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Mendocino County Today: Monday, March 19, 2018

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DRY WEATHER through Monday night. Active weather will return on Tuesday and will persist through rest of the week. (National Weather Service)

FROST FANS going full blast in south Boonville. (Bruce Anderson)

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WHAT’S NEW AT THE AV HISTORICAL MUSEUM?

As we come round the final turn of winter and into the home stretch toward spring, the Board of the Anderson Valley Historical Society, best known as the caretakers and proponents of the AV History Museum at the Little Red School House, would like to offer a quick museum update. Over the past months, we’ve had a lot of work done around the buildings and the grounds. More exciting, very soon we’ll have a spiffy, convenient room to rent for gatherings and small events and we’ve gotten a new digitization project off the ground. What does it mean to digitize a museum collection? Read on!

Rent the Rose Room!

The Rose Room, in the Barn Building on our museum grounds, will soon be available, at extremely reasonable rates, for your group’s meeting or other small events. The rental comes with meeting/presentation tables, plenty of chairs, a large coffee maker and an adjoining utility room complete with sink and microwave. Daylight event attendees will certainly be welcome to also stroll our attractive gardens, and on weekends enjoy the fun and fascinating exhibits in the Schoolhouse and Tuttle Buildings. The museum, of course, is close on to uptown Boonville, a convenient spot for Valley gatherings. We expect to have the Rose Room ready for rental at the beginning of May.

In addition to providing a new gathering spot for meetings and small events, the AVHS Board hopes the Rose Room facility will help bring more people to the Museum grounds and energize awareness and enjoyment of the Museum itself. For more information, including rates and availability, please contact Sheri Hansen at (707) 895-3207.

AV History Museum Digitization Project

How do you “digitize” a physical museum collection containing thousands of individual artifacts like our community’s AV History Museum collection? You photograph each one and enter it into a software called Past Perfect, adding all the tangible and historical information you can. The long-term goal is to make each item in our collection accessible online, not only to our local community but to historical researchers everywhere.

Board member Marvin Schenck got this project off the ground and is directing it with a steady hand. He began by writing a successful application for the Community Enrichment Grant from the Community Foundation of Mendocino County. The grant included enough funding to purchase the software and a new laptop to do the work on. In addition, Marvin arranged a 40-hour contract with Carolyn Zeitler of Caspar, a librarian and curator adept at Past Perfect, to help train Marvin and our first round of volunteers on the software and the process.

All that picture taking and entering and cataloguing for a collection so large sounds like a lot of work, and indeed it is. In fact, this will be an ongoing project for quite some time. Are we looking for more volunteers? Indeed we are! If you’re interested in learning about and/or helping us preserve these treasures of AV history, please let us know!

Physical Repairs and Improvements

At the AV History Museum, our buildings are as much a part of our exhibits, and of the Valley’s generations-long historical legacy, as our artifacts, artwork and photos. That means they’re old, of course, and old buildings and infrastructure need ongoing upkeep and frequent repair. Over the past year, we’ve had our share of work to do. Last summer we discovered that we were sharing the Tuttle Building with a large contingent of termites. Board members and spouses turned out to pull everything away from the walls so the exterminators could do their work. That was a job! But it was successful, and now we humans have the Museum buildings pretty much to ourselves.

One facet of our grounds that was getting a little too “historic” was our restroom. It needed an upgrade. But when we brought in professionals, we got some bad news and some good news. The bad news was that our existing septic system was essentially kaput, not worth spending another dime on. The good news was that we had room on the property for a new system, assuming we also installed a new restroom in another spot. Handicapped accessibility became an issue as well. With a portable option rented for the interim, this project went forward and is now complete.

What else? Well, we found that the roofs in both the Tuttle Building and our barn shed were leaking. So we went forward right away with the necessary repairs. Nobody likes a soggy museum.

Fundraising

All of these capital improvements, of course, take money. To begin with, we hope you’ll consider becoming a member of the AV Historical Society. Individual Memberships begin as low as $20.00 per year. We also have Family, Friends of the Museum and Lifetime Memberships at higher rates. Or just come to the Museum and stuff some money into the donation jar. But above all, come to the Museum! Bring your friends, too, and perhaps think about steering visitors to the Valley our way this spring and summer. Everything helps. Finally, as the spring and summer progress we hope to be hosting events on the Museum grounds to bring visibility and needed funding to the Anderson Valley History Museum, and to have some fun.

Docents!

Finally, the AV Museum needs more volunteer docents. We’d love to be able to open longer hours and more days. But without a budget for staffing, more hours means more volunteers! If you’re fascinated by history and like meeting new people, please consider becoming a docent. Call Sandra Nimmons, at 895-9020, if you’d like to join our team. In the meantime, we’re open Saturdays and Sundays from 1:00 to 4:00 pm.

Cheers, all.

From the board and volunteers of the Anderson Valley Historical Society.

(Anderson Valley Historical Society)

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WESTPORT BLUFFS

(Click to enlarge)

(Photo by Judy Valadao)

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THE GREAT TORCH

(Tales From Covelo)

by Zeek Hopkins

This particular summer had been hot and today was no exception. Anyone with sense had gone and headed for the cool spots around the place. The big fort was the sanctuary us kids had chosen for the afternoon. After a while we became bored with playing pirates and such at the fort and decided to move out to the meadows edge and see if there was anything in the mill's slash pile that might take hold of our imagination. There were many first cut slabs sticking out of the pile that made great spring boards to bounce on. Nothing spoke to us so we moseyed on out into the meadow to find something else that might occupy our time.

