Mendocino County Today: Tuesday, Jan. 30, 2018

• K Discussion
• Snake Left
• David McGowan
• Dennis Peron
• Lunar Eclipse
• Money Radio
• Find Rocket
• Shanahan Fire
• Boonville General
• Swing Band
• Crown Vics
• Wrongful Termination
• Manson Contacts
• Little Dog
• PC Posturing
• Instant Moron
• Blahut Famous
• Stepped Out
• Bridge Exhibit
• Police Reports
• Yesterday's Catch
• Robert Parry
• Complete Corruption
• Scandal Circus
• Unhappiness Epidemic
• Here's Why
• Ukiah Unified
• Cooking Adventures
• Osprey
• Art Walk
• Young Authors
• Unintelligentsia
• Talk!
• Debris Cleanup

SUPERVISORS TO DISCUSS CLASS K HOUSING at the February 27 Board Meeting 

On January 24, 2017, the Board of Supervisors referred Chapter 18.23 of the Mendocino County Code, commonly known as the Class K Ordinance, to the Board of Supervisors Public Health, Safety, and Resources Standing Committee (PHSR) for review. On December 4, 2017, the Standing Committee reviewed revisions and referred the item back to the Board of Supervisors.

On February 27, 2018, the PHSR Standing Committee, in conjunction with Mendocino County Planning and Building Services, will present recommended Class K revisions to the Board of Supervisors for Board discussion and direction. The presentation was originally forecasted for the February 6, 2018, Board meeting and has now been rescheduled to February 27, 2018.

In addition, the Board of Supervisors authorized the release of County Counsel’s opinion on the ability of Mendocino County to exempt limited density rural dwellings (Class K) from otherwise required California Building Code Wildland-Urban Interface (WUI) and fire sprinkler standards. The opinion is available online at www.mendocinocounty.org/government/news-and-meetings.

The Agenda for the February 27, 2018, will be published 72 hours prior to the meeting and will be available online at www.mendocino.legistar.com. For more information, please contact the Executive Office at (707) 463-4441 or ceo@mendocinocounty.org.

LAKE MENDOCINO DROWNING VICTIM IDENTIFIED

by Curtis Driscoll

David McGowan, 44, of Ukiah, drowned Sunday afternoon at Lake Mendocino in a boating accident while with his two young children.

The first rescue units were called out at approximately 1:20 p.m. but did not find his body until 4:05 p.m. The Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office reported he was not wearing a life jacket, but the two young children were and got to shore safely.

Nick Lavrov, Park Manager at Lake Mendocino for the Army Corps of Engineers, said the corps sent two rangers at 1:30 p.m. to the area and helped coordinate with fire and Emergency Medical Services personnel already on scene.

The rescue dive team used the Army Corps boat to help look for McGowan. One of the divers went to search at 3:34 p.m. and came back at 3:58 p.m. and decided it would be easier to search on land. The body was found at 4:05 p.m., according to Lavrov.

Lieutenant Shannon Barney of the Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office said that witnesses reported McGowan having a chair in the boat. The rescue teams did not recover a chair from the boat or the water, making it hard to say what role, if any, it played.

The boat was small and made of aluminum; it did not capsize or have any structural damage, although Barney said that kind of boat could become “tippy.”

Ukiah Valley Fire Authority acting Fire Chief Jeff Adair said that weather and surface water on the lake is not believed to have been a factor. A witness who was higher up near the dam helped with the best guess of a starting location and walked down to help, Adair said.

The water murkiness made visibility more difficult. The water was too deep to search without someone in scuba tanks, so certified divers from Hopland and Willits had to be called in, Adair said. The rescue crews also enlisted the help of fishing boats with fish finders to try and locate McGowan.

The accident took place on the west side of Lake Mendocino in-between the intake tower and the north end of the Coyote Valley dam. Divers found McGowan’s body about 30 feet from the shoreline and in about 20 feet of water.

The Ukiah Valley Fire Authority, Willits-Little Lake Fire, Hopland Fire, Medstar/Ukiah Ambulance, Mendocino County Sheriff’s Search & Rescue, Mendocino Sheriff, Army Corps of Engineers, Calstar and several civilians assisted in the search.

(Courtesy, The Willits News)

ED NOTE: Mr. McGowan and his wife and two small boys had moved to the Ukiah area from Mississippi. He was very popular at the Pinoleville Rancheria north of Ukiah where he worked as a maintenance man.

DENNIS PERON, LOCAL ANGLE — After work one day in the fall of 1997— as the first harvest of legal-for-medical-use marijuana was being harvested — I interviewed Dennis Peron in his office at the San Francisco Buyers Club and watched him run the operation. At one point the phone rang and it was a Mendocino County lawyer, David Nelson, who was representing a man named Alan Cohen.

Dennis filled me in as he discussed the situation with Nelson. He had met Cohen, an epileptic, who was facing cultivation and possession charges. “He was busted with a pound of marijuana… He had a doctor who recommended it, but the doctor died. The DA is offering a deal: misdemeanor possession of marijuana.... Nelson wants to take the deal."

