Mendocino County Today: Sunday, Feb 18, 2018

• Cold Wet
• HS Basketball
• Farm Report
• Coastal Rocks
• Hunting Party
• Pets
• Growers Lament
• Little Dog
• Ed Notes
• Yesterday's Catch
• Flammable Fences
• Idiot Phone
• Foothills
• Empire Politics
• NRA Man
• Incoming Noun
• Trump Universe
• Marco Radio
• Negative News
• Library Events

A COLD STORM SYSTEM will bring rain and snow showers to northwest California through early Monday morning. Some showers may contain small hail. Then a prolonged period of cold temperatures will persist into early next week with frigid nighttime temperatures possible near the coast. (National Weather Service)

MENDO VS AV BOYS—2018

by Jim Young

The final meeting of NCL 3 basketball between Mendocino and Anderson Valley was last Thursday in Mendocino. It was the third meeting of the schools this season. We met at the Point Arena Jolly Roger Tournament in December with Mendo winning 66-47. The first league game was played in Boonville on January 23, 2018 with a similar result of 60-37 again in favor of Mendo. Both these games featured league leading scorers Alejandro Soto from Anderson Valley and Nakai Baker from Mendocino. Soto scored 20 and Baker 24 in the first matchup, and both netted 17 in the second game. With the two big guns matching each other the floor opened up for 6’5" Cody Call who added 12 and 22, and senior Cole Duncan with 17 and 12.

It was a very interesting final game for both teams last week in Mendocino with the top three scorers in our league all on the court. Soto averaging 21.3, Baker, 20.1 and Call, 19.4. Cody Call also leads our league and all the North Coast Section in rebounds at 15 per game.

Both coaches tried to design a strategy for success. From the start, both teams focused the defense on Soto and Baker, both being “double teamed” much of the time. In the end Baker and Soto canceled each other out again with 15 each. The difference in this game was not the leading scorers but everyone else. Mendocino’s Logan Gruys had a season high of 14, Cole Duncan 11 and Cody Call 16, adding 22 rebounds. For Anderson Valley Efrain Garcia had 15 and Ulises Garcia 5. All this added up in the end to Mendocino on top, 56-44, completing a three game “sweep”.

It was senior night in Mendocino and a sad day for this Mendocino coach as he said goodbye to the Sotos, Alejandro and father Coach Antonio. I will miss you both more than you know for your sportsmanship and competitive spirit. My introduction to the Sotos was six years ago with brother Cesar, still in my mind the most talented all-around athlete to ever wear a Panther uniform. I remember Cesar’s freshman year playing with what my team got to know as Ceasar and Company with the likes of Jared Johnston, Erin Perez, Abraham Sanchez, Will Lemons, Izac Parra and Joshua Chavez. By the time Cesar and Co. were seniors brother Alejandro was in 10th grade. This was when the Soto to Soto combination was at it’s finest. Alejandro kept us all entertained and he played his last two years as the sole Soto.

The six years of Sotos would never have been the same without coach Lois Espinosa. His motivation and leadership is unparalleled in the coaching circles of NCL 3. Until last year, I worked in AV for 20 years. With my sources deep, and not to be named, I have been told I may be saying goodbye to Coach E., as well. Please please, someone tell me my sources are wrong.

Once again I thank the Sotos — Alejandro, Cesar and father Antonio — for six years of fun in the gym. It is athletes like you that I use for an excuse when asked why I did not stop coaching 8 years ago when my son, Jerry, graduated from Mendocino. It is athletes like you that have kept me in the gym all hours of the day and night for the last 50 years beginning in 1967 in middle school.

FARMING IN THE ANDERSON VALLEY

Petit Teton Monthly Farm Report - January 2018

Hi Friends....

This farming business certainly makes one hyper aware of nature...how the weather differs each year; how the animals act differently each year; what plants grow or don't each year and how...all forcing one to attempt to make sense of these observations and connect them to some larger force.

This winter has been unusual. The chickens, the same number as always, have continued to lay eggs right through the end of the year and we are presently boxing 4 dozen a day - in the dead of winter. For most of our years on the farm the chickens pretty much quit laying over the winter and slowly ramped up as spring approached. The frogs in a pond outside our bedroom window usually start singing once it starts raining. They started this year in January even though so far we had the most rain for this season (Oct-March) in Oct/Nov. They started singing although with less volume indicating far fewer of them, during our two weeks of faux spring at the beginning of February, but have quit now that there's frost every night and no rain. The bugs - flies and fruit flies - disappeared briefly in December, reappeared in the warm weeks and have since disappeared again. In the past years we would have had a few month's respite. Last week our two female breeder yaks, one pregnant, broke through their 12 acre fencing in search of more grass. While the male watched closely, we worked hard to encourage them back to the fold and have started feeding them. During the drought years, we started feeding them in late spring, and in normal rain years not until late summer. We've harvested greens all winter, the spring flowers are all out, and one plum tree is blooming while many other of our fruit trees are close. Most winters the greens slow or die back due to frost, and the flowers come out in February and March, not January. We just had a few nights of frost, but the days have been in the 60s and none of the flowers or plants have been severely affected yet.

Being on a farm compels us to be hyper aware of nature and we love watching it. The natural world is "real", fascinating, challenging, creative and very beautiful. Our connection to it is direct and unfiltered by others or technology. Our reactions and observations are unique and personal, but we are aware that what is happening in the "real" world is being severely challenged at this moment in time by the rest of the world.

