Mendocino County Today: Tuesday, May 22, 2018

• Weather Potpourri
• Cruel Hologram
• Find Margit
• Nick Rossi
• Pets
• Katlyn Long
• Local Government
• Snake Bite
• Little Dog
• Ed Notes
• Lucille's Garden
• Morales Complaint
• Yesterday's Catch
• Impending Collapse
• The Apparatus
• Tax Policy
• Planning Agenda
• Vote Jacobi
• Killing Classmates
• Degree Difference
• Rapture
• Voter Registration
• Lava
• Future Vision
• GJ Restoration
• Transmission Meditation

INTERIOR VALLEY TEMPERATURES will warm into the 80s this afternoon, with cooler 70s expected Wednesday afternoon through the weekend. Near the coast, a persistent marine airmass will favor temperatures in the 50s to near 60. Otherwise, isolated thunderstorm development will be possible Tuesday and Wednesday afternoon over the interior mountains. Widespread showers will become probable Thursday through Saturday. (National Weather Service)

YOU THINK IT’S ALL ABOUT GUNS?

by James Kunstler

Is it possible that we Americans only pretend not to notice the conditions that produce an epidemic of school shootings, or is the public just too dumbed-down to connect the dots?

Look at the schools themselves. We called them “facilities” because they hardly qualify as buildings: sprawling, one-story, tilt-up, flat-roofed boxes isolated among the parking lagoons out on the six-lane highway strip, disconnected from anything civic, isolated archipelagoes where inchoate teenage emotion festers and rules while the few adults on the scene are regarded as impotent clowns representing a bewildering clown culture wrapped in a Potemkin economy that has nothing to offer young people except a lifetime of debt and “bullshit jobs” — to borrow a phrase from David Graeber.

The world of teens has been exquisitely engineered to steal every opportunity for colonizing the chemical reward centers of their brains to provoke endorphin hits, especially the cell-phone realm of social media, which is almost entirely about status competition, much of which revolves around the wild hormonal promptings of teen sexual development — at the same time they are bombarded with commercial messages designed to prey on their fantasies, longings, and perceived inadequacies. All of this produces immersive and incessant melodrama along with untold grievance, envy, frustration, confusion, contempt and rage. And, of course, where the cell-phone universe leaves off, the world of video games begins, so that boys (especially) get to act-out in “play” the extermination of their competitors and foes.

I will venture to say — against the tide of current sexual politics — that adolescence is much tougher for boys these days than it is for girls. Every boy in one way or another faces his archetypal hero’s journey, the hard-wired seeking to become powerful in one way or another, to accomplish something, to prevail over adversaries, to win the goodies of life. This country used to be a place where young men had many useful and practical paths to follow in enacting that eternal script.

That has changed utterly in a couple of generations. Young men are being out-competed by young women who enjoy the advantage of being hard-wired to cooperate with others in the hive-like corporate workplaces that require tractable drones who will just follow instructions. The smart ones can easily avoid pregnancy, too, and still enjoy sex and all the exciting social games it entails.

For young men, beyond the repellent corporate world of work are only fantasies about triumphing in pro sports, show business, or the drug trade, with pornography and masturbation in place of the tension-filled process of mate-seeking. There is also plenty of opportunity these days for archetypal acting-out in warfare, but our wars lately are devoid of valorous story-lines, and instead of dying nobly for a cause, our soldiers are more likely to come home with shattered brains and bodies from campaigns of no discernable meaning.

And so high school is the launching pad for all that, though in this era of protracted adolescence, mass murders also take place on college campuses. The part of the forebrain that regulates judgment generally doesn’t complete its development in young men until sometime in their early twenties. And college is swiftly becoming as meaningless as high school, given the economic landscape, and the debt racketeering now deeply associated with higher education.