One Justin who lived over the hill was not feeling so cool himself and decided that a good way to cool off would be to mow the wild oats lawn which was about a foot high and bleached white by the summer sun. It was a great idea at the time. Mow the grass, walk behind the mower calm the thoughts and wala a guy cool as a cucumber. But no, not this day. The mower began to cough and sputter requiring frequent restarts. And then to top it all off the darn thing began to smoke. The cool Justin had hoped for dashed off with the soaring temperatures. As he lifted the mower onto its side to inspect the latest infraction the grass caught on fire and began to race around the yard gobbling up the dry fuel. They call it wild fire for a reason. Fire was everywhere!

About this time one of us looked up to see the biggest darkest cloud of smoke yet recorded in our short lives. It was looming in the northwest and steadily growing. The sight stopped us dead in our tracks. We stood stock still and silent with shock. As suddenly as we had stopped we began to yell, “Fire!” The since of urgency caused me to take charge and I instructed my folks to call the fire department. It wasn’t long before the others also took charge, commands we fly thick and fast. Someone yelled, “Get the shovels”, another questioned, “Where is the other water barrel?” and still another commanded, “Find the ax!”

In the midst of this organized chaos I jumped on my all-terrain 1-speed bicycle. I raced down the hill flinging open the two locked gates as I went in preparation for the others to follow in the truck with tools and water.

My purpose in going ahead was to scout out the situation and located the origin of the ever growing cloud of smoke and direct traffic as needed. I flew along the road until I reached the K & M Ranch. Sliding into the driveway I raced towards the house. When I got close I began to yell, FIRE!!” The lady of the house puzzled by my antics came to the window to see what I was pointing at and just then an amazing thing happened. The hungry flames shot up, and with a crescendo and mighty roar devoured the 135 foot fir tree that stood to the side of the yard near the wood pile. My jaw dropped, I was stunned. I had never before witnessed anything like it up close and personal. The fire shot into the tops of the trees and raced away up the hill leaving little bits of burning embers to fall to the dry ground and create new fires on the forest floor. Fearing for the safety of my bike I ditched it in the middle of the dry creek bed a few hundred feet away. Bounding towards the fire I saw a large rag in the dry grass. Catching it up I dashed through a 6 foot high wall of flames in the field grass. I headed toward a fountain of water spewing from a broken off pipe. Once the rag was sopping wet I went towards the nearest building and began to beat at the hungry flames. There were many trips between the flames and the water. More and more people were arriving with shovels and water barrels each taking a section of the field and beginning to cut off the fuel to the fire. Soon the borate bombers and choppers arrived bringing much needed water and fire retardants.

Once it was all over about 19 acres went up in flames that day, no lives, or homes were destroyed in the fire and I saved the chicken house!

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FIRST GAME

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SEARCH FOR MISSING COVELO WOMEN HEADS TO LAKE MENDO

A reminder that anyone wanting to join us for the prayer vigil and search around lake Mendocino please come!!

Just got the yellow rain ponchos in lastnight.

Wednesday March 21st
10am
Marina Drive
Mendocino Lake entrance off hwy 20.
I will hang yellow balloons or ribbons to lead the way to meeting spot.

We won't stop til your found Khadijiah.
We will search everywhere and we will make sure your face is known. Lord comfort the hurting hearts and bring our girl home.

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DOC STANDLEY’S FIRST ARREST, 1866, PART 1

by Malcolm Macdonald

This is the story of the first arrest made by the famous Mendocino County lawman Jeremiah “Doc” Standley. The arrest took place in November, 1866, but to fully understand the tale we must go back to 1855. In that year a man named Johnson Heacock put down roots in the lower end of Leggett Valley. He had come to California after killing a man, allegedly in self defense, on the east coast. Guilty or not he felt himself on the run from the authorities and the isolation of Leggett Valley, where the nearest white settler might be as far as fifty miles away, proved a draw rather than a drawback.

Heacock formed a friendly alliance with the Yuki people who had lived for generations in the fertile valley located on a branch of the Eel River. Apparently familiar with farming practices, Heacock cultivated a fine garden in his first season in Leggett Valley. He traded vegetables and grains to the Yuki for deer skins and dried venison. When the skins were plentiful he packed a mule and traveled to the outside world to sell his goods. He brought back provisions, such as clothing, to further trade for more deer skins and meat. In no time the trips to the outside became a monthly affair. Heacock expanded his pack train to a dozen or more animals by 1860. In return he fetched cattle, hogs, and a goodly number of horses.

Early on Heacock used local timber to construct a house. He took an interest in an older Yuki he called Ishoma, who had three daughters and two sons. One of these sons was known as Mamalcoosh to Heacock. Mamalcoosh was a young man who lead a small group of Yukis in clandestine fights with white settlers outside the area, returning to the relative safety of Leggett Valley afterward. This most likely occurred at the time that white militias were massacring indigenous people in northern Mendocino County about 1859-60.

In the meantime Heacock had expanded his home and added several outbuildings. He took on one of Ishoma's daughters as a cook, anglicizing her name to Lillie. He also asked Ishoma if he could marry Lillie. When Ishoma accepted, Heacock threw a large feast to commemorate the occasion, butchering a hefty four-year-old beef, cooking it at a Yuki gathering spot where he also served up large portions of corn, potatoes, and his garden vegetables to his new in-laws and many of their friends.

