Mendocino County Today: Thursday, May 24, 2018

• Showers
• Memorial Day
• GP Clean-up
• Find Margit
• Matson Wanted
• Old Timer
• Budget Recommendations
• Third Race
• Needs Needed
• Kayaker Rescued
• Orphan Weasel
• Ed Notes
• Little Dog
• Philip Roth
• Yesterday's Catch
• Inland Dems
• Community Garden
• More Features
• Rose
• Sirens Please
• American Fascism
• Hillary Reasons
• Bank Jobs
• Homelessness
• Saucy Sold
• Pseudo Populism
• Anthem Police
• Dominatrix
• Pancake Breakfast
• Scary Books
• Austerity
• Alderpoint Bust
• Cruce Sentenced

SHOWERS WILL INCREASE in coverage late this afternoon into tonight as an upper disturbance approaches the region. In addition, isolated thunderstorms will be possible over interior areas this afternoon, and some of this activity may spread westward across the coast tonight. Showers will continue during Friday, followed by drier conditions Saturday afternoon into Sunday. Thereafter, warm weather is expected across much of the interior during early to middle portions of next week. (National Weather Service)

VETERANS! (AND FRIENDS) ’TENNNN… HUT! Memorial Day ceremonies commence at 10am at Evergreen Cemetery, Boonville, Sunday, May 27, at 10am.

GP'S LEGACY TOXINS

Community members,

If you are concerned about toxins being left at the former GP mill site in Fort Bragg show up and let DTSC know that they need to pressure GP to pay for a thorough clean-up job. The Community Meeting is this Thursday May 24, 2018 from 6:30pm - 8:30pm at Fort Bragg Town Hall 363 N. Main Street. The format will be a half hour presentation by the Department of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC), followed by opportunity for questions and discussion. For more information check out the links below. Here’s the link to the community update: envirostor.dtsc.ca.gov/public/deliverable_documents/6084385752/Community%20Update_GP%20May%202018%20OU-FS.pdf

Here’s the link to the draft Feasibility Study: envirostor.dtsc.ca.gov/public/community_involvement/6955204606/2018-04_OU-E_FS_Draft_Final%20April%202018.pdf

The last time DTSC asked for input from the community they received 200 passionate letters. See you there!

Annemarie Weibel

STILL MISSING: SEARCH CONTINUES FOR MISSING 76-YEAR-OLD PIERCY WOMAN

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. Margrit 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 capris, 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 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.

WANTED: GARRETT JAMES MATSON

NO BAIL

PC 1203.2 PROBATION REVOKED

Age: 41 years old

Weight: 133 lbs

Heights: 5' 8"

Eyes: Blue

Hair: Blond

Last known town/city: Ukiah, CA

If you recognize this individual or have information which could lead to their arrest, please contact the Mendocino County Sheriff's Office at (707) 463-4086

YOU'RE AN OLD TIMER IF YOU…

• Read the Mendocino Robin or Ridge Review, both local publications.
• Dined at the ridgetop restaurant on Highway 175 between Hopland and Lakeport.
• Went to a concert or dinner at the Music Box in Mendocino.
• Remember when Highway 128 was Route 28.

(Marshall Newman)

SUPES APPROVE 2018-19 BUDGET RECOMMENDATIONS

by Ariel Carmona, Jr

The Mendocino County Board of Supervisors accepted a third-quarter budget report Tuesday on departmental spending and revenues for Fiscal Year 2017-18 and approved Executive Office recommendations in anticipation of preparation for the county’s 2018-19 budget.

The supervisors by a 4-0 vote (Supervisor Dan Gjerde was absent) also approved allocation of the Fiscal Year 2017-18 projected carryforward as one-time available funding in the amount of $498,218 to be used in the Fiscal Year 2018-19 budget to comply with board policy which stipulates 6.35 percent be dedicated to reserves.

“We have in the past had some larger carry over balances and we always looked at those as one-time funding,” said CEO Carmel Angelo. “I believe that is really one of the actions of this board that really helped us create healthy reserves. We’re not convinced that in Fiscal Year 2018-19 we won’t be touching those reserves,” said Angelo. “We are still trying to grow them as long as we can.”

According to the Fiscal Year 2017-18 report prepared by Angelo and Auditor-Controller Lloyd Weer, at the county budget workshop on April 24, the board expanded on fiscal priorities with some directives to staff, including greater detail provided to the board regarding facility modifications and improvements and for the Executive Office to develop options for an updated emergency medical services model.

Among the board’s budget development priorities, county staff listed an investment in roads, economic development including broadband and grant writing and support for EMS.

“We are looking at some changes in broadband,” said Angelo. “Most likely we will be bringing forward a contract to this board in June with EDFC (Economic Development and Financing Corporation); this contract will include broadband. We are hoping to have a greater coordination of broadband and economic development with EDFC.”