It’s all part-and-parcel with an American way-of-life that is not what it advertises itself to be. It’s become a cruel hologram of a distant memory of a land that sold its soul for a few decades of comfort and convenience, and ended up in a wilderness of addiction to cheap hits of pleasure. Pleasure is not happiness and the constant seeking to satisfy pleasures is not a journey to meaning. The catch is that this toxic way of life has poor prospects for continuing as a practical matter. History is catching up with our foolishness and history will prove to be even more wrathful than a lonely, confused, seventeen-year-old boy with a pistol and shotgun.

(Support Kunstler’s writing by visiting his Patreon Page.)

STILL MISSING from her home near Piercy since Friday, Margit Prichard, 76

The Mendocino County Sheriff's Office and Mendocino County Sheriff's Search & Rescue team is currently conducting a search in the Piercy area for Margit Prichard, a 76 year old white female. Margit is 5' 1/2" tall, weighs 110 pounds and has gray hair and blue eyes.

She was last seen yesterday around 4:30 pm (May 18, 2018) wearing an unknown color shirt and unknown color capri pants, in the area of the 1300 block of Pepperwood Springs Road in Piercy.

She may suffer from dementia like symptoms and may be confused. She is very fit and has been known to walk to Benbow.

If you have any information on her whereabouts please contact the Mendocino County Sheriff's Communication Office at (707) 463-4086 right away.

THE ANDERSON VALLEY is saddened to learn of the death of Nick Rossi, 59, of Boonville. He was found dead of an apparent heart attack in his Boonville home on Friday morning. Nick and his brother, Chris Rossi, are the third generation of the Rossi family to operate Rossi Hardware in the center of Boonville, among the oldest consecutively owned family businesses in the Anderson Valley and in Mendocino County.

PETS OF THE WEEK AT THE UKIAH SHELTER

Meet George--a young, male Guinea Pig who was found in someone's driveway. He will come with his habitat/home, and is officially available for adoption. Guinea Pigs are characters with big personalities. They are often excited when their people come home and will squeak to let you know how happy they are to see you. Come down and meet this adorable little guy today!

This big old adorable lugnut of a dog is as precious as his name! We've been alerted that Silver may be a Texas Blue Lacy breed. At six years young, he is eligible for the shelter’s SENIOR DOG DISCOUNT, however with many years left to be your best friend. Silver knows knows sit, shake, and speak. This big beauty loves to go for walks, but is also very happy to cuddle next to you on the couch or lounge in the yard. He deserves a home as wonderful as he is!

Ukiah Animal Shelter is located at 298 Plant Road in Ukiah, and adoption hours are Tuesday, Thursday, Friday & Saturday from 10 am to 4:30 pm and Wednesday from 10 am to 6:30 pm.  To see photos and bios of the shelter's adoptable animals, please visit online at: www.mendoanimalshelter.com or visit the shelter. Join us the second Saturday of every month for our "Empty the Shelter" pack walk and help us get every dog out for some exercise! For more information about adoptions please call 707-467-6453.

STILL NO JUSTICE FOR KATLYN LONG

On May 29 it will be ten years since 22-year-old Katlyn Long was found dead of a methadone overdose in her basement bedroom at her parents’ house in Fort Bragg. She did not have a prescription for methadone and, according to Captain Greg Van Patten of the Mendocino County Sheriff’s Department, “did not have a significant drug history.” Katlyn was also not alone when she died. Her on-again/off-again boyfriend Garett Matson spent the night with her. According to the official report he found her unresponsive early in the morning of May 29th and alerted her parents, who were sleeping upstairs. Her father John Long performed CPR on his daughter but she was DOA at the Mendocino Coast District Hospital. It was then that the Sheriff’s department became involved due to the suspicious death of a young woman with no significant drug history and no prescription for the drug that killed her. No charges have ever been filed.