Nikki Auschnitt & Steve Kreig, Yorkville

COASTAL ROCKS

(Photo by Judy Valadao)

DOC STANDLEY & AN A.O. CARPENTER TALE ABOUT A DEER & BEAR HUNT

by Malcolm Macdonald

Jeremiah “Doc” Standley arrived in California at the age of eight in 1853. He walked and rode with his family in a small wagon train that left Missouri in the spring and arrived in the golden state in the fall. As a boy he worked alongside his father with all sorts of farm animals, including an episode in which he nursed a failing cow back to good health single-handed. That incident earned him the nickname, Doc, which stuck for life to the degree that many folks didn't recognize the first name given him at birth.

At the age of sixteen Doc leased and worked a cattle ranch. At nineteen he received his first appointment as a deputy sheriff in Mendocino County. Deputy duties continued off and on while Doc returned to school then became a teacher. The on again, off again nature of law enforcement in the 1860s and 70s owed much to the ever shifting county budget. Young deputies, no matter how good (and Doc was exceedingly talented at investigation and tracking of criminals), were let go and re-hired throughout this time period.

Not long after Doc took up school teaching he also commenced a courtship with a brunette from Keithsville, Missouri, named Sarah Charity Clay. The couple married in 1868.

After solving the mysterious murder of a ranch woman living alone, Doc was once again let go in 1874. The Mendocino Dispatch and Democrat reported, “J. M. Standley, our well known and favorably known heretofore deputy sheriff, leaves today for Sherwood Valley, where he means to make a temporary abiding place, on a sheep ranch. We wish him success. One reason for his leaving is the passage of the new salary bill through the Legislature, which Sheriff Chalfant says necessitates his curtailing expenses.”

Doc continued in the sheep business into 1878 as evidenced by occasional citations in newspapers like this from the Ukiah City Press in October, 1878: “Doc Standley of Sherwood Valley purchased ten fine graded Spanish bucks in Cloverdale, which he carried to his farm on Tuesday last.”

Soon thereafter Doc led a party of hunters on a trip through the wilds of northern Mendocino County. Aurelius O. Carpenter, who would soon take over the editorship of the Ukiah City Press, and who had fought with John Brown in Kansas in the 1850s, rode, walked and crawled along with the 1878 hunting party, which included a combination of easterners and locals. Carpenter wrote an account of the adventure:

“There were six of us... First, a young law student from Vermont, Horace C. Howard [a relative of Carpenter], with a blue flannel shirt, white horse, red blanket (patriotic colors), and a pained expression whenever he got in the saddle after the first day's ride. He never had seen a bear or deer in its native wilds, and fairly ached all over to kill either; Walter Maxwell, schoolmaster, eager and sanguine, who had been shooting at jack rabbits all summer, playing they were bear, but had dressed no hides yet; Matt Burnett, another law student, who was up to snuff and deer hunting, and could shoot faster than any deer could catch bullets, so a good many weren't caught; Ike Raper, squatter, cook, sharpshooter, storyteller, and indispensable to any well organized hunting party of the north; our ain self, A.O.C., bugler and champion venison eater, historian and artist; and last, Doc Standley, who went for bear with an old search warrant he had left when he was deputy sheriff, and he didn't carry it in his coat pocket, as I will further relate.

“Supplies were laid in at Willits and consisted, by Walter's orders, of a sack of flour, ten pounds dried apples, sack of salt, fifteen pounds dried apples, bottle of pepper, twelve pounds dried apples, sack of potatoes, eight pounds dried apples, paper of cracked wheat, more apples, two barrels. The rest was dried apples. And dried apples was the best thing we had in camp, only we got out before we were ready to come home. Two horses, two mules, and two drivers hauled the camp equipage, etc., and four on horseback, all armed with Winchester rifles, made a cavalcade that looked like an illicit distilling party in Virginia.

“The first night from Sherwood took us to Ten Mile creek where dried apples and cold water made up what tea, coffee, bacon, bread, etc. lacked. No deer. Up and away at daylight, through forest and chemise, up Rattlesnake Hill and along the ridge to the 'Big Chemise,' beyond Bell Springs, where camp was made and hunting began. Doc and Max met an old buck coming into camp to inquire the news, and were too nervous to let him pass. So they had to pack him in after loading him down with lead.

“Away went the cavalcade to hunt for easier hunting ground... [O]ver yonder we went, and brought up at night at Spruce Grove, with more deer and word that game was plenty five miles further. Here, at Fielders', the wagon was housed, permanent camp was made, and pack saddles and mules connected, and Buck Mountain, near Garberville, was the haven of rest to be found. Just as all noses were turned westward [Joe] Lightfoot met the party and turned them east for Nefus Peak and Poison Camp, for bear and deer, in flocks and droves. Down, down, down, into the very bowels of the earth, went the trail to Pip's Creek, past Jewell's, and up, up, up, upon another backbone... went the trail, and Robinson's Peak offered a night's rest and several deer. The next day across north Eel river and to Ben Arthur's toiled the poor animals, and barley hay rewarded them. The men folk found cream biscuit, apples (not dried), grapes, butter, milk, tomatoes, and two good women to cook them, Mrs. Arthur and Lightfoot, and were rather loathe to start up the mountain for camp life again.

“Up, up, up again, until it seemed as though the summit was never to be, and down the other side to a pre-emption cabin, and camp was made. East of Dobbins creek, and hunting was to commence in earnest. Arthur and Lightfoot had joined the party with dogs, and with them Doc was to go with old Drive and Sounder [Standley's hunting dogs] for bear, on the range of Peabody, French, and Burgess. At daylight the next morning the crack of rifles proclaimed the death of innocent deer, and the baying of hounds told the marauding bear that retribution was near. But not that day. A bear was run clear out of the county, but never caught. Three days was this repeated, and the bear hunting yielded only a panther, two wildcats, a fisher, two pairs of torn pants, and a sore backed mule...”