The only other white person present at this celebration was an Englishman in his late twenties named Jerry Bailey. He had gone to sea long enough to get to the west coast of the United States. In Siskiyou County he'd help drive a herd of beeves to Yreka. When he drew his wages he took up the only regular habit he'd learned at sea, drinking. The booze preceded fisticuffs and Jerry pummeled an opponent near to death. A friendly acquaintance pushed Jerry on his horse and guided him twenty or more miles away from town, suggesting that a return to Yreka would not be a healthy choice. By the time Jerry sobered up he found himself riding south, then west. He crossed one hilly range after another, surviving on hardtack, coffee, and a slab of bacon in his saddlebags.

Ten days into his retreat from Yreka, Bailey made camp in a valley surrounded by timber. His horse had plenty to graze from in an adjacent meadow. After one night of good sleep, Bailey awoke to the boots of Johnson Heacock kicking at him, demanding to know why Jerry was trespassing.

Bailey proved a quick thinker an avid conversationalist with a quick wit. Perhaps seeking white companionship Heacock invited him to his home. Though Bailey was opposed to mixed marriages between whites and Indians he accepted Heacock's hospitality and partook of Lillie's cooking.

Bailey became a trusted ranch hand as well as an entertaining acquaintance at the Heacock place for several years. By the time Bailey entered the picture three Yuki women resided with Heacock. Lillie had run off soon after her marriage and would not return without her sister, known as Ellen, and a friend Heacock called Katy Coltash. After negotiations with Ishoma and Katy's parents, all three Yuki young women returned to Heacock's place. Lillie had the run of the house and essentially instructed Ellen and Katy in daily chores. Each woman learned to ride the horses Heacock bought and brought home and by the mid-1860s there were eight children running about the place, Heacock had fathered them all but Lillie, Ellen, and Katy had each given birth.

With Bailey acting as ranch foreman and performing more and more of the work, Heacock's trips to the outside took on greater duration. He spent a particularly lengthy amount of time in one place, courting a thirty year old unmarried woman named Agnes Stokes. Agnes, for her part, was looking for a smart man with good business sense. Johnson Heacock seemed just the fellow.

The only thing separating Agnes and Johnson Heacock from marriage, those eight children and three Yuki women living at his ranch.

As best we know Heacock's thinking, it went something like this: Soon there would be an abundance of white settlers in the area. His Indian brides and mixed children would not fit into this new society. He obviously saw himself as superior to the Yuki and he did not want to be considered an outcast by white settlers. In his mind he had erred long enough. He proposed to Agnes on his next trip to the Stokes' house. The engagement period would last only one month.

Returning to his ranch, Heacock apprised Jerry Bailey of his plans. Bailey was dismayed at the idea and told Heacock that, at best, he should leave Leggett Valley. If he had to wed Agnes, they should take up residence at a distance from the Yukis. Instead, Heacock stayed in Leggett Valley and sent Lillie, Ellen, and Katy as well as their children back to the Yuki.

Complicating the matter: the fact that Ishoma's son, Mamalcoosh had been in love with Katy Coltash before she went to the white man's ranch. Heacock went ahead with the marriage to Agnes and brought her back to the Leggett Valley house repaired, repainted and refurbished by Jerry Bailey.

The mood at the Yuki encampment three miles away turned to indignation. Mamalcoosh found Jerry Bailey and related his own consternation, saying that twice in his life Heacock's actions had seriously wounded his heart, years before when Katy Coltash had been taken away and now that the white man had deserted the Yuki women and children.

Mamalcoosh disappeared into the woods. Wailing from the Yuki camp continued for two days and nights, disconcerting and frightening Agnes. On her third morning at Heacock's house she awakened to the cries of five small children crying outside her window. A bit farther away she spotted three older Yuki youths playing. Agnes had heard a rumor that Johnson Heacock had an Indian wife and children, but she had passed the notion off as gossip. At the sight of these children in her yard she suspected the truth in the rumor.

When Heacock roused himself from their bed, Agnes pushed him to the window, then demanded an explanation. He insisted that he thought she knew his history and understood the situation. One look at her face must have told him how much she did not understand.

He asked her not to judge him harshly for his indiscretions of the past, then recounted much of his life in Leggett Valley up to that point, including the trades and bargains he had made with the Yuki as well as his life with Lillie, Ellen, and Katy Coltash.

His frankness impressed Agnes enough that she went about preparing breakfast as usual. Heacock strode outdoors and sent the children back to their mothers. He also sent word to Lillie, Ellen, and Katy that if they would take care of the children he would come to the Yuki village within a few days to fix everything. As a token of his good faith he sent a pack load of provisions to the Yuki.

After a silent breakfast Heacock called Agnes into his reading room and promised her that his relations with the Yuki were a thing of the past. He professed that she was the only one in possession of his undying love and devotion and that from this point forward all his energies would be given over to pleasing her.

Agnes apparently forgave Heacock and made some sort of promise of her own to make their future a pleasant one. She also seemed to have asked Heacock to bring as many of his children back to the house so that she could help care for them.

Jerry Bailey thought it time to part company with Heacock, which he did on good terms. Bailey headed over the hills and west down Ten Mile River to the ranch of E.J. Whipple at the mouth of that stream. Whipple was familiar with Bailey from visits to Heacock's place and the nearby Yuki village, for he, too, was related to Ishoma and others among the Yuki, by a common law marriage.

Whipple had managed the northern part of the Mendocino Reservation in the late 1850s and early 60s. Now that the coastal reservation was being decommissioned he planned to expand his own personal holdings along Ten Mile. He needed ranch hands like Jerry Bailey to break horses and mules as well as tend to other chores and duties on the place.

