Mendocino County Today: Sunday, Feb. 25, 2018

• Find Khadijah
• Playoff Upset
• Moon
• Director Christen
• Emergency Warning
• County News
• Octograbbing
• Cannabis Community
• Ramiro's Story
• Hospital Tax
• Ganja Tax
• Plan Team
• Overcast Freezing
• KZYX Finance
• Xiang Xzhinged
• Little Dog
• Ed Notes
• Yesterday's Catch
• DNC Sabotage
• Sunset
• Chemtrails
• 1-800-Coyote
• Gun Politics
• Wider
• Pushy Pastors
• Liability Avoidance
• Boots
• Fearful Gospel
• Mural Protest
• Freedom School
• CalPERS Trouble
• Marco Radio

BRING KHADIJAH HOME

FROM THE ESSENTIAL MENDOCINOSPORTSPLUS, an excellent account of the Mendocino Girl basketball team's miraculous playoff upset...

Girls Division 6 Playoff Basketball

Lady Cardinals 'Miracle In Mendocino' Wednesday

by Paul McCarthy

When the NCS brackets were released last Sunday morning I was not surprised Mendo drew the #12 seed. They had tied Calistoga for second place (at 10-3) but would actually be the third place team for the playoffs due to the "tie-breaker" numbers selected before the season. Calistoga got the #7 seed.

The Calistoga athletic director chose #2 and Mendocino High AD Noah Gold picked #25 - there are only 27 numbers that can be selected! In an odd twist of fate, one of many in this story, that happened to work to Mendo's advantage as the Lady Cardinals are playing tonight in the quarterfinals and Calistoga isn't.

At any rate, the first thing I did upon learning #5 seed El Sobrante Christian would be the opponent was find the distance between the two high schools: 154 miles, a three-hour, 25-minute drive. A WHOPPER of a drive through Bay Area and US-101 traffic in Petaluma & Santa Rosa. The lower seeded team nearly always hosts the playoff game.

I then learned the El Sobrante team started slowly this season then reeled off 14 straight wins before being edged 41-39 (by Santa Rosa's Summerfield Waldorf) in overtime at the SSBL tourney semifinal - one week prior to Wednesday's game. But they ended up undefeated during League play and were 15-2 overall.

The loss REALLY had to have rattled El Sobrante - they forgot to send in the papers to HOST playoff games to the NCS, so it ended up THEY would be the team that had to travel for the opening round game!

I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw the game was at McDonnel Gym in Mendo. Bet that won't happen again.

The Lady Cardinals had won the first playoff battle without firing a shot. I've been to El Sobrante, and I can tell you there are no roads with the twists & turns like Highway 128 there - not even close. They took a good shaking up on the way here I guarantee - nothing like cruising down their main thoroughfare called San Pablo Dam Road.

But there was still a little problem for the Lady Cardinals though - three members of the team, since it was a school vacation week, elected to take "out-of-town" vacations. There would be only five players for the game - no bench.

Fortunately, come game time on Wednesday, one of those players made it to the gym for the game, so at least there was a cushion should someone foul out.

Game Time

Despite the torturous ride, El Sobrante ran out to a 10-0 lead largely due to the inability of Mendo to stop senior guard Keke Ivory-Billups who scored 9 of her team's 11 first quarter points.

Mendo didn't get on the scoreboard until 3:37 left in the opening period when super freshman Brooke Bishop scored - followed by a Tayler Kolby-Kishbaugh bucket. The opening quarter ended with Mendo turning the ball over numerous times and the score reflected it - they were down 11-4.

But the Lady Cards turned things around in the second, they shut down Ivory-Billups and started hitting their shots - notably Cate Soboleski who hit two sweet three-pointers that stunned the visitors. They dominated the boards both offensively and defensively and just like that Mendo overwhelmed the visitors and led 18-14 at the half - outscoring them 14-3.

Brooke Bishop notched 6 points in that first half, but more importantly, collected 14 rebounds (she had 24 for the game!).

The second half went much the same way - El Sobrante seemed dispirited. In the third Mendo outscored El Sobrante 17-4 for a 35-18 lead at the end of the period and despite a slight rally in the final quarter (they outscored Mendo 12-4), Mendo won this one going away...despite committing 20 turnovers.

Tayler Kolby-Kishbaugh played a steady, dominating game and ended with 12 points. Brooke Bishop, who seemed to be everywhere, ended with 9 points while super senior Aimee Gordon, who controlled the tempo of the game, had 7 points. Cate Soboleski ended with 6 points and Maya Scholin came on in the second half scoring 5 points - including a "trey."

Quarterfinal Tonight

The win advanced Mendo into the Quarterfinals against powerhouse, #4 seed, Emery High Spartans (15-4). After a three-hour ride, Mendo faces a squad with THREE players that average double-digits during the season - including sophomore #23 Stephanie Okowi who averages 21.3 points per game, 15.7 rebounds & 3.3 steals per game.

In their opening playoff game, Emery beat #13 seed Patten Academy 60-35. But a look at the box score of that game was revealing - it was close until a big third period by Emery.

PATTEN 13 06 03 13 = 35

EMERY 18 07 23 12 = 60

It looks like an uphill battle for the Lady Cards, but having pulled off the biggest upset of the 2018 Division 6 playoffs, if any team is capable of advancing it certainly would be Mendocino.

TONIGHT’S MOON

(Photo by Judy Valadao)

FRANCOIS CHRISTEN, a retired Wells-Fargo banker from Philo who has served on the Nash Mill Road Association, was sworn in as Community Services District trustee to finish the term of Joanie Clark. The always charming and helpful Ms. Clark resigned for health reasons two months ago. Mr. Cristen initially impresses as a smart, amiable fellow likely to be an asset on the CSD Board of Directors.

