Mendocino County Today: Friday, Dec. 29, 2017

• Long Raid
• Sunrise Murder
• Alexander Vance
• Winter Market
• Local Beef
• MCT Six
• Stoned Drivers
• Fresh Towels
• Hanover Letters
• Errol Wormwood
• Little Dog
• Ed Notes
• Apple Dryer
• Burning Tires
• Weed Biz
• New Laws
• Finally Legal
• Yesterday's Catch
• Dr. Xanax
• Plot Idea
• Tax Free
• Mormontown
• Thompson Hypocrisy
• DUI Drugs
• Prosecutor's Parents
• UFO Investigations
• Babylon Winds
• Pond
• Homeless Helpers
• Walgreen's Emptiness

A CARAVAN of Mendo cops arrived next door this morning at the Suarez property behind the Redwood Drive-In at 9:30 and didn't leave until about 2pm. They're good neighbors and, in my experience, nice people. I hope everything turns out well for them, but a five-hour raid doesn't bode well. Our neighbors on our other side beg for trouble, what with boom boxes and gun shots, but so far no raid on them. Just behind that pinot facade, wine country gets wild.

MURDER AT THE SUNRISE

Husband charged with wife’s murder after police shooting in Ukiah

by Nick Rahaim

Mary Mantynen called her mother in Pahrump, Nevada, three times Dec. 21 while law enforcement surrounded the Ukiah motel room she was sharing that night with her husband Joseph Mantynen. The 23-year-old Las Vegas mother of two young sons and a stepdaughter left two messages before finally getting through to her mother, Lori Harvey, around 8 p.m. “She was crying hysterically and told me to say goodbye to her sons,” Harvey said. “The last thing I said to her was, ‘Don’t be silly, just turn yourself in.’” But before 9 p.m. Mary Mantynen was dead in the bathroom at the Sunrise Inn with at least one gunshot wound, and her husband was charged with murder, even though a spokesman for the Mendocino County District’s Attorney’s Office said the “presumed” fatal shot was fired by a member of the Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office SWAT unit.

Sonoma County Sheriff’s deputies had tracked the couple to the Ukiah motel because they were suspected of stealing multiple weapons Dec. 20 from a family member in Sonoma. The motel standoff involved not only Sonoma County deputies but also Ukiah police and the Mendocino County Sheriff’s SWAT unit. Two deputies — one each from Sonoma and Mendocino county sheriff’s offices — have been placed on paid leave as part of officer-involved shooting protocol, said Mike Geniella, spokesman for the District Attorney’s Office, which is investigating the shooting.

Prosecutors have charged Joseph Mantynen, 32, with murder in the death of his wife, even though he is not believed to have fired any shots during the hourlong standoff. “They were yelling about going down not surrendering and he pointed his gun toward an officer,” Geniella said of the standoff. “If you provoke law enforcement to shoot, and someone is killed, you can be held responsible.” The California Supreme Court reasserted in a 2009 opinion that a person can be charged with murder if his “provocative act” leads to the death of an associate or bystander in a police shooting.

When deputies arrived at the Sunrise Inn with Ukiah police around 7 p.m. Dec. 21, Joseph Mantynen was standing outside the motel, Geniella said. He then ran into his motel room and allegedly grabbed a Remington .22-caliber rifle. At that point, for reasons still unclear, Geniella said Sonoma County Sheriff’s Deputy Scott McKinnon fired an undisclosed number of shots at Mantynen.

Geniella said the following sequence of events then unfolded: The motel room’s front door remained open and the couple retreated to the bathroom. A standoff ensued, with the Mendocino County Sheriff’s SWAT unit arriving to support law enforcement. Mary Mantynen, who was wanted for parole violations in Nevada, screamed at officers and deputies that she did not want to go back to jail. Around 8 p.m., Joseph Mantynen pointed the .22-caliber rifle at law enforcement from the bathroom. Mendocino County Sheriff’s Deputy James Elmore responded with an undisclosed number of shots. Geniella said Joseph Mantynen was unharmed and turned himself in to deputies when he saw his wife had been struck by at least one bullet. Mary Mantynen was found dead in the bathroom. Her official cause of death has not been released.

Both Elmore and McKinnon were placed on paid leave as part of officer-involved shooting protocol. Mary Mantynen’s panicked call to her mother during the standoff was the first time the two had spoken in nearly two months, Harvey said. “I think she called to say goodbye,” Harvey said of her daughter, who grew up in Pahrump, near the California border and 45 minutes west of Las Vegas. Neither Geniella nor Harvey knew what brought the couple from their Las Vegas home to Northern California, but Harvey said Joseph Mantynen’s grandparents live in Sonoma County. She suspects the couple were on the run because her daughter had fallen back into substance abuse and wouldn’t be able to pass a drug test required by the terms of her parole. It could not be determined Thursday why she was on parole. Officials with the Nevada Department of Public Safety refused to release information or comment on Mary Mantynen’s criminal history in the state.

A GoFundMe page created by Mary Mantynen’s friends and family to raise money for a memorial service sheds light on her life growing up in a small desert town best known for its legal brothels. “Mary suffered a traggic (sic) life being subject to sexual assault at a very young age that left her dead inside no matter how hard she tried to act like she was happy,” Christina Riehm posted. The post also claims Mary Mantynen was “shot by the cops after having put her weapon down.” It’s unclear whether she was armed.

Joseph and Mary Mantynen had been married for about six months, according to multiple sources. Shortly after they married Joseph Mantynen was fired from his job at Southern Nevada Fire Protection where he installed sprinkler systems, said Don J. Blunt, owner of the Las Vegas-based company. “He came in one day and said ‘I got way too drunk last night and got married,’” Blunt said. “That’s when the wheels came off the wagon.” Blunt said Joseph Mantynen had worked for him on-and-off over the years and was reliable. But in early 2017 he started showing signs of drug abuse and was fired for not showing up to work on numerous occasions, Blunt said.

Mantynen remains in Mendocino County Jail with bail set at $825,000 and is due in court Jan. 17.

(The Press Democrat)

ALEXANDER VANCE FOUND DEAD

Alexander Vance was found this afternoon in the Travelers Home Trail area of the Mendocino National Forest. Unfortunately, he was found deceased. The cause and manner of his death are currently under investigation.