About a month after Jerry Bailey took employment at Ten Mile two men rode into Whipple's ranch at dusk with a chilling tale of a grisly discovery made at Leggett Valley. They recounted sighting a white man, his body pierced and hanging atop a fifteen foot spear or pole stuck in the ground.

(More to come)

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THE LOCAL CONNECTION

Pebs Trippet writes:

Fort Bragg native Patrick "Packie" Turner, "nondescript white guy" and son of former Mayor Dave Turner, has made a sensational name for himself as workout partner to elite NBA basketball stars — Festus Ezeli, Skal Labissiere, Aaron Gordon, Draymond Green -- running them thru paces, known for attacking their weaknesses to improve their game, giving honest feedback. In 2015, Warriors' ace Steph Curry was won over and asked Packie to join his team of NBA trainers.

This improbable situation got rolling when a Bay Area 9-year old attending Steph's hoops camp in North Carolina already knew the drills camp trainers were teaching, and referred them to Packie Turner of Fort Bragg, as his workout buddy with the "knowledge base… He knows what you're talking about and he has your best interests at heart," according to Ezeli.

"Unlimited Potential Basketball" is the name of Pack's new gym space and business in Millbrae, where he runs drills with everyone from 6 years and up. He teaches kids in gratitude to "a 9-year old who created this path for me. If I were to shut all that down and just work with pros, I'd be turning away what brought me this whole opportunity. You never know who's going to be your referral."

Next question: Who taught Pack? His family owns FloBeds in Fort Bragg. Perhaps they can reveal the answer to the ultimate question.

pebblestrippet@gmail.com

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NEW AGENCY TO ASSIST CANNABIS BANKING

by Daniel Mintz

Humboldt County has joined a new state joint powers authority that will be a storehouse of cannabis finance data for ensuring compliance and assisting financial institutions.

The county is the third to join the newly-developed California Cannabis Authority, which is sponsored by the California State Association of Counties (CSAC). The new agency will be made up of counties but it will share cannabis-related data with cities in an effort to track an industry that’s entering a new phase of state regulation.

The state’s cannabis licensing system began operating on January 1 and CSAC recognized local government’s need for information on cannabis cultivation sites and point of sale and taxation data.

As cannabis revenue flows, there will be an increasing need for banking but as CSAC’s Cara Martinson explained at the March 13 Board of Supervisors meeting, banks and other financial institutions face issues with federal laws that define cannabis as a controlled substance.

She told supervisors that the legal environment is changing but banks need assurance that cannabis-related accounts can be checked for compliance with banking rules and state licensing.

“We’re seeking solutions to the sheer fact that we’re going to be dealing with a lot of cash,” she said, adding that “to help get over the hump for those folks that are interested in working with the industry, data from a government entity can help them fulfill their compliance obligations and cut down on that cost.”

Checking on compliance will also be useful to local governments, Martinson said.

County Treasurer-Tax Collector John Bartholomew is a member of CSAC’s Cannabis Working Group and he said that cash is — problematically — the main method of cannabis excise tax payments.

“The banking problem with cannabis is huge,” he said. “Crime and a lot of nasty things happen in counties because of all the cash sloshing around in back yards and who knows where.”

He told supervisors that the new joint powers authority will “create a base of information and down the road, I really believe that banking may be facilitated because of the information that will be collected here.”

Bartholomew noted that the current federal administration is “not conducive to cannabis” but enabling banks to be informed about account-holders’ compliance will enable them to work with the cannabis industry.

Supervisors approved membership in the new agency. They also appointed Supervisor Estelle Fennell as the county’s representative.

Fennell was not at the meeting but was chosen due to her being the co-chair of CSAC’s Cannabis Working Group. Bartholomew was appointed as Fennell’s alternate.

Martinson said the new agency will hold its first meeting on March 22, is working with data consultants from Colorado and will enter into an agreement with the state this summer on sharing cannabis seed to sale track and trace data.

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LITTLE DOG SAYS, “St. Patrick's Day? I have Irish relations of course, but I'm not one of these nationalist dogs going around bragging about my racial purity. We're all dawgs is the way I look at it.”

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JUST IN FROM CANDIDATE SKYHAWK:

Just a quick note - I was reading in Valley People about my being a Firefighter - not quite. I have served on the Board of the Albion Little-River Fire Protection District, but not as a firefighter. Still, it is interesting how many candidates bring emergency service background to the race. Thanks.

Chris Skyhawk, Candidate for 5th District Supervisor, Mendocino County, www.skyhawk5.com

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LAYTONVILLE RESIDENT PAM ELIZONDO RUNS FOR OFFICE AGAIN

By Ariel Carmona Jr.

Pamela Elizondo, 74, of Laytonville, is running for public office yet again. Although she has lost four previous races, including election to the U.S. Senate as a Green party candidate in 2016, a seat for District 2 of the California State Assembly in 2014 and 2012, and a seat in Assembly District 1 as a Peace and Freedom Party candidate in 1998, she is determined to come out on top in the race for Mendocino County 3rd District supervisor, but she faces steep competition with seven other candidates running as of Wednesday.

Elizondo

Housing — Elizondo said mismanagement of county funds and a lack of jobs has led to a bad housing situation which could be solved by employing people to grow marijuana everywhere for all its uses, particularly on land with “water-wasting vineyards.”

“We pay many millions for judicial and jail funding to house 99 percent of non-violent crimes,” said Elizondo, adding that government has spent $38 million for new 60-bed mental health units in the past.

“Maybe these institutions should be diverted to employment and housing. Even police people can make outrageous wages marketing marijuana products,” she said.

She suggested the county contract with Hartsook Inn in Piercy in order to use the facility for housing and as an employment center in the north county.