The board heard a legislative update from staff reviewing Gov. Jerry Brown’s May 11 Revise, which touched upon the state’s economic outlook, cannabis, and housing and mental health issues and proposed a $137.6 billion general fund budget for California, including $2 billion for infrastructure.

The proposal also includes funding for disaster response, agriculture and environmental and natural resources and provides $359 million to help local governments address homelessness in their communities and $60 million for mental health training.

In reference to cannabis, the county staff report noted recent reports indicate that the state only collected roughly $34 million in the first quarter of 2018, leaving many to speculate that California’s cannabis revenues will not live up to projections.

Because the tax proceeds dedicated to these programs are based on prior year actual tax collections, the governor’s May Revise assumes that funding will not be available specifically from cannabis taxes until 2019-20.

According to a review of Auditor-Controller Weer’s non-departmental revenues, which projected several general fund departments to be over-budget, including the Board of Supervisors by $13,553, the Sheriff-Coroner’s office by $898,974, and Juvenile Hall by $349,613, the total projected revenue for 2017-18 is $65,893,000.

“The one downturn is still the cannabis business tax,” said Weer. “I am able to project about $950,000 but we had budgeted about $1.7 million. I am continuing to analyze; that may change before year end, but for right now that’s our projection.”

Planning Fiscal Year 2018-19

As part of planning FY 2018-19, county directives include all expenditures from Measure B funds must be approved by the board, including a contract with consultant Lee Kemper for a mental health needs assessment which Angelo called the first expenditure of Measure B money.

“I do not believe we have any money in the Measure B budget unit at this time,” she said.

Weer said the county will be receiving approximately one quarter of the revenues at the end of the year and probably won’t see them until maybe July or August.

Other planning directives include the exploration of possibly using interns and volunteers by the county in various positions and programs, including those available through partnership with North Coast Opportunities, a comprehensive evaluation of the county’s vehicle fleet condition prior to purchasing of additional vehicles, exploration of the use of solar energy at county facilities and greater evaluation of proposed information technology updates as part of implementation of an IT master plan.

County staff is also working on the development of property acquisition options around the new courthouse site and development of property liquidation options for the Willits Justice Center and the Ukiah Courthouse.

Steve Dunnicliff, deputy CEO, noted the state is interested in locating agencies associated with cannabis permitting in the county. He said the Willits Justice Center may be a perfect fit to have the county lease space to the state.

Other planning directives county staff are pursuing include: grant funding to generate additional revenue, development of options for EMS by the Executive Office and the development of a controversial Cultural Services Agency which is scheduled for further discussion at the upcoming June 5 and 6 budget hearings.

Budget adoption is scheduled for June 19 by the Board of Supervisors.

(Courtesy, the Willits News)

A WILLITS READER assesses the Third District Supe's race: "Jeavons running stronger than Haschak? No, that I do not believe. Maybe on Facebook. I don’t know about Johnny – certainly there are Horger signs up around Willits. And so those concerned about Pinches’ health but who wouldn’t vote for a union rep endorsed by the Democratic Party and the Mendocino Women’s Political Coalition or a hippie chick who’s probably never even attended a Board of Supervisors meeting have another option besides Pinches."

DURING A LATE AFTERNOON discussion of the Sheriff’s big Mental Health Needs Assessment (which is going forward despite complaints from Supes that the Sheriff’s committee hasn’t defined it very well), Sheriff Allman casually remarked, “There are media organizations in this county that are making fun of the needs assessment.”

SINCE THE MIGHTY AVA is the only media organization that regularly dares look askance at the throne, we assume the Sheriff was referring to us, but we're hardly alone. Fifth District Supes candidate Arthur Juhl, questions the need for a needs assessment and and some members of the Sheriff’s Committee have wondered aloud what county staff could do before spending tens of thousands of dollars on a consultant.

WE NEVER “MADE FUN” of the needs assessment, we just think it’s 1) a waste of money, 2) further evidence that the County’s well-paid mental health staff doesn’t know what it's doing, and 3) just like Mr. Kemper’s prior report and recommendations, the County will end up ignoring some of whatever “needs” Kemper comes up with if they require any actual management or accountability or can’t just be handed over to Ms. Schrader and Co.

NOT THAT IT MATTERS at this point since the Needs Assessment is proceeding apace, our objections notwithstanding. In fact, on Tuesday, the Board of Supervisors seemed to want to expand the scope of the Needs Assessment from the initial “gap analysis” (?) to what kind of staffing would be required and how feasible it would be to finance the meeting of any given need. Which translates to more consultant money being wasted on something the County staff should be able to do themselves.

ALBION RESCUE

The Coast Guard rescued a kayaker who was stranded during a fishing trip after his kayak began taking on water through a hole in the hull on the Albion River, Sunday.

The kayaker’s wife called Coast Guard Station Noyo River watchstanders around sunset, reporting her husband, who was supposed to return before dark, was missing.

