Mendocino County Today: Friday, April 6, 2018

• Deluge Begins
• Wave
• Puff Howard
• Little Dog
• Embezz-Love-Triangle
• Officer Relieved
• Seatbelts Off
• Shaw Rumor
• Water Trough
• Ed Notes
• Pilfered
• Burfoot Busted
• Carrasco Guilty
• Khadijah Fundraiser
• Sweetheart Call
• Alliance Aground
• Candidate Horger
• Yesterday's Catch
• Palpable Hatred
• Student Stereotyping
• Comment Page
• Community Soup
• Compromised Accounts
• Goat Fest
• Human-Trafficking Play
• Carbon Generation
• Elite Buffer
• $7 Trillion
• Crotch Grab

WET WEATHER UPDATE: APRIL SHOWERS

Friday Forecast for Northern California

Rain. High near 61. Breezy, with a southeast wind 6 to 11 mph increasing to 15 to 20 mph in the afternoon. Winds could gust as high as 28 mph. Chance of precipitation is 100%. New precipitation amounts between a half and three quarters of an inch possible with higher accumulations in the more southerly areas of NorCal.

Friday Night: Rain. Low around 51. Breezy, with a south wind 17 to 21 mph, with gusts as high as 29 mph. Chance of precipitation is 100%. New precipitation amounts between three quarters and one inch possible. Accumulations for Friday in Ukiah could get as high as two inches.

Saturday: Showers. High near 56. South southwest wind around 15 mph. Chance of precipitation is 80%. New precipitation amounts between a quarter and half of an inch possible.

Saturday Night: Showers likely. Cloudy, with a low around 45. South wind 8 to 13 mph. Chance of precipitation is 70%.

Sunday: A 40 percent chance of showers, mainly before 11am. Then Partly sunny, with a high near 58. West southwest wind 5 to 7 mph.

Sunday Night: Partly cloudy, with a low around 43.

(National Weather Service)

NORTH BLUFF OF PUDDING CREEK

(Photo by Judy Valadao)

WHO NEEDS A NEEDS ASSESSMENT?

by Mark Scaramella

After spending several opening minutes last Wednesday, March 28, on a pointless discussion of a Mission Statement — which ended up being a reference to the text of the Measure anyway — the Measure B Oversight Committee got down to some contradictory discussions designed primarily to put the old Howard Hospital on a fast-track for conversion into a reincarnation of the County’s old Psychiatric Health Facilty, PHF or “Puff” unit.

On the one hand, while Committee Chair Sheriff Tom Allman has been pushing for a consultant to do a “Needs Assessment” before any money is spent, Howard Hospital Foundation Chair Margie Handley and her crew of contractors, architects and consultants have already proceeded to spend tens of thousands of dollars on fairly detailed plans to convert the old Howard Hospital facility into a PHF.

The Handley crew has already developed a specific floor plan and building design and cost estimate for a 16-bed facility proposal which they said would “turn the old hospital into what the county wants.”

Handley’s “project manager” (whose name and construction outfit we couldn’t catch because the sound quality of the video was poor for people speaking at the podium) said that he had received a “list of needs” from the county which he'd used to determine room configurations, code issues and plans which made up the contractor’s “proposal.” These specs, he said, could easily be converted into plans for an $11 million to $15 million upgrade/remodel for PHF II. The cost range was derived from “market rates” for labor and $15 million if pegged to government specified “prevailing  wages” for labor.

Nobody in the room was concerned about this seeming cart-before-the-horse proposal. Instead, committee members were more interested in a) how soon the facility could be built; b) how accurate the cost estimate was and c) what kind of security was anticipated.

Answers: a) Much sooner than if they had to start from scratch; b) Costs could go up; and c) a 12 foot chain link perimeter fence will enclose the PHF.

Huh? We thought that’s what the needs assessment was supposed to determine.

One explanation came from Willits physician Dr. Ace Barash who pointed out that “Treatment needs are self-evident. … A locked facility is obviously needed. We don’t need Lee Kemper for that.”

Lee Kemper is the consultant the County hired a couple of years ago to provide justification — as if any was needed — to oust the Ortner Management Group whose privaitzed Mental Health “Services” were so costly and limited that nearly everyone with an opinion on the subject had decided that Ortner had to go. Predictably, for almost $50k, Kemper recommended that Ortner had to go. Several of Kemper’s other recommendations — a formal system of accountability, formal memorandums of understand with associated groups and agencies, retention of some services by the County, etc. — were ignored or only partially implemented.

Sheriff Allman responded, “Lee Kemper already has a lot of numbers that we’re looking for.” (He does? Then why didn’t he hand them over at the end of his last consulting contract? And why doesn’t the County’s mental health staff have those numbers already?)

In February’s Measure B oversight committee meeting, County CEO (and committee member) Carmel Angelo was cautious about committing to hiring Kemper for the needs assessment because she was worried about his availability. But in the latest meeting, that “problem” was magically solved because unbeknownst to the CEO her own Mental Health Department had hired Kemper for another $25k consulting project, and all they’d have to do is get the Board of Supervisors to approve adding another $40k for the Measure B needs assessment.

The charitable Kemper, CEO Angelo added, won’t charge the full $40k if he doesn’t have to. (Hell, he shouldn’t have to if the Howard Hospital PHF conversion is a predetermined “need” and off the table.)

Toward the end of the meeting, in response to a question about current outside placement costs for the mentally ill asked at the February meeting, County Mental Health Director Dr. Jenine Miller, reported that Board & Care costs for out of County conservatorships were $2.2 million last year paid by realignment dollars. “None of that is billable to MediCal because of the IMB (?) exclusion,” Miller added without bothering to explain what an IMB exclusion is. But, “with a 16 bed facility we could bill MediCal up to for up to [15%, 50%? 58%? Poor audio quality] or more of that cost.” Miller said that Mendo now has one board and care facility in county, “but we can’t bill MediCal for that.”

Then Dr. Miller confused matters further by noting “that is just out of county costs, it’s about $1.5 million to place people in facilities outside this County for Board and Care. Then there are psychiatric hospitalizations, 5150s, sent to out of county facilities, which cost about $1.8 million.”