Our heartfelt condolences are extended to his family.

We'd like to thank everyone who assisted by sharing information about Alex being missing.

We'd also like to thank the Redding Air Unit of the California Highway Patrol for their assistance with their helicopter in this search.

(Sheriff’s Press Release)

LAST BOONVILLE WINTER MARKET OF THE YEAR!

The Boonville Winter Market will take place Saturday from 9:30-noon, in front of Seebass, across from the Boonville Hotel. JD Varietals should be there. Petit Teton Farm will be there with pork, beef, squab, eggs, a few greens, and all our canned goods. The Yorkville Olive Ranch will be at the market on Saturday with both the 375 ml and 750 ml bottles of our award winning 2016 Extra Virgin Olive Oil, Tuscan Field Blend. There are two bottles remaining of the 2017 "Olio Nuovo". Extra Virgin Olive Oil is an excellent choice for a New Year's host gift.

LOCAL BEEF FOR SALE, Grass Fed Murray Grey/Angus cross Beef, 1/4s For December-January delivery4 Bar K Ranch in Boonville, CA is offering premium grass fed beef for sale. This is local grass fed beef, raised in rural Anderson Valley, in Mendocino County, with no shots or hormones, just excellent, lean, grass finished beef. We raise our beef free range, organically, in a humane, safe, and stress free way. This insures your beef is the best quality and safest meat, that is raised and sold in the right way. Please contact me and I will send our information flyer in a PDF format. It should answer most of your questions, but feel free to call me anytime if you're interested. If interested please contact Dave Kooyers at dkooyers@gmail.com (707) 895-2325.

BREAK OUT THE COLD DUCK. The mighty ava launched its first daily post for Mendocino County Today six years ago. Come, take my hand for a trip down memory lane:

Welcome to Mendocino County Today, a new AVA blog.

From this morning  forward, in this space, we'll be posting daily bulletins on breaking  stories specific to or affecting Mendocino County (and more).

VERN PIVER, Fort Bragg's unofficial mayor, is at UCSF recovering from  surgery. He is doing well, and doctors are optimistic that he'll make a  full recovery. The popular Piver is 78 and is widely considered among the  best athletes ever to have come out of Mendocino County.

NORCAL football fans are rejoicing that San Francisco Forty Niners will  meet the New York Giants next Sunday at Candlestick. If the Giants had  lost to Green Bay, the Niners would have to play in Green Bay. Sunday's  game may, we all hope, see the Niners go to the Super Bowl.

TELEMARKETING CROOKS are cold-calling Mendo residents to solicit donations  for the Mendocino County Sheriff's Department. The Sheriff's Department  says these solicitations are bogus.

WITH THE FEDS threatening to sue, Mendocino County will "reconsider" its  medical marijuana licensing programs, unofficially called "the zip tie  program." The Supes will discuss ways to amend the County's existing  ordinance to get the feds off their backs.

SECOND DISTRICT Supervisor John McCowen has been elected Board chair. 5th  District Supe Hamburg, vice-chair.

UKIAH'S DOWNTOWN Post Office has closed. Efforts to keep the graceful,  pre-War structure open all failed. Locals are worried that the WPA mural  in the lobby, painted by Ben Cunningham, may disappear, as did the old  Black Bart painting disappeared from the Palace Hotel.

A PAIR OF BROWN COUNTY TEXAS cops flew to Ukiah last Tuesday to escort  Chris Diaz, medical marijuana martyr, back to Texas where Diaz faces 5-99  years in state prison for possession of a quarter ounce pot product and  additional charges of bail jumping.

YOU MUST KNOW by now that Branches Restaurant in Ukiah has closed. The  upscale (by Ukiah standards) eatery employed 65 people.

WAL-MART UKIAH is inviting supporters of its plan to expand to a 24-hour  megastore to a free meal. Expect to be fed as long as you show up to  mau-mau the Ukiah City Council.

“WE NEED YOU! Please join us Wednesday,  January 18, at 6pm to voice your support for the Walmart expansion plan.  This hearing is our first opportunity to show the Ukiah City Council that  the community wants this expansion! To demonstrate our great community  support, we need all of our supporters in attendance. We’ll be hosting a  dinner for supporters beginning at 5pm on the night of the hearing. To  RSVP or get more details, email us at info@ukiahcan.org or call us at  707/703-4978. www.UkiahCAN.org."

TOKE & DRIVE: The legalization of recreational marijuana in California is days away, but that hasn't stopped some from driving & smoking marijuana. According to San Francisco Police Department, 1 in 4 drivers they pull over is stoned. A new kind of breathalyzer may be on its way.

(MendocinoSportsPlus)

TWO FRESH TOWELS

Dearest Editor,

My name is Eric Lincoln. I'm an inmate at the Mendocino County Jail at 951 Low Gap Road, Ukiah 95482.

My complaint might seem minor compared to most complaints that have circulated through these walls. But to me my request holds validity, not just some petty meaningless bitching.

On December 16, 2017, I was housed in jail. At that time I was minus socks, a sweatshirt, toothbrush, and soap packet due to availability?

Since then I put in a couple of requests for towels. Guys have been leaving and still no clean extra towels? I don’t understand the bullshit! How hard is it to wash two towels for one inmate?

As of today, December 21, 2017 I have been using a friend’s towel. At times even my extra sweatshirt! I came in on December 16 and today is December 21.

I had absolutely no idea the Mendocino County Jail is this much of a fucked up situation. Oh well, it looks like I'll be singing All I Want for Christmas Is My Two Fresh Towels for Christmas. Whatever!

As if,

Eric Lincoln

Ukiah/Covelo

WILL THE REAL JOSH HANOVER PLEASE STAND UP?

Dear AVA,

This is the real Joshua Clayton Hanover.

For one thing, this is the first time I've ever written you, so whoever wrote you slandering me and impersonating me over Trevor Jackson and David Eyster is real pathetic. For one, Trevor Jackson got us up on trimming job. Then he had the cops already there to arrest us while he got away and set up five other people in the process to get out of a 12 year sentence on the previous robbery of a pot garden. Everybody in this county knows that Jackson has been working with the law for years all the way back to the Shane Hutchinson’s murder and now his wife impersonates me and slanders me in the paper. How pathetic is this?