AARON MARTIN, part-time KZYX Mind-Body-Health host, and long-serving ambulance EMT, suggested last month that the AV Community Services District Board look into sirens as emergency warning systems in the aftermath of the big fires in Potter and Redwood Valley last fall. The Anderson Valley has been fire-lucky for many years. The Board agreed that sirens should be explored. Last Wednesday night Martin, who says he grew up with sirens as warning systems in North Dakota, reported that he’d looked into it and found that sirens are impractical for Anderson Valley. It would take several of them to cover the entire Valley, and they cost upwards of $25k each (including installation). Several Board members expressed skepticism of the reverse 911 system which not only requires registration, but even when working right, does not provide reliable broad-scale warnings. Your local reporter suggested the possibility of super-bullhorns like one purchased by the Sheriff last year for tsunami warnings on the Coast (opposed vociferously by Supervisor Dan Hamburg who worried that the Blue Meanies might use the airhorn to blast peaceful protesters -- and when was the last time you even saw a protester you’d like to blast? Don’t answer that). Martin agreed to look into the bullhorn option also, although several people noted that 1) fire trucks already have bullhorns (although not quite as loud), and 2) driving up and down Highway 128 shouting “FIRE!” into a bullhorn isn’t exactly a great way to warn people either, especially people farther up in the hills where even the louder bullhorns wouldn’t reach.

SUPERVISOR JOHN McCOWEN AND CEO CARMEL ANGELO were in the Valley last Wednesday to attend the regular meeting of the Mendocino County Association of Fire Districts. Among topics discussed was the County’s pending “amicable divorce” from Coastal Valley EMS, the pseudo-governmental agency out of Santa Rosa that supposedly maintains local Emergency Services protocols, trainings, certifications, etc. Coastal Valley was also supposed to work on the Request for Proposal for the Exclusive Operating Area (aka EOA, for ambulance service in Mendo’s Highway 101 corridor) for inland Mendocino County. The RFP has languished for several years without forward progress, which may have been the true reason Mendo has decided to part ways with them at the end of their current contract, presumably at the end of the next fiscal year, perhaps as far out as June of 2019.

WHICH IS LIKELY TO MEAN, among other things, more delays in the EOA RFP (i.e., going out to bid for one ambulance service provider for the 101 corridor), which further translates to more uncertainty in local emergency services funding. The Fire Assocation also discussed the distribution of marijuana taxes as called for in the successful advisory measure from last fall, part of which advised the Board of Supervisors to funnel a significant amount of pot tax revenues to fire services. However, one attendee from Bell Springs handed out an analysis which disabused the group of the pot tax windfall revenue. And nobody disagreed with it. It showed that most if not all pot taxes will go to the state, not to Mendocino County, so there’s not likely to be much to distribute.

ANOTHER ATTENDEE reported that Supervisor McCowen noted that there probably won’t be any proceeds from marijuana fees and permits either, this year. McCowen, an expert on the County’s contorted pot permit process, reportedly said that if anything the County is like to lose money on pot permitting — this year. (Which begs the question of whether the ridiculously convoluted program will ever pay for itself since it is quickly gaining a reputation as a failed attempt at regulation among local growers because of costly up-front fees and costs and no guarantee that you’ll ever make it to the end and get a permit. PS. No refunds.)

OCTOPI!

MendocinoSportsPlus's 'Well, That's A Handful' Department

MendocinoSportsPlus pal and Mendo High grad Derek Woods posted these photos to his Instagram account Wednesday with the question: "What has 8 legs and weighs 100+ lbs?!?"

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Comment by Katy Tahja (from the AVA Archive): So how do you have an accident with a octopus? In 1934 a 16-year old boy down on the rocks at Noyo Point abalone fishing with friends was grabbed by an octopus. It wrapped a tentacle around his waist and pulled him into four feet of water. His friends beat on the octopus with abalone irons until it died and let go. They dragged it on shore and it was eight feet wide. Another accident that same year at Agate Beach in Mendocino had a young man reaching under a rock and having his wrist grabbed and pulled by the sea creature. Again the kids beat the critter to death and shared their newsworthy story with the Mendocino Beacon.

* * *

ED NOTE: Farther back, I recall a story, circa 1930 or so about two women strolling the surf line near Fort Bragg when a giant octo reached out to snag one them and it took half of Fort Bragg to extract the poor woman from being dragged off to the beast's underwater lair.

FIGHT BACK, POT PEOPLE!

A Message From Pot’s O.G. (Original Grower)

An Open Letter To The So-Called "Cannabis Community":

…that is unable to stand together and coalesce and express any political power at all,

…that is unable to see that the regulatory regime isn't really about cannabis, but is about economic control, blind ideology, and the loss of civil liberties;

…that has lost an industrial action and is hiding out and falling behind in the culture war and yet is still nitpicking in tiny battles for crumbs;

…that whines in abstract outrage while paralyzed in alienation, isolation and fear, and

…that pretends to have the moral high ground but lacks the moral courage to claim it.

There are a lot of good people in the cannabis community and there are some responsible businesses and corporations in the cannabis community — except that there is no "cannabis community." There are a few brave (or foolhardy?) souls and marginal organizations fighting the battle for crumbs while never really engaging the war about political freedom and cultural integrity. And there are a lot of self-righteous identity politics "victims" unable to look beyond their narcissistic neediness. People who really care about the free and creative use of cannabis as a social health and sanity benefit have two albatrosses around their necks: the first is the oppressive, arrogant and treacherous government apparatus; and the second is the passive, frightened and atomized "cannabis community" itself.

Given that the cannabis control war has been lost for now, we face two ongoing struggles:

First: a running series of skirmishes to claw back rights lost in the minions of the corporate behemoths that own the control-fraud rackets (and the governments administering them);

and, second: a decades-long cultural values war as the scientific and medical facts of cannabis supplant the reefer hokum ideologies and the overall structure of suppression and regulation collapses from within, since there is little legitimate basis for any regulation at all, and none to justify the extremes we are seeing now. Truly, Cannabis acceptance advances one funeral at a time.

Both must be engaged simultaneously and continuously, with some dynamic combination of soul numbing bureaucratic confrontation and high integrity civil disobedience against the hypocrisy, extortion, and abuse of process by our "leaders" and their owners. The cannabis community has decades of experience working with integrity outside the law which will continue in the black market made inevitable by the regulatory excesses.

Both the content battles and the acceptance war will be engaged and advanced with a series of test cases in the courts combined with a general refusal to play the regulatory game that has been designed from scratch to destroy the existing cannabis culture and violate our natural human right to maintain our health and sanity.

I challenge, invite, and encourage all people who relate to and resonate with the cannabis conversation, who have any stake in this matter (however subjective), and who have the financial wherewithal to fund the skirmishes and the war itself, to first decide what's really important to you (both short-term and long-term), which "side" you are on, and whom you really serve. Second, to enroll your peers in the community to pitch up their engagement and build political powers through through weight of aligned numbers, and third, to put your time, money and personal energy where your mouth is. "Do some good!"