So how much is it? Nobody asked for clarification. If Ms. Miller had said $100 or $10 million or anywhere in between I wondered if anybody would have challenged her math. Nobody asked for a written breakdown, nobody asked why the numbers didn’t add up, nobody asked how many placements that represented, how many would it be if they had a local facility, how many really needed out of county placement, etc.

File it under “sorry we asked.”

There was a brief discussion about the other mental health facilities that are expected to be in the pipeline in the next couple of years: A Crisis Center on Orchard Avenue in Ukiah and a new mental health wing at the jail.

Redwood Quality Management Company honcho Camille Schrader said that there are some distinctions that need to be made regarding the various types of facilities:

“We’ve had lots of conversations of types of facilities,” said Schrader adding that the crisis center is for the first 23 hours for “stabilization.” Then later the “patient” might be shuttled to “longer term facilities” if they are “severely mentally ill.” But, Schrader added, “there are not that many longer term facilities for severely mentally ill which are certified for MediCal.” And then there are the “dual diagnosis” patients with both mental illness and drug or alcohol problems. And there are also the drug and alcohol only… Schrader thought that depending on how the PHF is set up, there might be cases where a patient could improve to the point that they could “walk across the hall” presumably from the locked PHF facility to a more board and care style facility right there at Howard Hospital!

Of course, these fine distinctions are highly subjective and variable and subject to lots of fuzzy decisions that only the insiders know about. Obviously, the County’s “needs” will end up conforming nicely with whatever capacity is provided, no matter what the “needs assessment” says.

The whole process is starting to look like the dog and pony show some Measure B critics have predicted it would be: convert the old Howard Memorial Hospital into a new PHF and then spend whatever’s left over on whatever comes up.

Sheriff Allman concluded the meeting by handing out copies of Robert’s Rules of Order to the committee members. Clearly, you can’t have an unneeded needs assessment, much less a reconstituted PHF unit, without the proper motions and seconds.

Commenting on the March 28 meeting on the AVA’s website Willits based commenter “Lazarus,” offered this rather negative summary of the meeting:

“I saw a still of the Measure B meeting shot form the back of the room. The only audience was Marge Handley and her stooge Arnie Mello…I think that’s his name. I’m wondering where the money comes from to staff the 100 year old crumbling HMH behemoth…Let’s be clear here, this Howard foundation bunch wants one thing—to unload the old building. Handley is cutting ties with Willits proper. She’s sold her fancy ass Haehl Creek house, which was gifted. She’s sold another property in the vicinity of HMH I hear, and everything else is on the block. She’s gett’n her hat and getting out. When the lame committees, commissions and boards finally figure out how she f***ed them out of the money she’ll be hide’n out in India…or her estate east of Willits.

"Rumblings from the community have started, parents of kids attending neighboring schools have concerns, as do the police. And then there’s the neighborhood. Handley has made it clear she care’s not about anyone in the sphere of influence. To date folks I know near HMH have never been contacted or considered, Handley is in it for herself, the City knows it, the cops know it, and many in the community know it.

"Nevertheless the beat goes on. All this unfortunately will likely be piss’n into the wind for the folks of Willits. Handley’s last deal will probably kill what’s left of the Willits community, anyone who thinks different is either a liar or a fool.

"This is one of the biggest cons ever run in the Mendo. Shame to all of them!”

Oh well, at least Mendo might (and we emphasize “might” because there are still some very critical hurdles to overcome like land acquisition and staffing) get a new PHF unit out of it. After all, that was really the point in the first place, wasn’t it?

LITTLE DOG SAYS, “I'll say this for Skrag. He's no vegan!”

SEX & GUNS

The case of Mathis, Mathis and Norbury — no, it's not a law firm — it's the defendants, Penny Mathis, Jack Mathis and Audie Norbury, the love triangle senior citizens accused of embezzling from the Ukiah Gun Club along with some gun charges.

Two weeks ago they were offered a "global" resolution to everybody's headaches, and it was rejected by every defendant, except Mr. Norbury, whose lawyer is Justin Petersen, and it was somewhat a scene out of a nursing home as the alleged culprits farted around the balliwick. It was also if not shocking but at least rude that the lawyers for the other two defendants had not seen fit to show up and put the onus on Mr. Petersen, carrying his left arm in a sling, a bow to his snowboarding offspring, but still…

DA David Eyster swept the offer off the table Thursday, even though the other lawyers had run and hid, and left it all to the man with the empty sleeve, Justin P.

Thumbing back through some ancient history, we find the Petersen family tangled up in their own legal difficulties in Wyoming; and we have a local name, Mayfield —!— who told me he helped the Petersen boys out of their legal difficulties in Wyoming, etc.

Goodness!  There's more Mayfields here than there are McEwens!

(Bruce McEwen)

Background: www.theava.com/archives/76125#1

TURMOIL at the Fort Bragg Coast Guard Station

Top officer sidelined; further review may make the move permanent.

pressdemocrat.com/news/8192103-181/lead-noyo-river-coast-guard

SHERIFF ALLMAN calls Hart Family crash a crime.

Mendocino County Sheriff Tom Allman made his opinion clear during a TV interview on Wednesday night.

pressdemocrat.com/news/8191496-181/mendocino-sheriff-says-crash-was

MSP HEARS 'UNOFFICIALLY' — ANNA SHAW RESIGNS FROM HOSPITALITY HOUSE (CENTER)

MSP heard Thursday afternoon from a "very reliable source" that Anna Shaw, Executive Director, Mendocino Coast Hospitality Center, has resigned.

More info when we get it — but more than a few people will be pleased with the news. She has been a contentious director of the homeless services in Fort Bragg, to say the least.

And then there was this MSP post back in 2015 that was never addressed by the Hospitality Center Board of Directors: facebook.com/mendocinosportsplus/posts/999692863444864:0

(MendocinoSportsPlus)

REMEMBERING THE WATER TROUGH BAR IN UKIAH

“Water Trough burns down Thursday”

facebook.com/UkiahValleyFireAuthority/photos/pcb.1755207754499496/1755204957833109/?type=3

ukiahdailyjournal.com/general-news/20180405/former-water-trough-bar-burns-in-ukiah-thursday

* * *

After 70 Years, It's Last Call At The Water Trough

by Tommy Wayne Kramer (August 2014)

Back in the 1980s I lived in an old farmhouse that had been hacked into a bunch of apartments down on South State near the skating rink.

