Ford responded to the objections. “One of the criticisms was that all the notices looked the same–that’s because all the violations looked the same,” he said. “They’re the same violations.” He particularly noted that illegal grading was a common theme across the parcels that received notices.

Ford explained the method of choosing the targets of the letter is relatively simple. He said, “We identify an area where there seem to be a number of unpermitted cultivation activities…We research to see if they are not permitted… We send a notice of violation and notice to abate and post in the Times Standard–two consecutive weekly ads.”

Ford said, “Our objective is not to levy huge fines. We want to bring sites that are not in compliance into compliance.” Ford said that the growers receiving the letters won’t necessarily face fines right away if they reach out to the Planning Department. “Our objective is to get them into a dialogue about how to resolve it within that 10 days,” he explained.

When an illegal grower who has received the letter contacts the Planning Department, Ford said, “We would ask are you willing to bring the site into compliance. We would look to set up a meeting to bring the site into compliance…. We want to offer the opportunity to give a time frame to bring the site into compliance…[However,] illegal activity needs to stop immediately.”

The object, Ford said, is not for the county to collect fines but rather to mitigate the environmental damage. “My primary hope is that we get sites into compliance,” he explained. “There will be costs associated with it. There will be fines and penalties, too, but the fines and penalties aren’t the prime objectives.”

The illegal growers that have received the letters have begun responding, Ford said in a series of interviews. “Every single person we sent the first batch of letters to has responded and met with county staff and are working towards a resolution….Some of them would like to get in the permit process but that really is not an option.” The permit process is currently closed to new applications. That might change but, Ford warned, it might not.

“A lot of the folks [getting the letters] have large amounts of grading and greenhouses that are constructed,” Ford said. “If we happen to find them [before they clean up their grows], they will be cited.”

He added that though there are a large number of illegal grows, County is increasing staff. “There are a lot of people who think the County is being way too lenient with the cannabis community,” he pointed out. “A lot of people complaining there is no enforcement. I think in the coming days, weeks, month that this will look very different.”

Ford pointed out that the County is expecting push back on their environmental report. “We’re likely to get challenged on the EIR for lack of enforcement,” he said. He then warned, “We expect enforcement will continue to ramp up. We don’t expect to be stopping for the winter.”

He had advice for illegal growers who had not yet received their notices. “Start mitigating before they are found,” he said. “Right now that is the only solution. That is the hard truth.”

(Courtesy, KymKemp.com, the Redheaded Blackbelt.)

WHO DUNNIT? AN MCN MYSTERY

[1] Something — or someone — has stolen every single apple from my one solitary apple tree, over the course of a single night. Yesterday the tree had lots of apples, with some evidence deer had pilfered the lower branches. But the upper branches held dozens and dozens, and they were full yesterday. Today — nada. Zip. And no debris signalling malicious and greedy ravens. Just — gone. All of them. I now suspect a transient had a deep need to make a pie from yet-to-ripen apples. I wuz lookin' forward to them apples, dammit....

[2] Same thing happened to me with a peach tree; I believe it was possums. They climb, and are voracious. Apologies to Pogo.

[3] That exact same thing happened a few years ago where I live. Never have figured it out.

PUT IT ON THE WESTSIDE

To the Editor (UDJ):

I find the article in today’s Journal about someone wanting to open a pot dispensary in the old Savings Bank building at the corner of Low Gap and State Street to be very disturbing. It especially bothers me as Low Gap Road is one of the main routes leading to the high school, and, call me old fashioned, but I just can’t imagine a dope dealer, oh excuse me, a medical pot dispenser, not selling weed to a high schooler.

I realize that our fine, upstanding city council is undoubtedly behind this location because all they can envision is dollar signs from the pot sales and what better place to push the product than on the main drag of town?

I am personally of the opinion that a dispensary should be in a little more laid back neighborhood and I think I know just the one. I think that Ruddock Avenue would be ideal. It’s quiet and there is a nice house for sale where Ruddock meets with North School Street with a large yard that could be converted to a parking lot, and, since the north side of the yard borders Orr Creek, the dispensary can service its homeless customers, of which I’m sure they will have many, who can gain access to the dispensary from Orr Creek itself, since I’m told many homeless camp there.