Oaky Joe Munson

Forestville

TO BE OR NOT TO BE, PART TWO

Editor,

(…continued from last week) — The green light was given for new recruits, those who were from Hopland were chosen. Fights always broke out at school and I was always called into the office. Mr. Garcia was one of the principals at the time. He had me in his office asking, "Romero, do you have anything or know who's involved in the fight today?" My answer was simple: "I don't know who or what you are speaking of." I learned along the way not to say a word.

One afternoon an assembly was in session for all the students. The people were ex-gang members — "old schoolers" is what I would call them. They spoke about gangs and how they got out and such. They were from Victory Outreach in Santa Rosa. This is funny because this will come into play later in the story about how it changed my life. At the same time that this was going on preparations for cap and gown graduation were being made.

At our 1997 graduation, a lot of us were so happy that day. Bleachers were packed at the Ukiah high school football field. When my name was called to receive my diploma I felt loved as I walked up on to the stage after the tassel was moved to the other side of the caps and the caps were thrown. All our family and friends and teachers were there to greet us. My mother and father, brothers, and even my cousin had flowers for me on this day. A picture was even taken where you can see how happy my parents were, especially when I was the first to graduate of all my brothers.

In 1998 I started to work and save my money, being more responsible. After I left the ranch life I found a better paying job thanks to Hector (my older brother) at MGM Brakes in Cloverdale. I started from the bottom just as my older brother had and I worked my way to the top. I became the warehouse manager and quality assurance man an important job there.

After three years and investing my money in a property and in a 1999 GMC Sonoma (with my father help with the credit), in 2000 I took advantage of the benefits and decided to do something more challenging.

A friend of the family had recommended me to his employer. I would be running heavy equipment, building dams and reservoirs, doing vineyard prep, etc. for MBC construction for just $2 more an hour. I ran the landfill compactor and worked my way up to the dozer, but mainly I remained running scrapers. I remember the first job site, probably the biggest pond I've ever built in Potter Valley.

One Sunday morning I lost my job because supposedly I was there late more than once. The "boss" said this to me as I got there at 7 AM. I knew that he had actually fired me for something else. This is where my downhill fall began. But at that time I wasn't paying attention.

On September 11, 2001 I was preparing for work, my mother was watching TV. She said with some concern in her voice, "Son, look what's happening on TV." I saw the first plane hit the tower and that was the day that forever changed my life and everyone's life. I was already speaking what some would consider "conspiracy" which in the long run some were conclusive.

I walked to work at Associated Vintage Group winery only a few hundred feet from home. Like other events in life, this too would play a role later in the story.

In 2006 my friend and brother Marcos had gotten into some trouble with the law. There’s no need for details on this, but he was given 15 for life. This took a toll on my mother and father as well as myself.

My brother is now home after doing his time in prison. At first he seemed like the brother I knew, but in time he started to change. I told myself that maybe it's the methamphetamine or it could be that something happened to him while he was imprisoned. When I tried talking to him or giving him a hug he rejected me which made me sad and truly broke my heart. I totally felt that I was losing my family -- "or is it my family?"

In 2013 my mother and father were in living downtown Hopland and leaving the ranch life. It was different for them to adapt to the city with all its neighbors, cars flying through on Highway 175 all night due to the casino, etc. My father's boss was looking for someone to maintain his ranches which he had in Redwood Valley and in Ukiah near the high school.

Six months after working with the Colombini’s owner’s son (my father’s boss) he had me work at his father’s house for the last 30 days. So I met the father of my father’s boss, Mr. Colombini. We both got along with each other. But for some reason he didn’t like my dad. It’s funny because I didn’t like his son either. I never told him that. I remember as we were working together one day he said, “Ramiro, you could pass for an Italian!”

(To Be Continued.)

Ramiro Gonzalez Jr.

Mendocino County Jail, Ukiah

SAVE COAST HOSPITAL, THE PARCEL TAX CAMPAIGN

"If you are interested in working to pass the hospital parcel tax: You may or may not know that the MCDH board passed a resolution Thurs. to put the parcel tax measure on June's ballot. The proposed tax of $144/yr. parcel tax will add much needed hospital services operating funds (no admin. salaries &/or benefits). The tax sunsets in 12 years. People to work on the campaign are desperately needed. Attached is the list Steve Lund gave Friends of the Hospital. Steering Committee chairs need filling now. Jim Hurst has agreed to be chair and Steve is looking for a co-chair. Jennifer Owen will be treasurer.

If you know people who would be good in these positions, or you would like to participate, please get names to Steve ASAP. Steve Lund <slund@mcdh.net> A diversity of folks participating as task leaders and as on-the-ground participants will have the best chance of reaching and affecting a positive outcome in the vote. Steve has already raised $15K for the campaign. Doesn't know how much will be needed, maybe $25K. Highly unlikely they'll hire a campaign management firm, but will hire a the Voter Data Management head. Voter phone call and other "pulse" taking info will be recorded mostly electronically by campaign field-workers, info tabulated by manager. By the end of April, via phone calls and other methods, the campaign should know who supports the measure. In May, another phone blitz will remind people to vote. 9K is about 70% of the voter population of about 13K. That is the number volunteers will be asked to contact twice during the campaign. 66% is needed to pass the tax.

Timing:

First Steering Committee meeting either this coming week, but probably the following.

Meetings should be about every 2 weeks after kick-off, which he hopes it will be in 2 weeks."

(Ginny Rorby)

IN CASE YOU WERE WONDERING how Mendocino County will be collecting the "cannabis business tax," here is Treasurer-Tax collector Shari Schapmire's introduction to a four page pot tax collection proposal:

“Cannabis Business Tax Implementation Process on Cultivation: As defined in section 6.32.050(B), the Cannabis Business Tax imposed on commercial cannabis cultivation is, first and foremost, based on gross receipts; secondary, a minimum amount of taxes, per growing cycle, are required to be remitted each fiscal year. As staff worked with the software vendor to incorporate this scenario in the financial tracking system it became obvious the only way to accomplish this goal was to first meet the gross receipts criteria and then address the issue of a “true-up” at the end of each fiscal year. As the minimum amount required per growing cycle is based on square footage, and not on permit type, staff will be required to manually review each account where the gross receipts received do not appear to have exceeded the minimum amount due; if it is determined, after the review of square footage on each particular growing cycle, that the required minimum threshold has not been met, an invoice will be generated for any balance due.”