I've been in jail since July 17. Every letter I write and send out of jail, they make a record of. And I never once sent a letter to you until now because I read my name in the paper saying some stuff I never said and you guys printed it. You guys make me look like a fool too.

To the County and David Eyster: isn't there some kind of law about slandering? So for the record, if you guys don't want a lawsuit, I suggest you set the record straight and pull my name out of your paper and please believe my lawyer will be getting ahold of you.

Thank you,

Josh Hanover

Ukiah

ED NOTE: We can’t find any reference on line to a “Shane Hutchinson” murder.

Attached:

1. Original of “Joshua Clayton Hanover” letter dated Dec. 7, 2017
2. Original of “Josh Hanover” undated letter receved Dec. 28, 2017.

 

GET TO THE POINT, MORRIS

AVA,

Thanks for the recommendation of the Errol Morris film Wormwood in the latest Off The Record. I gave up on Morris a long time ago because he is so God Damn busy cinematically. Why all the Dutch camera angles of the same car driving by 17 times or ridiculously extreme close-ups of alphabet letters spinning round and round until the effect is similar to eating alphabet soup as a kid and then vomiting? Just have Eric Olsen talk and play that because that's what's interesting. But Morris being Morris, he's got to clutter up the frame with stupid shit because he’s got to let the cinematographer know HE’S THE BOSS!

If you want good Morris check out Gates of Heaven or Vernon, Florida or The Thin Blue Line. After that save your time.

Add to that Morris is a pompous prick. I worked on one of his film sets, a commercial for Taco Bell I believe. Yes, the great Errol Morris makes Taco Bell commercials. He was going on and on at lunch, holding court if you will, about how Fuad Ramses, the creepy Egyptian cannibal caterer was the protagonist of Herschell Gordon Lewis’s 2000 Maniacs and was crushed and splattered to death in the back of a garbage truck on a Miami Beach sidestreet at the end of that film. When I politely corrected him that the film he was thinking about was Lewis’s brilliant Blood Feast and not 2000 Maniacs he fucking hit the ceiling. No one corrects Errol Morris. No one. But I digress.

My wife and I are slogging through Wormwood and it's a chore but it's worth it I guess as I'm learning about this Olsen incident which I was only spotty about up till now.

But reading your paper I've often wondered why you think the tinfoil hat crowd is so ridiculous in thinking the ridiculous things they do. Didn't I.F. Stone say that all governments lie? And didn't the government lie to Eric Olsen? So why is it such a stretch to think lots of people killed JFK and the World Trade Center Tower whatever was brought down by a controlled detonation? And why not believe my neighbor when he says that the United States Air Force is shooting "info rays" into his titanium knee-cap?

Why is it considered insane to think everything this government says is a lie?

Ralph Coon

Los Angeles

ED REPLY: Assuming they're dangerous is a sound starting point for sure. I agree about all the Last Day At Marianbad, filmic razzmatazz in Wormwood. If the story weren’t so compelling, I’d have chucked it. I met Coppola at Tosca in SF, and it was like chatting with a guy who walked in off the street. Very pleasant man who said he liked the ava, which he occasionally picked up across the street at City Lights. I could drop other big shot names, but the greatest American movie director ever will have to do for now.

LITTLE DOG SAYS, “I couldn't help overhearing the most disgusting pandering I've ever heard. One of these people — I won't mention who because of possible repercussions — says to Skrag, all-time deadbeat, ‘Sorry your breakfast is late, your majesty.’ It made me lose my own appetite!”

ED NOTES

---

RE TREE FROG & LEONARD LAKE & CHARLES NG—

A reader writes:

"My point, however, was that they were never busted here [Mendo] for their perversions, even tho, several had i.d.'d them for such. You, yourself, can describe what you didn't like about them, but did you ever do anything about it? Along with everyone else in the Valley who felt the same? What's the opposite of friendly? Hostile? If everyone who had i.d.'d the pervs as pervs back then, they sure didn't act hostile toward them, either. The general acceptance of weirdoes has long been accepted in Mendocino!"

THE WORLD CLASS WEIRDOS of the Anderson Valley, specifically the ones you cited, were simply assumed to be auxilialry weirdos affiIiated with the hippies of the time. I used to see these particular pervs here and there in the valley but didn't socialize in their circles. But I got Lake's wife Cricket fired from her job at the junior high when she tried to get female students down to Philo so Leonard could photograph them in the hot tub. My daughter was one of the girls recruited, I hit the phone immediately and that was that. Lake, however, functioned as a volunteer firefighter and as the organization's recording secretary. No one could have had any idea he was a rapist and a homicidal maniac. Frog I'd see around with his little catamite but I thought they were just more weirdo. Turned out the little guy had been turned over to Frog by his mother on the grounds that Frog was the coolest man she knew, so who better to raise her son while she did her own thing. Frog and the kid lived at Colfaxes west of town. When I got to know Colfax he claimed he had no idea Frog was a chomo, which is unlikely but that's what he said. A lot of dumbass hippies knew about Frog and said nothing, which us "straights" learned only after he was finally arrested in San Francisco. Detectives from SF subsequently visited the Anderson Valley with a photo album of local molest vics they'd confiscated from Frog's van. The police were trying to identify all of them, and there were lots from here and on the Mendocino Coast. There were creeps coming in the windows in those days.

---

THE BIG COLOR PHOTO accompanying TJ Nelson's obituary has been up for weeks now on the Press Democrat's website, so long that if he were family to me I'd think the paper was making fun of the poor guy.

---

LIKED THIS PARA from the Chron's talented sports writer, Ann Killion: "All of the 49ers’ fans — starved for competence and excitement — are on the Garoppolo bandwagon. At La Rocca’s Corner in North Beach, a clever bit of marketing on the marquee this week: 'Jimmy Garoppolo here tonight, looking for a date’.”

---

A STANDING ROOM CROWD at a recent meeting of the Willits City Council was there for a discussion of rent control for mobile homes. Three Willits-area parks were bought by outside investors last summer. Arcata and Fremont have passed mobile home rent control ordinances. Mendocino County? The Supes have passed on a rent control ordinance. So far. With the numbers of local people on fixed incomes living in trailer parks, many of them elderly, it's past time to protect them from the sharks.