Cannabis — “I suggest we use almost $2 million each of the next four years to retain city lawyers to be used to question the constitutionality of processing marijuana illegality,” she said, “We need to (question the charging of) DMV fees, tolls, the IRS, stealing Social Security, and create banks and procure grants for land and businesses to profit from growing marijuana everywhere, particularly land and water-wasting vineyards, for all its uses.”

Elizondo said the government should concentrate on creating jobs, clean air, food and water.

To foster economic development, the candidate sees the need for hiring garbage crews to clean, recycle and transport trash from all over the Emerald Triangle. Additionally, according to Elizondo, dumps and auto wreckers should offer at least two amnesty days monthly.

“Wild boar is an epidemic problem. We could create wild pig hunting, transporting to and slaughtering boar and marketing for cat, dog and human food.”

She said people who live in the country should get grants to grow wild food for animals and repopulate wild animals, grow marijuana for products of their choice: paper, non-toxic plastic sacks, and added marijuana fencing should be used to protect wildlife and ranchers from each other.

Elizondo believes the government should clean oceans of all toxins, cultivate animals for food, and the re-population of the ocean, use military bases for food and marijuana cultivation and put the military to work restoring kelp for clean air, food and water.

She said she believes the government should give permits to all who want to produce non-toxic marijuana products everywhere: baby products, lighters, etc.

Additionally, the county can contract with prisons to employ prisoners producing produce and marijuana clones for planting, unique marijuana products for marketing, pay them $5 an hour more toward release, thereby creating a community feeling not gang warfare.

She said the county should help close down wasteful prisons, judicial systems and create small naturopathic health centers centered on housing, employment and natural healing.

Experience — “I worked at state hospitals 10 years, ran a business, lived on welfare, had Social Security stolen from me, visited many friends in prison and jail, many who belonged there less than most of our judicial and police people.

“I see the unconstitutionality of anyone charging us DMV, toll fees, building unneeded Earth-damaging roads, bridges, broadband with tax money. I truly represent everyone, including the so-called rich,” said Elizondo.

She said the most pressing issue facing the county is correcting the national and local mismanagement of taxpayers’ money.

Infrastructure — According to Elizondo, the county should be addressing infrastructure and getting more residents involved, with county leadership centers around getting everyone a job they like doing with good wages, current and future benefits, and getting them involved by getting them to pay taxes while the county provides what they need.

Mental Health — Elizondo weighed in on how Measure B funding should be allocated.

“We should create small, more personal, less costly land-destroying clinics with reality-oriented mental care,” she said adding that promoting jobs instead of focusing on “toxic pharmacopeia” that she said creates mental problems should be explored, including the use of Hartsook Inn in Piercy as a halfway house to heal families from homelessness, ease prison release and create jobs.

Priorities — “Our job is to promote constitutional behavior using tax money to work for the people rather than figure ways to ream them out of their funds,” she said. “If we have $38 million to build a 60-bed mental health project in the jail we should have the same for outside the jail and funding for creating inexpensive housing.

Emergency Alerts And Fire Recovery — “In 2008 we lost millions of acres to fire, our government cut back funding and let fires burn, destroying trees, land and wildfire,” she said, adding that in the same year the federal government approved $1.6 trillion to be used for defense.

“If we put people to work growing marijuana and trees in all that burned land for all its uses the taxes garnered can finance fire control.”

Voters can learn more about Elizondo’s platform by watching a video on her youtube channel, “Pamela Elizondo running for 3rd District Supervisor.”

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ST. PADDY'S DAY ON THE NORTH COAST

(Click to enlarge)

(Photo by Dick Whetstone)

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ED NOTES

RECOMMENDED VIEWING, both on NetFlix: "Collateral" is a Brit thriller made for tv, and you sit there watching why America with the abundance of creative talent we can't manage intelligent television like this cop drama pegged to people-smuggling. Crimney, even our tv is going backwards! Old timers will remember when live dramas on adult subjects by first-rate writers appeared weekly on the tube. The good stuff now comes mostly from furriners and HBO and NetFlix. Coupla caveats re "Collateral": the socialist mp is played as a twit verging on nutcase, and too many gratuitous f-bombs are dropped. Lots of contempo drama is over-heavy of profanity because, I guess, the producers think it adds realism. We are spared the cannibal kissing, though, that lots of American directors seem to think are necessary to demonstrate "passion" in case there's anyone left in the country over the age of ten who hasn't already seen the full monte and then some.

ALSO HIGHLY RECOMMENDED, and also on Netflix, is "Wild Wild Country," a documentary film about the Rajneesh cult of the 1970s that landed in (on) Wasco County, Oregon, where the cult, based on sex, quack therapies and fortune cookie platitudes from its guru, quickly erected their own city on a former cattle ranch and, in the process, alienated everyone for miles around with the insufferable arrogance only zealots seem capable of mustering. (cf the ruling clique at Mendo Public Radio). Until I watched this fascinating film I'd assumed the Rajneeshee's "city" in the Oregon outback was the usual dusty collection of shacks, grimy stoners, hepatitis, and a forceful lunatic herding his flock, kinda like some of the Manson-esque collectives we saw at Mendo communes of the same period. Nope, these weirdos were highly skilled, and the town they built was no Willits. It was beautiful and fully modern, with all the amenities. It was also a felony factory, which eventually brought it down. Locals rightly came to hate the communards, the communards armed themselves, and it all looked like it was headed for Jonestown by many multiples when....well, watch this riveting doc. (Leo Ryan's daughter was a Rajneeshee, and one would think the daughter of the Congressman murdered at Jonestown would have more sense, but there she is like a big orange popsicle explaining the diff between her phony "master" and Rev Jim.) Oh, and the film is more than fair to the cultists; they get a lot of face time, as does the bhagwan's chief executive, a brilliant shrew called Shiela (anglicized).