So that was then. The details of what has been learned since Katlyn’s death remain confidential since the investigation remains open. “We’ve exhausted everything and are waiting for any information that may develop,” Van Patten said. Asked what that potential information might be, he replied, for example, “If somebody had some knowledge or knows about him, or if he were to confess or have any admissions, that would be one way,” he said, of Matson. Contrary to some interim news coverage, he said that Matson has spoken with county sheriffs several times, though the details of those conversations are also confidential. The years have not been kind to Matson. Van Patten said, “he’s been in and out of the system.” He was last booked on Christmas Day in 2012 for grand theft involving a dependent elder and a parole violation. There is currently an active arrest warrant out for him for parole violation. So even though Van Patten said, “We’ve had stuff over the years,” the Katlyn Long case pretty much stands where it did ten years ago. “We’re hopeful that something else will be learned or revealed. There is still not sufficient evidence to determine whether it was an accidental overdose or someone else had a hand in her death. The DA just does not have enough of that hard evidence to proceed.” (Marilyn Davin)

BETSY CAWN ON LOCAL GOVERNMENT

Re: County Government Structure (“Julie Beardsley Writes”) and Recruiting Grand Jurors (“Why We’re Having Trouble . . .”).

Thanks to Ms. Beardsley for the explanation of Mendocino County’s top-heavy “strong manager” model of operations, and elucidative comments on its efficacy. Quoting from our most excellent Lake County Grand Jury’s 2016-17 annual report on the same subject:

“Lake County and the Board of Supervisors (BOS) have been considering consolidating various departments with the intent of saving money and helping with personnel shortages. The county is considering assigning the management tasks of some departments to an ‘umbrella agency.’ The Department of Social Services, Behavioral Health Department and Public Health Services (and potentially other county agencies) is the proposed merger.

“The concept of an ‘umbrella agency,’ [was] first utilized in 1903 in New York City by a private/religious based organization. This concept has been utilized throughout California and many other states since the mid 1970s. These have resulted in some recognizable successes, some stellar failures, and in between — a host of greater or lesser successes.” [Page 58]

In this regard, the Lake County Grand Jury made the following findings:

“F9. The proposal to the BOS for consideration of an Umbrella Agency was made with a limited survey of several other California counties of similar size to the County who are currently using such an agency. It contained largely positive/supportive findings.

“i.e. A more complete picture of the advantages and shortcomings of an ‘umbrella agency’ should be thoroughly researched and the findings presented to the BOS. Specific attention [should] be given to other counties/states experiences with BH operations as well as specific financial management successes or difficulties that have occurred.

“F10. No other gathering of supportive information was given to the BOS, specifically in cases where the Umbrella Agency concept was adopted then subsequently greatly altered or abandoned.

“i.e. An extensive set of ‘open hearings’ should occur before any decisions are finalized. These should include in-county experts and other interested professionals with applicable knowledge and experience. A public hearing to allow for individuals or families that could be affected to have an understanding of the concept and to voice supportive or non-supportive opinions. The operation of the multiple agencies should seek efficiencies and cost control. It is important to note that they are not ‘businesses’ and cannot be operated as a standard business would function. Patient consideration and focus on measurable health results must have great sway when considering financial and administrative actions.

“F.11 Current plans to create such an umbrella agency are tabled due to financial limitations. There may be a two to three year delay before any substantive action is taken.

“F12. It was stated that there are going to be ‘open hearings’ on formation of such an agency prior to in going to the BOS for final consideration.” [Page 60]

The Grand Jury’s recommendations in this regard:

“R4. Undertake a comprehensive study of the pros and cons of creating an umbrella agency to present to the BOS. (F9, F10)

“R5. Hold a series of open hearings within the next year before making any decisions on an umbrella agency. (F6, F12)

“R6. Any decision to consolidate various agencies under an umbrella agency be given serious consideration of both positive potential financial/cost benefits as well as potential negative non-financial results. (F9, F10, F13)

“i.e: With more limited time to allot to each department under its supervision, it is understandable that the BOS would want to minimize the number of those individuals. Other non-managerial needs can detract from the BOS’s time on individual departments, and non-planned issues (such as the recent massive fires) can further reduce such managerial time. Many BOS members also have other non-governmental businesses and responsibilities they must consider. However, consolidation of multiple responsibilities and their associated budgets into too few individuals might foster the appearance of oligarchic aspects (with approximately 71% by budget of the BOS supervised groups falling under just two individuals) not in keeping with the expectations of the citizens of the County.” [Page 61]

Lake County’s current “Chief Administrative Officer” rose through the ranks of Social Services to become the most powerful bureaucrat in the county, and since achieving the CAO position has made no bones about her interest in forming the same kind of “super agency” that Mendocino currently suffers from. We already have too few opportunities (poor at that) to address responsible county officers (administrative staff and department heads) about departmental operations and fiscal accountability (none) for delivery of locally-defined public services — proper management of Clear Lake, for example, and health/safety service planning, for another.