---

AN ANON COMMENTER on the ava's website:

"The Karl Witt story…. REALLY? Do you research anything before print? Is there a fact-checker in the house? Apparently NOT. Prop 64 DOES NOT supersede 215. Under 215, 18 years and older can be both patient and caregiver. For shame. This is NOT journalism, it’s like a tabloid trash rag. The story here is about Criminals with Clout. Cops on a last dash cash grab."

OUR STORY came from the DA's press release, so fact check him, dude. Maybe before these characters foray to the frontiers of free enterprise they should check their vehicles to see that they're street legal. I'm sure Witt is a swell guy.

PHILO APPLE DRYER

(Photo by Debra Keipp)

GENTLEMAN GEORGE HOLLISTER, the Comptche tree farmer, on burning tires at GP:

I have heard there were tires burned, but it was from people who did not work there, and had an axe to grind. I know quite a few former GP employees, and have never heard of burning tires from them. I imagine it is entirely possible, though.

For many years, and to some extent today, tires have been used to enhance the burning of slash or brush piles. The practice used to be really common, all over rural America. That includes Mendocino County. This was a good way to get a fire burning, and get rid of old tires at the same time. If tires are burned, there should be residual steel belting in the ash. Has anyone mentioned seeing tire shaped coils of wire in the piles of ash from the GP mill?

COUPLA ON-LINE COMMENTS from Kym Kemp/Redheaded Blackbelt:

Like all Gold Rushes, this GREEN Rush will bust eventually. More likely sooner than later. Those selling grower supplies are making handsome profits. Same as merchants have been doing here since the 70s. Same as the merchants did in 1849. That’s where the real gold was.

Look at Colorado. In September, bud was going for $120/OZ as medicine and $200-$240/OZ recreational. Plus sales tax on top of the weed tax already included in the price for recreational. Same for edibles and extracts and oils. All sold for less than they do in Humboldt. And I was told the prices would continue to fall and that why dispensaries there were so generous with freebies and discount sales. Unlike dispensaries in Humboldt that charge artificially high prices, in my opinion. Supply has always out stripped demand here in Humboldt. Now with this Green Rush, it can only saturate the local market. Should we wait for the dispensaries here to lower prices? I would not hold my breath. But by the end of the coming year, many growers, distributors and dispensaries will be forced to lower prices and still face stiff competition. That is the inevitable outcome of any greed rush; over supply. It remains to be seen how many will survive.

That is my opinion of the future legal market here.

Sorry to see another story glorifying the “industry”. As we all know, cannabis supports many folks in Humboldt, while directly causing the destruction of a massive area of environment and chronically poisoning the population with a culture of drug addiction.

The drug dealers of Humboldt continue to hide behind the name “farmer”, when they should be called “assassins of sensibility”, “the degraders of sobriety and society” or just straight up “pirates”.

Your largely dirty weed crop, grown so far from market, is an insult to actual farmers everywhere. The influx of party people, homeless and hanger-on addicts, and the expansion of drug-dealer craziness in our county, will destroy the lifestyle you claim to love. It is already one of the most dangerous, addicted, and deadly places in this country, and more pot will only make it worse.

Enjoy the party, live in the shit. I hope you pathetic pot-business-people realize that you could do this cheaper and cleaner, somewhere a little more farm-like, somewhere where the social cost is lower and the degradation less, and where someone working for you could have a bit more dignity.

All the money you make will not buy you respect, legitimacy, or peace for your family. It is sad that legalization came only when the law abiding population was completely overrun with your stinky culture of intoxication and your outlaw mentality.

NEW LAWS 2018

sfgate.com/bayarea/article/new-california-laws-going-into-effect-in-2018-12458046.php

RECREATIONAL WEED SALES START MONDAY STATEWIDE;

Here’s Where You Can Buy It In Humboldt

by Ryan Burns

“It’s finally legal.”

That’s the celebratory message printed on the glossy, four-page advertising insert tucked into issues of this week’s North Coast Journal. With a big picture of a dried, crystal-caked bud on the front and a bunch more photos inside of various weed strains and products, the ad — for Eureka retail outlet Ecological Cannabis Organization, or ECO — heralds the dawn of a new era in Humboldt County and the rest of the state.

Starting Monday, marijuana will be legal to buy for anyone over 21, no 215 card required. That’s assuming you can find a pot shop.

The state’s Bureau of Cannabis Control began issuing temporary sales licenses just two weeks ago, and aspiring weed-mongers have been scrambling to submit the proper documentation, including a permit from their local city or county.

ECO, a dispensary at 306 F Street in Eureka, was among the first 10 applicants to receive a state license.

“It was pretty painless,” Company Manager Ray Markland told us earlier this week. “All of our local [documentation] that was required by the City of Eureka was also what the state was looking for.”

ECO appears to be one of only two storefronts in Humboldt County where customers will be able to buy recreational cannabis on New Year’s Day. Mariellen Jurkovich, director of the Humboldt Patient Resource Center (HPRC) at 980 Sixth Street in Arcata, said they’ve secured their local permit and submitted everything required to the state. They’re just waiting to get final approval from the state and — fingers crossed — expect to be open for business Monday.

“It’s been so stressful,” Jurkovich said. The City of Arcata didn’t approve the issuance of provisional non-medical permits until last Wednesday’s City Council meeting, according to City Manager Karen Diemer, which left Jurkovich and other applicants just a few days to apply with the state.

Both ECO and HPRC plan to serve both medical and recreational customers, and Jurkovich said there’s still a lot to be figured out on the recreational side.

“There are gonna be a lot of changes,” she said regarding state regulations. “We’re excited for having [recreational use] permitted, but there’s gonna be a lot of things coming up they’ll have to clarify or maybe change.”

One key difference from the medical market is taxation. Retailers will be responsible for paying a 15 percent excise tax on all products sold, plus sales tax, which is 8.5 percent in both Arcata and Eureka. There will also be taxation at other points in the production line, including a cultivation tax, plus increased costs from transportation, packaging and testing.

With these business expenses plus taxation rates potentially reaching as high as 45 percent in some parts of the state, our region’s black market won’t disappear overnight. But Markland believes there’s a market for recreational users even here in Humboldt County, where many if not most residents know somebody who can hook them up with buds or trim.