Dennis: (into the phone) Your client could be the last one to go to jail for medical use of marijuana. I want the battle, but I want the battle to be with me, not with him. But he wants to fight and he’s a good man. What have you got for witnesses? There are doctors who can testify that marijuana has been studied and it does work for epilepsy and has been recommended for epilepsy. There’s a witness from the government’s program that gives people marijuana for compassionate use — there are eight people grandfathered in. They get marijuana every month from the government, in fact, they get seven and a half pounds a year, which is the standard. So the program has already established the standard... Can you get any money for witnesses?... Was he convincing? He’s written a book on this subject, you know... Why weren’t we offered diversion? I thought he should accept diversion; the misdemeanor would just go away. $1,500 didn’t sound like too much to me... I told him he’d have to clean up his act, he’d have to shave, cut his hair, put a suit on. And I told him he’s going to have to produce medical records... witness preparation... Dilantin and all that... Uh-huh... Well, bring all that stuff into the pre-trial hearing, see what they offer, see if you can get him diversion. When you get the best deal is the day before trial. This guy has never had a conviction or anything.... Wah, wah, wah! Supposition, supposition, supposition... Whatever he chooses to do is all right with me; I think he’s innocent, but, you know, I’m Dennis Peron. He’s a good man. I’ll make sure... [hangs up.] David Nelson. I told him I loved his brother’s music.

YC: Huh?

DP: Ricky. Ricky Nelson.

Dennis was very knowledgable and very funny.

(Fred Gardner)

SUPER BLOOD BLUE MOON WEDNESDAY

Rare “super blue blood moon” not seen for more than 150 years will grace the skies on Wednesday, January, 31 with western North America, Asia, the Middle East, Russia and Australia getting the best view of the stunning event.

While viewers along the East Coast will see only the initial stages of the eclipse before moonset, those in the West and Hawaii will see most or all of the lunar eclipse phases before dawn.

Stages of the Jan. 31st eclipse in Pacific Time with “moonset” times for major cities across the U.S.

Credit: NASA

HOW KZYX WORKS, OR DOESN'T

Re: Mendocino County Public Broadcasting Corporation board elections.

Bruce, make sure to pass along to people considering paying for a membership in order to be eligible to vote, that the deadline for that was December 31, 2017. Paying for a membership now means you can vote in 2019, not this year, not this coming board election in March. See what they did there? For your $50 you will get a laser-printed form letter welcoming you to the station’s family, whatever that means, and someone might even have deigned to scribble his name on it with a pen, but you will not get a ballot, because you were not a member by New Year’s Day.

Also, all the membership money paid by ALL the members all year long adds up to less than half the amount the CEO of the corporation pays himself and his gang lieutenants in the office. That’s a fact. 2000 members at $50 each is $100,000. Just the manager alone sucks $60,000 out of the station for himself. And that’s the guy who lies to the airpeople that there’s no money to pay them for actually doing what the station’s there for in the first place. The money is to make sure he gets paid. Essentially, he takes $5,000 every month in return for instructing others to raise money to pay him to make the executive decision to never pay the real workers. That’s a neat trick.

Other public radio stations get along fine without funding an expensive hood ornament to sit on his thumb in the leather chair. KMUD has no paid CEO. KNYO’s entire budget – rent, fees, phones, internet, equipment, repairs, electricity, everything – would easily be covered for five years with the $60,000 Jeffrey Parker snatched for himself out of the KZYX cookie jar in just the year he’s been there.

And even if they were run with clockwork precision and certified by the Pope of Rome himself, elections at MCPB Corp can’t help but be bogus. They’re the ultimate in gerrymandering. Leaving it up only to people who have paid – and that includes big-money donors who’ve paid a lot – means that the only people allowed to vote are people who like things exactly the way they are and don’t want any change. They like their favorite shows on at the times they expect it; that’s what they’re paying for. If a few members want something different, something better, the only lever or button or control they can touch is to vote for a vocal-opposition-minority boardmember who, even if the miracle were to occur and he got elected, would be treated like shit by the entrenched boardmembers, locked out of any decisionmaking process, kept from examining the station’s books, and rendered impotent to improve anything. That has happened to maybe a dozen people over the years. That’s how they do it. That’s what you’re in for, Bruce.

All decisions about who’s on the air and who’s not are made primarily to not disturb the fountain of money. Which is the reverse of the way noncommercial radio is supposed to be. The low end of the FM band was set aside by the FCC for radio projects to do what the money considerations of commercial radio make difficult, to do wild and crazy things, to experiment, to educate, to explore, because with commercial radio the capitalist owners need to be paid, and it’s the law that they pay the airpeople. The license that goes with a radio station is a monopoly on the station’s frequency; even in today’s advertising climate it is a license to coin money, and that’s what makes buying a radio station so pricey, it isn’t because it’s expensive or hard.

Actually doing radio, keeping a station going, is incredibly cheap and easy. All the major expenses for every radio station in America were taken care of, were fully paid off, by the first day the station was ever on the air, and fun noncommercial projects would be squeezed entirely out of the radio band without noncommercial band protection.

But the people who run KZYX have from the beginning been throwing up an impenetrable fog of lies and obfuscation and fake make-work about everything to keep it artificially expensive, to keep hard control over what goes out on the air, by keeping people in charge who like money rather than people who love radio and want more people involved in the making and doing of radio.

Here’s how you tell. Ask them. Ask Jeffrey Parker how long he’d stay at the station in his capacity as manager if they told him tomorrow that if he were to stay they weren’t going to pay him anymore, and that he had to give back the $60,000 he’d already taken home and spent. “What the hell are you talking about?” he’d say. “That’s crazy talk.” I’ll tell you what he will not say. He will not say, “Okay, that’s fine, pay the real workers with it – pay the airpeople. That’s fine with me. What do I need with money? I am in it for the love of radio.”

But those of us who’ve been doing radio for decades and continue to do it, and who work harder and longer at it than anyone in the office at KZYX, ever, and who aren’t currently being paid for it, are still doing it after all these years, because we are in it primarily for radio and not in it for the money.

And if you come across an unpaid airperson who says, “Oh, I’m happy to it for nothing, because I love the station so much, and I just love to be on the air, and we’re doing such important, vital, consciousness-raising work here (and so on),” ask him this: Would you stop doing it if they suddenly began to pay you what you’re worth? If they gave you now, say, $1000 for what you did last year, would you quit in insulted disgust? Or would you say thank you, thank you, and take the money and pay your car insurance and a month’s rent with it, and come back next week and do your show again?