The closest bar back then was the Water Trough and I used to stop in a couple nights a week to savor its pungent and somewhat unsavory atmosphere. The Trough wasn't a biker bar but it attracted that style clientele and adapted more than a mere veneer of the outlaw attitude.

The guys wore those black leather vests, Lynard Skynard t-shirts, grungy jeans with silver chains linking a belt loop to the wallet in their back pocket. They had a dodgy, furtive look. They wore mullets.

Women at the Trough were the perfect counterparts: Farrah Fawcett hairdos, unless they wore shags or whatever the babes in Fleetwood Mac had on their heads. They fidgeted on their barstools. A cocaine vibe hummed in the air.

On the jukebox that never stopped poured a steady stream of Eddie Rabbit and his rainy nights, Bob Seger running into the wind and Willie Nelson crooning about being on the road, yet again, 40 times a night. As a neighborhood bar it wasn't great but I had no other options. I used to go there a fair percentage of time with an old pal named Kip, and we'd sit and exchange comical commentary on the night's show.

Often I'd see and talk and play some eight ball with a guy who lived nearby and would later become a county supervisor. Duane Figone and Udell Miller, both later tangled up in the double homicide of Larry and Veneta Cape, were perpetually stationed on the two stools nearest the front window looking out on State Street. A few years later I worked as an investigator with Richard Petersen on the People vs. Duane Figone murder trial; Fig was eventually acquitted, but it took two trials and a couple years.

Overseeing the entire operatic operation at the Water Trough was a bartender named Larry.

I then wound up moving to a different and distant neighborhood and didn't go into the bar for a quarter century. But a while back I read a squib in the Anderson Valley Advertiser warning that the old place was going to close, and because of inane regulations would not be allowed to re-open in its present location. Which meant it would not be allowed to reopen at all. I figured I owed it another visit.

I parked out back where prudent drinkers park, came around the front, pushed open the swinging front door and stood in the same old Water Trough. Except everything was different.

Almost every stool was occupied and a few people were standing. Most turned to see who just came in the door, and several gave a smile and half-wave, as if they knew me and were glad I was there. Everyone was my age and some were Hispanic.

I crossed the room and listened to waves of laughter and the pounding of leather Liar's Dice cups on the bar. Indignant remarks were being tossed back and forth in good-natured banter. There was a lot of laughter and numerous faux insults. It was all cheerful and fun and very unlike the bar of 30 years ago. I saw no one slink out the side door, looking over a shoulder enroute to their car, and return 10 minutes later with a nervy, glimmer-eyed swagger.

I took a slot at the bar and realized that at least one thing hadn't changed since my last visit around 1985. There, patrolling the other side of the formica counter was Larry, the same gent who I'd last seen running the joint lo those many decades ago. He sauntered over and asked what I'd have.

I surveyed the bar and saw 18 long neck Budweiser bottles lined up. I went out on a limb: "Gimme a Bud," I said, making it 19 and unanimous. Larry and I agreed we semi-remembered one another from long ago when the bar was crowded with people who today are either old or dead. Time has been good to Larry. He has the patrician air and quiet good looks of a fading film star, or perhaps, with a tweedy jacket and a pipe, an English professor from a generation ago.

Larry's wit makes him the perfect bartender, and he demonstrated it repeatedly while roaming the bar, sprinkling light insults on various customers with sarcastic asides to the rest. In a few minutes he had everyone covered, including extra helpings of Budweiser to those in need.

I spent a cheerful hour in the place and it was the most fun I'd had in a bar in years. It was loud, friendly, full of laughter and neighborliness. In contrast, Patrona's, where the Trough's liquor license is reportedly destined, is like a funeral home: hushed, muted, upscale and dreary. If it ever gets as loud at Patrona's as it got that night at the Water Trough someone will call the police.

It's not too late to go see for yourself. At this point the place is a hollowed-out facsimile of what it once was. They're no longer replenishing the diminishing supply of liquor, and the neon signs are gone. About the only sentimental items remaining are scores of old trophies won in long-forgotten pool tournaments. By the time you get there those might be gone too. Hope the Budweiser holds out.

Last Call at the Water Trough is August 31.

(Did you know the Water Trough got its start in the 1940s and was originally known as Jeff's Rancho? You should mosey on down before it closes. Put it all on TWK's tab, and Tom Hine will handle the details.)

* * *

IF YOU'RE LOOKING FOR A PLACE to drown your sorrows away with the absolutely cheapest whiskey available in town, then swing down to the Water Trough and drink yourself into oblivion. The depressed and lonely atmosphere is perfect for suicidal self-indulgence. You'll have no problem finding someone to listen to all your problems and buy you a glass of Evan Williams when you're teetering on the point of self-destruction. Good times. Water Trough regulars frown on newcomers who arrive at the establishment with an ounce of optimism, so be sure to have your game face on and get your story straight before entering. If you're not interested in fistfights and destructive drinking I would avoid the Trough.

Pete Evangelatos, January 2014

* * *

Countdown At The Trough

by Flynn Washburne, December, 2016

Nine times out of ten, the name of a bar is enough to disclose its true nature and let me know what sort of a time I'm in for.

Tell me we're going drinking at O'Houlihans, or The First Down, or the Dew Drop Inn, and I know exactly what kind of time I'm going to have. Invite me to the Water Trough and I feel a frisson of unease. Trough? A trough is where animals gather to feed and water, or, secondarily, human males to urinate. Calling your bar the Water Trough is as much as shouting, "Attention bottom feeders who've been 86'ed from everywhere with even a scintilla of respectability! You have a home!"

Naturally, you're wondering why a classy gent like myself would end up at the Water Trough on New Year's Eve, since that is obviously where this headed. A) I happened to be on the south end of town, and b) I had made some hastily incorrect assumptions when I heard “the bar,” the crucial one being that I was with actual human beings and not the type who would sate themselves at a communal trench. There I was, though, and in true trooper fashion and can-do spirit I resolved to make the very best of it and see if I couldn't salvage some merriment from this Bucket-of-Blood-ish situation.