I think the planning commission should investigate this site rather than the old Savings Bank site.

David Anderson, Ukiah

THE ANSWER TO FAST RE-BUILD

Editor:

Sonoma County has the opportunity to have a faster comeback if it approves and encourages prefab and manufactured homes (not mobile homes) on lots that already have foundations. They don’t waste material and are more precisely built. A fully manufactured home, or even a partial one, shipped in sections could be put up faster and with less time for inspections and delays. The number of skilled workers needed would be reduced, and our county housing crises would be lessened.

Also, I would like to recommend a day of recognition for all first responders at least in Sonoma County, which could also be a national day because of all the disasters that they respond to.

C.R. Caporale

Cloverdale

LITTLE DOG SAYS, “Skrag says a radio cat psychologist advises people ‘Never punish your cat.’ I told him I'm a dog and I'll punish you big time you come anywhere near me.”

IT'S HOME INVASION SEASON (WHERE'S HUGO?)

On October 27th at 1:24 AM, Mendocino County Sheriff's Deputies were summoned to a residence in the 23600 block of Primrose Drive (Brooktrails) Willits, for a report of an armed robbery. The victims — Sally Ann Gurule, 64, of Willits, Van Slagle, 39 of Willits, and Justin Slagle, 44 of Willits — reported that three African American male adults, driving a "Burnt Orange" Jeep SUV had robbed them at gunpoint, forced them at gunpoint into a closet, and stole marijuana from them. As Deputies were responding, they passed a similar vehicle as it was coming onto Sherwood Road traveling towards the City of Willits. Police officers from the Willits Police Department located the vehicle, and attempted to stop it. The vehicle fled and a vehicle pursuit ensued. Several suspects exited and fled from the vehicle on Center Valley Road near Bray Road, and the vehicle continued on to where it stopped in the area of South Lenore and Creekside Court in Willits, where the two additional suspects fled on foot. One suspect, Diontae Wright, 24, of Split Rock Indiana, was apprehended in the area of the end of the pursuit, hiding in a backyard shortly after the pursuit by Willits Police Officers and Mendocino County Sheriff's Deputies. A second suspect, Michael Taylor also of Split Rock, was apprehended in the 1000 block of Center Valley Road by a Willits Police Officer. The vehicle was searched and one firearm, as well as evidence of another firearm was located, along with approximately 20 pounds of bud marijuana. While the investigation was ongoing, a Willits Police officer located a third suspect near Walker Road on Highway 101. This suspect provided a false name, and was ultimately identified as 24 year old Christopher Bradford of Indianapolis, Indiana. After further investigation, all three suspects were arrested and booked in the Mendocino County Jail. All three were charged with kidnapping, robbery, and being armed with a firearm while committing a felony. Bradford was found to have a felony warrant from Indiana for possessing a stolen firearm. The Indiana arrest warrant identified Bradford as "Armed and Dangerous." Their bail is set at $275,000. A fourth suspect, Hugo Mercado, was identified as being involved, and he has yet to be located. Mendocino County Sheriff's Detectives will be seeking an arrest warrant for Mercado. Any persons with knowledge of this case, are asked to contact the Mendocino County Sheriff's Office Communications Center at 707-463-4086 or call the Tip Line at 707-234-2100.

CATCH OF THE DAY, October 27, 2017

TERRY ELLISON II, Covelo. Probation revocation.

RONALD KEYS, Ukiah. Controlled substance, paraphernalia, disobeying a court order, probation revocation.

TAMMY KRAGLER, Ukiah. Probation revocation.

SEAN LEFFLER, Covelo. Probation revocation.

ZIOMARA MARTINEZ, Ukiah. Petty theft, tampering with vehicle.

WILLIAM MATTHEWS, Ukiah. Assault with deadly weapon not a gun, probation revocation.