When my show gets on KZYX – and I repeat: I’ve been waiting for it to be scheduled there since I applied in early 2012 – I expect to be paid. You know me, Bruce, you know my work in public television, in publishing, on KMFB (for which I was paid) and now KNYO and KMEC; you know I’m worth it.

Something to keep in mind: just Ira Glass and his two producers get $500,000 a year for their one-hour-per-week show, and they take three months off every year, and MCPB pays into that, so I know they recognize that radio work is work deserving of pay. They should pay local radio workers too, if they’re going to even pay lip service to the idea that they’re running a community radio station, and not just a tiny run-of-the-mill mediocre NPR satellite station out in the middle of fricking nowhere, which somehow, on paper, they raise more than $600,000 a year to keep the doors open on, when you can get a pack of three rubber doorstops at the dollar store and if one doesn’t work you can stick another one in there. I mean, if it’s really true that they go through that much money they can well afford to pay the airpeople. All of them, even the ones who show up with nothing and slack off and sleepwalk through their airtime. Even they are doing the work of radio, and KZYX management is not.

Marco McClean

Mendocino

THE SHERIFF'S DEPARTMENT is looking for Robert 'Rocket' Vargas Jr. It is alleged that on Friday night, 26 January), at the Company Ranch east of Fort Bragg, Vargas assaulted a young woman and her father, both of whom were seriously injured.

Apart from assaulting the father, an older man recovering from shoulder surgery, Vargas also tried to run over the man and then deliberately rammed the father's truck more than once. Vargas has two previous convictions for domestic assault. The attacks on father and daughter so alarmed law enforcement that they received a midnight protective order prohibiting Vargas from contacting either father or daughter.

PATTY SHANAHAN and her partner Carl, lost their house and all of their belongings in a devastating fire in Comptche on January 17, 2018. Fortunately, they weren’t injured. Patty and Carl had lived in their home for over 30 years. But now they have to start over as their entire house and contents were destroyed. Any donation will be much appreciated and go to help rebuilding Patty and Carl’s lives.

gofundme.com/8yezuh-patty-shanahan-house-fire

TO DONATE directly send donations to:

Patty Shanahan, PO Box 157, Comptche CA 95427

ED NOTE: Patty Shanahan is a really good painter, I mean really good. If you're like me and believe artists get extra props, send a few bucks her way. I so admired Ms. Shanahan’s rendition of the lightning fires of 2008, I keep a small repro of the painting over my desk.

JULIE LIEBENBAUM WRITES: I have received a LOT of calls and want to let as many folks as possible know that the Boonville General Store will be re-opening this Thursday, February 1st. We put on the sign on the door that we were going to spend time with family, and that is exactly what we did. Now we are ready to get back to work making and serving folks their favorite treats. Our hours will be the same as they were, every day, 8 am until 3 pm along with the occasional pop-up and special event designed to feed and inspire. Thanks for helping us get the word out!

THE SWINGIN BOONVILLE BIG BAND, formed in the year 2000 as an AV Adult Ed. class, will return to Lauren’s Cafe in Boonville on Saturday February 17th. This is the 18th annual show at Lauren’s, and the band considers it sort of home base since its first public appearance was given there. The band currently is 20 musicians strong. It features outstanding musicians from all parts of the county. Among the local musicians we have Bob Day tenor sax; Joe Petelle trombone; Mary Aigner piano; Nadia Berrigan piano; Dave Martin trombone; Kevin Burke drums; and Alice Woefle trumpet. Susan Archuleta, who for many years was a regular feature piano soloist at the Boonville Hotel, returns after a long hiatus to play altosax. The band plays mostly classic hits from the Great American Song Book. The show starts at 9:00 PM and runs to 11:00 PM. Admission is $10.00 and all proceeds for Benefit of AV Adult Ed. Music. Singing sensation Sharon Garner will headline the show. Break out your dancin shoes and join in the fun.

LAST WEEK, the Turkey Vulture wondered in print about the two local Crown Vic automobiles we all see around Philo and Boonville. These vehicles used to be synonymous with police patrols. The Vulch said, the sight of the cars made him, and presumably others, nervous to see “one of the guys” parked alongside 128.

BUT ONE of the surplus Crown Vic owners told us he was disturbed that he’d been singled out in the ava as some kind of police surveillance operator since he only pulls to the side of 128 to get clear phone reception. We apologized for the confusion, which was humorously intended, and everyone went away happy.

PERSONNEL DEPARTMENT: Katherine Reddick, deposed last school year as principal at the Anderson Valley Elementary School, successfully sued our school district for (essentially) wrongful termination and was subsequently awarded $60,000 to ease her on down the road, where she is now employed at the Patterson Unified School District (outside of Modesto).

KERI ST. JOER, former high school principal? Where’s he?

TWO WRITERS appeared at the office Sunday and left us this reason for stopping in: “Two writers would like to talk to anyone who had contact with the Manson Family. Please call 646 221-6009 or writes LegsM@aol.com”

I COULDN’T THINK of anybody around here who would remember the Manson Gang when they were holed up on Gschwend Road in Navarro. They were first-wave weirdos of what became something of a Valley tsunami, pockets of aberrant people up and down Highway 128.

LITTLE DOG SAYS, “Talk about sexually inappropriate, try the deadbeat cat, Skrag. I hear the ladies every night all night trying to fight him off! I hope he gets turned in to the the Spay and Neuter police, pronto!”