Carpenter's folksy, informal style of writing a story like this was typical of newspaper editors of the time and region. William Heeser of the Mendocino Beacon and John G. Howell of the Russian River Flag, like A.O., had traveled widely, were well read, but didn't hesitate to print certain events in a manner of speaking and writing familiar to the humblest of readers. Before settling in northern California, Howell had served as a lawman in Idaho. Carpenter had served as the first official city marshal for Ukiah.

Carpenter's hunting tale moves toward conclusion with Doc Standley at the forefront:

“Early [on] Saturday, a bear was jumped, and the dogs bayed him, her, it, or them... Crawling in for a shot started them, and running about four hundred yards they again stopped. But that run had given the dogs a chance to go off on a deer track. All but old Drive, he disdained to follow such trash […] and Doc went on the trail alone. Drive was now baying furiously on a brush covered knoll, and crawling in on his hands and knees, with his Winchester 'warrant' well to the fore, our hunter found himself only sixty yards from a huge grizzly, and noise enough behind her for three or four more. Slowly turning her huge head from dog to man, her ears laid back, hair bristling forward, lips drawn back so as to show three-inch teeth snapping together, the ursa horribilis seemed debating which to eat first, man or dog. Doc studied on the problem as to which was the best plan, to shoot and then be eaten, or run and be eaten anyway. Just as he was about to give it up she turned her head, and a ball from his rifle struck her back of the eye, and with a loud 'woogh,' she rolled down to within forty feet of where he stood, when another ball laid her still. By this time another [grizzly] had come around the end of the log and met a Winchester bullet, and rolled over and down to the first one. Scarcely time to throw the lever forward and back was given when a third came into sight, and for the same cause rolled down against the other two. The fourth came excitedly into view and rolled his head quickly from side to side, looking for his comrades. A bullet broke his neck, and he, too, rolled down to the pile so fast growing. No more coming into sight, Doc emptied his rifle into the still kicking mass of bear, and climbed a tree with a loud 'view haloo' for the others to come and help pack 'em out.

“A Winchester rifle, one man and a dog had piled up in death four grizzly bears, that had been killing on average ten sheep a week for two months. Three of them were yearlings at two hundred pounds weight, and the old one was variously estimated at up to eight hundred pounds. The rest of the camp were in at the skinning, and bear steaks for supper. Leaving Doc to salt the meat and take another day's hunt, we struck out for the wagon road with three horse loads of venison.

“Rain kept us two days at Spruce Grove, where we were made comfortable by Rufus Fielders and his kind lady, where Doc came in with 'b'ar oil,' and meat and hides, and the home hunt began and continued down to Donohue and Reed's ranch, at Ten Mile, where we killed our last deer, a 'splendid buck,' and the next day took us to Doc's house, where we found rest for our weary bones and bread that could be eaten without effort.

“A count was had and our game footed up 4 grizzly bears, 41 deer, 2 panthers, 3 wildcats, 1 fisher, 1 wild boar, and small game too numerous to mention. We brought home 8 fresh deer in the hides, 200 pounds of bear meat, 4 bear hides, 3 gallons of oil, 150 pounds cured deer hams, 350 salted pounds venison, and hides to match our tally. We use bear oil on our ambrosial curls now.

“Nothing could exceed the kindhearted welcome we received at every mountain cabin. Peabody would allow of no camping except in his house, and Mrs. Burgess just begged the privilege of cooking for us anything that we wanted to eat. Green French, Ben Arthur, and others kindly replenished our supplies, and altogether we had a rare good time. But it was hard work, and by the month, at good pay, would have been a sore job. The ridges are too far above the bottoms of the canyons, and bear and deer will stay in the brush.”

Precisely one year later Doc would travel much the same hard country tracking a deadlier human prey, but that is a story for another day and page.

(Grizzly tales worth bearing at: malcolmmacdonaldoutlawford.com.)

PETS OF THE WEEK

Looking for a mellow companion kitty to relax and hang out with? Betty is your girl! Betty is an 8 year old, spayed, female tabby cat. She’s perfectly happy doing her own thing, taking long naps or having a good meal. She is social and enjoys attention. Come down to the Shelter to get to know her and get some cuddle time in!

This tennis ball-loving dog is Knox. He is a 1 year old, neutered male, mixed breed dog who weighs 65 pounds. Knox knows sit and he shakes with both paws! When he first arrived at the shelter, he was cautious and timid, but he’s made great improvements while he has been with us. We’re sure he will continue to gain confidence and be a fun companion for his new family. Knox Photo by Rod Coots.

The Ukiah Animal Shelter is located at 298 Plant Road in Ukiah; adoption hours are Tuesday - Saturday 10 am to 4:30 pm and Wednesday till 6:30 pm. To view photos and bios of our adoptable dogs and cats, please us visit online at mendoanimalshelter.com or visit the shelter at 298 Plant Road in Ukiah. Join us the 2nd Saturday of every month for our "Empty the Shelter" pack walk and help us get every dog out for some exercise! For more information about adoptions please call 707-467-6453.

GROWERS TO HUMCO SUPES: ‘YOU’RE RUINING OUR COMMUNITY’

by Daniel Mintz

Southern Humboldt’s cannabis farmers have told the Board of Supervisors that permitting fees and taxation are financially destroying homestead-scale growers.