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BONNIE RAITT is performing a benefit for fire vics at the Warfield Theater in Oakland this Tuesday (March 20). The famous songbird, as the gossip columnists of yesteryear routinely described singers, told the SF Chron that she was here (Mendo) "for the first four days… I have four friends who lost everything." Ms. R said the proceeds would go to "the more underserved communities in the North Bay," which is definitely an area like hard hit Redwood Valley.

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FROM TOM STIENSTRA ON SALMON: "The most likely scenario for this year's salmon season is an opener delayed to June 11 for the Bay Area coast. The season would run June 11-17, August 1-29 and September 1-30. Other options, as announced by the Pacific Fishery Managment Council, would delay opening day to August 1, and another to September 1. The goal, the Council said, is to allocate more salmon to commercial trollers and less for recreational anglers, to even out what many thought was an imbalance last summer."

* * *

I LOST a bet with a friend that the Golden Golem of Greatness, in Kunstler's perfect description of our vivid president, would be out months ago. At this point he's even more like a rat on a tiny island as the rising water laps inexorably at his feet. GGofG has started more fights with significant power sectors than he can possibly fend off. I think Trump will get the 25th. He will be removed from office under the 25th amendment, which authorizes the removal of the prez for unfitness which, in his case, can be anything from mental instability to a diagnosis of clinically established Alzheimer’s. Then there's Stormy Daniels, and whatever the FBI cooks up via the endless Mueller investigation of the phony Russian associations, and any number of financial crimes, or he just might wig completely out on national television in a way that makes it obvious even to Idaho and Alabama that he's crazy.

I HAVEN'T FOLLOWED the Russian stuff closely, especially since its chief proponents are diehard Clintonoids like Rachel Maddow and her clones at the Democrat's television arm, MSNBC, or the CNN comedians lead by Wolf Blitzer. The Russian connection will turn out to be loans to Trump from Russian criminals, but since that whole country is a criminal operation the crooks affiliated with Trump will of course also be fully sanctioned by Putin, the head crook. That will be the link Mueller comes up with, assuming Trump doesn't off Mueller prior to Mueller's bogus findings, and the connection will be laughably tenuous, not what Maddow's hoped for, "The Russians jobbed our Hillary, and now look at US." Hillary and the Democrats jobbed themselves, hence the election of the most spectacularly unfit person ever, to hold down the White House, but the person most reflective of our culture at this point.

* * *

GENERATIONS AGO, it was the Eel River dams and old growth logging boom that brought local salmon and steelhead runs to the brink of extinction. Today, it is largely an unchecked weed industry that is pushing them over the edge. I know it, you probably know it, and our local governing bodies definitely know it. The problem is that few are willing to do anything about it. The black market weed industry has been the engine of the North Coast economy for so long that turning a blind eye to its negative impacts is deeply ingrained in the culture – even, or perhaps, especially, in local government.

— Stephanie Tidwell, Friends of the Eel

* * *

HEREEEEEESSSSSS, AL!

Alan Rodier, 5th District Candidate, at the Manchester Community Center Monday - March 19 at 6:30

Alan Rodier, who lives inland, will be the third of the five candidates for Mendocino County Supervisors to speak at the Manchester Community Center / Garcia Guild. He will be speaking from 6:30 until about 7:30 tomorrow night - March 19. Become involved and know the potential candidates that will represent us here on the Mendocino Coast for the next four years. The Manchester Community Center is on Crispin Road just east of Highway 1.

* * *

DEPRESSION ERA BOOTLEGGERS IN THE SANTA CRUZ MOUNTAINS

An illustrated tale

Text & Art by Jason Novak

(Click to enlarge)

* * *

INLAND DEMS!

Next Meeting of the Inland Mendocino Democratic Club

The Inland Mendocino Democratic Club will hold their next meeting Thursday, April 12, at 5:30 pm, at the room behind the Yokayo Lounge at the bowling alley, Ukiah. Let's all join together to make our county an oasis of Justice and Peace. Together, in coalition, we can take progressive action and protect our county from the incoming Conservative nightmare. Come lend a hand. All are welcome.

See us on Facebook and at inlandmendodems.org

* * *

CATCH OF THE DAY, March 18, 2018

Anderson, Baselt, Charles

DEBORAH ANDERSON, Ukiah. Petty theft, paraphernalia.

KIMBERLY BASELT, Gualala. Domestic battery.

DUNCAN CHARLES, Ukiah. “Convicted of certain misdemeanors within ten years owning, possessing or receiving,” failure to appear, probation revocation.

Deharo-Faber, Elder

JAYLEN DEHARO-FABER, Talmage. DUI, toluene or similar substance, escape/attempted escape.

BRANDON ELDER, Forestville/Ukiah. Controlled substance, vandalism, resisting.

Fallis, Garcia, Joaquin

AMBROSE FALLIS, Covelo. Failure to appear.

RUSS GARCIA, San Antonio/Willits. Failure to register as controlled substance offfender.

DAVID JOAQUIN SR., Covelo. Community supervision violation.

Kottenbrock, Miller, Moss

HAROLD KOTTENBROCK, Navarro. DUI.

GERALD MILLER, Ukiah. Probation revocation.

REGINALD MOSS, Clearlake/Ukiah. Disorderly conduct-alcohol.