I was pleased, on entering the establishment, to see that there was no actual trough and the patrons were drinking from glasses and bottles and standing more or less upright. I would not describe the atmosphere as festive, not as I would define the term; of course, I had no baseline to compare it to. Perhaps this was the trough-drinkers version of holiday merriment, grimly pounding shots and glaring at strangers as they walked in.

I ordered a beer and scanned the room for any potential osculatory targets. I saw a couple sets of palatable-looking lips, though they were attached to people who looked like they might charge extra for that service. One lass in low-slung jeans and a halter top presenting a rearward aspect to me displayed a tramp stamp reading "Garbage In, Garbage Out." Definitely a possibility, though her attention was being monopolized by a couple of bearded louts with large knives on their hips.

And then I saw her, walking out of the ladies' like a dirty-blonde angel. Tall, willowy, wearing a black leather jacket over a white V-neck T-shirt, she tossed her 70s-feathered hair fetchingly and walked regally toward the bar, and ultimately right next to me.

"Happy New Year," I said. "Buy you a drink?"

"Fuck off," she said without looking at me, in a bored, rote tone.

I imagined her first fifteen or twenty Fuck-offs had carried some real bite but now were largely desultory, as if I should've known I had no business speaking to her and I was being told to fuck off strictly as a public service.

"Fucking off," I said. "Sorry to bother you."

She turned to me. "No offense, just, you know, fuck off," she said, and favored me with a flash of a smile. She got her drink and walked off.

She looked over at me then and said, again, not unkindly, "No offense, just, you know, fuck off."

I tipped my bottle in response and she favored me with a brief flash of smile, got her drink, and walked off. She reminded me of Kelly Lynch in the movie "Homegrown," which probably led to the rash and impulsive act which followed.

I got up and walked to where she was posted up at the jukebox and tapped her on the shoulder. "Hey, yeah, sorry, I know I'm violating the fuck-off order, but I just wanted to see if maybe for the new year you intend making any kind of self-improvement resolutions. Not that you need improvement that I can see, I'm sure you're fine, but if maybe you're looking to be more charitable or anything I could really use someone to kiss. And it would. Be charity, I mean. I don't know anyone in this bar and I have a perfect record for New Year kissing going back to 1975, except for when I was in prison. Not that I've been to prison. Okay, I was, but not for anything gross. What do you say?"

"No tongue, I want a shot of Patr6n, and you can't hang around me til midnight. Also if anyone asks, you're my cousin."

"Done!" I said, and went to get her drink.

I killed the remaining 15 minutes listening to a completely unintelligible man trying to explain something to me which apparently, judging from his hand gestures, involved the men's room, but I'd let my bladder burst before I'd go in there.

Finally the countdown began. I scanned the room and as the count hit three I saw her walking toward me, arms outstretched. "Charlie!" she shouted. "Happy New Year!" She hugged me and planted one smack on the gob. "How's Grandma? Hey, I gotta go. Great to see you." And with a wink, she was gone.

And there you have it. New Year's Eve at the Trough — not a resounding success, but a “W” nonetheless. I understand the place is no more, which I'm sure has positively impacted local rates of violent crime, STD transmission, domestic abuse, and general felonious rascalry, but I've no doubt it's deeply mourned by some. Some of the patrons I saw there seemed to have some kind of symbio-organic bond with the place wherein neither could survive without the other. Oh, well— march of progress and all that.

* * *

The first time Peter Richardson went to the Water Trough bar in Ukiah was back in the late 1950s or early 1960s (he doesn’t remember the exact year) when he was just a boy. His father had brought him out to California to see the redwood forests, and they stopped at the Water Trough for the famous barbecue. In those days there was a drive-up window, so young Peter didn’t actually go into the now-defunct drinking establishment, but the barbecue was so memorable that he eventually returned as a young adult in the 1970s and has lived here in Mendocino County ever since. The last time he went to the Water Trough was late last December when he crashed his big Dodge van through the wall and got eighty-sixed. Perhaps he was nostalgic and thought it was still a drive-through; or maybe he was drunk — because he certainly got a DUI shortly after he left — then again, maybe his brains were muddled by powerful chemicals from working in a paint booth that day. But whatever the case, he’ll never go there again, because the venerable old Water Trough is closed down for good.

Bruce McEwen, September 2014

* * *

AND FOR THOSE who want to go deep into Troughicana: www.theava.com/archives/46479

* * *

INTERESTINGLY, THE TROUGH WAS SET FOR DEMOLITION last year: mendocinocounty.org/home/showdocument?id=13849

ED NOTES

I STEER AWAY from comment on The Big Picture because (1) I'm not particularly well-informed on national and international affairs and (2) even when I think I'm informed someone else has said better what I would have said. With this statement of my pundit qualifications I can't help but tell all of you that Trump's appointment of John Bolton as national security advisor moves the Doomsday Clock a full minute closer to midnight. Bolton and the rest of the Bush Gang managed to destabilize the entire Middle East by going after Saddam Hussein on the laughably false pretext that the dictator had nukes. The Obama-Hillary Libs, accepting the Bush Gang's policies without demur added considerably to the expanding disaster by destroying Libya and drone murders of, in several cases, American citizens. As usual, these international crimes have been a bi-partisan effort.

BOLTON, of course, evaded the draft during the Vietnam era, as did most of the tough talkers on Fox News, not to mention Commando Trump with his "bone spurs." People who do a lot of tough talking are, in my muy macho experience, which includes lots of quality time with gen-u-wine tough guys, are invariably wimps at show and tell time. Which makes them so dangerous in the power slots. People who've been shot at are ordinarily more circumspect, but the Bolton-Fox News Brigades will fight to your last man, and they have no prob unleashing horror from the comfort and safety of their air conditioned bunkers.

* * *

BEST EVENT OF THE YEAR coming right up:

AARON SAWYER COMMENTS: "A nice large CA nutmeg can be found right along the South side of 128, close to where the redwoods start as you head in from the coast. Keep an eye out for the shiny green needles."