During the public comment session of the board’s February 13 meeting, more than two dozen farmers described their struggles to be permitted and continue to earn a living.

Several people objected to the way Measure S, the county’s tax on grow area square footage, is being implemented. The county’s collection of a full year of the tax for 2017 even for permits issued late in the year was described by speakers as “a sneaky deal” and “shady.”

Farmers said their good faith efforts to achieve compliance have been met with unfair taxation, billing for permit reviews by the county’s contracted consultants and a barrage of expensive requirements – expenses that make legal cannabis farming a losing proposition for them.

Longtime county resident Harold English told supervisors that he and his wife are “your definition of mom and pop” and “I’ve never been closer to losing everything I’ve worked for than right now.”

Nicole Keenan said an avalanche of costs related to regulation is draining the community’s economic life.

“This is frickin’ killing me – it’s killing a lot of people,” she continued.

She related the financial struggles of the Mateel Community Center and Reggae on the River to the impact of new cultivation expenses. “People don’t have money to go out and spend – you guys are wringing us dry,” she said. “Wringing us completely flippin’ dry – we don’t have any money.”

She told supervisors, “You are ruining our community.”

A founding member of the True Humboldt farming collective said that “the cultivators that come through True Humboldt’s doors are now broken, tired and financially strapped individuals who have parceled out their life’s savings in 20 and 30 thousand dollar increments to consultants.”

She added, “Most of the best growers that I know cannot survive.”

Charlotte Silverstein, the owner of Garden of Beadin in Garberville, said the impacts radiate throughout Southern Humboldt’s economy. She told supervisors that “you are sucking us dry, most businesses in Garberville are between 30 to 60 percent off.”

Referring to the county’s billing of a full year of taxes regardless of the timing of permit approval or whether cannabis is actually produced, Silverstein added, “Whoever thought of taxing something before it’s grown.”

One longtime county resident and cannabis farmer said, “I understand that we need to tax to a certain point but let’s not tax this industry so that it completely goes away.”

Telling supervisors that “you’re creating another dust bowl,” a man who’s trying get a 2,000-square-foot grow permitted said it has been surprisingly difficult.

At one point he spoke directly to Southern Humboldt supervisor Estelle Fennell. “What happened to the small guys, Estelle -- you threw us under the bus,” he said, as applause sounded. “Thanks a heap,” he added as he walked from the podium.

Salmon Creek area cannabis farmer Rueben Childs described the permitting process as a costly gamble.

“Now I’m paying for the permission to ask for permission to be approved -- which I may still not be approved on,” he said, as audience members laughed and applauded.

Southern Humboldt Attorney Ed Denson has told the board, in writing, that changes to the tax collection structure of Measure S are illegal due to it being a voter initiative.

He described the overall start-up costs of becoming legal as a diversion from community-building. “KMUD’s broke, the Mateel is broke, business is off, charitable donations are down -- all the money has been soaked up by the permitting,” he said.

After the public comment session, Fennell noted the relationship between permitting and environmental protection.

“It’s unfortunate that you are dealing with a lot of – a lot of – legal issues from a lot of agencies, so it’s not a huge amount that can take that away, it’s all having to do with the environment,” she said.

Fennell noted that there was a period when “we were precluded from making any amendments or accepting any new applications” due to the filing of a lawsuit that demanded more thorough environmental review of the county’s permitting.

She announced that the board will review a new draft commercial cannabis production ordinance and its Environmental Impact Report on Feb. 27.

She also reported that herself and Board Chair Ryan Sundberg are members of a board committee that will make suggestions on cannabis policy such as the tax program and also recommend a structure for creating a formal county advisory committee on cannabis regulation.

Fennell encouraged participation in decision-making processes. “There are a lot of you here today who I recognize but I didn’t see you when we were discussing this earlier,” she said.

She invited people who want to talk to call her at 476-2392.

LITTLE DOG SAYS, “I still say dog ownership prevents crime. If the Florida nut had a dog to take care of he probably wouldn't have gone off. If he'd had a cat like Skrag? No deterrent effect whatsoever.”

ED NOTES

A RUMOR circulating Saturday claims that the "Mendocino County Drug Task Force got set up by the Feds in a fake drug bust and task force members were caught red-handed stealing money. Hoyle was one name that was mentioned that was caught stealing money. They said this took place today and we should be seeing it in the news soon."

SHERIFF ALLMAN promptly replied: "I have heard nothing. This is the first I heard of this rumor. UPD Sgt Hoyle doesn’t work in the task force anymore." Allman said that Hoyle has been out with a shoulder injury for some time.

I CALL the rumor wishful thinking. Hoyle has long been a kind of recurring hippie nightmare, haunting outback dope grows.

* * *

BILL HILLIE commenting on MSP: "The demographics of Fort Bragg does not support the hospital. The majority of the patients are Medi-cal, Medicare or Medi-Medi which does not even reimburse at hospital costs. I believe the city council, planners and mayors over the past 20-30 years are responsible for this. Fort Bragg has no industry other that tourism and now cannabis. We have a housing crisis, a homeless crisis and a mental illness crisis. Fort Bragg, a town full of progressives, has not progressed in 30 years. We have simply stagnated. What's new here? A Denny's and a Taco Bell. We need a cloud of clean industries. Businesses should be given tax incentives to open businesses here AND some average, simple houses need to be built, thus increasing the property tax contributions. Fort Bragg economics was much, much better when the mill was open, nothing has replaced the jobs and tax revenue since it closed. Nothing gets you nothing! Economics is not that hard to understand!"