Murphy, Oldham, Partida

YOLANDA MURPHY, Sacramento/Ukiah. Fugitive from justice.

ROBERT OLDHAM, Upper Lake/Redwood Valley. Disorderly conduct-alcohol.

TREVOR PARTIDA, Ukiah. Failure to appear, probation revocation.

Piscina, Rios, Suba

ABRAHAM PISCINA-RUIZ, Talmage. DUI.

SESARIO RIOS IV, Hopland. Controlled substance, paraphernalia, concealed dirk-dagger, community supervision violation, resisting.

KRISTOFF SUBA, Laytonville. Disorderly conduct-alcohol, controlled substance, resisting.

Vanhousen, Vasquez, Wright

RYAN VANHOUSEN, Ukiah. DUI alcohol-drugs, suspended license, possession of switchblade.

VICTORIA VASQUEZ, Ukiah. Domestic battery.

STEVIE WRIGHT, Vallejo. Disorderly conduct-alcohol.

* * *

I WENT TO PRISON FOR DISCLOSING THE CIA’S TORTURE. GINA HASPEL HELPED COVER IT UP.

Putting Haspel in charge of the CIA would undo attempts by the agency — and the nation — to repudiate torture. The message this sends to the CIA workforce is simple: Engage in war crimes, in crimes against humanity, and you’ll get promoted. Don’t worry about the law. Don’t worry about ethics. Don’t worry about morality or the fact that torture doesn’t even work. Go ahead and do it anyway. We’ll cover for you. And you can destroy the evidence, too.

washingtonpost.com/outlook/i-went-to-prison-for-disclosing-the-cias-torture-gina-haspel-helped-cover-it-up/2018/03/15/9507884e-27f8-11e8-874b-d517e912f125_story.html

* * *

ON LINE COMMENT OF THE DAY

How many times have you seen young couples walking together or intertwined on public transit, each grinning not at one another but rather at their own smartphone-device. Think of it. The young guy has his inamorata right beside him and he’s paying NO attention to HER. And vice-versa.

We’ve given up kin-clan-tribe for the rugged-individualist model. While you can say that this is a result of wide historical forces or maybe claim that the individual freely makes choices for himself, and while the choices might seem rational for him alone, they have wide-spread societal consequences when taken in aggregate.

So you can say that the process of social atomization started a long time ago. And you can say that it was sped up with the onset of radio broadcasts. While you can say that the broadcasts brought the family into close proximity to listen, their attention was focused on the broadcast, not one another. You can say the same about the widespread adoption of TV sets.

But then you add in social media. And now you have people in close proximity and they’re not even paying attention to the same thing ie the same radio or TV program, never mind to one another.

The logical result? Social echo-chambers, a multitude of closed off head-spaces.

Not only does the young fella have no discernible life-path aside maybe from minimum-wage, part-time shifts at the coffee shop, but now he’s not even a member of a wider society, he exists on his own or maybe attached to an on-line subculture, the individual members maybe never even meeting face-to-face.

People were not evolved in this environment. There’s consequences to de-personalization and societal atomization so maybe it’s no wonder that natural selection is keeping apace with a proliferation of people with Asperger’s, especially working in the tech business. After all what do social skills and social interactions matter if you’re not interacting?

Decisions are made with one thing in mind and that’s the bottom line and with no other thought as to what these decisions might threaten.

* * *

UKIAH COMMUNITY CONCERT ASSOCIATION PRESENTS CRITICALLY ACCLAIMED MUSICAL COMEDY TEAM

“An intelligent and enjoyable alternative to the standard chamber music performance!” -- Bruno Canino, Italian pianist

UKIAH, California — Virtuosic musicianship, theatrical humor and pop culture describe the World re-known Duo Baldo. They will present their critically acclaimed program at the Mendocino College, Little Theater - Saturday, April 14, 2018 at 7:30 p.m.

In 2002, American violinist Brad Repp and Italian pianist/actor Aldo Gentileschi casually met at a quaint cafe on the outskirts of Florence, Italy. The duo began experimenting with show ideas, and eventually became the highlight of the town, drawing in audiences week after week. Duo Baldo has since recorded over 1000 performances in major concert halls and theaters around the world.

Since their debut with Italian tenor Andrea Bocelli in 2004, they have won several competitions, including Musicomicontest, performed at the opening of the 2010 Salzburg Festival and appeared in numerous concerts in France, China, Japan, Switzerland, Mexico, Italy and the United States.

The Ukiah Concert Association has been presenting nationally acclaimed talent since 1947. This all-volunteer nonprofit's mission is to build and maintain a permanent concert audience and cultivate an interest in fine music among the citizens of the community and surrounding area. It is also their goal to encourage music appreciation in the schools of the community.

Advanced tickets are available at Mendocino Book Company and Dig! Music in Ukiah, Mazahar in Willits and on our website www.ukiahconcerts.org.

Limited amount of free tickets available to Mendocino College Students. (must call in advance). Adult Single Tickets are $30 and Youth (under 18) $10. For more information call 707-463-2738.

* * *

WAKE UP, LIBS!

Editor,

Liberal hypocrisy on gun control has become unimaginable. What needs to happen is some liberal S.O.B. has to have a home invasion with their wives murdered, their children raped and all their belongings taken because they could not defend themselves. As ugly as it sounds, it needs to happen to get these people off our back and make them realize that it's not the gun's fault, it's the people! People have to be cleared. Everybody should have to go and get a permit like we have for carrying a concealed weapon. They should have to take a test to buy a firearm. If they can't pass the test, they don't get one. I’ve had a concealed weapon permit for 50 years. I carry one around for self-defense or hoping I could help someone else who was in trouble. But right now I would never lift a finger to help anybody unless it was a friend or my family. The rest of you can go to hell. That's how bad it's become. I'm sorry, but there it is. These people who want to take our guns away are crazy, stupid, dumb sons of bitches.