As the “pie chart” on Page 63 shows, County Administrative Officer management already consumes 25% of the annual budget — with almost no public access to the processes conducted by that sector (and a long-standing resistance to providing public information). “Other Agencies” take up 28%, with the remainder (47%) dedicated to “Soc/Health Umbrella.”

Lake’s CAO-driven, staff and BOS supported, 2018 efforts to convince the paying public that it should pony up another 1.5% sales tax — after 18 years of failed “economic development” programs and blown-off water resource and disaster response program requirements — are encapsulated in these publicly-funded (but unquestionable) claims:

“Community Visioning Update: Financial Facts and the Future” (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P9PmiHECjrY) and “Community Visioning Update: Progress Since January’s Forums” (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K3jmq4vC7VA).

As discouraging as this may be, our courageous Lake County Grand Jury members — who enacted their own internal “quality improvement” program beginning with the jury convened in 2015, and proved themselves worthy of our honor in the 2015-16 and 2016-17 annual reports — are not likely to be baffled by this bullshit any more than the taxpayers and voters in the County of Lake.

While Mr. Sakowicz’s comments undoubtedly reflect many of the inherent difficulties encountered by Grand Jury members (pro-BOS biased “guidance” from County Counsel, at best; prohibition from certain investigative areas, at worst), these problems are not just the “white man’s burden” of Grand Jury volunteers: The Lake County Board of Supervisors and Administration control and manipulate every Board-appointed “board, committee, and commission” established under publicly-invisible “internal policies and procedures” and our County Mental Health Advisory Board’s bleak performance over the past 20 years is a prime example of their collective bad practices.

Protection of the public weal depends on an active citizenry, with the willingness to learn and share knowledge of effective/abusive government operations, willingness to endure the experience of being stultified by highly-paid officials (elected and appointed “officers”), willingness to give up their “free time” to follow the stunningly obscure and dismayingly opaque activities of this system. Most sincere appreciation to everyone who takes on this work and, as always, infinite thanks to the AVA for providing this opportunity to address important but unpopular local government controversies.

SNAKEBITE REPORT IN YORKVILLE

The Anderson Valley Fire Department, CalFire & the REACH 18 air ambulance were dispatched (4:15 pm) to the Yorkville Post Office for the report of a “snake bite.” The patient would be arriving in a GMC Yukon.

(Via MendocinoSportsPlus)

LITTLE DOG SAYS, “So, this big biker-looking dude shows up and says, ‘I'm James Marmon from Lake County and I'm here to watch the Royal Wedding with you guys.’ I was absolutely nonplussed, but I got myself together and said, ‘These guys would die before they watched that thing, but ask Skrag. He's a groupie-brain from way back. He'll watch it with you, big boy, if you give him a can of tuna’."

ED NOTES

CRUISE SHIP pulled into Eureka's seldom visited port this morning (Monday), inspiring the following comments: (1) Only way this can be successful is if we drive the bums out of Humboldt. No more social services, no more free needles, no loitering, no more free food, no more Betty Chinn. Ramp up police presence and no more catch and release. (2) While the guests are out sightseeing, let’s load up all the street people from Eureka onto the ship. As stowaways they can travel off to the next port, in search of greener pastures?

THE LAST TIME I was in Eureka, which was three years ago, I got less of a street people hit then I get in Ukiah. I always enjoy Old Town Eureka, and the town generally. It's kinda Fort Bragg times ten. Street people didn't seem all that prevalent, but Garberville was another story. The whole town looked like that No Man's Land between the Ukiah Walmart and Jack in the Box, a kind of open air homeless camp.