Of course that introductory paragraph is accompanied by four single-spaced pages of similarly confusing and detailed tax collector gibberish.

mendocino.legistar.com/LegislationDetail.aspx?ID=3353217&GUID=93E2B516-D43C-49E1-A584-E992876DFDE7&Options=&Search=&FullText=1

IN OTHER WORDS, the taxation side of the pot regulation is shaping up to be even more complicated than the permit side.

ACCORDING TO MS. SCHAPMIRE the County has already collected some pot taxes. In fact, at the end of the Ms. Schapmire’s pot tax collection white paper/staff report, she appends the following summary of cannabis tax collections from January of 2017 to February 8 of 2018:

Dispensary: $315,215.06

Cultivator Type 2: $280,158.23

Cultivator Type 1: $33,077.12

Cultivator Cottage: $59,611.69

Nursery: $68,125.00

Total: $756,187.10

Which, if true — and we have to assume these ridiculous numbers are true, as preposterous as they seem — Mendocino County has collected over three quarters of a million in cannabis taxes unbeknownst to the Board of Supervisors, that 1) nobody knew about, and 2) nobody knows where it went. We've heard that it all went back to the state but…

WE WERE SURPRISED to learn that County CEO Carmel Angelo has a "Performance Planning Team" as part of her "Executive Leadership Team." (What's next, uniforms?)

ACCORDING to Tuesday's board packet, the Performance Plan Project Charter, which describes the Performance Plan Team, was created back in January of 2017. Also known as "Goal Getters (G2)", the Performance Plan Team Charter’s description and purpose is: "develop plans to identify culture and measure performance metrics in order to define and track the success of the county’s project teams, identify opportunities for improvement, and educate our decision-making process. This experience will be utilized to develop additional performance metrics throughout the organization including metrics related to disaster assistance and recovery."

THE TEAM is also supposed to “develop measurable benchmarks based on project goals and objectives, develop a method of reporting for project teams based on established benchmarks/indicators, and develop tools to track measurements of progress to allow the information to be fully utilized in the decision-making process."

THE TEAM is made up of nine people, in addition to CEO Angelo. Jill Martin from Child Support (aka the Deadbeat Dads office), Anne "The Inevitable" Molgaard from Health and Human Services, Jenine Miller from Health and Human Services, Shannon Richards from Child Support, Jody Johnston from Health and Human Services, Doug Gherkin from Health and Human Services, Tim Hallman an accountant with the Auditor's office, Pauline Rantala with Health and Human Services, and Amanda Wolter an administrative assistant in CEO Angelo's office. (Play ball!)

AND IF YOU HAVE THE IMPRESSION that the “team” is heavily weighted toward HHSA-types to the exclusion of other departments, you’d be right.

IT'S NOT CLEAR what the Performance Plan Team has done for the last year because there is nothing in the report that tells the pesky public what they're up to, but they seem to have been able to identify the "resources needed" to accomplish their lofty goals: Resources Needed: "Access to tools like Open Gov; consultant [sic] to help determine the best tools of measurement for designated team members to research what other county or local governments use, and Time commitment from department heads and the leadership team to make this process a priority and allow project teams to attend training, etc."

CONSULTANT. RESEARCH IN OTHER COUNTIES. TRAINING. — Translation. We'll do nothing, accomplish less, but we'll have fun at the trainings.

THE TEAM'S "success and completion criteria" are: “meet with 100% of the project teams to help them establish measurable goals (6 months); and make sure all project teams have achieved 90% of their goals/measurements (18 months).”

IN OTHER WORDS, if the Performance Planning Team simply meets with the "project teams" and helps them “establish measurable goals” in the next six months (!), a major milestone will have been achieved! Further, if the Project Performance Team “achieves 90% of their goals/measurements” (whatever that means) in the next 18 months, victory will be ours and Mendo will magically move forward into the 21st Century.

IF THIS BUSHWA is what CEO Angelo meant by “developing performance metrics” when she first announced the idea last year, they have failed already. Hell, it took them more than a year just to set up the “Performance Planning Team”!

IT DOES NOT TAKE a Performance Planning Team of 9-5 bureaucrats to prepare budget and staffing reports for the Supervisors. It does not take a "consultant" to determine “the best tools of measurement” (whatever they mean by that) when each department can simply report on their top three cost drivers. The Sheriff, for example, could report on number of arrests, cases cleared, the jail population, bookings, etc. Health and Human Services could simply report how many people they processed in each category of help, what the backlog is for eligibility workers, how many people are out on sick leave at any given time, etc. General Services could report on how many service orders they completed, how many vehicles they repaired or serviced, how many contracts they issued and for what value, etc. The District Attorney could — well, he's already providing lots of statistics, not that anybody's paying attention. The Transportation Department could report how many potholes have been repaired each month, how many road crew positions are vacant in each County road yard, how many miles of grading projects were completed, etc. Planning could report on permits issued by type, buildings inspected, etc. (Both those last two departments do some of this already, but it’s spotty, incomplete and entirely up to the Department.) The smaller departments could develop their own similar criteria and wouldn't have to report as often. There you go — no consultant needed, performance measurement may commence. No consultant needed. No charge.

CEO ANGELO'S Leadership Team is also encumbered by a Communications Improvement Team, a Customer Service Team, an Economic Development Team, an Employee Engagement Team, an Operational Process Team, a Recruitment and Retention Team, and a Leadership History Team. The only other Team she needs is a Leadership Reduction Team.

THIS throw-every-conceivable-team-idea-against-the-wall-to-see-what-sticks approach is guaranteed to make sure that every team loses and the process drags out until long after CEO Angelo retires. And if CEO Angelo really thinks she needs all these Teams, then she is obviously not doing her job.

IT MIGHT ALSO help this befuddled mob to review basic English language skills, bearing in mind that words in the outside world still have meaning. (Mark Scaramella)

GEORGE HOLLISTER NOTES: A rule in Comptche weather was broken this morning; overcast with freezing temperatures. I had 26 degrees at 7:30AM with a complete cloud cover. Overcast in Comptche has always meant nighttime temperatures over freezing. Not any more.