CHRISTINA MCGREW, Ukiah. Resisting, probation revocation.

OSCAR PALMA-SOLANO, Willits. DUI.

CHRISTINA QUEBEDEAUX, Willits. DUI causing bodily injury, hit&run resulting in death or injury, suspended license.

AGUSTUS SMITH, Ukiah. Possession of assault weapon, transporting marijuana with an .50 cal assault weapon.

ROBERT TREVINO, Hopland. Suspended license.

ADAM WOOD, Ukiah. Disobeying a court order.

ON LINE COMMENT OF THE DAY

From everything I remember reading about the collapse of empires, it seems that sexual weirdness, narcissism, self-absorption, and lunacy were common attributes of a society as it went down. Looks like the USS Trumptanic is right on course for the ice berg. You all enjoy messing with the deck chairs. I’m going to sit in this lifeboat over here.

THE INFORMANT COMETH

by James Kunstler

When you consider all the shadowy creatures scuttling around the backstage interstices of the Deep State, it’s a little wondrous that someone like this hasn’t stepped into the light before. Apparently now, a person whose name will soon be plastered across the pixel-verse, has been given clearance by the Justice Department to come forth and sing to the various house and senate committees about a fishy deal involving Russia and the Clinton dynasty.

The broad outlines of Uranium-Gate are already loaded like a platter of nachos grandes with piquant tidbits of suspicious detail. The informant worked for a DC Swamp lobbying firm that was hired by Tenex, a subsidiary of the Russian government-owned company Rosatom, to grease the skids for a deal to buy a Canadian company, Uranium One, which had substantial mining operations in the USA. According to The Hill website, the deal put about 20 percent of US uranium into the hands of the Russian company.

The informant recognized evidence of criminal behavior in the dealings he witnessed and voluntarily went to the FBI with it. The Hill report goes on:

His work helped the Justice Department secure convictions against Russia’s top commercial nuclear executive in the United States, a Russian financier in New Jersey, and the head of a U.S. uranium trucking company in what prosecutors said was a long-running racketeering scheme involving bribery, kickbacks, extortion and money laundering.

Those charges, based on evidence gathered in 2009, were not taken to court until 2014. And that was supposed to be the end of it.

Now, it also happens that the deal for Tenex to buy Uranium One had to be approved by nine federal agencies and signed off on by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, which she did shortly after her husband Bill Clinton was paid $500,000 to give a speech in Moscow sponsored by a Russian bank. The Clinton Foundation also received millions of dollars in “charitable” donations from parties with an interest in the Tenex/Uranium One deal. It happened, too, that the CEO of Uranium One at the time of the Tenex sale, Frank Guistra, was one of eleven board members of the Clinton Foundation.

The informant remained undercover for the FBI for five years. None of the Clinton involvement was included in the previously mentioned federal bribery and racketeering prosecutions. Meanwhile, the informant had signed a nondisclosure agreement with the Obama Justice Department, only just lifted last week.

As of this morning, the story is absent from The New York Times, formerly the nation’s newspaper of record. The FBI’s credibility is at stake in this case. Robert Mueller, who was Director of the agency during the Tenex/Uranium One deal, with all its Clintonian-Russian undertones is in the peculiar position now as special prosecutor for the Russian election “meddling” alleged to involve President Trump. Whatever that investigation has turned up is not known publicly yet, but the massive leaking from government employees that turned the story into roughly 80% of mainstream legacy news coverage the past year, has ceased — either because Mueller has imposed Draconian restraints on his own staff, or because there is nothing there.

The FBI has a lot to answer for in overlooking the Clinton connection to the Uranium One deal. The informant, soon to be attached to a name and a face, is coming in from the cold, to the warm, wainscoted chambers of the house and senate committees. I wonder if Mr. Trump, or his lawyers, will find grounds to attempt to dismiss Special Prosecutor Mueller, given what looks like Mueller’s compromised position vis-à-vis Trump’s election opponent, HRC. It’s hard to not see this thing going a long way — at the same time that financial markets and geopolitical matters are heading south. Keep your hats on.