YEARS AGO, my late friend Helen Libeu told me that midnight rustlers had logged a full grown nutmeg on her place some three miles up the Peachland Road from Highway 128. She told me that the tree is highly prized by Chinese. As I recall, she put the value of her tree at about $40,000 and said she was certain the thieves had been commissioned by someone who knew how to sell it.

* * *

COUPLA THINGS about the KZYX election: Not that their candidates — Hulse Stephens, Bushy Bushanski and Ms. Vinyard — were in any danger of losing, but my spies tell me the three board incumbents, reinforced by Bushy's love interest, the fearsome Meg Courtney, and the station's Moonie-like staff, hit the membership list hard with "our" recommendations. I'm surprised Pat Kovner and I got as many votes as we did, and doubly surprised that there are that many paid-up maverick station members.

I THINK newly elected station trustees, Dina Polkinghorne and Tom Dow, will disappoint the KZYX cabal. Neither one strikes me as the required stooge material. Dow nosed out Len Tischler for the 5th District seat. I was pulling for Tischler because of his impressive financial background. I thought it would be impossible for the penny ante budget siphons to get over on him, just as it turned out to be impossible for the ruling claque to get over on the positively heroic former trustee, Larry Minson, who blew the whistle from the inside on all the crooked stuff shadow station boss Stuart Campbell has been pulling off.

OPTIMISTIC about the CPB audit of KZYC this May? No. The government's annual grant goes right back into the annual purchase of government programming, i.e, NPR. Pulling funding because of "financial irregularities" would be one less customer for NPR. It's like me telling ava subscribers, "Buy a sub and I'll send you the money back so you can renew next year."  The feds will take a look and conclude, "Christ, who cares what these fagged out old hippies and cult brains do in their little outback playpen. All our stations are run like this."

FROM THE ELECTION ANNOUNCEMENT: "The newly elected board members will be seated at the board meeting and the annual festive celebration.... "Festive celebration?" Well, yes, this lugubrious crew probably needs reminders.

SEEN AT THE WILLITS LIBRARY PERIODICALS RACK LAST WEEK

BURFOOT BUSTED

On 04-02-2018 at about 12:45 AM, Mendocino County Sheriff’s Deputies were patrolling the area of the Point Arena High School, when a vehicle was observed in the area of the fuel pumps of the bus barn. Deputies contacted the driver of the vehicle, who was later identified as Philip Burfoot, 50, of Point Arena.

Sheriff’s Deputies initiated an investigation and determined Burfoot had entered the building to disable the surveillance system and was stealing gasoline from the school. Deputies were also able to establish that this was not the first time Burfoot had done this at this location. Burfoot was placed under arrest for Felony Burglary and he was transported and booked into the Mendocino County Jail with a $15,000 bail.

CARRASCO FOUND GUILTY

FROM THE DA: UKIAH, Wed., April 4. -- A Mendocino County Superior Court jury returned from its deliberations to court Wednesday afternoon to announce three guilty verdicts against a domestic violence defendant.

Jose Beltran Carrasco, age 24, of Ukiah, was found guilty of inflicting a traumatic injury on a spouse or significant other, a felony; vandalizing property valued at over $400, a felony; and a lesser-included crime of simple assault as a misdemeanor.

After the jury was thanked and excused, the defendant and his case were referred to the Adult Probation Department for a background study and sentencing recommendation. Consideration of that probation report, as well as imposition of sentence, has been scheduled for May 1, 2018 at 9 o'clock in the morning in Department B in the Ukiah courthouse.

Any person interested in the sentencing outcome of this matter or this defendant is welcome to attend the May 1st hearing.

The prosecutor who presented the People's evidence and argued the case to the jury is Deputy District Attorney Tom Geddes. The law enforcement agency that investigated the matter and collected the necessary evidence was the Mendocino County Sheriff's Office. The judge who presided over the three-day trial and who will impose sentence on May 1st is Mendocino County Superior Court Judge Cindee Mayfield.

FRIDAY FUNDRAISER SLATED...

WANTED: WILLITS FRONTIER DAYS SWEETHEART CANDIDATES

To the Editor:

Can you believe it’s almost time for the 2018 Willits Frontier Days celebration? Even though July seems far away, preparations are already underway to make sure it will be another successful event to be enjoyed by all.

One of the big first checkboxes on the 2018 to-do list is to get our Sweetheart candidates set and ready to start selling tickets and representing Willits’ famous festivities starting on May 1.

Girls aged 16 to 20 are welcome to apply, and need not reside in Willits. They do not need to own a horse, but do need to have one available to them to use for the duration of the contest. They must never have been married, and not have had children.

Contestants will be asked to sell tickets to the roster of Fourth of July events, compete in a public speaking contest with a prepared speech following the 2018 WFD theme “We Stand for Old Glory,” showcase poise and personality while modeling, as well as ride a horse in a horsemanship pattern, and answer questions about tack, horses, and the rodeo lifestyle.

Contestants will also be asked to do a Queen run where they gallop around the arena waving at the crowd.

Once candidates are confirmed and applications are received – by the April 28 deadline – the girls will attend a preparatory meeting and receive their first batch of tickets on May 1 at the Willits Frontier Days office.

Just before the Sweetheart dinner where the winner is crowned, the tickets will be tallied by an official and local certified public accountant to ensure a fair contest. Ticket sales are combined with scores from the speeches and the riding portion of the contest to name an overall winner.

Girls will receive a percentage of their ticket sales at the end of the contest, and the winner will receive the coveted tiara, engraved spurs, flowers and a saddle. The contestants and the winner will be given the opportunity to ride in all of the rodeo’s Grand Entry events as well, as a place in the Main Street Parade on July 4.

Liz Day and Kathy Graves will head up the contest this year and will be the main contacts for the contestants during the contest. Liz can be reached at 707-354-0933 and Kathy at 707-489-0442 for more information.

Entry forms for Willits Frontier Days Sweetheart are available online at WillitsFrontierDays.com under the “Sweethearts” tab.

Remember also, the 2018 schedule of events, contact info for event chairpersons, event information, entry forms for all other community events including the Junior Rodeo – now with mutton busting! – the horse show, the Hometown Celebration, the Horseshoe Contest, and the Main Street Parade are all available online, too!