BTW, another general rule for weather broken this year is seeing a colder February than December. December and early January is almost always (maybe always) Comptche’s coldest period of the year. I am going through more firewood, on a daily basis now, than I did in December.

A READER WRITES:

Looking at KZYX’s Form 990 for 2015…

Page 9 has a concise summation of income (basically a half-mil coming in each year):

$373,705 [membership dues]

$18,418 [fundraising events]

$129,477 [government grants]

And page 10 has many interesting expense figures, lines 5 & 7 show some salary & wage figures, then line 24 has a number of curious entries, that raise a number of questions:

1. a) $59,228 [consulting] wonder what this was for, and who?
2. b) $39,553 [programming] guess that is what they paid for programs.
3. c) $34,535 [dues & subs] why is this under “expenses”? is this what it cost to collect dues & subs? Memberships for something?
4. d) $23,615 [fundraising] again, is this the cost of holding fundraisers? if so, fundraising had a net loss of $5,197 that year. that is, fundraising cost more than it brought in. maybe they should stop fundraising.
5. e) $43,408 [miscellaneous] wonder what these expenses were...

The other thing I see at first glance is they seem to be slightly in the hole every year. Half-mil coming in, half-mil-plus going out. Brings to mind that classic Dickens speech about one's yearly income and expenses.

Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure nineteen [pounds] nineteen [shillings] and six [pence], result happiness. Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure twenty pounds ought and six, result misery.

* * *

ED NOTE: KZYX’S 2017 RETURNS are equivalently indicative of an enterprise headed for the rocks. The main prob revealed by these figures, vague as they are, is a steady decrease in income while the paid staff takes more, upwards of $250,000 a year on an annual income of about $550,000. Inside chicanery reveals that former trustee Stuart Campbell got his love interest, Sarah Reith, installed in the news department, such as it is, ranging from pathetic to hilarious in an unintentionally wacky way. Campbell also is the author of recent station budgets, minor masterpieces of fiscal deception. Most people outside the incestuous Philo audio bunker might want to know of and apply for reporter jobs, but they aren't advertised. Ever. This bit of petty chicanery involving Campbell and his girl friend isn't all bad, though, because Ms. Reith is a capable person. How much is she paid? We'll never know. The General Manager claims it's confidential, which it isn't at any other tax-funded, tax-exempt organization.

XIANG ZHANG XZHINGED FOR AB POACHING

Ukiah, Thurs., Feb. 22. - A Mendocino County Superior Court jury returned from its deliberations late this afternoon with a split verdict against a defendant charged with Fish and Game Code violations.

Defendant Xiang Qian Zhang, age 62, of Alameda, was found guilty of taking an over limit of abalone in July 2017, a misdemeanor. The evidence presented to the jury through a Fish and Game warden was that Zhang took nine (9) abalone, a number significantly in excess of a lawful daily take. The jury, however, found the defendant not guilty of shucking two abalone, also a misdemeanor. The law requires that abalone be transported in their shell.

The defendant was placed on two years court probation. As a term of that probation, he was ordered to pay a fine in the amount of $2,401.50 and required to perform 100 hours of community service.

The prosecutor who presented the People's evidence at trial was Deputy District Attorney Tim Stoen. The investigating law enforcement agency was the California Department of Fish and Wildlife. The judge who presided over the two day trial and who made the decision as to what sentence to impose was the Hon. Clayton L. Brennan.

LITTLE DOG SAYS, “Kinda down today. Just found out the two Pits next door are up for adoption over the hill at the Shelter. I'll vouch for them. They are nice dogs, not violent at all. Hell, when I barked they ran away! Little me! I hope someone takes them home.”

ED NOTES

RANDOM BLIPS from a failing mind: Never happen, but there wouldn't be nearly so much unhappiness with the County's Planning and Building Department if long-time local contractors were simply waved on through the process. Anderson Valley contractors like Jim Boudoures and Sons have years of quality work behind them. They, like many in-County contractors, are a known quantity. Why not an automatic check-off for all of them? They pay their fees and are outta there in one stop.

* * *

MENDO DOPE POLICY is so screwed up there's no way to un-screw it, and for damn sure the state isn't going to make it less complicated. Mendo should refund the fees paid by the saps who have signed up and return to the unwritten policy that worked so well for the long years prior to the present — illegalization. It kept prices high, mom and pop made their mortgages, kept cops employed, produced annual excitement every year at harvest time. As is, we have the worst of all worlds: mom and pops who enrolled to be legal getting busted, corporate and overtly criminal gangs installing mammoth outback grows, many of them terribly damaging to what's left of the natural world, pot prices plummeting driving mom and pop out of the business and into coping, at advanced ages, with neo-poverty, lots of permit fees paid with nothing to show for it.

* * *

DURING the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School massacre last week, armed "resource officer" Scot Peterson "never went in" during the shooting. According to a union official, Peterson called in the location of the shooter and got a description of him but did not confront him. Another officer claims Peterson hid behind a cement column during the shooting. Sheriff Scott Israel, obviously a windy demagogue, said Peterson "should've gone in, addressed the killer, and killed him," Chief Israel said Peterson's lack of action made the Chief "sick to my stomach." Peterson had received an award in 2014 for "tact and judgment" from the City of Parkland, and seems to have decided on the spot that his award for tact could best be backed up by staying out of the line of fire. The portly 54-year-old was also nominated for Parkland Deputy of the Year in 2017. Peterson had apparently also been told in 2016 about Cruz's Instagram posts about opening fire at a school."

ALL THIS AFTER-THE-FACT tactical scapegoating is inevitable, but unfair and beside the point. The point, however, is too grim for public discussion, it being that there are thousands, if not several million terminally estranged young people out there for whom the high school experience is an unhappy one. And they can easily get guns. Of course if you're the armed cop on-site when a lunatic opens fire you've got to move fast on the shooter, but in this particular context if the pudgy old boy had confronted Cruz a sidearm is no match for an automatic rifle. Should have tried, though, but for the Chief to go on national tv and denounce the guy as a coward, well, that's easy for the Chief to say, and why destroy one more person, adding the timid cop to the body count? He could have been fired privately, and who can say he could have stopped Cruz? Terrible things happen more often in this country because it's organized to drive people nuts, people who can easily get guns that shoot a lot of bullets real fast. Nothing will change other than a few irrelevant tweaks to the gun laws. The discussion is on auto-pilot and will stay there, ready for the next mass atrocity. And only an idiot would suggest arming teachers.