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

MENDO STRONG AGAIN

Community Rallies For Mendocino Strong Together On Nov. 4

The outpouring from Mendocino County’s artists, businesses, entertainers, wineries, breweries, hospitals, radio stations and volunteers is over the top for Mendocino Strong together, the fundraiser to assist families, neighbors and friends after the horrific Redwood and Potter Valley fires.

Greg Schindel, The Train Singer will greet attendees at the door with his uplifting repertoire. Once inside, music by local performers fill the hall from 4pm until 10 pm. Opening the onstage music is the Margie Rice String Quartet, followed by Alex DeGrassi, Spencer Brewer, Ed Reinhart, Paula Samonte, John Mattern, and friends. The place gets rocking around 8pm when Waylon and the Wildcats take the stage followed by the Johnny Young Band.

Sheriff Tom Allman shares his magic as auction maestro and master of ceremonies will be State Senator Mike McGuire for the Emcee beginning at 6:30 pm. Silent and live auctions feature unique lots including custom made benches, a life size horse from Willits Furniture, a child’s John Deere Tractor, 49er tickets, a private plane excursion and stay, many several day stays with luxury accommodations, private dinners and concert, too many wines to list, fabulous baskets from individuals throughout the county and much more.

Art donations include an exquisite vessel by the internationally known Potter Valley artist Red Wolf. Other artists, chefs and entrepreneurs affected by the fire are putting items together including Jan Hoyman, Ken Chapman of Habitat, and caterer Kristin Myers.

Destination items include a condo in Squaw Valley, a Hawaiian home, Charlie and Martha Barra’s Marfino overlooking the ocean in Fort Bragg and more. Howard Memorial Hospital donated a gift basket worth one thousand dollars.

Dinner is served from 4:00 to 7:00 and is a choice of taco and sides by Chavez Market, the Tri-Tip feast is prepared by the Redwood Empire Lions, Anderson Valley Lions and Willits Lions Club plus a vegetarian selection of risotto and amazing salad. Full bar service by Ukiah Host Lions.

Beer is from North Coast Brewing and Eagle Distributing. Handley, Fetzer, Barra, Frey, Parducci and Destination Hopland donated cases of wine. Coyote Valley Casino is providing water and soft drinks. And there will be appetizers and desserts.

Mendocino Strong Together, including music, auction, dinner and dancing, takes place Saturday, November 4, from 4-10pm at the Redwood Empire Fairgrounds in Ukiah.

Donations for Mendocino Strong Together are coming from near and far. North Coast Brewing Company, Beckstoffer Vineyards and MendoFutures contributed $10,000 each. Bob Perkowski designed a t-shirt of which more than 100 have already been sold.

Auction items for the Grand Local Auction of Great Items may be donated by calling Katie Fairbairn at 468-3164 at the Mendocino College Foundation to donate. Auction donations may be dropped off at the 1000 Hensley Creek Road from 9:00 am-12:00 and 1:00-4:00 pm. Deadline is November 1 at 4:00 pm.

Financial donations to support Mendocino Strong Together may be made at any branch of the Savings Bank of Mendocino County. All donations are going directly to those in need, are tax deductible and are being managed without a fee by North Coast Opportunities. More information and updates are available at the Mendocino Strong Together Facebook page.

Tickets are available at all Mendo Mill locations, Mendocino Bookstore, Chavez Market in Ukiah, JD Redhouse in Willits, and Geigers Market in Laytonville. They are $20 in advance, $25 at the door. Children under five are free. More information can be found on the website at MendocinoStrongTogether.com. Tickets are also available on line via the website at Brown Paper Tickets.

FAWN FACILITIES NEED TO RE-BUILD

Wildfires took our Fawn Facility

The Wildfires last week reduced the only two fawn facilities and the homes of their volunteer managers in northern California to ashes. All the people escaped and the fawns were grown and released several weeks before, so no one was injured, but we are now without a fawn facility. Fawns are such specialized animals, we are required to raise them in facilities designed to keep them wild and safe. Woodlands Wildlife will be donating 15 to 25% our budget to help rebuild the fawn facilities. Anyone wishing to receive one of our newsletters which has a donation evp inside please email your MAILING address to WoodlandsWildlife@mcn.org.