A Coast Guard Station Noyo River 47-foot Motor Lifeboat crew and a Coast Guard Sector Humboldt Bay MH-65 Dolphin helicopter crew responded, along with an Albion Fire Department ground party.

Albion Fire Department personnel found the man stranded on a rock on the south side of Albion Point and vectored the Coast Guard rescue helicopter to the scene. A rescue swimmer deployed and hoisted the man into the helicopter around 12:30 a.m., Monday. The Dolphin crew transferred him to Albion Fire Department responders with no reported medical concerns.

“By having a plan with his wife – letting her know where he was going and when he should have been back – the kayaker allowed our crews to respond quickly and let them know where to look,” said Lt. Matt Fetzner, the Sector Humboldt Bay aviation operations division chief. “Having a dry suit and life jacket on allowed him to get to shore until help arrived. This is a great example of being prepared.”

The man reunited with his wife at the campground, and responders were unable to retrieve his kayak.

(Coast Guard Press Release)

ORPHANED EARLY BUT GOOD TO GO

Weasel Baby — Woodlands Wildlife did receive a baby weasel dropped on the street near the Presbyterian Church by his mother several weeks ago. Every effort was made to return him to his mother, but she wanted nothing to do with him. He was transferred to Sonoma Wildlife where he grew up and learned to catch his own food and was brought back to Mendocino by a volunteer (Tim). I released Weasel Baby out of town and away from all the traffic this afternoon. Mama has been seen running back and forth fearlessly on Main street in Mendocino. This appears to be a good year for weasels. We do have them all over the area, but they are rarely seen as they are so fast and usually reclusive.

This is only the second weasel we've received at Woodlands Wildlife in 30 years. Beautiful golden brown with a peach colored underside and a black tip on the tail.

Ronnie James, Woodlands Wildlife

ED NOTES

TUNED IN KZYX this morning just in time to hear the appalling nuzzlebum, Scott Simon, say, "NPR brings you clarity and truth." Maybe it was the other way around, truth and clarity, but I'd say NPR brings us no real clarity and less truth about the political world as it really is, kinda like an audio version of the New York Times.

JEEZ, MR. NEGATIVE, don't you like anything about Public Radio, Mendocino County? Ahem. As a paid up station member, I assume I have a right to air my opinions about the Philo operation. I also think anyone and everyone, member or not, has the right to full access since the thing is mostly publicly-funded. If it had to compete in the free enterprise jungle unsubsidized it would have gone under long ago. It's mostly an audio pacifier for comfortable people.

I LISTEN for three or four hours on Wednesday mornings as I deliver Boonville's beloved weekly. Jeff Blankfort and Patti Lipmanson represent a consistent learning experience, although Ms. L sounds like she's speaking through a garden hose. And I enjoy Patrick Gomes classical music. He backs up his claim that he brings us lots of music seldom heard — in my case, never heard. I have heard irregular broadcasts by Dr. Richard Miller and Jane Futcher that I thought were interesting but, as per ancient station custom, there's no real news, no real discussion of local issues.

* * *

Coupla Thou In Signs At The Junction Of 128 And 253

* * *

One Of Two Signs For Delaine Who, Truth To Tell, Is The Best In A Field Of Ho Hums

* * *

Anderson Valley Signage Just Keeps On Getting Better

LITTLE DOG SAYS, “They made me work Tuesday night so I couldn't watch the game. I put a curse on the Warriors, and sure 'nuff they lost, and you shoulda heard these front-runners yelling. Maybe they'll wise up and let me watch Thursday night.”

PHILIP ROTH: PORTNOY'S COMPLAINT AND AMERICAN PASTORAL AUTHOR DIES AT 85

Chronicler of American politics, Jewishness and male sexual desire was widely regarded as one of greatest novelists of the 20th century

by Richard Lea

The novelist Philip Roth, who explored America through the contradictions of his own character for more than six decades, died on Tuesday aged 85.

Roth’s career began in notoriety and ended in authority, as he grappled with questions of identity, authorship, morality and mortality in a series of novels that shaped the course of American letters in the second half of the 20th century. He refracted the complexities of his Jewish-American heritage in works such as Portnoy’s Complaint, American Pastoral, The Human Stain and The Plot Against America, which garnered both critical and commercial success, garlanding their creator with a dazzling succession of literary prizes.

Roth’s death was confirmed by his literary agent, Andrew Wylie, who said the author died on Tuesday night of congestive heart failure. His biographer, Blake Bailey, said on Twitter that Roth died surrounded by friends.

Roth found success and controversy in equal measure with his first collection of short stories, Goodbye Columbus, published in 1959. In it, he followed the fortunes of middle-class Jewish Americans caught between the old ways and the new, negotiating the boundaries between assimilation and differentiation in suburbia. It was enough to win him a National Book Award, and to unleash a stream of condemnation from those who labelled him antisemitic, a “self-hating Jew”.