* * *

SAY WHAT YOU WILL about Gavin Newsom, he's the only major candidate who not only seems to understand the magnitude of the homeless prob, but admits it's beyond the financial capabilities of local jurisdictions to "solve." The solution is state hospitals for the insane, the alcoholic and the drug addicted, and genuinely low cost housing for people who simply can't afford shelter. The present apparatus of "helping professionals" are and will be an obstacle to real solutions. As soon as there's even a hint of compulsion, the paid enablers start yowling objections, as if a person unable or unwilling to care for himself is a rational actor. The entire Mendocino County homeless effort subsidizes street death.

* * *

DAWN BALLANTINE is opening a bookstore called Hedgehog Books in the Train Depot next door to Boont Berry Farm, and a most welcome addition to mercantile Anderson Valley it is. Hedgehog Books will offer new and used books, "More new if I win the lottery!," Dawn jokes, adding, "I'm trying for a broad base, something for everyone, but I'm a tiny bookshop, so…" Officially open Sunday, June 4th, unofficially now!

AND MORE GOOD NEWS. The former Janie's Place/Libby's in Philo, scrupulously remodeled by Tommy Lemons and Sons, will soon open as the Poleeko Roadhouse, owned and operated by Mark Boudoures, known to many of us as the amiable host at the former Buckhorn. Poleeko will offer breakfast, lunch and dinner or, as Mark puts it, "classic American fare."

* * *

BUYER BEWARE. As a paid up member of public radio KZYX, reluctant division, I know the station has always been mostly run by people who shouldn't be allowed to operate anything more complicated than a roach clip. I know that very few among the paid membership is under the age of 60. I also know that the membership has been stagnant for years, and not only because of the station's legacy blacklist and the, ahem, unpleasantness of paid staff, never creepier than the present crew led by an EST cult character named Stuart Campbell, I have to wonder how much longer the station can continue to pay staff half its annual income of about $600,000? The Corporation for Public Broadcasting, reacting to accumulated complaints about station management, was recently in Philo for a look at the books, and we shall see what we shall see. (Probably more of the same, but the fact that the feds came all the way out here for a B&B week, means even they understand things at the station are awry.) If the yobbos presently in charge at KZYX stay on the present suicidal, cult-like course, public radio Mendo will be no more.

* * *

TED WILLIAMS writes to deny he has endorsed anyone for County Superintendent of Schools or any other local office.

* * *

AS THE SUPERVISORS belatedly discuss incompetent management at Juvenile Hall, not to mention the entire Probation Department, the kid prison in Ukiah should stay in Ukiah. But the Supe candidates, the less grounded of them anyway, are saying stuff like, "They're our children. We've got to keep them close to home and their families." First off, although technically children by the fuzzy standards of indulgent America, some of them are as dangerous as any adult you'll meet, especially the ganged up ones. The families? Depends, but on the off chance there is a family in any known sense of the term, they're a big part of the prob. That said, it's not helpful to intelligent resolution of Hall management to talk of the issue like you're talking about a 4-H Club. And it's dumb to sub-lease our delinquents to Lake County for their care and feeding when what we need is capable management of the Probation Department. It's probably asking too much of their majesties at the Superior Court who are in charge of the Probation Department and Juvenile Hall to step up here…

* * *

SUPERVISOR JOHN McCOWEN, close reader of fine print, informs us of an of an error in Marilyn Davin's recent article, "Legalization: A View from the Ground Floor."

"There is a major inaccuracy. It quotes Mendocino County Treasurer/Tax Collector Shari Schapmire as saying that there is a 2.5% tax on gross receipts, not just for cultivators which there is, but for pot processors and distributors. That is not true. For dispensaries it is 5% of gross receipts. Cultivators, 2.5% of gross receipts. All the other business types it's a flat $2500 per year, nothing about gross receipts. That makes a big difference if you are extracting $1 million worth of dope byproducts at your manufacturing plant. Again, there is no gross receipts tax on cultivators or processors. It's a flat $2500.”