FROM SUNDAY'S PRESS DEMOCRAT: "Lynda Bengtsson-Davis, a transgender Marine Corps veteran from Fort Bragg, will be seated in the House of Representatives visitors gallery Tuesday night for the biggest regular address in American politics — and her presence will be part of the politicking. Bengtsson-Davis, whose bid to re-enlist in the Air National Guard has been stalled by President Donald Trump’s attempted ban on military service for transgender individuals, is the guest of North Coast Rep. Jared Huffman at Trump’s first State of the Union speech to a joint session of Congress. “I think he’s wrong,” Bengtsson-Davis said of the man she refers to as the commander-in-chief. Transgender service “goes all the way back to the Revolutionary War,” she said, referring to Deborah Sampson, a Massachusetts woman who disguised herself as a man to serve in the Continental Army for 17 months. Huffman, D-San Rafael, said he invited Bengtsson-Davis, the information technology manager for the city of Fort Bragg, to send Trump a message. “There are real people out there who are hurt by his hateful rhetoric and actions,” he said. “I wanted to serve my country like anyone else,” Bengtsson-Davis said.

PC POSTURING by Huffman, of course, and the both of them should understand the diff between a woman disguising herself as a man, and a man removing his repro apparatus to become a woman.

RAPHAELLE DEL VECCHIO WRITES: Sorry, stopped reading as soon as she included transgender. No, they are not women. We are not some subcategory of Ciswomen. There is no such thing as feeling like a woman. It does nothing more than reinforce negative gender stereotypes of women. All the hormones and surgically created "front holes", does not change the DNA in every cell, but it keeps big pharm and corporate medicine with lifetime dependant customers. Not to mention the liberal women's movement NEVER ADDRESSES the threat to women and girls with men allowed legal access to the places women are most vulnerable. No, they never address children being subject to puberty blockers and dangerous hormones and mutilating surgery. No instead it is the same centering and accomodation of men who you allow to be the poor victim while calling the shots. Give me a break.

INSTANT MORON. Loved this passage from a PD story on the first day of recreational pot sales in Santa Rosa: "Garcia spent just under $100 on cannabis flowers, a strain called chocolope from a batch grown outside in Mendocino County, which he hoped would be energizing for a day playing his favorite video game, Battlefield 1."

BLAHUT'S FAMOUS! Phone message from Michael Blahut: "You put me on the front page and the reporter didn't speak to me about it. I guess you just want to make money off me for your rag."

YOU WERE in custody, dude. An arraignment is not a press conference.

CALL From Stan Miklose of Down Home Foods, Fort Bragg: "Blahut came in and bought the last 25 papers I had of the Jan 17 edition. Can you send replacements?"

ANOTHER CALL from Blahut: "Do you have any papers left? I want to send them to my friends and family. I was on your front page."

WE LEFT some papers on the office porch for the Terror of the Drive-Thru which he apparently picked up. Dealing with him in person might be, uh, time consuming. Blahut was charged with varieties of mayhem after an odd episode at the Ukiah McDonald’s drive-through window during which Blahut apparently rammed the car in front of him driven by Coast Hospital’s Doug Shald, scaring the bejeezus out of Shald and his family. Blahut, who seemed to think he was the injured party, subsequently hosed Shald down with pepper spray and, for good measure, also gave the McDonald’s manager a shot of the blinding substance.

REMEMBER THE 'STEPPING UP INITIATIVE'? A couple of years ago the Supes voted to spend $150k on it. Someone, somehow was supposed to “step up” and reduce mentally ill people from going to jail. Mendo grabbed the money (of course) and proceeded to do a lot in-services interfacing with each other while $50k went to a consultant and $100k went to overtime for deputies who are now America’s frontline mental health. The January 2018 report, however, says that “The California Summit for this national effort was held in January. Several county staff attended as well as BHAB Chair [Jan] McGourty. You can be sure they didn't attend at their expense. And sure enough, “However, subsequent efforts to take action were dropped because of County personnel issues. BHAB members have not, however, lost sight of the objective, which is to prevent mentally-ill people from being incarcerated, and have pushed to keep it current.”

CELEBRATING THE HISTORIC ALBION RIVER BRIDGE

Photo exhibit at the Albion Post Office of Albion mills, stages of construction of the historic Albion River Bridge, and modern aerial photos until January 30

The Albion River Bridge is California's last remaining timber trestle state highway bridge. It was recently listed in the National Register of Historic Places and in the California Register of Historic Resources.

To celebrate this honor there is a photo exhibit at the Albion Post Office until this Tuesday, January 30. Everyone is invited. Come enjoy vintage images of the Albion mills, the stages of construction of the historic Albion River Bridge, and modern aerial photos.

For years, Caltrans has proposed demolishing the Albion River Bridge and replacing it with a new concrete bridge. However this is being opposed by many Mendocino Coast residents who want to preserve the bridge because of its iconic beauty and historic uniqueness.

For more information please visit: facebook.com/savethealbionbridge/ and the Albion Community Advisory Board (ACAB) web site: albioncab.wordpress.com/about/ and albioncab.wordpress.com/ for the ideas that the Albion Bridge Stewards, a working group of ACAB contributed. To contact us please e-mail <acab@mcn.org> For information from Caltrans, please visit: dot.ca.gov/dist1/d1projects/albion/ You can still see the exhibit at the Albion Post Office from 8am to 12 noon and 12:30pm to 4:30pm Monday and Tuesday.

INJURY OR DEATH, MR. KERR?