The publication of Portnoy’s Complaint in 1969 transformed him from enterprising young author to scandalous celebrity. An immediate bestseller, the wildly comic monologue charts the life of Alexander Portnoy as he pursues sexual release through ever more extreme erotic acts, held back only by the iron grip of his Jewish American upbringing. For some, the temptation to take this confessional novel as a novelized confession proved too great. Writing Portnoy was easy, he told the Guardian in 2004 – but he “also became the author of Portnoy’s Complaint and what I faced publicly was the trivialization of everything”.

His response to what his editor Aaron Asher called “the nightmare of a smash hit” was to retreat into literary fiction, exploring the possibilities of the novel in books such as political satire Our Gang, and the Kafkaesque sexual fable, The Breast. Between 1972 and 1977, he travelled regularly to Czechoslovakia, making friends with blacklisted writers such as Milan Kundera and Vaclav Havel, and confronting the difference between what he called the “private ludicracy” of being a writer in the US and the “harsh ludicrousness of being a writer in eastern Europe” behind the Iron Curtain. He met the English actor Claire Bloom in 1975, and as she became almost a muse for Roth, he began to divide his time between London and New York.

Through alter egos Nathan Zuckerman and David Kepesh, Roth began to examine the connection between an author and his work, with Zuckerman, who first appeared in My Life as a Man, gradually becoming the author’s closest avatar. Born in the same year as Roth, to a Jewish couple living in New Jersey, the unforgiving, goatish Zuckerman also found notoriety with a feverish monologue recounting the energetic sex life of a Jewish American man. Through Zuckerman, Roth grappled with the problems of fame, literature and his Jewish identity in a sequence of five novels, from 1979’s The Ghost Writer to 1986’s The Counterlife, which bound the life of his fictional creation ever closer to that of his creator.

Roth treated critics who struggled to locate the boundary between life and fiction in his work with disdain, intoning “it’s all me … nothing is me”. He rejected the description of his characters as alter egos, maintaining that “none of those things happened to me … it’s imaginary”. The characterization of his work as “autobiographical” or “confessional” he took almost as an insult to his abilities as a writer, suggesting to the French writer Alain Finkielkraut that to do so was “not only to falsify their suppositional nature but … to slight whatever artfulness leads some readers to think that they must be autobiographical”.

For Roth, the acting out of a role was the fun part of a life spent constructing what he called a “half-imaginary existence out of the actual drama of my life”.

1990 marked the beginning of a new phase both in Roth’s fiction and his life, with his marriage to Bloom and the publication of Deception, a novel about a married writer called “Philip Roth” who conducts an affair with an Englishwoman. This provoked a crisis with Bloom, who declared in a memoir published in 1996 that she “no longer gave a damn whether these girlfriends were erotic fantasies”, and sent Roth into a depression. The couple were divorced four years later, and Roth retreated to pursue an ascetic existence away from the distractions of fame in a Connecticut farmhouse.

Working at a lectern in a summer house at the top of the garden, pacing backwards and forwards in search of the right phrase or word, Roth forged a series of powerful novels that confirmed his status as a titan of modern American literature. After winning the National Book Award for the second time in 1995 with Sabbath’s Theatre – a dirty old man’s outburst of rage in the face of death – Roth turned his gaze outwards, taking on the revolt against the Vietnam war with 1997’s Pulitzer prize-winning American Pastoral, McCarthyism in 1998’s I Married a Communist, the US culture wars in 2000’s The Human Stain, and fascism in 2004’s The Plot Against America. In each, Roth subjected his characters to the pressure of events, examining the effects of what he called the “historical fire at the center and how the smoke from that fire reaches into your house”.

Towards the end of his life, Roth returned to the personal, circling round mortality in 2006’s Everyman, and the final Zuckerman novel, 2007’s Exit Ghost. In the latter, the irrepressible satyr – now impotent and incontinent, but still bursting with sexual frustration – returns to New York for an operation on his bladder. There he meets a beautiful, big-breasted young Jewish woman, whose boyfriend is writing a biography of the writer visited by Zuckerman in The Ghost Writer, and has found a long-lost manuscript he believes is an autobiographical novel.

Some critics were disappointed with this pre-emptive strike on future biographers, a return to what Adam Mars-Jones called Roth’s “narcissistic game-playing” of the 1970s – but Roth was unconcerned. “The audience I’m writing for is me,” he said in 2008, “and I’m so busy trying to figure the damn thing out, and having so much trouble, that the last thing I think of is: ‘What is X, Y or Z going to be thinking of it?’”

After the publication of his final novel – Nemesis, a 2010 exploration of God and guilt – Roth’s internal audience moved on. A year after he was presented with a National Humanities Medal by US president Barack Obama for his contribution to American letters, Roth announced in 2012 that Nemesis would be his last novel. He would enjoy a retirement spent swimming, watching baseball and reading, which he said had “taken the place of writing, and constitutes the major part, the stimulus, of my thinking life”.