“We’re gonna focus on concentrates and high-end indoor because I believe, just following trends, Humboldt County is a big fan of things they can’t get from a friend or neighbor,” Markland said. “Not everybody can make a really killer extract at their house — hopefully they’re not,” he added. “Be safe.”

As the former manager of Eureka Natural Foods, Markland comes from a retail background, and he said the new recreational weed sales industry will look a lot different than the state’s long-established medical sales setup. For one thing, retailers will only be allowed to purchase products from licensed distributors — no more direct purchasing from growers.

Markland said it’s like grocery stores buying beer. “You can’t just call Barbara Groom at Lost Coast and say, ‘Hey, it’s Eureka Natural Foods. Can we order 20 12-packs of Great White?’ You don’t do that. You go through Humboldt Beer Distributors.” Pot shops will have to jump through similar hoops.

ECO, HPRC and other recreational retailers in the state will have until July 1 to sell the products already in stock on New Year’s Day. After that everything will have to comply with the new state regulations regarding testing, tracking, packaging and more.

While there will be (at most) just two pot shops open locally at the start of 2018, more are on the way. Heart of Humboldt, the medical dispensary next to HPRC in Arcata, is reportedly pursuing its own retail sales permit, and Eureka Development Services Director Rob Holmlund tells the Outpost, “the City is currently in the process of receiving proposals from other prospective cannabis retail facilities.” The city’s municipal code allows up to four retail shops to be located in city limits, with no more than two approved during each six-moth period.

Other local cities, including Blue Lake and Fortuna, have opted to not allow recreational sales at all. In the unincorporated parts of the county, no applicants have been approved for retail sales, though one in McKinleyville is in the permitting process, awaiting building and fire clearance, according to Public Information Officer Sean Quincey.

Other players in the new legal market are also ramping up. Diemer said Arcata had about 20 people apply for provisional adult use permits, with only one being for retail sales. The rest are mostly pursuing manufacturing permits, including extraction and cultivation activities in the city’s recently rechristened Commercial Cannabis Innovation Zone, Diemer said.

Jurkovich said that while the last-minute permit rush and still-evolving regulatory landscape have been stressful, she’s looking forward to Monday. “We’re as ready as we’re gonna be,” she said.

If everything goes as planned and the state permit comes through, HPRC will open at 10 a.m. on New Year’s Day. ECO will open its doors at noon.

(Courtesy, LostCoastOutpost.com)

Ed note: According to Weed news website The Cannifornian the only two recreational cannabis dispensaries in Mendocino County with a state permit at this time are: Revolution Emporium and Kure Wellness, both on Lake Mendocino Drive north of Ukiah.

CATCH OF THE DAY, December 28, 2017

PEDER ELDER, Ukiah. Domestic abuse, false imprisonment, probation revocation.

BILLY ELKIN JR., Fort Bragg. Disorderly conduct-alcohol, resisting, probation revocation.

KIMBELLE FISHER, Fort Bragg. Forge or alter vehicle registration.

JONATHAN GARCIA-CRUZ, Ukiah. Burglary, conspiracy.

BRYAN GRIZZLE, Fort Bragg. DUI causing bodily injury, domestic battery, probation revocation.

FERNANDO SALMERON-GOMES, Bakersfield/Willits. DUI-alcohol-drugs.

RICARDO SUAREZ JR., Cloverdale/Boonville. Pot cultivation-processing, pot possession for sale, assault weapon, large capacity magazine, offenses while on bail.

FORMER GUESTS ON DR. PHIL who were battling alcoholism and addiction say they were given alcohol and Xanax before their interviews, and one person said she was even directed by a staff member on the show to find heroin for her detoxing niece. The shocking allegations reported in STAT and the Boston Globe were denied by the show, on which host Phillip McGraw portrays himself as a savior for the addicted. Former Survivor winner Todd Herzog said that he was sober when he arrived at Dr. Phil’s studio but given a bottle of Smirnoff vodka in his dressing room and handed a Xanax after drinking all of it to “calm his nerves.” “It’s a callous and inexcusable exploitation,” Jeff Sugar told STAT and the Globe. Sugar, an assistant professor of clinical psychiatry at the University of Southern California, added: “These people are barely hanging on. It’s like if one of them was drowning and approaching a lifeboat, and instead of throwing them an inflatable doughnut, you throw them an anchor.”

(DailyBeast.com)

"I GET TO GIVE MY KIDS $20 MILLION TAX-FREE"

Granddaughter of Disney co-founder blasts Republican-led 'very fat' tax cut which will let her keep more money she 'did nothing to earn.'

An heiress to the Disney fortune is unhappy about the new tax law just passed by the Republican-led Congress – even though she stands to benefit from it.

Abigail Disney, the granddaughter of the late Roy O. Disney, the co-founder of the Walt Disney Company, appeared in a Now This video on Wednesday to slam the ‘very fat tax cut’ that she will get on income which she ‘did not do anything to earn.’

‘This bill will give me this tax cut while also killing health insurance for over 13 million people,’ Abigail Disney, an activist and filmmaker, said.

‘It will let me pass over $20 million to my children, tax-free. And all my friends with private jets? They get a tax cut too.’

She said the state of the nation’s education system is such that young children are being denied the opportunity for social mobility.

Abigail Disney, 57, credits social mobility for enabling her grandfather, Roy, and great-uncle, Walt, to emerge from poverty and achieve wealth in America.

‘But I will be able to stay comfortably right where I am,’ she said.

‘Does that strike you as fair?’

Abigail Disney also takes aim at President Donald Trump, particularly his claim that he would ‘drain the swamp’ in Washington, DC.

‘Given how this bill was written, I think it’s looking a lot like a nightmare from “Pirates of the Caribbean”,’ she said.

‘Have I made you angry yet? I really hope I’ve made you angry. You should be. No one who votes for this tax bill will be voting with your life in mind. But you will pay for it.’

Abigail Disney has traditionally taken political positions that are more liberal compared to those of her largely conservative family.

In 2014, actress Meryl Streep made headlines when she publicly blasted Walt Disney as a ‘hideous anti-Semite’ and a ‘gender bigot.’

Abigail Disney came out in support of Streep, saying she ‘loved’ the Academy Award-winning actress’ remarks and that she had ‘mixed feelings’ about her great-uncle.