NO, IT ISN'T. I think, though, Coast Hospital tried to offer more expensive services and staff than the Mendocino Coast could afford. And it's suffered years of bad management at the top, a top which is also over-compensated beyond all reason, especially given their performance. I don't believe the recurrent rumors that the Adventist octopus is poised to add Coast to its County dominance, simply because Adventist would have to absorb something like $12 million in Coast debt to make the purchase. Adventist, incidentally, is a for-profit operation sailing along with lots of non-profit tax breaks. A community-owned hospital like Coast operates more in the true, less expensive medical interests of the community it serves. It would be a shame to lose it after all the years of dedicated effort Fort Bragg people have put into it.

* * *

THREE YEARS AGO an earnest young man appeared at my door to sell me on an organization called Credo, which he presented as an all-purpose lobby for good political things as defined by the more liberal wing of the Democratic Party. I liked the kid's earnestness so I signed up for ten bucks a month for a year. And let it slide for two more years until I tried to get out. I wrote e-mails, I wrote old fashioned handcrafted appeals, I called an LA number and left messages. All appeals to exit Credo have been ignored, adding a few more pounds to my general suspicion of liberals, especially the cash and carry version found in groups like Credo. But they've got my credit card number, meaning I'll have to go to the bank and put a stop to Credo's draw on my resources. I'd be interested in hearing from other Credo people on their experiences with them.

* * *

GUN CONTROL. As another ghastly mass slaughter lurches into yet another call for gun control, I don't expect to see versions of my opinions in the mainstream media, so I'll bore you with them here. First off, there are an estimated 300 million guns at large in our crumbling country, which is more than one per adult. (Disclaimer: I have three myself.) There is no way to control them except, of course, by trying to ban the sale of those weapons that can easily be converted to fully automatic to both the sane and the insane, thin as the dividing line is in this country. But there are so many ingenuous methods for converting darn near any gun into a weapon of mass destruction that the task is probably futile, or mostly futile. The root of the problem, I think, lies in the bones of our social-economic-political order; we have a society that couldn't be better organized to create mental illness, everything from our moronic popular culture to the prevalence of internet evil in every form imaginable. The Florida loon was visibly deranged, not that his appearance was cause for suppression, but his threats were real and those threats were ignored by the great sleuths of the FBI, defenders of the Homeland. But there are undoubtedly thousands more like Florida Man out there — there are at least a dozen fascist-oriented young people here in the Anderson Valley — who spend hundreds of hours at fascist internet sites against whose propaganda they have no intellectual defenses. I think we're at the point where things will snap in unpredictable ways, and the violence coming will be a lot worse and a lot more pervasive than lone gunmen.

* * *

WHENEVER there's a story about the latest arrest of a chomo the comment lines exploded with sentiments like this one: "That's old school. Don't worry. I think the boys at the state pen will handle it just fine. They have special fondness for child molesters in prison."

URBAN MYTH. Every prison has specially devised chomo units. Yes, if chomos were turned loose in general prison populations they'd be harmed or murdered. Which is what used to happen to them, but now that there are so many of them they are simply isolated in their own quarters.

ANOTHER URBAN MYTH, at least from what I've learned from men who've done a lot of time, state and federal. White inmates do affiliate with groups like the Aryan Brotherhood just as Mexicans affiliate with Mexican gangs and Black inmates affiliate with Black gangs. You might say prison society is much like the outside world, ethnically considered. But in prison it’s the threat of severe retaliatory violence that maintains the peace.

* * *

THE CHINESE year of the dog celebrates all the virtues associated with the animal except for one. He also tastes good, properly prepared. American Indians ate dogs, Chinese have eaten dogs for centuries. Still do.

* * *

COMMON COMPLAINT about KZYX, this one from correspondent Sheila Dawn, who is routinely abused by the boors entrenched at Philo pseudo-public radio: "My intent was to register my dissatisfaction regarding the lack of civility of a staff person. During Public Comment I noted that after seventeen years of continuous support through donations and volunteering, I could not sanction rude behavior of a staff person by making a financial contribution, adding that such encounters were partly responsible for lack of membership growth. I also commented that I thought the station had become an elitist organization. As one who has been on both sides of the door, I found that if you are inside, it felt like a cozy tight knit family but if you attempt to exercise a member's right for transparency of information, that door can be physically locked against entry as it was (by the Campbell, Courtney, Bushansky triumvirate) when I tried to hold the station accountable to its promise of providing financial documents for inspection after a new GM had been selected."

BUT RUN your own civility experiment: Call up the station and ask for a list of employees and how much they're paid. You can expect (1) to be insulted directly, (2) hung up on, (3) diverted to the gm's voice mail for him to ignore.

CATCH OF THE DAY, February 17, 2018

WALTER BARR, Potter Valley. DUI.

WILLIAM BOYCE, Ukiah. Paraphernalia, suspended license, unlawful display of registration.

JARED BROWN, Frestville/Willits. Domestic battery.

DARRELL CARADINE, Fort Bragg. Probation revocation.

ANDREW CULPEPPER, Micanopy, Florida/Ukiah. Under influence, controlled substance, paraphernalia.

CHARLES HENSLEY, Ukiah. Disorderly conduct-alcohol. (Frequent flyer.)

AMANDA MARRUFO, Annapolis. DUI, misdemeanor hit&run, paraphernalia.

WESTON POTTER, Willits. DUI.

PEDRO REYNAGA, Disorderly conduct-alcohol, probation revocation.

JAMES RIMBEY, Salinas/Willits. Vehicle theft, false info to cop.