In an interview conducted by email with the New York Times in January, Roth approached his encroaching mortality with a cheerful spirit, describing aging as “easing ever deeper daily into the redoubtable Valley of the Shadow”.

“I’m very pleased that I’m still alive. Moreover, when this happens, as it has, week after week and month after month since I began drawing Social Security, it produces the illusion that this thing is just never going to end, though of course I know that it can stop on a dime. It’s something like playing a game, day in and day out, a high-stakes game that for now, even against the odds, I just keep winning,” he wrote. “We will see how long my luck holds out.”

(London Guardian)

* * *

WITH PHILIP ROTH'S passing the last giant of American lit has fallen. I can only think off hand of two contemporary fiction writers whose books I'd hustle out to buy — Paul Beatty and… I can't think of the other one. Political writers who also happen to be good writers consist of Matt Taibbi and… I can't think of the other one. The only vivid polemicist around is James Kunstler of Clusterfuck Nation. Movie reviewers? None of the caliber of the late Dwight Macdonald and Pauline Kael. As Gore Vidal put it re the creative arts generally, "Lack of talent is no longer enough."

* * *

MARK SCARAMELLA NOTES: If you have not read Roth’s early short story “Defender of the Faith,” you have missed one of the funniest pieces of writing ever produced in the Twentieth Century.

• download the story
• Roth interview

* * *

“I’M 78 NOW. I know nothing about America today. I see it on the television, but I don’t live there any longer.” — Philip Roth

CATCH OF THE DAY, May 23, 2018

LIDUVINA BANDA, Santa Rosa/UKIAH. DUI, license suspended for prior DUI.

ANNETTE DONOVAN, Gualala. Protective order violation, failure to appear, resisting.

JONATHAN LARSEN, Crescent City/Ukiah. Probation revocation.

ANGELA MILLER, Willits. Failure to appear.

ANTONE MOORE, Ukiah. Probation revocation.

BARAQUEL RUIZ, Ukiah. Failure to appear, probation revocation.

INCOMING NIGHTMARE

The Inland Mendocino Democratic Club will hold our next meeting Thursday, June 14 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 http://inlandmendodems.org

COMMUNITY GARDEN UPDATE

The Community Garden at the AV Elder Home has all 24 raised beds and in-ground plots adopted for this season and things are growing well! The Mendocino College Agriculture Program generously donated a tray of plant starts to the Community Garden, which was appreciated by the gardeners.

–Donna Pierson-Pugh

UNDERSTANDING ENGINEERS

Normal people believe that if it ain't broke, don't fix it. Engineers believe that if it ain't broke, it doesn't have enough features yet.

GARDEN ROSE (photo by Susie de Castro)

SIRENS!

Editor:

SoCo Supervisor Susan Gorin said, “We could have saved lives if we’d had a better system of alerts.” We do. And, allegedly, someone issued a directive to not use it. Other than the wind and explosions of transformers and fuel tanks, an eerie silence was notable.

As with most that night, I was wakened not by sirens or alerts but rather family knocking on my door as their houses burned a mile or two away. They only woke because a tree branch fell on the roof. Another family member was wakened by a neighbor and had only enough time to save himself and his three kids.

Emergency vehicles raced back and forth in all directions, lights flashing and motors screaming to race to where they needed to be. Can you imagine the sound of hundreds of emergency vehicles’ sirens going at one time? Could you imagine sleeping through that? Me neither.

So who made the call to silence the sirens? It is rumored that it was in an effort to not create a panic. So we slept. With all due respect, we can sleep later. I think that running for one’s life is a perfectly appropriate time to panic.

Mike Kosta

Santa Rosa

ON LINE COMMENTS OF THE DAY

[1] I think Americans are the loneliest people on the planet. Life has become unreal and as a consequence not worth living. American fascism atomizes people through its architecture, city planning, schooling system, corporate infrastructure, social interactions, etc. The result is wide spread depression and the use of “medication” for such. Some communities in the US because of the strong family and communal traditions they brought with them to America have been able to somewhat resist this fascist predation. But they are islands in a raging fascist ocean and they will eventually be washed away. I see this already happened with the Jewish community in the US. Fascism is a dead end, I don’t care how big a smile corporate America and its propaganda organs put on it.

* * *

[2] That is especially true in large urban areas.

Your point has led me to wonder about the hierarchical structure of our society and government. Perhaps, we need to consider more localisation. Not to add another layer, but to break down the power of the federal, state, county and municipal government into precincts and even neighborhoods. Educate children on a smaller scale by relying more on volunteers. Create codes based on the needs of these smaller units. The upper levels of government would receive power from these smaller units bottom up rather than grant it top down.

Sounds a little communist but I think it would restore the principle that government receives its power and authority from the people.

WHAT WAS IT?