* * *

WHICH brings me to the must-view Netflicks series called Babylon Berlin, a drama set in Weimar Germany, the years between World Wars One and Two. Weimar has lots of historical parallels to America, 2018 — an irreconcilably balkanized political population; corrupt central government and dysfunctional government at the state and local levels; economic distress among increasing numbers of working people; widespread social disorder and decadence beyond anything Weimar came up with (German entertainment and art was never better, but ours?); a rising crime rate; a shadow government dedicated to an oligarchy; police forces staffed by people with strong fascist inclinations; a professional military led by people who may or may not be as committed to political democracy as they should be; the first public stirrings of overtly fascist personalities of not quite the storm trooper quality but headed there. Etc. Out of the Weimar German turmoil Hitler, helped along by lots of cops and a professional military plotting a takeover even before the charismatic Shicklegruber arrived to mobilize it, could happen here, and probably will given the drift of things. Trump isn't smart enough to bring it off, but there are people in the pipeline who are.

CATCH OF THE DAY, February 24, 2018

AUSTIN BRUTUS, Valrico, Florida/Ukiah. Pot sales.

AMADOU CAMARA, Willits. Ukiah. DUI-drugs.

FREDRICK FITCH, Ukiah. Under influence.

JACOB JONES, Ukiah. Disorderly conduct-alcohol.

MICHAEL PARKER, Ukiah. Concealed dirk-dagger, failure to appear, probation revocation. (Frequent Flyer)

AARON STILL, Willits. Under influence, resisting.

BRANDON WEILERT, Finley/Redwood Valley. Under influence, controlled substance, transportation of controlled substance, drug sales, narcotic possession, false compartment, paraphernalia.

BRANDON WIARD, Ukiah. Petty theft with prior, probation revocation. (Booking photo not available.)

ON LINE COMMENT OF THE DAY

The only known corroborated, known conspiracy surrounding the 2016 election was the deliberate sabotage of the Bernie Sanders’ campaign by the DNC in favor of Hillary. Whether you agreed with Bernie or not, he at least had a message and took a stand, as did Trump. Hillary just championed more of the same old bromides. Russian trolls planting fake news stories on Facebook for a gullible, inattentive, divided American public pales in comparison. However, with the defense budget swelling to $700 billion, the difference between Trump and Hillary, unfortunately, now seems minuscule. The corporate oligarchy is still in charge, regardless of who sits in the Oval Office!

"BADWATER SUNSET"

(Photo by Harvey Reading)

CHEMTRAILS, AN MCN DISCUSSION

(Is the sky falling or what?)

Comment #1: Nice clear blue sky! I had the good fortune to see 3 jets at once: First, Contrails and one making those imaginary Chemtrails. For a moment, I thought to myself, "looks like that trail is lasting a mighty long time". Then I remembered that Chemtrails don't exist. Whew! Close one, there. I was only imagining things. I guess the pictures I took of them are just figments of my imagination. Funny how you can see things which do not exist.

Comment #2: How about you get on your hang glider and go up there and take a deep breath and if you get sick we'll all believe in chemtrails. Until then, I call BS on chemtrails.

Comment #3: Why don't people wake up earlier? Take a walk when the sun is just coming up, around 6 am. This is when you will see chem trails chriss-cross the sky. By 8 the trails are dissipated and the public is none the wiser. Just because you can't see them doesn't mean they don't exist. That is like saying that, if I can't see the curve of the horizon, then the world must be flat. Flat landers exist until they decide to discover what the unseen may be. There are many articles from people in the aviation field and independent reporters and researchers who will enlighten the doubters about the laws and regulations in place to allow for these chem trails to happen. Plane pilots who have testified to the fact of what these chem trails are and Discovery Channel reports of these chem trails and their effect on the morning dew.

Comment #4: aha, another anti-science troll. You have to get up pretty early to best that crafty old government! don't suppose the early morning hours might have different temperature and light conditions do you? There are NO, i.e. NONE, that is nada---"articles" by reliable aviation or science sources that support the chem trail theory. Get it into your head!

1-800-COYOTE

A LETTER POSTED to the Times Argus, Montpelier, VT

Dear Ed-Pub:

I am not sure of your policy re: letters published in other journals.

A friend of mine sent me the following from his home in Roxbury, VT.

I found that it made clear what his position was regarding the Gun Control issue. I have the PDF version which I will attach. If you are unable to view the letter as my attachment, it is online probably at the Times Argus website.

Thank you for your hard work and attention to local details.

Your friend,

Bob Hunchard

Potter Valley, CA

Attached:

A leftist case against gun control

Commentary By The Times Argus | on February 24, 2018

by David Van Deusen

Every day I am honored to call rural Vermont my home. Our rugged mountains and vast forests are home to some 600,000 hardy Vermonters. Politically we are the most leftist state in the nation. All of our children have universal health care, our minimum wage is $10.50 an hour (with a serious movement towards achieving a $15-an-hour livable wage), our unemployment rate is 2.8 percent. We practice a form of direct democracy at the local level whereby every citizen is a legislator. Democratic socialists (Vermont Progressive Party) are elected to 10 seats in the State House and hold the positions of lieutenant governor and state auditor. Socialist Bernie Sanders is one of our two U.S. senators, and we have no gun control. We also have the lowest rates of violent crime in the nation. On average we have 10 murders, total, a year, half of those committed with guns. We are no utopia, this is true. But we are far above most of the rest of the United States when it comes to our politics, our social programs, and our standard of living.

We have been able to achieve this, in part, because we have not allowed the right to claim wedge issues (like gun control) to divide working people and compel them to vote against their social and economic self-interest. Thus, we are able to make real progress in establishing a livable wage and paid family medical leave while continuing to allow our citizens to retain their constitutional right to bear arms. And for this, we continue to lead the way nationally on economic and social issues while remaining the safest place to raise a family in the United States.