WILLIAM ZUBIA, Covelo. Failure to appear.

KINDLING

Editor:

As we begin construction and rebuilding of our community, we need to look at things that will help prevent fires from spreading. One of the first things we can look at is the practice of using highly flammable fencing.

Already, there are properties being rebuilt with new wood fences being erected. This wood is nothing more than kindling in a fire. As many homes are built with little setback, and homeowners plant along these wooden fences, they are creating a conduit for fire to spread. Local codes must be changed to prevent the use of flammable fencing along property lines.

There is a good possibility that the dry wood in the fences helped fuel the recent firestorm. As I travel through the burned areas, I see many brand-new wood fences. I find it hard to accept that we would allow this practice to continue.

Christopher Pino

Santa Rosa

ON LINE COMMENT OF THE DAY

The kids of today “look forward” to a world where their lives are run by that idiot phone in their hands.

Looking forward to it or not, that world is already here. Video annihilates critical evaluation and video’s content merely soaks deep into brain folds as true facts. That world began as soon as phones had big enough screens to captivate and invisibly coerce. It was written about years before it happen by such authors as Bradbury. His fears, and the inevitable consequences, turned out to be correct.

"SPRINGTIME IN THE FOOTHILLS of Copper Mountain"

(Photo by Harvey Reading)

RICK WEDDLE RECOMMENDS:

From my personal 'ten best' list is one that oughta be required reading for all Humans, and especially us North American Humans, about the takeover of America's governing mechanisms by 'commercial interests' beginning before 1900, setting a pattern that is still upon us to this hour. If you've got the vitamins and minerals, I implore you to read it, if you can find one.

Title: "Conspiracy For Empire; Big Business, Corruption, and the Politics of Empire In America, 1876-1907"

Authors: Luzviminda Bartolome Francisco and Jonathan Shepard Fast

Published: 1985, Foundation for Nationalist Studies, Quezon City, Philippines

Attached is the Foreword, which gives you a small hint of the Bite this piece of writing takes. You may notice here that the Philippines are referred to as 'America's first Viet Nam,' yet note also the Title of Book 1, Chapter 1...

Foreword

In 1898 the Americans came to our country in force and in a series of rapid maneuvers seized state power. Filipino resistance to the American invasion was prolonged and bitterly fought. It was a virtually suicidal struggle sustained for ten years against an enemy armed with superior technology and vast resources, an enemy which unleashed “depopulation campaigns” of such unprecedented ferocity that they sent hundreds of thousands of our countrymen to an early grave. The United States established a colony in the Philippines which behind a more sophisticated facade remains in force even to this day.

Why did this happen? Why did the Americans come here? What was their purpose? What was their motive? For many years, the real motives of the American Command were kept hidden not only from the Filipino people but also from the vast majority of the American people. Filipino nationalist writers have given their answers to these questions based on available documents and an anti-imperialist analytical framework. In this book, Luzviminda Bartolome Francisco, a Filipina of peasant origins, and Jonathan Shepard Fast, an American writer, provide us with a new analysis, using corporate records and other primary source material heretofore undiscovered or otherwise unavailable.

Why has a study of this type taken so long in coming? There are three reasons. First, to understand the real motives of the men who shaped American policy, men such as William McKinley, Nelson Aldrich, Mark Hanna and Henry Havemeyer, it is necessary to understand some of the intricacies of corporate affairs and the degree to which certain corporations, e.g., the American Sugar Refining Company, had command of the political process in America in the 1890's. It is also necessary to understand that the members of the “Aldrich Gang” had a powerful motive to prevent their real purpose from being discovered. For these were not public men, despite their prominence in the affairs of the American nation. Although they worked closely together they were most often to be found meeting privately in each other’s homes, Clubs, yachts, or at exclusive resorts such as the Jekyll Island Club in Georgia, where they knew they could make their plans free from public gaze. When they did correspond, which was infrequently, their letters often ended with the warning to each other: “read and burn.” The McKinley Papers in the Library of Congress are the skimpiest of the American Presidential Collections. Aldrich’s Papers, were, at his demand, sealed for fifty years after his death, and thereafter only portions were made available to the public. The Havemeyer Papers remain unavailable despite their historic importance to five nations.

Second, those few who were party to what Francisco and Fast call “the conspiracy” had an overwhelmingly powerful motive to fabricate colonial objectives which they thought would win popular support for their policies. American workers were told that imperialism would be to their advantage in terms of higher wages and steady employment as industry geared up to supply the markets of the East. American farmers were told cotton and wheat prices would inevitably rise as American farm products carved out markets in Asia. Filipinos were told it was all being done for their own good.

Third, Filipinos suffered special handicaps when it came to developing an analysis of what had happened to their country. The greatest of these was a highly successful system of censorship, sometimes explicite, sometimes de facto which prohibited any independent Filipino investigation of the facts surrounding American imperialism until decades after the event. The American Commander in the Philippine-American War, General Arthur McArthur, remarked in a candid moment that it would take “ten years of bayonet treatment” to subdue the Filipinos and another three generations of propagandizing to eliminate from the Filipino mind consciousness of what had happened.

Even documents of our own participation in the anti-imperialist struggle were denied to us. Approximately 650 file cases pertaining to all aspects of the Government of the Republic of the Philippines were seized by the Americans at the turn of the century and removed to Washington where for decades they remained under lock and key.