I still haven't figured out why Hillary lost. Was it the Russians? Or was it WikiLeaks? Or was it Podesta? Or Comey? Or was it a sexual predator husband? Or her Chief of staff's husband, Wiener’s, immoral pictures? Was it subpoena violation? Or was it the corrupt Clinton foundation? Or was it the congressional lies? Or was it the Benghazi lies? Or was it pay for play? Or was it travelgate scandal? Or was it whitewater scandal? Or the cattlegate scandal? Or the “TrooperGate”' scandal? Or was it the $15 million for Chelsea's apartment bought with foundation money? Or Comey's investigation? Or her husband’s interference with Loretta Lynch and the investigation? Or was it stealing debate questions with help from Donna Brazile? Was it forensically deleting 30,000 emails? Was it her using a private email server while sending and receiving classified information? Was it the Seth Rich murder? Was it selling our uranium to Putin and the Russians? Was it calling half the USA deplorable? Was it the underhanded treatment of Bernie Sanders? Was it the Vince Foster murder? The Jennifer Flowers assault? The Jennifer Flowers settlement? The Paula Jones lawsuit? The $800,000 Paula Jones settlement? Maybe the accusations of Juanita Broaddrick, claiming Bill Clinton raped her? Or the fact that her husband has acted much like Harvey Weinstein in the past? The lie about taking on sniper fire? The impeachment? The $6 billion she "lost" when in charge of the State Department? The $10 million her husband took for the pardon of Marc Rich? Gee, I just can’t quite put my finger on it, but it seems to be right in front of me. But then, I guess if one gets all their news from the mainstream media, they might not be very familiar with most of these issues. In Hillary’s eyes, none of the above are the reasons she lost. She lost because she’s a woman and Trump played dirty.

(Anon/on-line)

CHARLIE MANNON NEEDS YOU!

Full Time Positions Available - Mendocino Careers at SBMC <careers@savingsbank.com>

Customer Service Representatives and New Accounts Representative

View the job descriptions and apply online, visit our careers page at: savingsbank.com/careers.html

Savings Bank of Mendocino County - Mendocino Branch Equal Opportunity Employer Savings Bank of Mendocino County is an Equal Opportunity Employer and employment selections are based on merit, qualifications and abilities. Savings Bank of Mendocino County will consider all qualified applicants for employment and does not discriminate in employment opportunities or practices on the basis of: age, race, religion, color, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, gender identity, protected veteran, disability, or any other status protected by law.

Savings Bank of Mendocino County Recruitment Team

Investing in the future Consistently and compassionately providing superior service to support employee well-being, empowerment, growth and retention. Human Resources Mission Statement

HOMELESSNESS AND THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT

First the good news: Homelessness in the U.S. is down. In the mid-2000s, President George W. Bush’s “housing first” program made substantial inroads against the problem. President Barack Obama continued the campaign with the Homeless Prevention and Rapid Re-Housing Program in 2009 and a follow-up program in 2010. As a result of these efforts, the nationwide homeless population has continued to fall...

That happy trend shouldn’t be minimized. But it masks substantial regional inequality in access to housing. In some states, homelessness has dropped a lot, but in other states it has gone up...

Regionally, homelessness appears to be moving out West, to states like California, Washington and Colorado. Western cities, in particular, have experienced an epidemic — in Los Angeles, for example, homelessness is at an all-time high. San Francisco has the second-highest rate of homelessness in the nation, while Seattle ranks third. Since 2015, 10 or more cities on the West Coast have declared states of emergency with regard to homelessness.

Homelessness has two main sources. First, housing in big cities is expensive, and getting more so. By one count, 71 percent of homeless San Franciscans lost their homes while living in the city. Second, homeless people move to other locations — perhaps to take advantage of local services like shelters and addiction clinics, in the hope of getting a job or to be close to family.

But homeless mobility creates a big problem for local governments. When homeless people can choose where to move, they will tend to move to places with more generous policies, such as better shelters and more social workers. That creates an incentive for cities to skimp on services, since generosity will simply encourage homeless inflows that strain local tax revenues...

The human cost of that bad incentive is high. International visitors visiting San Francisco are shocked at the dirty, dangerous conditions of the tent cities that fill the streets.

Lack of shelter itself is an incredibly stressful experience, and it’s compounded by the ease with which the unsheltered are victimized. The presence of so many homeless people on the streets also creates dangers for many other people — many hundreds of used drug needles are gathered every year from public spaces by San Francisco officials.

Instead of caring for their homeless populations, many cities are shipping them out of town. A 2015 investigation by the Guardian found that the practice of busing homeless people to other towns — usually places with lower income — is rife in the U.S. Cities with reputations as sanctuaries for the homeless, such as San Francisco, are often the most enthusiastic about busing them elsewhere. Smaller and poorer towns are often the ones to suffer, as influxes of homeless people put a strain on their more limited social services and smaller tax bases...

When homelessness is a problem to be solved by local governments alone, there is every reason to ship them out rather than care for them. The way to solve this problem isn’t to shame and scold the bad morals of local leaders — it’s to change the incentive system that forces their hand. For this reason, the federal government, not local governments, should be responsible for ending homelessness in the U.S.