(GOTTA BE A JOKE, BUT…) POLITICAL CORRECTNESS RUN AMOK...

MendocinoSportsPlus stumbled over this sign on the internet.

We would like to add, if this was seen on the coast I bet the home would be "egged" and "draped" in toilet paper quicker than you can say "Trick or treat."

TIDAL TURBINES: A GOOD IDEA FOR MENDO

Tidal turbines online in Pentland Firth producing 6 MW

Tidal turbines, unlike other forms of renewable energy, produce absolutely predictable amounts of electricity because they use tides to generate energy. Atlantis Resources has just completed installation of four tidal turbines in the north of Scotland that look somewhat like wind turbines, except they are installed underwater. These models allow the electrical cabling to shore installed while underwater, wet, vs. previous models where it had to be done on dry land. This cuts down on maintenance costs and risk. 6 MW is roughly enough to power 6,000 homes. They plan to install 80 MW total.

The Atlantis supplied 1.5MW AR1500 turbine has been successfully reinstalled over the weekend and has commenced its commissioning procedures. With the reinstallation of the fourth and final turbine, MeyGen Phase 1A will now be capable of operating at its full 6 MW capacity generating full ROC and power revenues.

YOUR COUNTRY ON TRUMP

nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2017/10/this-is-what-the-trump-abyss-looks-like.html

THE WORLD IS WITNESSING A NEW GILDED AGE as billionaires’ wealth swells to $6 trillion.

theguardian.com/business/2017/oct/26/worlds-witnessing-a-new-gilded-age-as-billionaires-wealth-swells-to-6tn

SEVEN NEW FINDINGS FROM THE LATEST JFK FILES

Documents reveal more about Lee Harvey Oswald’s motives and KGB contacts.

by Cristiano Lima & Akela Lacy

President Donald Trump didn’t release all of the files about the 1963 assassination of President John F. Kennedy on Thursday — but he did make public more than 2,800 pages of documents.

The ones Trump did release, which partially fulfills a decades-old law calling for the release of the files from the National Archives, contain a rich trove of previously sealed information. Collectively, they deepen what’s known about one of the most haunting and mysterious events in American history. The documents released Thursday night include fresh insights into shooter Lee Harvey Oswald’s motives, how the FBI reacted to the shooting and Oswald’s interactions with Soviet intelligence officers.

Here are a few initial findings from the latest trove of the Kennedy files:

Hoover expressed concerns that Americans would harbor doubts about Oswald’s guilt

FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover — in a memo penned on November 24, 1963, the same day that Lee Harvey Oswald, the perpetrator of the John F. Kennedy assassination, was killed in apparent retribution by a man named Jack Ruby — voiced concern that Oswald’s death would result in uncertainty among U.S. citizens over his guilt. Hoover discussed the need to find concrete evidence.

“The thing I am concerned about, and so is [Deputy Attorney General Nicholas] Katzenbach, is having something issued so that we can convince the public that Oswald is the real assassin,” Hoover wrote.

Hoover added of Oswald’s death: “There is nothing further on the Oswald case except that he is dead.”

Hoover wrote of Ruby potentially having “underworld activity”

Ruby, who killed Oswald just two days after he was apprehended and charged with Kennedy’s assassination, was rumored to have ties to the seedy underbelly of Chicago, Hoover wrote in the same November 24, 1963 memo, documents show.

“We have no information on Ruby that is firm, although there are some rumors of underworld activity in Chicago,” Hoover wrote. He added that it was “inexcusable” that Dallas police allowed Oswald to be killed, despite warnings from the federal government to be wary of potential retribution for the killing of Kennedy.

Many have since gone on to speculate and investigate whether Ruby had ties to organized crime.