'I hadn't heard a word about this Meryl Streep/Walt Disney flap till this morning. Funny how no one mentioned it to me.... Like I was living in some kind of information bubble and nobody wanted to hurt my feelings or something. But if anyone is going to have mixed feelings about a cultural icon, wouldn't it be a member of the family??? More than anyone else???' she wrote on her Facebook page.

'And if you are going to have mixed feelings about a family member (and we all do) take it from me, you really need to be as honest as possible about those feelings, or else you are going to lead yourself into many a blind alley in life!!'

She went on to agree with Streep's accusations of racism and sexism.

'Anti-Semite? Check. Misogynist? OF COURSE!! Racist? C'mon he made a film (Jungle Book) about how you should stay "with your own kind" at the height of the fight over segregation!

'As if the "King of the Jungle" number wasn't proof enough!! How much more information do you need?'

(DailyMail On-Line)

ON LINE COMMENT OF THE DAY

Christmas greetings from Salt Lake City. The state with a balanced budget! Also, the city where people have respect and don’t throw their garbage everywhere (this place is amazingly clean compared to San Jose). Also, where women make an effort to look feminine, AND everyone is very kind. (I drove my mom to the beauty parlor for her weekly hairdo appointment this morning.) I’m going to hit the slopes tomorrow. My ski game isn’t what it used to be, when I was an undergrad at Brigham Young University and took skiing as my PE class. Just say NO to black diamond slopes! Jen in Utah

THOMPSON'S TRUE COLORS

Editor:

Hypocrisy at its finest. Rep. Mike Thompson co-sponsored a massive tax cut for the alcohol industry in the tax bill (“Brewers, vintners, distillers win big,” Dec. 17). This is a terrible idea, but it satisfies his money sources. Then he said he opposed the overall tax package for the very reasons represented by the alcohol-related provision. That apparently is to placate those who voted him into office.

Of course, his main concern, the money interests, will get their tax break, because the bill passed. Among other reasons, the tax giveaway is so horrible because of the very thing he did. Does anybody in Washington think these things through, or care about the little guys?

Richard Thayer

Santa Rosa

DUI DOESN’T JUST MEAN BOOZE

SACRAMENTO, CA – The issue of drivers under the influence of drugs (DUID), rather than alcohol, is an increasingly serious problem in California. Faced with more instances of DUID, state and local officials are reiterating the message that “DUI Doesn’t Just Mean Booze.”

The message takes on increased importance as the state begins licensing commercial nonmedical cannabis sales on January 1, 2018, under provisions of Proposition 64, the Adult Use of Marijuana Act. Alcohol-impaired driving is still the most serious problem on our roadways, but the percentage of drivers in fatal collisions who have other impairing substances in their system keeps rising.

“It has taken more than 35 years to convince the vast majority of the public that driving under the influence of alcohol is dangerous, illegal, and socially unacceptable,” said Rhonda Craft, Director of the Office of Traffic Safety. “With more dying on our roadways every day, we can’t afford to take that long when it comes to driving under the influence of prescription medications, marijuana, illicit drugs and even some over-the-counter medications.”

From 2005 to 2015, the percentage of drivers in fatal collisions who had an impairing drug other than alcohol in their system increased from 26.2 percent to 42.6 percent, according to statistics from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. As far back as 2012, a roadside survey in California showed more drivers tested positive for drugs that may impair driving (14 percent) than did for alcohol (7.3 percent). Of the drugs, cannabis was most prevalent, at 7.4 percent, slightly more than alcohol.

In addition to alcohol or cannabis, a driver could be subject to a DUI arrest if they are under the influence of prescription medications like sleep aids, tranquilizers, barbiturates, opiates and other pain killers, anti-depressants, and even over-the-counter allergy or cough medications when they impair your ability to drive a vehicle.

“Just like drunk driving, driving under the influence of drugs is not only dangerous, it is a crime,” CHP Acting Commissioner Warren Stanley said. “What caused the impairment does not matter. In short, “drive high, get a DUI.”

In the face of more drug-impaired drivers on the road, the CHP and local law enforcement are training more officers in Advanced Roadside Impaired Driving Enforcement and Drug Recognition Evaluation. The advanced training augments the Standardized Field Sobriety Test to help identify what substances other than alcohol a driver may be impaired by.

Acting Commissioner Stanley and Director Craft note alternatives to driving impaired, including calling a taxi or a sober friend or family member, using public transportation, or ride-hailing services. If you see a driver who appears to be impaired, do not hesitate to call 9-1-1.

During December, the Office of Traffic Safety ran public awareness announcements concerning prescription medication DUI. Starting December 27 and running through January, the emphasis switches to one illustrating that no matter your age or your reasons for consuming cannabis, you should never drive while high.

(CHP Press Release)

THE LAKE COUNTY CONNECTION

The Octogenarian couple busted with 60 pounds of marijuana worth $336,000 in their pickup that they planned to 'give as Christmas gifts' are the parents of a top Vermont prosecutor

An elderly couple busted last week for trying to give away 60 pounds of high grade marijuana as a Christmas present are the parents of a top prosecutor in Vermont, it was learned on Thursday.

Patrick Jiron, 80, and his 83-year-old wife Barbara Jiron were arrested in Nebraska last Tuesday after they were stopped by York County Sheriff's deputies on Interstate 80.

They claimed they were going to give the marijuana away as Christmas gifts to relatives in Vermont and Boston.

The Jirons are the parents of Justin Jiron, the chief deputy state's attorney for Chittenden County, Vermont's most populous county.

The county seat is Burlington, which is The Green Mountain State's largest city by population.

'Justin is in no way connected to this allegation other than by relation,' his boss, Chittenden County State's Attorney Sarah George, told the Burlington Free Press.

'Justin is and has been a dedicated public servant for over 15 years, and I assure you he is as surprised and upset about these allegations as anyone.'

Authorities in Vermont say there is no indication that Justin Jiron is linked in any way to his parents' alleged crime, according to the Free Press.

'I don't think he knew anything about what his parents were bringing over or what they intended to do with it,' said John Campbell, the executive director of the Vermont Department of State's Attorneys and Sheriffs.

'From what I understand, this is as much as a shock to him and a surprise that it is to anyone else who has heard about it.'