LUCILLE'S GARDEN. There are many beautiful gardens in Mendocino County, with one of the most exquisitely diverse right here in Boonville cultivated over many years by Lucille Estes. My lousy photographs hardly do it justice, but if you can wrangle an invitation, the pleasure of rambling around in this rare botanical treasure is one more of the many blessings of life in the Anderson Valley.

THE MARMON PAPERS

Here's a draft copy of the original Morales complaint.

files.acrobat.com/a/preview/a597787a-37a7-4a97-bf3a-ce3e4b491ebc

CATCH OF THE DAY, May 21, 2018

AMY GALETKA, Upper Lake/Ukiah. DUI, resisting.

PAUL GOLYER, Ukiah. Assault with deadly weapon not a gun, probation revocation.

JENNIFER JONES, Anderson/Ukiah. DUI-drugs/alcohol, probation revocation.

SUZANNE LINKER, Ukiah. Disobeying court order.

THE TRUE STATE OF THE UNION

As a foreign correspondent I covered collapsed societies, including the former Yugoslavia. It is impossible for any doomed population to grasp how fragile the decayed financial, social and political system is on the eve of implosion. All the harbingers of collapse are visible: crumbling infrastructure; chronic underemployment and unemployment; the indiscriminate use of lethal force by police; political paralysis and stagnation; an economy built on the scaffolding of debt; nihilistic mass shootings in schools, universities, workplaces, malls, concert venues and movie theaters; opioid overdoses that kill some 64,000 people a year; an epidemic of suicides; unsustainable military expansion; gambling as a desperate tool of economic development and government revenue; the capture of power by a tiny, corrupt clique; censorship; the physical diminishing of public institutions ranging from schools and libraries to courts and medical facilities; the incessant bombardment by electronic hallucinations to divert us from the depressing sight that has become America and keep us trapped in illusions. We suffer the usual pathologies of impending death. I would be happy to be wrong. But I have seen this before. I know the warning signs. All I can say is get ready.

—Chris Hedges

WHETHER THE MASK is labeled fascism, democracy, or dictatorship of the proletariat, our great adversary remains the apparatus — the bureaucracy, the police, the military. Not the one facing us across the frontier of the battle lines, which is not so much our enemy as our brothers’ enemy, but the one that calls itself our protector and makes us its slaves. No matter what the circumstances, the worst betrayal will always be to subordinate ourselves to this apparatus and to trample underfoot, in its service, all human values in ourselves and in others.

—Simone Weil

PLANNING, WE'VE GOT LOTS OF IT!

Planning Commission meeting Agenda for June 7, 2018, is posted on the department website at: mendocinocounty.org/government/planning-building-services/meeting-agendas/planning-commission

Please contact staff with any questions.

Victoria Davis, Commission Services Supervisor, 707-234-6664

McGUIRE NOT THE WAY FORWARD

Editor:

#LetsSolveThis! The engineer in me, as well as the lover of life and all the awesome people, adores that practical rallying cry for climate solutions. We can solve it. We do need to get to speed and scale with political will and determination.

As Bill McKibben says, “Winning slowly is the same as losing.” We must take action before the climate impact is irreversible. A person fleeing the Santa Rosa fires in October said “it was like being chased by hell.”

State. Sen. Mike McGuire voted for SB 1383, weakening methane limits. Methane is 80 times more dangerous than carbon dioxide. He abstained on farmworker overtime, limiting open carry of firearms and protecting immigrants with minor drug offenses from deportation.

I created a California Good Jobs, Housing & Climate Plan for solving our challenges all at the same time with systems thinking. A climate change disaster declaration could be a big step for getting additional federal and state funds so we can get ahead of wildfire preparedness and other needed resiliency work.

I’m running for state Senate on the June 5 ballot, but I can’t do it alone. I need help — your vote and, ideally, your efforts ongoing. Let’s create the California we want and the future we and our young people need.