Oswald spoke with a KGB official just 2 months prior to the assassination

Oswald was intercepted speaking to an agent of the KGB, the ruthless security and intelligence arm of the Soviet Union, just a couple months prior to the Kennedy shooting. Records show that during a call between him and the Russian embassy in Mexico City, Mexico, flagged by the CIA, Oswald was heard speaking to Consul Valeriy Vladimirovich Kostikova “in broken Russian,” whom the documents say was an “identified KGB officer.” Though the call may have been intercepted by “the agents own carelessness,” the documents say, it was “not usual” for the KGB to engage in such discussions at a Soviet embassy.

Martin Luther King Jr., a well-known FBI target, was repeatedly mentioned

The released documents included a slew of files related to the late Martin Luther King Jr., a well-known target of the FBI. One such file, the beginning of which is heavily redacted, includes pages dated from May 18-19, 1966 appearing to list 18 names and phone numbers of persons involved in phone calls to and from King.

Another heavily redacted document gives insight into the FBI’s concerns regarding King’s relationship with communist movements. “In Subject’s many activities in the civil rights movement, he has sought and relied upon the advice of various individuals, including the following:”— where the list is redacted. The file continues to detail King’s authoring of an article titled “What We Negroes Ask of the President,” noteworthy for its “exclusive publication” in an October 1964 issue of Vie Nuove, “an Italian weekly magazine owned by the Italian Communist Party.”

The documents continue to follow King’s influence on an international stage even following his assassination, with an April 1968 cable labeled “Eyes Only” reporting a demonstration in Japan “as a rally of 1,000 people for ‘assassinated civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King.’”The file refers to Beheiren, a Japanese activist group instrumental in protesting the country’s assistance to the U.S. during the Vietnam War.

Lyndon Johnson claimed Kennedy assassination was payback for killing of Vietnamese leader, intelligence chief said

CIA Director Richard Helms, who served under both the Lyndon B. Johnson and Richard Nixon administrations, claimed in April 1975 that Johnson used to claim that Kennedy’s killing was an act of foreign retribution, the documents show.

“President Johnson used to go around saying that the reason President Kennedy was assassinated was that he had assassinated President Diem,” Helms said in a deposition.

Oswald was a “good shot,” according to Cuban intelligence official

A Cuban intelligence officer told another Cuban that he knew that Oswald was a “good shot,” because he “knew him.” The conversation was unearthed from records of a previously secret channel.

Robert F. Kennedy was warned about book detailing his “close relationship” to Marilyn Monroe

Robert F. Kennedy, the younger brother of President John F. Kennedy, was sent a memo warning him about the looming release of a book divulging information on his “close relationship” with icon Marilyn Monroe. According to the memo, “The strange death of Marilyn Monroe,” a 1964 book by Frank Capell, alluded to the pair frequently. “Throughout the book … Capell claims that you had a close relationship with Miss Monroe,” documents show officials warning Robert F. Kennedy, the then-attorney general.

(Politico.eu)

AN EPIC POEM BY JOHN WESTER

docs.google.com/document/d/18JQSMUNtVPbX9QzOqVJqvKE-m_jmyeKlThFAWrM2LAM/edit?ts=59f39479

MARKET BOOMING (What could possibly go wrong?)

November 1, 2017 Board of Retirement Meeting Agenda & Supporting Documents

The November Board of Retirement meeting agenda is now available. Please visit www.mendocinocounty.org to view the agenda and supporting documents.

THE TRANQUIL NAVARRO RIVER THURSDAY AFTERNOON

The Navarro River mouth is still blocked by the sandbar - after being open all summer - and the latest reading from the USGS river gauge (located upstream) Friday @ 11:15 am found the river level at 1.58' and its discharge (past the gauge) 58.4 gallons per second.

(MendocinoSportsPlus)

MENDOCINOSPORTSPLUS’S ‘JEWELRY THIEF’S TATTOO MIGHT HAVE BEEN A TIP-OFF’ DEPARTMENT

facebook.com/NovatoPolice/posts/1657568240940342

We are requesting your assistance in identifying this female, who stole a ring valued at $7,500 from a local jewelry store.