'Justin, I can say, is one of the most upstanding prosecutors I know and also one of the most upstanding human beings,' Campbell said.

'He's also an officer of the court, and I would assume that if he was asked by his employer if he had any knowledge or involvement that she obviously is satisfied with his response.

'If she's satisfied, I'm certainly satisfied, because she works with him every day.'

Authorities in Vermont say there is no indication that Justin Jiron is linked in any way to his parents' alleged crime.

Justin Jiron refused to comment on his parents' arrest.

In January, he became chief deputy under George. Before that, he worked for TJ Donovan, who is currently Vermont's attorney general.

Jiron is considered a rising star in the state attorney's office. He has handled a number of high-profile criminal prosecutions in Vermont.

He prosecuted Brian Rooney for the 2006 abduction, rape, and murder of a 21-year-old college student, Michelle Gardner-Quinn.

Jiron also handled the prosecution of Christopher Williams, who killed two people in Essex, Vermont after going on a shooting spree in 2006.

On December 19, authorities found large quantities of marijuana stashed in the back of the Toyota Tacoma pickup belonging to Patrick and Barbara Jiron.

The high grade marijuana had an estimated street value of $336,000, according to the sheriff's office.

The elderly couple told officers they were on their way to Vermont from their home in Clearlake Oaks, California.

California legalized recreational use of marijuana last year, as did Massachusetts. The state legislature in Vermont is planning to consider legalizing marijuana consumption.

They added that the marijuana was for Christmas presents.

The couple were initially stopped when officers spotted their pickup driving over the center line and failing to signal.

Deputies said they could immediately smell the strong odor of raw marijuana when they approached the truck.

They searched the vehicle and found the drugs stored in the pickup's topper.

The couple were taken into custody on charges of possession of marijuana with the intent to deliver and no drug tax stamp.

The Jirons told authorities that they were not aware that possession of marijuana is illegal in Nebraska.

Patrick Jiron was charged with the felonies, while his wife was left off with a citation.

(Daily Mail On-Line)

NO TIN FOIL HATS REDUX

by William Allen

Many UFO researchers, authors and knowledgeable enthusiasts have been basking in vindication and a measure of schadenfreude after front page stories in The New York Times, The Washington Post, and Politico.com revealed that the Defense Department recently ran a secret, multi-year "black budget" program to investigate UFO's. The revelation exploded the long held belief, and numerous assertions by military Public Information Officers, that the government stopped investigating the UFO phenomenon after 1969 when it terminated Project Blue Book. From 1952 to 1969 Air Force personnel assigned to Blue Book investigated - or pretended to investigate - thousands of reported UFO sightings, mainly from civilians and law enforcement officers. The investigation concluded that the majority of sightings had prosaic explanations, while 700 were deemed unknowns. But many critics at the time, and since, condemned the program as a public relations ploy and debunking campaign meant to dissuade the public from further enthusiasm for the phenomenon.

In the following decades, numerous UFO and national security researchers, plus various retired military officers, asserted there was enough leaked memoranda and confidential anecdotal evidence to substantiate the contention that military and intelligence agencies simply moved their UFO investigations into a top-secret, compartmented SAP (Special Access Program) - so secret not even White House officials in successive administrations were briefed on the program.

The recent bombshell stories are significant because they issued from elite news media and were then reported straightforwardly by the major television networks, as well as NPR, Space.com, Esquire, Vanity Fair, and Popular Mechanics. There has not been serious coverage of the subject by US mainstream media in nearly fifty years. Now that some of them have ventured off the reservation it will be interesting to see if follow-up reporting continues or if the story sinks down the memory hole.

The program caught the interest of NYT editors due in part to the political prominence of its sponsors and the intelligence agency credentials of its director. Former Senators Harry Reid (D-NV), the late Daniel Inouye (D-HI), and the late Ted Stevens (R-AK) were instrumental in securing secret funding for the program. All three reportedly had an interest in the UFO phenomenon. Mr. Reid became more interested, he told the Times, when the late Senator John Glenn (R-OH) suggested to him there ought to be a serious government study of UFO's that should include interviewing military pilots. The fact that Mr. Glenn was a Marine pilot and NASA astronaut indicates he likely knew something regarding the anomalous objects buzzing around in our skies. And the fact that he prodded Mr. Reid to sponsor an investigation is revealing. How many more pilots and astronauts are keeping their experiences with UFO's close to their vests?

The secret program was run from the Pentagon by Luis Elizondo, a senior career intelligence officer who has worked with the National Counterintelligence Executive, the CIA, the US Army, and the Office of the Secretary of Defense. During the program's peak years, he managed more than forty scientists and technicians. They poured over troves of data from the military, reviewed classified films, interviewed witnesses, analyzed mysterious alloys allegedly recovered from UFO landing sights or ejected in flight, and wrote voluminous reports that remain classified.

In a pre-publication interview with a co-author of the Times article, and later in an online public forum, Mr. Elizondo stated bluntly that the UFO phenomena they studied "are indeed real" and "did not originate from any country." Let that sink in.

Given this man's background, given his access to Defense Department intelligence resources, would anyone argue with what he knows and has revealed?

Sure they would. It was amusing to see the network's go-to 'skepti-bunkers' sputter their way through semi-coherent rebuttals on news programs. Neil deGrasse Tyson, the celebrity science expounder, was so discomforted during a CNN segment he nearly blew a gasket. And on another news program Seth Shostak, senior astronomer for SETI (Search for Extra Terrestrial Intelligence) blathered something like "...if they're here, they're just flying around...agitating people...otherwise not doing anything!" But Mr. Shostak and his radio-telescope coterie, funded by generous grants from multi-millionaires and public donations, have their turf to protect. He spends a good deal of time on the talk show circuit arguing that when we eventually discover ET it will be via radio signals transmitted long ago in a galaxy far, far away. Of that belief, the late counter-culture philosopher Terrence McKenna said: "To search expectantly for radio signals from an extraterrestrial civilization... is about as culture bound a presumption as to search the galaxy for a good Italian restaurant."

In a subsequent interview with a reporter for KLAS-TV (Las Vegas) Mr. Reid acknowledged that among the incidents investigated by the secret program were UFO incursions at US Air Force nuclear missile bases.