With the terrible and tragic mass shootings taking place in other parts of the county, there are those who would now introduce gun control into Vermont. However, the root cause of these external acts of mass despair do not happen in a vacuum; these acts, in part, are a result of an American culture of extreme consumerism and capitalism that alienates people and drives a social insanity that will only flare up again and again in horrendous ways. Until we seriously address these underlying root causes that affect mass consciousness, and until we adequately fund our mental health system (which deals with the acute symptoms of this mass alienation), we will not be done with the senseless deaths perpetrated by those who have fallen into the darkness. Be it done with a gun, a knife, a bomb, a car, or a blunt object — we will not be done with this death. In Vermont, because of our strong sense of community, and because of our stronger social safety net, we are somewhat insulated from the consumerism driven sickness of the American culture. This is borne out through many statistics, including our low murder rate. While we too have a long row to hoe when it comes to abolishing the ills of capitalism, strengthening our mental health programs, and establishing a more vibrant and democratic social system, we must not follow the drumbeat of the national Democratic Party. We must see with clear eyes that gun control, if introduced in Vermont, is a solution looking for a problem. No legislation in the world will reduce our already minuscule murder rate. But what it will do is give the Republican Party ammunition to go to working class Vermonters and say: “The left wants to take your guns away. Vote for us, and we will protect your rights guaranteed in the Vermont Constitution.”

And with that, as has happened in the rest of the nation, working-class people, union members, will begin to vote against their self-interest and will begin to elect pro-gun right-wing politicians to serve in Montpelier. In turn, the efforts to win a livable wage and paid family medical leave (efforts aimed at solving real problems suffered by tens of thousands of Vermonters) will be killed. So, on the altar of abstract Democratic Party ideology will be sacrificed the real victories we can see down the road ahead. Let us not allow this to happen on our watch.

(David Van Deusen is a former senior union representative with the Vermont State Employees Association. He lives in Cabot.)

RESIDENTS GATHER AT CAPITOL TO PROTEST COERCIVE RELIGIOUS CONVERSION

Locals demand justice after young woman’s death

SACRAMENTO, CA: On February 24th, more than 100 local residents gathered at the State Capitol to protest coercive religious conversion education. This is part of a global movement that began in Seoul, South Korea. On January 28, 120,000 citizens in Seoul and major cities of South Korea, gathered to protest against coercive [religious] conversion “education” by Christian pastors and to demand the legal prosecution against violence behavior done on the pretense of religion. Coercive conversion education refers to the violent and abusive tactics used by Christian pastors to get an individual to change his or her religion against their will.

The Human Rights Association for Forced Conversion (HRAFC), an international civil society organization promoting social recognition of human rights violations by religion, held this rally against Christian pastors who hold “consultations” with high fees and encourage families to kidnap family members who belong to different religious denominations. Recently, a 25-year-old woman, Ms. Ji In Gu was kidnapped and forcefully confined in the room of a remote hostel. She was found dead after being allegedly suffocated by her own parents.

The HRAFC claims that the death is a typical case of coercive conversion for the following reasons. First, Ms. Gu was out of contact after she told her friends that she would be at a family gathering. Second, the remote hostel where she was found dead was reserved for three months. Third, physical altercation between Ms. Gu and her parents led to her death, but the parents stated that she was suffocated while they were “persuading the daughter”. These are common patterns that investigators have found across multiple instances of coercive conversion.

In July of 2016, Ms. Gu was forcibly confined in a Catholic monastery for 44 days where she received “conversion education” from a pastor. She presented a petition to the Korean president through the Korean government website for the “closure of ‘cult consulting agencies,’ and the establishment of a law banning religious discrimination’” to the president. To this day, there has been no official response to the petition.

HRAFC explains that such illegal activities are disregarded by the police and authorities as “family” or “religious” problems. Because the illegal actions of kidnap and violence are usually done by the family members, the coercive conversion pastors who instruct them to do so are protected from the law. Coercive conversion has been conducted mostly by pastors from the Protestant churches in South Korea. But there have been recent incidents that occurred in various locations around the world involving different religions.

“Violent behaviors including kidnapping, confinement, and attacks cannot be justified in any case. Punishment against pastors who lead coercive conversion and cause the death of innocent citizens is urgently needed to avoid further harm,” said Mr. Sang Ik Park, president of the HRAFC. “The victims of coercive conversion have exceeded 1,000 people, and it is evident that there will be more future victims without legal protection and the citizens’ attention on this issue” he added.

The online petition for the legal punishment of coercive conversion pastors has exceeded 100,000 signatures and was sent to the Blue House, the residential office of the President of South Korea. The petition, however, was deleted from the government’s website. The Blue House has not provided an official statement regarding this matter.

The Protestant churches in South Korea’s stance on this issue is that the investigations on coercive conversion education are unfounded. They claim that the “cult” consultations are done voluntarily as a result of the family members’ demands and with consent from the participants. The victims’ personal testimonies and official statements, however, suggest that victims are forced to sign their agreement to “coercive conversion” as they are confined and bound.

IT'S CLIMATE CHANGE, OF COURSE

California Power Companies Blame Wildfires on Climate Change in Bid to Avoid Liability

Utility executives have a new liability-avoidance strategy for devastating California wildfires that power lines may have been caused - blame global warming. It's part of utilities' plans to alter state laws and regulations on wildfire liability. Current legislation holds utilities responsible for equipment-related wildfires, regardless of whether or not companies followed safety rules. More Info: westernjournal.com/california-power-companies-blame-wildfires-climate-change-bid-avoid-liability/

BOOTS

(Photo by William Allen)

BILLY GRAHAM’S MESSAGE was principally one of fear: fear of a wrathful god; fear of temptation; fear of communists and socialists; fear of unions; fear of Catholics; fear of homosexuals; fear of racial integration and above all, fear of death.

—Cecil Bothwell (CounterPunch)

WATER PROTECTORS TO PAINT MURAL IN PROTEST OF WELLS FARGO IN SAN FRANCISCO SATURDAY

Idle No More SF Bay and the Indigenous Environmental Network will organize a non-violent direct action and paint a live mural protesting corporate greenwashing by Wells Fargo in front of the Wells Fargo Bank in the financial district of San Francisco on Saturday, February 24. The event will run from 10am – 12pm, at 420 Montgomery St., San Francisco, CA, 94104.