On 01-24-2018 at approximately 6:39 p.m., Mendocino County Sheriff's Deputies received a call for service of a burglary occurring on a property in the 14000 block of Prairie Way in Mendocino. Upon arrival deputies contacted the victim Michael Kerr, 36, of Mendocino. During their investigation, Deputies learned Kerr and a companion traveled to the location earlier in the day and discovered the lock securing their shipping container had been removed and replaced with another lock. Later that day, Kerr and his companion returned to replace the lock and encountered two unknown males near the shipping container when they arrived. Law enforcement was summoned and Kerr followed the two subjects in his vehicle as they fled on foot. While following the two subjects, one who was later identified as 33-year old Ernie Salo, fled into a wooded area as the other suspect Samuel Ruczak, 30, of Fort Bragg, continued walking on Prairie Way.

Kerr exited the vehicle to confront Ruczak, which resulted in Ruczak threatening to inflict injury and/or death on Kerr. During these threats Ruczak was holding a metal pipe. After Kerr retreated to his vehicle in fear of his safety, Ruczak approached Kerr's vehicle and struck it several times in various locations with the metal pipe. Deputies arrived shortly thereafter and ultimately arrested Ruczak for criminal threats and felony vandalism to Kerr's vehicle, which sustained damage amounting to approximately $1200. Deputies searched the area for Salo and were unsuccessful in locating him. Ruczak was transported to the Mendocino County Jail were he is being held in lieu of bail set at $115,000.

* * *

DARN NEAR A SENIOR CITIZEN BUT HE HITS HER ANYWAY

On 01-24-2018 at approximately 11:22 a.m., Mendocino County Sheriff's Deputies initiated an investigation into a report of domestic violence after being contacted by a 60-year old female who was the alleged victim. Deputies learned that the victim and 33-year old suspect Michael Trapper of Fort Bragg were cohabitating partners at a residence located in the 31000 block of Camille Drive in Fort Bragg. The victim and suspect were also romantically involved. On or about 01-20-2018, the victim and suspect engaged in a verbal argument at their residence, which escalated when the suspect physically assaulted the victim with his hands and feet. Deputies observed the victim had visible injuries consistent with that assault. On 01-24-2018 at approximately 12:09 p.m., Deputies contacted the suspect at the Camille Drive residence and observed he had injury to his hands consistent with assaulting the victim. The suspect was ultimately arrested for felony domestic battery and transported to the Mendocino County Jail where he is being held in lieu of $25,000 bail.

CATCH OF THE DAY, January 29, 2018

NICHOLAS BRITTON, Covelo. Probation revocation.

WESLEY CARD, Covelo. Assault with deadly weapon not a gun.

KATHARINE HARMAN, Ukiah. Battery on peace officer, resisting.

DAKOTA HENNIGAN, Willits/Covelo. Vehicle theft, firearm in commission of felony, alteration of firearm ID, concealed weapon in vehicle.

RYAN HICKS, Ukiah. Resisting.

PAUL HONNEYMAN, San Bernardino/Ukiah. Failure to appear, probation revocation.

SHALOM LEWIS, Fort Bragg. Burglary, receiving stolen property.

TODD RIZZO, San Jose/Ukiah. Fighting in public, under influence, controlled substance.

DAYNIECE SHILLINGS, Ukiah. Probation revocation.

JEREMY UNDERWOOD, Yuba/Ukiah. Controlled substance.

INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALIST ROBERT PARRY DIES AT 68

ARLINGTON, Va. (AP) — Robert Parry, a longtime investigative journalist who was a Pulitzer Prize finalist in 1985 for his Associated Press exclusives about the CIA's production of an assassination manual for Nicaraguan rebels, has died. He was 68.

Parry died Saturday in hospice care after a series of strokes brought on by undiagnosed pancreatic cancer, said his wife, Diane Duston.

Parry joined the AP in 1974 and went on to work in the Washington bureau, where he covered the Iran-Contra scandal as it rocked the Reagan administration. His work on the scandal also brought a George Polk Award in 1984.

After leaving the AP in 1987, Parry worked for Newsweek until 1990 and then became an investigative reporter for the PBS series "Frontline."

In 1995, frustrated with what he saw as dwindling venues for serious investigative reporting, Parry founded the Consortium for Independent Journalism. Its website, Consortiumnews.com, sought to provide a home for such reporting in the early days of the internet, though it struggled financially and relied on contributions.

In a tribute posted on the site, son Nat Parry said, "With my dad, professional work has always been deeply personal, and his career as a journalist was thoroughly intertwined with his family life."

Parry was born on June 24, 1949, in Hartford, Connecticut. He graduated from Colby College with a degree in English in 1971. He worked in Massachusetts journalism before joining the AP.

The author of six books, Parry received the I.F. Stone Medal for Journalistic Independence from the Nieman Foundation in 2015 and the Martha Gellhorn Prize for Journalism in 2017. In his remarks in London at the presentation of the Gellhorn Prize, Britain-based journalist John Pilger said, "Bob Parry's career has been devoted to finding out, lifting rocks - and supporting others who do the same."

Survivors include his wife, a former Associated Press newswoman; sons Sam Parry and Jeff Parry of Arlington and Nat Parry of Copenhagen, Denmark; daughter Elizabeth Parry of Alexandria, Virginia; and six grandchildren.

A memorial service is planned for later in the year.

* * *

From Robert Parry’s Website, ConsortiumNews.com:

consortiumnews.com/2018/01/28/robert-parrys-legacy-and-the-future-of-consortiumnews/

ON LINE COMMENT OF THE DAY

It seems to me that judging by the last three presidents we have elected, one was a fool, one was an enabler of a corrupt system and the last one has mental issues. This does not reflect well on the electorate in general, and in fact it leads me to think that we deserve the government we have. There are approximately 15,000 registered lobbyists in Wash D.C., and I believe they are earning their paychecks by corrupting our politicians completely. Someone said you get the government you deserve, and I think the current state of affairs reflects that problem. I don’t know how we will extricate ourselves from the cesspool that Washington has become. I worry about where we are headed. What used to be the middle class is fast disappearing and we have largely become a nation of bartenders and waitresses. Well, it was a good run as long as it lasted.