About 3.5 million Americans will experience homelessness at some point in time, but only about a half-million are homeless at any given time, and roughly 87,000 of these are chronically homeless. By some estimates, housing a homeless person and providing them with a caseworker to see to their needs costs about $10,000 a year.

That means for less than a billion dollars a year, chronic homelessness could be ended in the U.S. If temporarily homeless people were housed in temporary housing, and if each temporary residence were occupied half the time, homelessness of all kinds could be eliminated for about $10 billion a year. That’s less than a seventh of what the government spends on food stamps...

If homelessness continues to be the problem of local governments, the problem won’t get solved. Only the federal government can fix the tragedy playing out on the country’s streets. It needs to finish what Bush and Obama started, and give every homeless American a roof over their head.

(Bloomberg News)

MARIJUANA GROWERS TURNING TO HEMP as CBD extract explodes — The new 'Green' Rush.

A glut of legal marijuana is driving Oregon pot prices to rock-bottom levels, prompting some nervous growers to start pivoting to another type of cannabis to make ends meet — one that doesn't come with a high.

pressdemocrat.com/business/8329089-181/marijuana-growers-turning-to-hemp

SAUCY RESTAURANT BECOMES CULTIVO 

Ukiah, CA – A well-known restaurant is about to provide a brand new experience for local patrons. “It’s time to transform a chic, Italian restaurant into a welcoming farm-to-table eatery that embraces the best of Mendocino County,” said Ashleigh Plazola.

Ashleigh and husband Fernando purchased Saucy a couple months ago and have slowly been incorporating more fresh, California cuisine-type dishes, while keeping the wood-fired pizzas the restaurant is known for. On Memorial Day from 5-7 PM, the final step in Saucy’s transition into Cultivo occurs with an event to celebrate the restaurant’s name change and the unveiling of the Cultivo sign.

Ashleigh, who was born in Ukiah and grew up in Laytonville, said, “We know many people love Saucy just as it’s been, and they will miss it. We understand. It’s hard to let go of an old friend. However, we invite you to make a new friend in Cultivo. We hope you’ll join us to share in our dream of amazing food—locally grown and lovingly prepared. We have poured our whole hearts into this restaurant, bringing the great Saucy vibe and some of the great Saucy food and blending it with our own.”

Ashleigh is a nurse who helps manage the business side of the restaurant, and Fernando is the executive chef who loves to cook and create wonderful dining experiences for people of all ages. Before opening their own restaurant, Fernando was the executive chef at Dawn Ranch Lodge in Guerneville, where he managed the high-paced restaurant kitchen serving 130 patrons full-course meals, while managing the special-event catering for 200-300 guests simultaneously.

During this time, Fernando worked closely with farmers to ensure that quality produce and seasonal items were offered daily.

In opening Cultivo, Fernando and Ashleigh say patrons can expect friendly service, fresh food with locally sourced ingredients, a fun vibe, and everything prepared with the highest attention to detail.

“We plan to build on well-established events such as pint nights. We’re adding local bottled wine, and we offer catering, too,” Ashleigh said. “We hope everyone will join us on Memorial Day.”

FORGET TRUMP – POPULISM IS THE CURE, NOT THE DISEASE

"Today Trump is president, and the connection between his rise and the Democrats’ renunciation of their historical identity should be obvious. He squats in their old place in the political ecosystem, pretending to care about ordinary Americans and preposterously claiming to be our instrument for getting even with the rich and the strong. The right name for Trump’s politics is “demagoguery” or “pseudo-populism”. By lumping him together with the genuine reform tradition of populism, we do that tradition a violent disservice." - Thomas Frank

theguardian.com/books/2018/may/23/thomas-frank-trump-populism-books

GOTTA STAND

NFL owners approved a new policy Wednesday aimed at quelling the firestorm over national anthem protests sparked by Colin Kaepernick and polarized by President Trump, permitting players to stay in the locker room during the "The Star-Spangled Banner" but requiring them to stand if they come to the field.

Commissioner Roger Goodell said the change was approved unanimously by the owners at their spring meeting in Atlanta, but even that was up for debate.

The head of the San Francisco 49ers — Kaepernick's former team — said his franchise abstained from the vote. CEO Jed York said he wasn't comfortable with a process that didn't directly involve the players.

* * *

THERE MUST BE HIGH-FIVES in Roger Goodell’s NFL offices Wednesday. You know that national anthem protest problem?

pressdemocrat.com/sports/8358436-181/nevius-nfl-anthem-decision-brings

(Via MendocinoSportsPlus)

NUMMY NUMMY

Pancakes: Whitesboro Grange Sunday morning

A traditional pancake breakfast will be served at the Whitesboro Grange on Sunday, May 27th. Breakfast includes orange juice, pancakes with maple and homemade berry syrups, ham, eggs your way, and coffee, tea or hot cocoa. The public and visitors are invited to join neighbors and community for a hearty pancake breakfast. Adults $8, ages 6-12 half price, children under 6 eat FREE. Breakfast is served from 8 to 11:30 a.m. Whitesboro Grange is located 1.5 miles east on Navarro Ridge Road. Watch for signs south of the Albion Bridge.