It should come as little comfort for us to discover that the American people themselves do not know the real nature of their imperial past. The fact that a giant, politically well-connected corporate monopoly, which by 1898 had already compiled a sorry history of corporate illegality, was the overwhelming beneficiary, in specific dollars and cents terms, of the McKinley Government’s colonial policy is not even hinted at in any standard American history text or reference book to this day. Even so major a figure as Nelson Aldrich, a man who had so much to do with the development and planning of American industrialization in the Civil War era and a man who held supreme political power the better part of his long political career, has been largely ignored by most American historians.

Francisco and Fast spent eight years in the archives of New York, Washington and London to compile the research which has resulted in this volume. I know from my long conversations with them both that in the early years, they were often frustrated at their inability to locate important pieces in what was developing into a giant jigsaw, but missing documents and torn-out pages merely increased their determination to discover the true answers to the questions they had posed.

This painstakingly-researched volume is a fascinating and instructive account of economic power and how it shapes government policy. It is also an important step forward in developing a deeper understanding of a crucial period of Philippine history. I believe it deserves serious attention.

Renato Constantino

Quezon City

February 4, 1984

Book 1, Chapter 1 – The Hawai’ian Precedent

THE NRA’S POINT MAN IN THE FLORIDA legislature was state Rep. Dennis Baxley (R). In the late 1990s and early 2000s, Baxley, a card-carrying NRA member and an ally of then-President George W. Bush reaped financial support from the NRA’s Political Victory Fund. In 2000 Baxley received a $500 campaign donation from the NRA (the state’s legal limit per election cycle) on top of nearly a thousand dollars more in independent spending backing him. By 2004, the NRA awarded Baxley its “Defender of Freedom” award. And in 2007, the NRA spent a whopping $35,000 on radio advertising to support Baxley in a primary fight. He lost. But he was later elected to the Florida State Senate.

(Mother Jones)

FLORIDA STATE SENATOR Dennis Baxley describes his proposal to deal with school shootings to Scott Simon on NPR.

FROM "MERELY a Warning that a Noun is Coming" by Bee Wilson:

"…in 1930, John Brophy and Eric Partridge published a collection of British songs and slang from the First war. They claimed that soldiers used the word 'fucking' so often that it was merely a warning that a noun is coming. In a normal situation, swear words are used for emphasis, but Brophy and Partridge found that obscenity was so over-used among the military in the Great War that if a soldier wanted to express emotion he wouldn't swear. Thus, if a sergeant said, 'Get your fucking rifles!' it was understood as a matter of routine. But if he said, 'Get your rifles!' it was as if there was an immediate implication of urgency and danger.”

ACTUALLY, I would make these appointments and I would come in and these appointments weren't kept. So I would sit on the couch. What I haven't said is what a humiliating experience it is. Because everybody would look at you. You were kind of a pathetic person; whatever appointment you had, nobody was keeping it. I was the guy you could keep waiting for, like, the whole day! And it was only over time that I started to realize that I was the most non-threatening person in the Trump universe. And as a result, everybody treated me like someone they could talk to.

— Michael Wolfe on the Trump White House

FISH ROCK ROAD AND I DON'T CARE

"Quelle aubaine! Une place de libre, ou presque, dans ce compartiment.  Une escale provisoire, pourquoi pas! Donc, ma nouvelle adresse dans ce  train de nulle part: voiture 12, 3ème compartiment dans le sens de la  marche. Encore une fois, pourquoi pas?" — Michel Thaler

Marco here. As usual, thanks to Hank Sims of Lost Coast Outpost, the  recording of last night's (2018-02-16) KNYO Fort Bragg and KMEC Ukiah  Memo of the Air: Good Night Radio show is available by or two clicks,  depending on whether you want to listen to it now or download it and  keep it for later, but I'm on dialup right now, where I'm writing this,  so it's hard for me to just go get that link for you. You'll see it at  http://MemoOfTheAir.wordpress.com where I put it earlier, where there  was broadband. Speaking of which, thanks for the Funny Times, Louise.  I didn't know they were still printing that.

IN OTHER NEWS, as usual at http://MemoOfTheAir.wordpress.com you'll find  a fresh batch of links to educational activities and amusements and  sources of interactable wonderment, such as:

FTL, a film about the first use of the Alcubierre faster-than-light  drive. (15 min.) https://theawesomer.com/ftl/466475/

The Endless Night. A valentine to film noir.

https://vimeo.com/38946362

Six gaits hath the dog. https://boingboing.net/2018/02/15/this-animation-shows-a-dogs.html

And James Brunt’s rock mandalas, though they look more like Stone Age  antenna arrays. Juanita and I made things like this, but smaller, out of  pebbles and glass and decomposed spark plugs at Glass Beach a long time  ago. I haven't been back in years. Do they still let you go down there,  I wonder, or is it fenced off now?

https://boingboing.net/2018/02/14/james-brunt-arranges-beautiful.html.

Marco McClean

THE MEDIA EXAGGERATES NEGATIVE NEWS. This distortion has consequences.

Every day the news is filled with stories about war, terrorism, crime, pollution, inequality, drug abuse and oppression. And it’s not just the headlines we’re talking about; it’s the op-eds and long-form stories as well. Magazine covers warn us of coming anarchies, plagues, epidemics, collapses, and so many “crises” (farm, health, retirement, welfare, energy, deficit) that copywriters have had to escalate to the redundant “serious crisis.”

theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/feb/17/steven-pinker-media-negative-news

UPCOMING EVENTS HAPPENING AT THE UKIAH LIBRARY

The Mendocino County Library has been awarded a Book-to-Action grant through the California State Library for a multi-part program around engaging our community in meaningful conversations about race, racism, racial micro-aggressions, white privilege, and structural inequality. The community is invited to the Ukiah branch of the Mendocino County Library’s Book-to-Action series of events, featuring the book Citizen by Claudia Rankine, to be held during February-March 2018 at the Ukiah Library. The Ukiah Library will be providing community-members with a free, brand-new copy of the book. Interested community members may pick up their copy at the front desk of the Ukiah Library.