STORMY WEATHER

by James Kunstler

For those of us who are not admirers of President Trump, it’s even more painful to see the Democratic opposition descend into the stupendous dishonesty of the Russian Collusion story. When the intelligentsia of the nation loses its ability to think — when it becomes a dis-intelligentsia — then there are no stewards of reality left. Trump is crazy enough, but the “resistance” is dragging the country into dangerous madness.

It’s hard not to be impressed by the evidence in the public record that the FBI misbehaved pretty badly around the various election year events of 2016. And who, besides Rachel Maddow, Anderson Cooper, and Dean Baquet of The New York Times, can pretend to be impressed by the so far complete lack of evidence of Russian “meddling” to defeat Hillary Clinton? I must repeat: so far. This story has been playing for a year and a half now, and as the days go by, it seems more and more unlikely that Special Prosecutor Robert Mueller is sitting on any conclusive evidence. During this time, everything and anything has already leaked out of the FBI and its parent agency the Department of Justice, including embarrassing hard evidence of the FBI’s own procedural debauchery, and it’s hard to believe that Mr. Mueller’s office is anymore air-tight than the rest of the joint.

If an attorney from Mars came to Earth and followed the evidence already made public, he would probably suspect that the FBI and DOJ colluded with the Clinton Campaign and the Democratic Party to derail the Trump campaign train, and then engineer an “insurance policy” train wreck of his position in office. Also, in the process, to nullify any potential legal action against Clinton, including the matter of her email server, her actions with the DNC to subvert the Sanders primary campaign, the Steele dossier being used to activate a FISA warrant for surveillance of the Trump campaign, the arrant, long-running grift machine of the Clinton Foundation (in particular, the $150 million from Russian sources following the 2013 Uranium One deal, when she was Secretary of State), and the shady activities of Barack Obama’s inner circle around the post-election transition. There is obviously more there there than in the Resistance’s Russia folder.

I don’t even understand why Robert Mueller ever had credible standing to preside over this special investigation. He is, after all, the close friend and once-mentor of the figure who is very likely the fulcrum in any case against Trump: James Comey, the former FBI director fired by Trump — theoretically to obstruct justice, the keystone in the effort to find an impeachable offense.

I’m not comfortable acting as a supporter or defender of Trump, but I’m even less comfortable with the appearance of a rogue security and law enforcement apparatus gone blatantly political. The so far poorly-explained antics at the FBI and DOJ reflect badly on all vested authority in the country — and especially for any faction that pretends to be on the side of justice. This is a much larger problem than the public debate seems to recognize. We are not far from a point where nobody will be able to believe anything official in this land.

I remain convinced that this circus of scandal and counter-scandal will not necessarily be resolved by the legal machinery, at least not in any meaningful time frame that would allow the political establishment to pull its head out of its ass and actually start paying attention to the public interest. Rather, the circus tent will just blow down in the financial crisis that is spinning toward the US mainland like a superstorm. Mr. Trump now has full, gold-plated ownership of the parabolic stock market, a shuddering bond market, a wobbling currency, and an implacable debt quandary. These are conditions that can blow a society up for real.

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

EXPLAINING THE UNHAPPINESS EPIDEMIC

theconversation.com/what-might-explain-the-unhappiness-epidemic-90212

UKIAH UNIFIED SEEKS RELIABLE WORKERS TO FILL IN FOR ABSENT EMPLOYEES

Ukiah Unified School District (UUSD) seeks more than substitute teachers; the district also needs substitute custodians, paraprofessionals (teacher’s aides), food service workers, childcare assistants and others. UUSD Personnel Commission Director Iralene Holbrook explained, “Every day, we need reliable workers to fill in for absent employees.”

Holbrook noted several benefits to working as a substitute in non-credentialed positions: substitutes have an opportunity to discover whether they like the work, the environment and the varied work schedule. It also gives UUSD an opportunity to get to know the substitutes, so when regular part-time or full-time positions become available, the substitutes come to mind for those positions.

Being a substitute custodian, paraprofessional, food service worker, or childcare assistant can meet the needs of those who have unpredictable personal schedules. “Sometimes people care for disabled or aging family members, or they have a condition that prevents them from working every day. As a substitute, they have the flexibility to accept work that fits with their weekly plans,” Holbrook said.

Job requirements vary, so Holbrook recommends calling her office at 707-472-5040 or visiting uusd.net for details.

ADVENTURES IN COOKING THIS WINTER

by Anne Fashauer

I’ve been having some adventures in cooking this winter. It actually started with bread making after my birthday in October. A friend made some fantastic bread and she shared the recipe. I started making the loaves but quickly my husband took over – I clearly wasn’t making enough bread fast enough. He really got into it, playing with cooking times and temperatures and ingredient portions. For Christmas my mom gave him a baguette baker and that took things up another notch. I can honestly say that he is making bakery quality French bread and I’m enjoying it most mornings either with soft-boiled eggs from our hens or with European-style butter and jam.

The New York Times Cooking App

I also decided to subscribe to the New York Times Cooking site. I get inspirational emails a couple of times per week and I can turn to their app when I want to do something different with chicken thighs or Brussels sprouts. In fact, for our Thanksgiving dinner I used seven of their recipes, from cornbread dressing to candied sweet potatoes to an amazing fennel, kale and rice gratin. When we were getting fresh crab I used the app to find the best crab cake recipe ever. One aspects of cooking with the app I like is the comments section, which is divided into three parts, personal, all and helpful. I find the helpful section to be aptly named and it often is the difference between a recipe succeeding or not.