Marcy Barry, vice president,

Willits Frontier Days

ON THIS DAY in 1903 a photograph was taken of the ship Alliance beached at Caspar Beach. The ship had struck a rock off Point Gorda and succeeded in reaching Caspar. After temporary repairs were made, she was pulled into the water again and returned to San Francisco under her own steam.

Point Gorda is twelve miles south of Cape Mendocino, within Humboldt County. Too late for the Alliance, the Punta Gorda Lighthouse was built in 1911 and was first lit in 1912.

(Kelley House Museum)

WILLITS RESIDENT MICHAEL HORGER ENTERS CROWDED 3RD DISTRICT BOARD OF SUPERVISORS RACE

by Ariel Carmona Jr.

Mendocino County Board of Supervisors 3rd District candidate Michael Horger is a familiar face to Willits residents.

Horger is fourth-generation from Willits. His great-grandmother, grandmother and other family members have all been active in the community in different committees.

His mother, Carlin, still serves on the Chamber of Commerce board of directors.

He was on the Little Lake Fire Department for 18 years with his brother Chris until he was sidelined by an injury.

“I was the president of the Firefighters Association for eight years,” said Horger.

Horger’s resume includes volunteering at Frontier Days for 30 years, working as an emergency medical technician for 15 years, and volunteering as a High School football coach and Baechtel Grove basketball coach.

His grandmother, Grace, on his father’s side was the first Willits matron and worked for the Willits Police Department. Horger said she was the first person to retire from the city of Willits in 1975 after working there for 30 years, After she passed away and his daughter was born, he named her in her honor.

Horger comes from a military family having spent six years in the Navy. His dad spent 20 years in the Navy and retired to come back to his hometown, where he worked at a Purity store where City Hall is now.

“When I got injured, I started volunteering in the schools. I started helping out in the classroom and then I got on site councils,” he said adding that he is still on the site council at Willits High School which is tasked with how Title 1 program money is spent.

Horger said he has an old school philosophy when it comes to education and added he would like to see more vocational programs make a comeback.

“I am from the past, I think kids are getting kind of the short straw. There’s more to building a school than reading and writing,” he said. “I have been really pushing the vocational training back in school, that’s pretty much what my brother and I went through there,”

Horger said he also laments the lack of qualified personnel to do the jobs and handle the future growth that’s going to come up in the area.

Besides construction, Horger said the 3rd District is going to need auto mechanics and other tradesmen to fill needed positions, but noted all industries currently have the same problems finding qualified employees. He spoke in detail about some of those issues.

“We’ve got nothing to draw people here and the rent is outrageous,” he said. “We need to get some sort of rent control, because it’s expensive to live here.”

According to Horger, when the 3rd District position became open when Tom (Woodhouse) stepped down, he applied for the appointment and interviewed, but wasn’t selected.

“I wasn’t going to run this time, then people kind of urged me to,” said Horger, adding that he realized he did not want his kids to permanently move out of the area, which in part motivated him to seek the position. His son is going to college in Ohio and his daughter will soon graduate from Willits High School.

“I don’t want them to leave, but the way the area is turning and the expense...it’s not a place to raise a family anymore. Kids are graduating high school and leaving. We are losing our traditions and our local small town appeal.”

Egress Out Of Brooktrails

Horger said he went to Ukiah and talked to Howard Dashiell, county director of transportation. He said in talking with him he was made aware of scheduled repairs that would help Brooktrails.

Horger said back in the ’90s, during the Oakland Hills fires, there was concern about a second access out of Brooktrails, but meetings about the issue turned into people complaining about having to trim their weeds. “It never got any further than people complaining instead of trying to figure out what they are going to do,” he said.

Because of his extensive experience with the Willits Fire Department, Horger said fire behavior is something he knows well. He said he learned you need to have as many emergency routes as possible.

“There’s seven emergency exits up there,” he said. “But the roads need maintenance. We need to get with the property owners and still double check with everything. Cal Fire is ultimately responsible for Brooktrails; it’s a state responsible area.”

According to Horner, if Brooktrails can get an inspection team and get work crews out there periodically to make sure the roads are ready every year, it would be of great benefit. “We also need communication with local radios and have an emergency station to tell you what access to use.”

Roads 

When the roads in the county first became passable they were horse paths, Horger stated. “They were horse and buggies and then they started getting rock, but they were never compacted and were never made for what they are being used for. They are not made for big trucks,” he said adding there’s no engineering to them, creating a great need for their repair.

The candidate said there’s 1,020 miles of road that the county is responsible for and 600 of them are paved, while 420 are rock and dirt which all have the same issues – they need to be repaired and maintained.

Horger said Senate Bill 1 could help as long as the Board of Supervisors doesn’t take that money and put it back in the general fund. He added that it is important to have funding set aside in reserves.

“After the fires, the Sheriff’s Department was over budget $1.5 million. If the reserve was there then the Board (of Supervisors) would not have to borrow against next year’s budget to use it,” said Horger, noting monthly or quarterly reports are necessary to track spending.

Housing

“The price of housing to build is getting higher and higher. That’s why I think vocational schools can get more work force out there. Right now everybody is so busy that they can set their own price. Contractors’ pricing keeps increasing,” he said. “We have the green building codes and that takes the price up. They are putting in a lot of regulations that are costing everybody money, so the expense has to be passed on somewhere.”

Horger said years ago Willits had more mills, but industry has been greatly reduced.

At one time there were 27 mills in the area and now Willits is down to one. “Everybody keeps talking clean energy and renewable resources, but they don’t seem to be renewing the jobs,” he said.

“I would like to get with the schools and work with the county’s Office of Education and get vocational training back in all the schools.”

The training could add greatly to the existing labor pool, something that the county needs in order to bring down prices, according to Horger.

“When it’s $1,200 for a one-bedroom apartment here in town and you are making $9 an hour, it’s not affordable.”

Cannabis

When it comes to the regulated cannabis market, Horger said he would like to see the small growers be taken care of instead of big out-of-the-area grows and corporations.

The small growers “are the ones that donate, those are going to be the ones that buy from your bake sales, that donate to the schools and donate to your clubs and people that live around here, not people that are coming in to make a buck and leaving,” he said.