Thus we arrive at the sanctum sanctorum of government UFO secrecy: there is much corroborating evidence the US military (along with militaries of other nuclear armed nations) is powerless to deal with UFO's that penetrate nuclear weapons facilities and sometimes tamper with intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBM's) using an unknown, tremendously advanced technology.

Researcher, author and lecturer Robert Hastings (ufohastings.com) has spent forty years investigating and documenting UFO incursions at nuclear weapons sites of all types, both in the US and abroad. He has interviewed more than 150 military veterans - including ICBM Launch Control Officers, Targeting Officers, Security Officers, Air Force pilots, and radar operators - who were present when the incidents occurred. He has also acquired numerous declassified government documents confirming many of the incidents. First published in 2007, his book UFOs & Nukes: Extraordinary Encounters at Nuclear Weapons Sites, has just been re-issued in a revised and updated edition.

For those who prefer a cinematic education, Mr. Hastings also produced a recently released documentary titled: UFOs and Nukes: The Secret Link Revealed. It is available for streaming at Amazon Prime and Vimeo on Demand.

Blending on-camera testimonies from veteran Air Force officers, archival military film footage, highlighted sections of declassified documents, and captivating computer animated recreations based on eyewitness descriptions, the fifty-minute film depicts some of the more astounding incidents that have occurred since the dawn of the atomic age in the 1940's. One involved a large, glowing, oval-shaped object that hovered over ICBM silos at Malmstrom Air Force Base, Montana, when ten missiles shut down simultaneously. Another no doubt stunned and horrified command level military brass. In 1967 a classic saucer-shaped, dome-topped craft flew circles around an ICBM traveling several thousand miles an hour on a test flight in the Pacific Test Range off the coast of Monterey, CA. It fired several beams of energy into the separated dummy warhead, knocking it out of the sky, then sped away. The entire incident was filmed from the shore by an Air Force team operating a special high-speed, powerful movie camera. Both the officer in charge of the team and his Commanding Officer watched the film afterward and years later confirmed publicly that what they saw was real and unmistakable.

Mr. Hastings himself appears in the documentary and says he believes these UFO activities "are a deliberate effort on the part of the visitors to send a message that we are playing with fire."

Of all the UFO researchers present and past, I think Mr. Hastings' work delivers the most irrefutable evidence of an intelligent, purposeful, historical pattern of UFO behavior. And it's associated with a specific human technology - nuclear fission, in all its applications. To date, the mainstream media have been silent about this extraordinary information.

A final note: according to the KLAS-TV reporter, Mr. Reid also told him that although the newly revealed program was highly productive and successful it was defunded partly due to fear, fear not only of the stigma attached to the subject, but fear based on religious beliefs among military and intelligence personnel in the chain of command that the UFO phenomenon might be demonic or Satanic.

Wait... what?

Most Americans are aware that for the past few decades an increasing number of fundamentalist, evangelical Christians have been elected to Congress and state legislatures. But they are probably less aware that a similar increase has been occurring in the military officer corps, especially the Air Force. In the early 2000's news stories began circulating that the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, CO, was a hotbed of evangelical Christian proselytizing. Despite lawsuits against the Air Force for failing to prevent religious proselytizing and intimidation, the situation reportedly remains unchanged.

Last June Newsweek reported that the election of Donald Trump has led to a steep rise in fundamentalist evangelizing and religious bigotry throughout the armed forces. A non-profit organization that monitors and seeks to redress the issue - the Military Religious Freedom Foundation - is claiming the matter has reached the level of "a national security threat."

The US Air Force is responsible for maintaining and deploying the bulk of our nation's nuclear arsenal. In my view, we ought to be certain those terrible weapons are not increasingly under the control of religious zealots.

No wonder the 'visitors' are monitoring our nuclear missiles. That, Mr. Shostak, is doing something.

(Frame from UFOs and Nukes...)

* * *

Mark Scaramella notes: I will not defend my fellow Air Force staffers, some of whom did not need to be religious zealots to be very, very dangerous: Richard Secord and Curtis LeMay come immediately and famously to mind. And one does not need UFOs or religious zealotry to be very, very worried about the safety (or lack thereof) of the USA’s nuclear arsenal (which is in several more worrisome hands than just the USAF’s). If you don’t care to believe me, believe author Eric Schlosser who wrote about the history of the nuclear arsenal and many of its near accidents in his outstanding, if technical, recent book: “Command & Control” — a title which is more than a little ironic. As Schlosser concludes: “Right now thousands of missiles are hidden away. Every one of them is an accident waiting to happen, a potential act of mass murder. They are out there waiting, soulless and mechanical, sustained by our denial – and they work."

As best I can tell the woman Trump appointed as Secreatary of the Air Force, Ms. Heather Wilson, is not a religious zealot and is much more qualified for the job than her predecessor a beltway hack named Deborah James appointed by Obama, but not a religious nut either. Trump’s Air Force Chief of Staff, General Goldfein, looks ok on paper too: a typical career fighter pilot with the usual technical background.

theguardian.com/books/2013/sep/29/command-control-eric-schlosser-review

THE WINDS OF BABYLON

Whirl over this god-sick nation

The last commie

lies in a state of grace

The spirit of the capitalist

rides death's camel

thru the needle's eye --

— Gregory Corso

"MOUNTAIN POND, Wind River Range, a Few Miles North of South Pass"

(Photo by Harvey Reading)

CRITICS SAY HELPERS OF HOMELESS DO THEM NO FAVORS

sfgate.com/news/medical/article/Food-showers-tents-Does-the-help-help-the-12458903.php

SAMADHI AT THE WALGREEN'S

Standing in line to purchase two hi-protein bars...and then, a woman blurts out loudly right behind me: "ARE YOU IN LINE?" Returning to ordinary consciousness, I calmly replied: "Right here in the Walgreen's...fell into a deep meditation." She responded more softly: "I wish I could do that." Went to the next open cashier, who greeted me with a big smile. This is emptiness.

Craig Louis Stehr

Leaving for Honolulu, afternoon of January 1st. All currently scheduled appointments referred to Waikiki Beach, weekdays between 1 and 3pm. Weekends at Murphy's Irish Bar in Chinatown.

Email: CraigStehr@inbox.com