Danish Inspiration

Recently I listened to a book called The Year of Living Danishly by a British woman, Helen Russell. She recounts both her own personal year living in Denmark when her husband was hired by Lego and her exploration into what makes Denmark one of the happiest countries in the world. The book brought back my memories of the recent time we spent in Denmark, both in Jutland and in Copenhagen. Two of my favorite things were the pastries and the rye bread. Making the pastries is beyond my current abilities and also beyond any desire I have to improve those abilities. But bread, well, why not?

Which recipe?

While in Denmark my cousin Anne shared her recipe for rye bread. All I had to do was translate it into English. I finally got around to that and I also found a recipe on the NYT Cooking app. I decided to try the one from the NYT mainly because there were no translation errors. During the exploration of the recipes I found, again in the “helpful” section, several other recipes – including one that is the same as my cousin’s but with no translation errors. I will try that one next time.

It turns out that making a decent rye bread is not that easy. Danish rye bread is very dark and very dense. It’s also very chewy. In my case, the outside of my bread came out too dry while the inside needed a little more time; I’ll have to work on that. Flavor-wise, it was OK. I didn’t have rye berries, so I used wheat berries. Even with soaking, they were too hard to eat. The recipe I followed also called for sunflower seeds; that was OK, but I have since learned that traditional Danish rye does not use anything like that.

I still have a loaf and a half to eat and I’m going to get through it; there is a recipe in Saveur for a Danish rye bread porridge. I made that for my breakfast today – it was good though super rich (could be the AV Brewery‘s Bourbon Barrel Porter?). Hopefully my second try, with rye berries and a bit stronger rye sourdough starter, will live up to my (high) expectations!

OSPREY WITH LUNCH

(Photo by Judy Valadao)

FIRST FRIDAY ART WALK!

Join us Friday, February 2nd

We are excited to share with you the fluid movement, and colorful depth of Christy Richards' resin poured pieces as well as beautiful hand-painted pottery from Porcenova, created by Knox Gillespie. Come by from 5-8pm to chat with the artists, enjoy refreshments, and get your free palm reading! We look forward to seeing you there.

Bona Marketplace, 116 West Standley Street, Ukiah, 707-468-1113 bonamarketplace@aol.com

MENDOCINO COUNTY OFFICE OF EDUCATION SPONSORS YOUTH AUTHORS

The Mendocino County Office of Education (MCOE) and Board of Education recently awarded $4,890 to 14 local schools for their annual Young Authors Fair, an event that encourages children to write and publish their own books, and then recognizes them for their accomplishments.

According to Kimberly Barden, Manager of MCOE Educational Services and Student Events, “Schools that have sponsored Young Authors’ Fairs tell us this project enhances children's writing abilities and their appreciation of literature.”

This year’s grant recipients include: Arena Elementary, Brookside Elementary, Calpella Elementary, Dana Gray Elementary, Eel River Charter School, Frank Zeek Elementary, Laytonville Elementary and Middle School, Manchester Union Elementary, Potter Valley Elementary, Round Valley Elementary and Middle School, Willits Charter School, and Willits Elementary Charter School. Funding for each school is based on school size and the size and impact of the Youth Authors’ Fair event.

“We congratulate all the participating schools and can’t wait to read the students’ work,” Barden said.

For more information about the Youth Authors’ Fair program, contact Barden at (707) 467-5100 or via email at kbarden@mcoe.us.

ON LINE COMMENT OF THE WEEK

I’ve read comments from what nowadays passes for Left-wing intelligentsia saying that the white picket fence 1950s never existed. So therefore, if it never existed, the gripe about the prosperity that once was and is no more cannot be valid if the prosperity never was in the first place. The unfortunate part for the historical revisionist is that guys like me remember what it was like. Dad had a job (an hourly wage earner job no less) and mom stayed home and took care of everyone. People like us were the forerunners of the much despised deplorables, the clingers to guns and religion, the folk whose aspirations to some kind of work that enables a guy to support a family without the prospect of imminent homelessness, that are now seen by the oligarchs and their clerisy in terms of “who the fuck do these people think they are?”

“Talk! Or we’ll make you watch the State of the Union.”

FIRE DEBRIS CLEANUP LICENSING REQUIREMENTS

Dave Fogt, Registrar CSLB

Re: Fire Debris Removal

Please find below a summary version of the references I am relying upon to come to the conclusion that a California Contractors License and Hazardous Substance Removal Certification are required for the fire debris cleanup in Mendocino County. I am aware the State of Emergency declarations suspend some State regulations, but I have not found a reference to suspending the regulations in the State Business and Professions Code relevant to contractors licensing and the handling hazardous waste. The fire debris would first need to be assessed by a qualified asbestos consultant. If the site is cleared of asbestos, then the site should be cleared of visually obvious hazardous waste/ materials by an appropriately licensed professional and contractor. Then the fire debris at a specific site should be tested for Title 22 Metals and pH (at a minimum) at a frequency sufficient to be considered representative. If the metals analyses results are below TTLC Limits, and if subsequent STLC and TCLP analyses results are below toxicity limits, and the pH is greater than 2 and less than 12.5, the material could be handled and disposed of as non-hazardous (assuming no suspect hazardous materials are uncovered during the debris removal process). Absent the fact set just described above, the material needs to be handled by an appropriately licensed State of California Contractor, with a Hazardous Substances Removal Certification in my opinion. Brian Melvin letter dated January 21, 2018, had not a word with regards to CSLB Hazardous Substance Removal Certification ! and was convoluted at best.