* * *

Bibliotherapy Book Club for Teens (12-18) meets every 3^rd Tuesday of the month at 4pm:

• January 16^th
• February 20^th
• March 20^th
• April 17^th
• May 15^th
• June 19^th
• July 17^th
• Sept. 18^th
• Oct. 16^th
• Nov. 20^th
• Dec. 18^th

The Ukiah Branch Library has partnered with Tapestry Family Services and Project Sanctuary to create a new book club for teens: Bibliotherapy Book Club! Starting in January, the Bibliotherapy Book Club for Teens (12-18) will meet monthly & focus on a variety of "tough topics" including anxiety, depression, grief, sexual abuse & rape, racism, bullying, suicide, obsessive-compulsive disorder, bulimia, & issues surrounding gender identity - to name a few. Some titles we will read include:

• The Perks of Being a Wallflower, Stephen Chbosky (trauma, grief)
• Hyberbole and a Half, Allie Brosh (depression)
• Thirteen Reasons Why, Jay Asher (suicide)
• Say What You Will, Cammie McGovern (OCD)
• Eleanor and Park, Rainbow Rowell (sexual & physical abuse)
• Speak, Laurie Halse Andersen (rape)

Teens will be able to discuss tough topics in a safe environment with trusted librarians and counselors from Tapestry & Project Sanctuary, as well as receive assistance for service referrals if requested.

Advance registration is required. If you are interested in the program or want to find out more about the Bibliotherapy Book Club, please contact Melissa at the Ukiah Library: 467-6434 or carrm@co.mendocino.ca.us This book club is free and open to all interested teens.

* * *

13th: Documentary & Discussion by Ava DuVernay, Director of Selma

Thursday, Feb. 22^nd 5:30–8 pm

For Mature Teens and Adults

Join us for a film screening and discussion of the documentary 13th by Ava DuVernay. This powerful documentary introduces the words of the 13^th Amendment of the United States Constitution: “Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.” 13th argues that although slavery was ostensibly abolished in 1865, this clause of the Thirteenth Amendment legally embedded and allowed a pernicious form of enslavement into American institutions. This loophole has since been wielded as a devastating political tool in the form of mass incarceration and criminalization.

A discussion will follow the film. If you are interested in the program or want to find out more, please contact Melissa at the Ukiah Library: 467-6434 or carrm@co.mendocino.ca.us This event is free and open to all mature teens & adults.

This event is the first in a series offered by the Mendocino County Library, Ukiah branch c/o a Book-to-Action grant we received from the California State Library.

The Book-to-Action program is a variation on the traditional library book group—it offers participants not only the opportunity to collectively read and discuss a book and meet a book author, but also to put their newfound knowledge into action by engaging in a community service project or activity related to the book's topic. Book-to-Action is a project of the California State Library in partnership with the California Center for the Book, and it is being implemented in libraries throughout the State. The project was supported in whole or in part by the U.S. Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act, administered in California by the State Librarian.

* * *

Monthly Teen Writers’ Workshop

Tuesday, February 27, 2018: 4:15-5:30 pm

New teen writing group offers feedback, inspiration, suggestions, and support

Ukiah’s budding novelists, playwrights, and short story writers will have a chance to share their work with their literary peers and discuss it in depth at the Ukiah Library, beginning Tuesday, February 27, 2018, at 4:15pm.

Workshop moderator Sarah Neilson holds a Masters in Children’s and Young Adult Literature from Hollins University and a BA in English from the University of Iowa. A published playwright and essayist, she’s been active in writing workshops for almost 20 years.

“Reading is usually a solitary experience,” Neilson says, “and writing definitely is. But workshops allow you to actually watch what happens when someone else reads your work. You also get to hear your work read out loud, which can change the way you see your own ideas.”

Teen writers will share what they like about each other’s work, ask questions, and offer suggestions to those who are unsure about where to go next.

Anyone aged 14-18 with a piece of writing to share, however finished or unfinished, whatever genre or form, is welcome to bring it to the workshop.

“Bring several pages, or just bring a sentence or even an idea,” Neilson says. “It’s all up for discussion.” She also emphasizes that writers need readers, and encourages teens who don’t have writing to share to show up anyway.

“Anyone can offer feedback and support,” Neilson says. “You never know how your perspective might help someone. Even something as simple as, ‘wait, I’m confused,’ can help a writer clarify what it is they’re trying to say.”

No sign-up or registration is necessary, but questions can be directed to Melissa Carr, Teen and Adult Services Librarian, carrm@mendocinocounty.org.

Contact: Sarah Neilson

Phone: (773) 682-0544

Email: sarahmarieneilson@gmail.com

* * *

Planning a Seed Saving Vegetable Garden

On Saturday March 3rd from 1:00 pm to 2:30 pm the Mendocino County Library, Ukiah Branch is hosting Planning a Seed Saving Vegetable Garden.

Professional gardeners Carolyn Brown and Jen Lyon will help participants plan their vegetable gardens for eating and seed saving. Learn about locally adapted seeds and how they help to create sustainability in our community. Sign-up by calling 707-463-4490. Sponsored by the Ukiah Valley Friends of the Library.

Some good ideas for question add=ons on comment line add Redwood Valley, Ukiah and Hopland to diversion beneficiaries