As Wells Fargo continues to fund oil and gas pipelines, a coalition of Indigenous, environmental, and climate justice groups is urging the bank to divest from pipeline companies.

Speakers at the action will include: Isabella Zizi, Idle No More SF Bay Area; Daniel Illario, Idle No More SF Bay Area; Joye Braun, Indigenous Environmental Network; and Joseph White Eyes, Indigenous Environmental Network.

The participants will paint a 50 ft. live mural on the street. The event, which hundreds are expected to attend, will feature colorful banners and street theater.

In December, 2017, Wells Fargo announced a $50 million grant to Native Americans for renewable energy and clean water programs, cultural awareness and language preservation projects, among other things.

At around the same time, Wells Fargo agreed to extend two credit facilities totaling $1.5 billion for Canadian oil corporation, TransCanada, to build the Keystone XL pipeline. Many Native American communities have been directly impacted by fossil fuel development, extraction, and transportation.

Organizers of the non-violent direct action are accusing Wells Fargo of greenwashing their investments in extreme fossil fuel extraction and infrastructure.

“The $50 Million in grants Wells Fargo is offering Native people in the U.S. is nothing more than an attempt to green wash their bankrolling of projects that violate Indigenous sovereignty, desecrate sacred sites, and poison the land and water we all need to live,” said, Daniel Ilario, Idle No More SF Bay. “Although Wells Fargo states that, ‘Climate change represents one of the greatest challenges of our time’, the billions they continue investing in extreme fossil fuel extraction and infrastructure reveal their true colors. Wells Fargo’s CEO Timothy J. Sloan, the board of directors, and investors value short term profit over life on Mother Earth.”

“We have had enough of Wells Fargo trying to bribe native communities with their dirty money,” said Isabella Zizi, also from Idle No More SF Bay. “We demand they break their financial ties with fossil fuel infrastructure and tar sands expansions by divesting immediately. Until that day finally comes, we urge our Alaskan native and Native American communities to not accept this $50 million grant until we get a response from them by the time their shareholders meeting approaches in late April 2018.“

“The grants that Wells Fargo are offering to Indigenous communities are nothing but deception and a marketing strategy to trick the public in believing the company is doing good,” said Joye Braun, Indigenous Environmental Network. “Yes, Indigenous communities could benefit from these resources, but we also need clean water, air, and land. Wells Fargo’s invests in pipelines, such as Keystone XL, puts all of that at risk and contributes to climate change. Rather than giving credit lines to TransCanada, imagine if 1.5 billion dollars was invested in renewable energy.”

Media Contact: Jade Begay, Indigenous Environmental Network, jade@ienearth.org 

While in Bonn, Germany for the international climate talks, COP 23, Ilario, Ziti and other indigenous and climate justice advocates disrupted California Governor Jerry Brown’s keynote speech, yelling “Keep It In the Ground” and other chants.

They were referring to the governor’s strong support of fracking, both offshore and on land in California, and cap-and-trade policies that could prove catastrophic to the Huni Kui People of Acre, Brazil and other indigenous communities around the globe.

Ilario was leading chants in the first group, carrying a banner when they marched into the room. He was on a delegation with “It Takes Roots,” a national multiracial alliance of alliances, led by women, gender oppressed people of color and Indigenous Peoples on the frontlines of racial, housing and climate justice across the US and Canada.

The chant went:

“Governor Brown. Still in for what?

Northern California refineries expand pollution. 

Carbon trading, a false solution. 

Keep it in the ground. 

We are here to shut it down."

Obviously surprised as Ilario and others disrupted his speech, Brown stated, "I wish we could have no pollution, but we have to have our automobiles.”

"In the ground, I agree with you,” Brown said. “In the ground. Let’s put you in the ground so we can get on with the show here.”

“This is very California. Thanks for bringing the diversity of dissent here,” the visibly disturbed Brown continued.

For more information, go to: www.dailykos.com/…

Helpful Links:

Facebook Event: https://www.facebook.com/events/1553741988014482/?ti=icl

Idle No More SF Bay Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/INMSolidaritySF/

ATTN TEACHERS PAST AND PRESENT

zerohedge.com/news/2018-02-24/former-calpers-board-members-shocking-admission-calpers-near-insolvency-it-needs

I'LL TAKE ROMANCE

"If you can’t tell what it is, it’s an armless mannequin with a wedding dress half on, breasts bared, with a nice Mexican woman posing her for me."

The recording of last night's (2018-02-23) KNYO and KMEC Memo of the Air: Good Night Radio show is ready to download for free and enjoy at any time of the day or night, via http://MemoOfTheAir.wordpress.com

It's a pretty good, very long show. The whole eight hours, as they say. Alex calls about two-and-a-half hours in, having nearly been killed again by the capricious spirits directing the circumstances of his life for their own cruel amusement, with a story to tell about his latest ordeal, this time a shoulder broken in two places. It involves treacherous ice, a gentle Nordic giant shopkeeper, a video gambling machine, drugs, a comparison between California's and Arkansas' emergency rooms, medical expenses, attitudes, accents, a Big Fish, and also Linda Blair's head spinning around in circles, spewing pea soup, going blaaarghh!

Besides that, as usual also at http://MemoOfTheAir.wordpress.com you'll find a fresh batch of links to not necessarily radio-useful but nonetheless worthwhile items I set aside for you while putting the show together, things where just hearing it wouldn't be enough. Such as:

Dinosaur!

http://www.neatorama.com/2018/02/21/Dinosaur-a-Film-by-Nathan-his-Dad/

Animal behavior.

https://theawesomer.com/biopixel-slow-mo-nature-reel/466810/

That’s entertainment.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZP5lWeGpdj8

And a simultaneous lunar eclipse and aurora video in as high quality as your computer can use, where you can grab the screen and shift your view as it plays. I sent the link to Juanita, in the kitchen, because she has a phone and I've seen her taking panorama pictures of things and then turning the phone to explore the picture, and I remember reading about Google Cardboard, so I thought it might work. Nearly instantly she shouted from the kitchen, "Marco! Come see this! Come here! Here, sit on the chair! Hold this. Now spin around!" Gasp! Though of course this tech is old news to a jaded sophisticate like you. You've probably already been having sex with robots and changing channels on the teevee with your toothbrush for ages already.

https://theawesomer.com/lunar-eclipse-aurora-360o/467296/

–Marco McClean