God bless Donald Trump.

Jerry Philbrick

Comptche

* * *

MARCH 23, 1918: THE USUAL ORDER of things was reversed in Judge Edmund P. Morgan’s court yesterday, when a wife suing for divorce said her husband had been a “kind, considerate, amiable and generous husband” until he quit drinking. Mrs. Johanna Rithmoeller, 1046 Sanchez Street, was the plaintiff. She said John C. Rithmoeller, a liquor dealer, treated her as a model husband should until six months ago, when he stopped drinking. From then until she left him he made her life miserable, she said, by coming home early at night and going to bed early and insisting on talking to her throughout the night. When she refused to listen to him he told her she was “going to hell fast.” When Judge Morgan recovered from his surprise he gave the wife an interlocutory decree of divorce and $40 a month alimony for the support of herself and two children. He did not order the husband to resume drinking.

(SF Chronicle)

* * *

WHICH REMINDS US of that amusing Toby Keith song: “You Ain't Much Fun Since I Quit Drinkin’”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vhr2g746MPg

 

10 Comments

  1. Marco McClean March 19, 2018

    RE: Jerry Philbrick on liberal hypocrisy on gun control, and how, as he says, “These people who want to take our guns away are crazy, stupid, dumb sons of bitches,” and, “What needs to happen is some liberal S.O.B. has to have a home invasion with their wives murdered, their children raped and all their belongings taken because they could not defend themselves.”

    I’m sure I’ve told you this story before, but my best friend ever was killed in 1995 by a gang of boys who broke into a house, broke open the gun locker they found, absconded on foot with their deadly booty, came upon my friend Randy who’d pulled off the highway and was asleep in his truck, and they shot him to death, and they even took the rifle Randy always had with him in the rack in case he ever needed to put a struck deer out of its misery, you crazy stupid dumb son of a bitch, Jerry. And your hero Donald Trump is a pustule on history, a giant spoiled lard-ass colicky baby, a pathological liar, a serial cheater, a rapist, a welcher, a money-launderer for the mob, an obstructor of justice, a bully and a coward, and as he descends into elderly madness he only becomes more who he is.

    IN OTHER NEWS, the weather illustration at the top of the column looks like a French cartoon painting of a happy drunken clown.

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

  2. michael turner March 19, 2018

    Thick as a Philbrick.

  3. Eric Sunswheat March 19, 2018

    Re: Golden Golem of Greatness, in Kunstler’s perfect description of our vivid president.

    The Agent Orange transformation being Prez Gangrene

  4. Vicky Miller March 19, 2018

    GO JERRY!!

  5. Mike Williams March 19, 2018

    Great “Doc” Standley story, looking forward to the next chapter. He was a legendary lawman, father had “Ukiah House” the first hotel in Ukiah around 1858, and his son Harrison was a Navy admiral and Ambassador to Russia during WW2. His story deserves a full biography. As does Samuel Barrett but that is another story…

  6. MarshallNewman March 19, 2018

    Sorry Jerry (and Vicky), but more arms and easily evaded requirements for owning them have not worked and will not work to curb the death toll from guns. The easy availability of guns, especially guns intended as “killing machines” is the primary problem. Time to go in the opposite direction – taking weapons of war off the market completely, enacting an age limit of 21 to buy any gun and eliminating all purchasing loopholes so background checks are universal – to reduce gun violence.

  7. George Hollister March 19, 2018

    In this scenario, doesn’t anger come before violence? And isn’t most anger misplaced?

    My suggestion to the worker with the a$$hole boss is look for another job. There are always choices. Particularly today. Improve your work skills, too. This does not mean going into debt with college, either. There are big opportunities in the trades.

    Better to find a good work environment, than coming home every night pissed off. Even if that means a little less money. The dog would agree.

    • BB Grace March 19, 2018

      I found my anger. It’s a natural resource that permeates my tissues with urges for action. I think of it as a fuel that shouldn’t be stored, for a spark can ignite an ocean or even a puddle if not channeled. Channeling anger takes many paths, physical, where breathing in deep good thoughts and exhausting irks, grudges, snubs, arrogance, greed, injustice, failure, and walking or running, surfing, dancing, chores are healthy active ways to release tension; Spiritually, prayer, meditation, talking with someone who mellows us, lighting a candle, burning incense, sage, chanting, music, comedy, art (tagging is the result of lack of art opportunities) are healthy actions that can reduce the drama; Mentally, anger gives us a STOP message and tells us where our red lines are. Looking at anger as something we can embrace, not fear, but to motivate us to do the right thing, for us and for others. Many times we have to make sacrifices to eliminate the anger. We need to clean our souls, the body of our house, fasting, cleansing organs, finding an organic herbal tea or supplement works when figuring out how we want to channel our anger into acts of love.

      I was asked once, “Who would you rather buy your bread from, the baker who loves to bake bread or the person who hates being a baker but needs the job?” The moral is, you have to follow your heart in what you do, use your head to find the guts to do the right thing. Not because it’s easy. It’s not. But this is when anger can become a friend and be a fuel to help us do something that is hard. Channel anger into a fuel to do the right thing, when doing the right thing isn’t easy, like loving people anyways. Love is the answer.

      As usual: Your comment is awaiting moderation.

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