“Around here there’s no reason for a lot of them to go through that (permitting) process because its going to be black market cannabis; people have been growing it for so long, the connections are here, there’s no reason to get legal if you are going to be taxed to death.”

Horger stated public safety is a big problem connected to cannabis.

“I have never heard of anybody hijack a truck of pears, but I have heard about a couple of home invasions on the radio around town – public safety is a key thing why it needs to be held to a point to be managed.”

Economic Development

Horger believes the Skunk Train is Willits’ drawing card and should be utilized to entice more people into town.

“I have been here long enough to see what it was before. People were bumper to bumper on the streets and everybody was buying things out of the stores, souvenirs and memorabilia,” he said adding that people living outside the area used to catch the train and come into town to shop. Now that it’s restricted to day trips, he said he thinks it’s kind of a boring ride, but it could be more of a draw with something for visitors to do.

“There used to be five restaurants around by the railroad tracks. When the Remco property was coming available, they wanted it to put everything there. We could try to get the building across from Mendo Mill, by the tracks, bring everything over from Fort Bragg. We could have a small Skunk Train museum, they could have a shop there and have restaurants move into there, they could make that the Skunk Depot of the future.”

Horger said people come through Willits to go to the coast, but the city needs people to stop by downtown.

“They’ve turned Fort Bragg into a neat little area. They have a lot of camping there; we have campgrounds too, but let’s get them stopping and checking us out. We are the gatewood to the Redwoods like the sign says,” he said.

If elected, Horger said he would make himself available to Covelo and other communities in the 3rd District.

“I like to solve problems and if they are not being heard, then I would like to be there for them,” he said. “If I get in a position, then I definitely want to take care of people that I am taking a responsibility to take care of.”

(Courtesy, the Willits News)

CATCH OF THE DAY, April 5, 2018

LESLIE ADELMAN, Ukiah. Probation revocation.

JOY DAVIDSON, Fort Bragg. Failure to appear, probation revocation. (Frequent flyer.)

JENNIFER DEGROOT, Ukiah. Possession of shopping cart, failure to appear. (Frequent flyer.)

YVONNE ELDER, Fort Bragg. Failure to appear.

LON HUNOLT, Manchester. Failure to appear, probation revocation.

ANDREW HURTADO, Fort Bragg. Assault with deadly weapon not a gun, disorderly conduct-alcohol, conspiracy, probation revocation.

AARON KOSKI, Fort Bragg. Failure to appear, probation revocation. (Frequent flyer.)

WANDA O’BRYAN, Upper Lake/Ukiah. Failure to appear, probation revocation.

RICKY SMITH, Willits. Suspended license, failure to appear, probation revocation.

MARK SPITSEN, Incline Village, Nevada/Ukiah. Under influence, controlled substance.

STEVEN TEMPLE SR., Ukiah. Domestic battery, fighting in public, paraphernalia.

SANDRA TSAI, San Francisco/Ukiah. Failure to appear.

HOW DOES SHE KNOW?

Editor:

I have tried for years to understand the palpable hatred conservatives have for Democrats. Normal disagreements about policy should never lead to the name-calling and belittling that conservatives routinely resort to when talking about Democrats.

Roseanne Barr has provided the answer: “President Trump has freed so many children held in bondage to pimps all over the world. Hundreds each month. He has broken up trafficking rings in high places everywhere.” She has discovered that “Trump is breaking up a massive pedophile ring involving a number of Democratic politicians” (“Roseanne tweets about conspiracy theory,” Tuesday).

How does she know? She read it on the internet. So it must be true. All Democrats are pedophiles. It pains me to think she might just be a regular, run-of-the-mill conservative. No, surely they can’t all be that stupid.

Lew Larson

Sebastopol

ON LINE COMMENT OF THE DAY

I recently retired after more than 2 decades as a university professor. I can tell you that many of my students worked 2-3 jobs, in addition to going to school full time. They don't have time (or money) for drinking or for drugs. Stop stereotyping them. I was a teacher educator, and my students were going deep into debt for a job that will probably not pay for their student loans, unless they also take a part-time job to 'support their teaching habit'.

AVA’s COMMENT PAGE
by Anonymous

The comments column is still and bare,
Sohumlily’s left the place,
Harvey Reading isn’t there,
The Godless Bedrock? Not a trace.

No savage poetry to amaze,
No revelations to enthrall,
No counters to the Marmon’s raves,
It’s sure to please the Rosenthal.

Not long ago t’was live with strife,
Crass, chaotic, spunky, spiteful.
Now it has lost all its life,
It’s dull and drab and undelightful.

(Graffiti found in the men’s room stall at The Mendocino Beacon)

COMMUNITY SOUP NIGHT

Come join us from 5-7pm for our monthly Community Soup Night! This month, bright and green homemade Vichyssoise (creamy potato and leek soup) made with local, organic ingredients, with fresh bread and butter – and , of course, wine!

$10 for a big bowl and bread, and wine specials all night! Come sit outside in the beautiful spring weather and spend some time with your friends and neighbors enjoying our local goodies. Also a little fresh baklava, biscotti and butter cookies for desert – and maybe some live music? Casual and fun – come on down – Spring is here!

“You know what’s cooler than a million compromised Facebook accounts? A billion compromised Facebook accounts.”

GOAT FEST 2018

April 21st!  All kinds of goat-themed fun at the 2018 Goat Fest: free admission, workshops, live music, farmers' market, food vendors, kids' activities and more!

MENDOCINO COUNTY AGAINST HUMAN TRAFFICKING PRESENTS: JANE DOE IN WONDERLAND

A New Play and Survivor Talk Back Raising Local Awareness and Education on Sex Trafficking

“Thanks to Jane Doe in Wonderland, sex trafficking can not only be discussed but fought against by every concerned person inspired by this thought-provoking show”

—Betti Webb-Trauth, Eureka Times Standard, 2017

“Jane Doe In Wonderland” is a new play and survivor talk back raising awareness and education on sex trafficking, written through the collaboration of anti-sex trafficking non-profit organization Game Over, founded by survivor/educator Elle Snow, and MFA playwrights Grace Booth, Kate Tobie, and Erin Johnston. Based on multiple sex trafficking survivors’ testimonials and Elle's educational training, Jane Doe in Wonderland draws parallels between the well-known story of Alice In Wonderland and how young women and men are lured into the world of sex trafficking—a world that exists in our own backyards.