Please see the references below to support my opinion: Govenor's Executive Order B-44-17

WHEREAS the local health officers of Butte, Lake, Mendocino, Napa, Nevada, Sonoma, and Yuba Counties have all proclaimed local health emergencies, pursuant to Health and Safety Code section 101080, as a result of this hazardous debris..."

HEALTH AND SAFETY CODE - 101080.

Whenever a release, spill, escape, or entry of waste occurs as described in paragraph (2) of subdivision (b) of Section 101075 _and the director or the local health officer reasonably determines that the waste is a hazardous waste_ or medical waste, or that it may become a hazardous waste or medical waste because of a combination or reaction with other substances or materials, and _the director or local health officer reasonably determines that the release or escape is an immediate threat to the public health, or whenever there is an imminent and proximate threat of the introduction of any contagious, infectious, or communicable disease, chemical agent, non communicable biologic agent, toxin, or radioactive agent, the director may declare a health emergency and the local health officer may declare a local health emergency in the jurisdiction or any area thereof affected by the threat to the public health. Whenever a local health emergency is declared by a local health officer pursuant to this section, the local health emergency shall not remain in effect for a period in excess of seven days unless it has been ratified by the board of supervisors, or city council, whichever is applicable to the jurisdiction. The board of supervisors, or city council, if applicable, shall review, at least every 14 days until the local health emergency is terminated, the need for continuing the local health emergency and shall proclaim the termination of the local health emergency at the earliest possible date that conditions warrant the termination.

Mendocino County 2017 Redwood Complex Fire Debris Cleanup and Removal Program

Property Owners Who Elect to Not Participate in the Consolidated Debris Removal Program Property owners who choose to not participate in the Consolidated Debris Removal Program are required to remediate their property and remove the burn debris in accordance with the Mendocino County Debris Removal Program and “self-certification” process, at their own expense. Property owners may complete the remediation and debris removal with a qualified contractor. Due to the Proclamation of a Local Health Emergency, the work must be completed in a manner that ensures the protection of public health and safety. It is strongly advised that property owners review all requirements thoroughly before pursuing their own debris removal. Disaster funding will not reimburse for this work, and a Building Permit to rebuild will not be issued unless the property has been remediated to the standards established herein.

Declaration of Health Emergency Mendocino County Pursuant to California Health and Safety Code Section 101080 ( I assume this was renewed, as it was in Sonoma County)

WHEREAS the debris resulting from Redwood Fire contains hazardous material in the ash of the burned structures, which has created a health emergency and poses a substantial present and potential hazard to human health and safety and to the environment unless it is addressed and managed; and

WHEREAS under the provisions of section 101080 of the California Health and Safety Code, Local the Health Officer may declare a local health emergency in the jurisdiction or in any area thereof affected by hazardous material that is an imminent threat to the public's health; and

WHEREAS under the provisions of section 101080 of the California Health and Safety Code, I find that a local health emergency exists in Mendocino County due to the debris resulting from the Redwood Fire, that contains hazardous material in the ash of the burned structures, and poses a substantial present and potential hazard to human health and safety and to the environment, unless it is addressed and managed; and

NOW THEREFORE I HEREBY DECLARE AND ORDER that a health emergency exists in Mendocino County due to the debris resulting from the Redwood Fire that contains hazardous material in the ash of the burned structures."

Hazardous Substance Removal Certification

Business & Professions Code, Division 3, Chapter 9. Contractors, Article 4. Classifications

7058.7. (a)No contractor shall engage in a removal or remedial action, as defined in subdivision (d), unless the qualifier for the license has passed an approved hazardous substance certification examination.

(b)

(1) The Contractors' State License Board, the Division of Occupational Safety and Health of the Department of Industrial Relations, and the Department of Toxic Substances Control shall jointly select an advisory committee, which shall be composed of two representatives of hazardous substance removal workers in California, two general engineering contractors in California, and two representatives of insurance companies in California who shall be selected by the Insurance Commissioner.

(2) The Contractors' State License Board shall develop a written test for the certification of contractors engaged in hazardous substance removal or remedial action, in consultation with the Division of Occupational Safety and Health, the State Water Resources Control Board, the Department of Toxic Substances Control, and the advisory committee.

(c) The Contractors' State License Board may require additional updated approved hazardous substance certification examinations of licensees currently certified based on new public or occupational health and safety information. The Contractors' State License Board, in consultation with the Department of Toxic Substances Control and the State Water Resources Control Board, shall approve other initial and updated hazardous substance certification examinations and determine whether to require an updated certification examination of all current certificate holders.

(d) For purposes of this section "removal or remedial action" has the same meaning as found in Chapter 6.8 (commencing with Section 25300) of Division 20 of the Health and Safety Code, if the action requires the contractor to dig into the surface of the earth and remove the dug material and the action is at a site listed pursuant to Section 25356 of the Health and Safety Code_ or any other site listed as a hazardous waste site by the Department of Toxic Substances Control or a site listed on the National Priorities List compiled pursuant to the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980 (42 U.S.C. Sec. 9601 et seq.). "_Removal or remedial action" does not include asbestos-related work, as defined in Section 6501.8 of the Labor Code, or work related to a hazardous substance spill on a highway.

California Code, Health and Safety Code - HSC § 25356

The department shall adopt, by regulation, criteria for the selection of hazardous substance release sites for a response action under this chapter. The criteria shall take into account pertinent factors relating to public health, safety and the environment, which shall include, but are not necessarily limited to, potential hazards to public health, safety or the environment_, the risk of fire or explosion, and toxic hazards.

Please do not hesitate to contact me if you have any questions or need additional information.

Respectfully

Lee Howard
lohoward@sonci.net
Lee Howard Construction Co
CSLB Lic # 280777 A,C12,C34, C42, C31. C13,(Haz)
707-462-6944