Veronica ‘Roni’ Jacobi

Santa Rosa

ON LINE COMMENT OF THE DAY

This latest school massacre outside Houston, don’t expect much to be made of it. I think the story will fade out pretty quick, the reason being the shooter used an ordinary pump shotgun and .38 caliber revolver to carry out his crime and not an AR15 rifle. This latest event kind of interferes with the narrative that the AR15 has a sort of mystical power over people that makes them engage in mass murder. The truth is any firearm will do if your goal is to wipe people out. For example the Ruger 10/22 is a deadly little weapon that is both inexpensive and widely available. Of course, there’s still the NRA to blame. But it occurs to me that the people who are doing the killing are classmates of the people being killed, not the NRA. So if there are more anti gun protests, school walkouts etc. I say to the high school pissants, protest against yourself, not the NRA. You are killing each other.

DEGREES OF DIFFERENCE

The graduate with a science degree asks, "Why does it work?"

The graduate with an engineering degree asks, "How does it work?"

The graduate with an accounting degree asks, "How much will it cost?"

The graduate with an arts degree asks, "Do you want fries with that?"

“Can you get your people to do the rapture before I have to talk to Robert Mueller?”

VOTER REGISTRATION AT SATURDAY, JUNE 2ND PAY N' TAKE

Get ready for the NOVEMBER 6, 2018 ELECTION by registering to VOTE at the SATURDAY, JUNE 2nd PAY N' TAKE at the Gualala Community Center from 8:30am - 12 noon.

California residents (any county) who will be 18 years old by Tuesday, November 6, 2018 and are U.S. Citizens are eligible to register to vote. The forms are in English and in Spanish.You must re-register if you have changed  your address, changed your name, or wish to change your political party.

The new, improved Voter Registration forms are easier and more user-friendly.

If you are a youth 16 or 17 years old, you may now pre-register in advance of your 18th birthday.

Please bring your Drivers License, California ID card, and your Social Security number.

Voting rights are civil rights! Thank you for protecting and exercising your precious right to vote!

Information at: <http://www.sos.ca.gov>  and 707-884-4703.

WAVES, COAST LINE, LAVA? HAWAII? MENDO COAST?

(Photo by — or submitted by? — Susie de Castro)

IN THE WORLD I SEE – you are stalking elk through the damp canyon forests around the ruins of Rockefeller Center. You’ll wear leather clothes that will last you the rest of your life. You’ll climb the wrist-thick kudzu vines that wrap the Sears Tower. And when you look down, you’ll see tiny figures pounding corn, laying strips of venison on the empty car pool lane of some abandoned superhighway. Feel better, champ.

— Tyler Durden, Fight Club

JED DAVIS WRITES:

Re: "Why We're Having Trouble Recruiting Grand Jurors"

I have become disillusioned with our legal system all together. They are working to keep the power structure in place and not actually enforce the laws. I have learned this first hand as I have been officially denied standing to show the court factually proven fraud and corruption perpetrated by the banks in the mortgage industry.

Here is a national organization working to restore the power of the Grand Jury on a National and local level.  Check it out. It's right up your alley.

nationallibertyalliance.org/

BE THERE! NOW!

A Meditation to Help the World.

JOIN US to experience a simple form of meditation that helps the planet and builds a stronger connection with your own spiritual nature.

TRANSMISSION MEDITATION is a non-denominational group meditation that does not conflict with other meditations or spiritual practices, but can actually enhance them.

TRANSMISSION MEDITATION is a potent form of world service that anyone, even those with busy lives, can easily do. It can be a mode of service for life, if one so chooses.Do you want to help the world and strengthen the connection to your Higher Self?

TRANSMISSION MEDITATION is the simplest way to do both.

FRIDAY, May 25, 7:00 PM, at the MCSL Gathering Place in the Fort Bragg Company Store. Main & Redwood Streets, Admission is free.

For more information: 707-964-4506 or 707-895-3134