Jane Doe is specifically written to be accessible for a high school audience, parents and community members, written in a manner that is neither violent nor explicit. Jane Doe follows the most common case: that of a ‘Romeo Pimp’ targeting a rural high school girl by pretending to be her boyfriend before bringing her to an unfamiliar city and trafficking her. In addition to addressing the common ‘red flags’ of this type of trafficker, the play specifically addresses the most commonly asked question, “why don’t victims run?” When people understand the tactics a trafficker employs, their conception of ‘prostitution’ is turned upside-down. When teenagers understand what a ‘pimp’ is, their likelihood of being trafficked drastically diminishes.

Our hope is that by raising awareness amongst and educating the community we can prevent any more of our youth from becoming victims.

Sponsored by MCOE Homeless & Foster Youth Services Program, The Community Foundation of Mendocino County, Ukiah Saturday Afternoon Club Endowment Fund, Redwood Community Services, and the Mendocino College Foster & Kinship Care Education Program, Jane Doe in Wonderland will be presented in Ukiah and Willits:

April 13th at 7:00 pm, at Mendocino College Little Theatre in Ukiah, 1000 Hensley Creek Rd.

April 15th at 7:00 pm, at the Willits High School Auditorium in Willits, 299 N Main St.

Through generous sponsorship these events will be FREE.  Doors open at 6:30. Ticket reservations are at janedoeinwonderland-ukiah.eventbrite.com and janedoeinwonderland-willits.eventbrite.com.   Every hour long performance of Jane Doe is followed by a survivor talk back, in which audience members can ask questions and learn directly from a survivor’s experience. The show is appropriate for teenagers 14+.

This event is made possible through the support of sponsors and Mendocino County Against Human Trafficking, a coalition of representatives from local agencies working collaboratively to raise awareness about sex-trafficking in Mendocino County. These agencies include MCOE Homeless and Foster Youth Services Program, Mendocino College Foster and Kinship Care Education Program, Redwood Community Services, Tapestry Family Services, Redwood Coast Regional Center, ARC Family Resource Center, Project Sanctuary, Greater Ukiah Chamber of Commerce, Ukiah Unified School District, Ukiah United Methodist Church, South Ukiah Rotary, Willits Rotary and the Mendocino County Law Enforcement Executive Office.

If you would like to know more or are interested in how you can help support this and future projects, please email lydia@mendochildren.org

CARBON GENERATION

"Many people perceive climate change as a sort of moral and economic debt, accumulated since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution and now come due after several centuries — a helpful perspective, in a way, since it is the carbon-burning processes that began in 18th-century England that lit the fuse of everything that followed. But more than half of the carbon humanity has exhaled into the atmosphere in its entire history has been emitted in just the past three decades; since the end of World War II, the figure is 85 percent. Which means that, in the length of a single generation, global warming has brought us to the brink of planetary catastrophe, and that the story of the industrial world’s kamikaze mission is also the story of a single lifetime."

— David Wallace-Wells, from "The Uninhabitable Earth"

THE ELITES — due to their wealth — do not suffer the detrimental effects of the environmental collapse until much later than the Commoners. This buffer of wealth allows Elites to continue ‘business as usual’ despite the impending catastrophe. It … explain[s] how historical collapses were allowed to occur by elites who appear to be oblivious to the catastrophic trajectory (most clearly apparent in the Roman and Mayan cases). This buffer effect is further reinforced by the long, apparently sustainable trajectory prior to the beginning of the collapse. While some members of society might raise the alarm that the system is moving towards an impending collapse and therefore advocate structural changes to society in order to avoid it, Elites and their supporters, who opposed making these changes, could point to the long sustainable trajectory ‘so far’ in support of doing nothing.

— Motesharrei, Kalnay, and Rivas

PHIL BALDWIN CHECKS IN:

“Come Home America” (Trump or McGovern?)

Hello AVA,

The Democratic Party, MSM, & biggest think tanks have attacked POTUS in absolute unison for his comments on Syria this past week. In my view, it's not critical if DT means it (his near plagiarism of George McGovern) or that he could change his mind, he says, if Saudi Arabia pays for us to stay. More fascinating is the War Party's united hostile reaction to these words.

TRUMP on Syria, April 3:

"I want to get out. I want to bring our troops back home. I want to start rebuilding our nation. We will have, as of three months ago, $7 trillion in the Middle East the last seven years. We get nothing out of it. Nothing. I want to get back and rebuild our nation. Think of it. $7 trillion over 17-year period, we have nothing. Nothing except death and destruction. It's a horrible thing. So, it is time. It is time. I want to get back and rebuild our nation. We were very successful against ISIS. We'll be successful against anybody militarily. But sometimes it is time to come back home. And we're thinking about that very seriously."

Phil

FROM JOHN SAKOWICZ

Sant'Andrea Apostolo dello Ionio

5 April 2018

VAFFANCULO — THE CROTCH GRAB

While visiting my grandmother's ancestral home in Italy last week, a distant cousin was kind enough to share a few family photo albums. I'm posting one photo here. Note that the guy in the center is "striking a pose" for the camera. It's an obscene gesture that is commonly made by Italian-American alpha males in New York, too. The crotch grab gesture is usually accompanied by an exclamation, something like "Vaffanculo!" or "Cazzo!"...some things never change, I guess.

As an alternative to grabbing themselves, Italians sometimes resort to phallic amulets or gestures that also have roots in the pagan world. Ancient Romans wore a phallus-shaped charm on their wrists or around their necks called the fascinus; modern Italians sometimes wear a corno, which is shaped like a horn. For centuries, Italians have been making a horizontal horn sign called the mano cornutato repel adversity, accomplished by extending the index and little fingers while holding down the other two fingers with the thumb. When the same gesture is directed upward, it's the sign for a cuckold.

On a more serious note, my grandmother's maiden name was Anecharico. I am trying to construct the Anecharico genealogy and family tree.

— John