(Novato Police)

GANG GIRLS, THE NEW LOOK

This week the Fresno Police Department in California released a mugshot of a female suspect named Mirella Ponce.

Ms. Ponce was arrested for possessing a loaded firearm. Police also posted a photo of a pink and black pistol that Ponce was allegedly in possession of.

Locals and others were praising Ponce for her "on fleek" eyebrows and tattoo work.

THEY WANT TO WHAT? LISTEN FOR THE FIRST TIME? WHADDYA KNOW

Mendocino Coast District Hospital Wants to Listen
Contact: Doug Shald, Director of PR & Marketing
Phone: 707.391.0701
Email: dshald@mcdh.net

Fort Bragg, CA - October 27, 2017 - A team from Mendocino Coast District Hospital (MCDH) is looking for opportunities to attend a meeting with your community group or organization to discuss ideas for the future financial challenges that MCDH and all rural hospitals face. While most critical access hospitals in the United States are financially assisted by bonds, parcel taxes and affiliations, our hospital is on their own. MCDH is the foundation for the overall health and well-being of our area, their mission is to make a positive difference in the health of our rural community. Each year they provide emergency services to around 10,400 patients, they provide care through 94,000 outpatient visits and they are your home healthcare and hospice providers with over 100 patients. The hospital employs more than 320 of your neighbors, providing roughly $2,000,000 of payroll to our community members every month. "We want to have open communication with community members up and down the Mendocino Coast to better understand what they want and expect. We've made progress in many areas here at the hospital, and I am anxious to talk with community members to illustrate some of our achievements and communicate our challenges," said Bob Edwards, CEO. "We are anxious to find financial solutions that work for our community and for MCDH. I truly believe everyone has the same goal here, which is a high-quality local hospital that will be financially stable over time." A small group from MCDH would like to attend your meeting for discussion about solutions to their financial challenges and review what other hospitals are doing. They want to listen to feedback and hear fresh ideas from the community. The presentation would last a quick fifteen minutes followed by listening, open discussion and questions. If you are interested in scheduling a meeting for your group or organization, please call 707-961-1234 x610 or email: gmoon@mcdh.net.

Doug Shald, Director PR & Marketing Communications, Mendocino Coast District Hospital, 707.961.4961

MEMO OF THE AIR: GOOD NIGHT RADIO FRIDAY NIGHT ON KNYO!

I'm away at Juanita's for the show again, for a third week in a row. It's all the same to KNYO's web-accessible transmitter. It doesn't matter where you do your show from, because this is the future. It really is.

If you want to come in and play your musical instrument(s) on the radio or talk about your project, or whatever, make that First Friday in November when I’ll be in Fort Bragg.*

It’s 325 N. Franklin (next to the Tip Top bar). Just sashay in any time after 9pm (Friday, November 3), head for the lighted room at the back and get my attention away from whatever I’m doing, and that's that.

(If you ever write something you want read aloud on the air, email it to me and I’ll do my best. The deadline is always around 5:30 or 6pm the night of the show, so you have like ten or twenty minutes to get it together for tonight. No pressure. I've got plenty of material to stuff the evening with.) (Even more locally written things than last week, including the tail end of Jay Frankston's novel El Sereno that I've been reading from for the past three or four months. Later you'll be glad you can say you were there for that. And I'll be talking on the phone with Lanny Cottler of Willits about his military service and about starting his station there; KLLG.)

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

*(Or contact Bob Young bobb@poetworld.net and get your own regular airtime on KNYO, to do a show entirely of own whimsical devising, and never need to depend on me at all. You're just as good as I am; you can sit where you please.

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

LIBRARY CLOSURES

On Wednesday November 8th, 2017 the Mendocino County Library will be closed. All Mendocino County Library branches and the Bookmobile will be closed for an all staff training day on Wednesday, November 8th. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause, but the time we are closed will be used to provide essential staff training and an opportunity to meet and discuss library issues. We will resume normal operations on Thursday, November 9th. Thank you to all of our patrons for your understanding.