STEPHEN KING: The 70-year-old King, who these days divides his time between his native Maine and Sarasota, Florida, told of a Sunshine State encounter with a woman with “dark, shoe-leather skin” who accosted him in a Publix supermarket.

“I know who you are,” she said.

“I know who I am, too,” King replied.

“You write those scary books… Some people like those books. But the books I like are uplifting things, like The Shawshank Redemption.”

“I wrote that.”

“No, you didn’t.”

“This budget calls for across-the-board austerity, Sire—present company excluded.”

BIG BUST AT ALDERPOINT

On Tuesday, May 22, 2018, the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office Drug Enforcement Unit (DEU) served two search warrants to investigate the illegal cultivation of marijuana in the area of Rancho Sequoia Drive near Alderpoint. The following agencies assisted the DEU: Wardens from the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW), Biologists from the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, CAL Fire law enforcement officers and personnel, specialists from the Humboldt County Environmental Health and HAZMAT Unit, Humboldt County Code Enforcement officers and personnel from the State Water Board.

Three parcels were investigated during the service of the search warrants. Two of the parcels did not possess a commercial cannabis permit with the County of Humboldt and the third parcel’s commercial cannabis application had been withdrawn. The DEU located eight greenhouses during the service of the search warrants. Six of the greenhouses contained grow lights that would enable the greenhouses to cultivate marijuana year-round. Eight subjects were detained during this investigation. Hector Merdrano Escalante, 37, of Redway, was arrested for felony cultivation of marijuana, conspiracy to commit a crime, streambed alteration without a permit and depositing hazardous material in or near a waterway. In total, the DEU located and eradicated 10,609 growing marijuana plants.

CDFW biologists located the following environmental violations during their investigation:

Four sediment delivery water pollution violations

One deposition of trash into a stream violation

One stream alteration violation

One water diversion violation

Humboldt County Code Enforcement officers located the following violations during their investigation:

Grading without a permit

Building without a permit

Commercial marijuana ordinance violations

Development in a streamside management area without a permit

Unapproved sewage disposal system

Improper storage and removal of solid waste

The HAZMAT Unit located the following violations during their investigation:

Failure to file a HAZMAT business plan

No spill prevention countermeasures and control plan

No secondary containment measures

Failure to prevent the release of hazardous material

Discharging hazardous waste to soil

No lids or labels on hazardous waste containers

Unauthorized hazardous waste storage

Mismanagement of lead/acid batteries

No EPA ID numbers

HAZMAT personnel located 1,900 gallons of diesel fuel and 220 gallons of waste oil stored on one of the parcels.

State Water Board personnel located the following violations during their investigation:

Excavation of a watercourse

No regional board report regarding discharge

Discharge without regional board report

Multiple basin plan violations

All criminal violations stemming from the marijuana cultivation investigation will be forwarded to the District Attorney’s office for review. The Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office maintains a cooperative relationship with all agencies that participated in this investigation. All future investigations into noncompliant marijuana operations will continue to be investigated in this manner.

Anyone with information for the Sheriff’s Office regarding this case or related criminal activity is encouraged to call the Sheriff’s Office at (707) 445-7251 or the Sheriff’s Office Crime Tip line at (707) 268-2539.

(Humbolt County Sheriff’s Office)

* * *

A READER COMMENTS:

So Hum and the rest of the Humboldt nation, Emerald Triangle have allowed this to take place in our communities, and backyards for decades. No way you can tell me that hauling all this crap into a remote site, piping, soil, generators, fuel, greenhouses, etc. and nobody notices!!! Bull Shit. Just been living in denial and turning a blind eye… They are just growing weed man, it’s all cool, no big deal. Take a good look at those photos, there are hundreds of sites like this scattered throughout our watersheds in Humboldt, Mendocino, and Trinity Counties. We as a community have allowed this to take place, we have not reported these suspicious activities when we first saw them. Until the romanticized version of growing pot is removed, more to come.

CHOMO PACKED OFF

Drunk Driver & Child Molestation Sentencing Update:

Ukiah, Tues., May 22. -- As part of a busy day in the Mendocino County Superior Court, defendant Michael Scott Cruce, age 40, formerly of Willits, was sentenced to state prison in two separate felony cases.

In the first case, defendant Cruce was sentenced to 15 years to life for unlawful sex acts with a child 10 years of age or younger, a felony. The sex acts constituting this crime were committed when the child in question was 5 and 6 years old.

In the same case but involving a separate victim, defendant Cruce was sentenced to a consecutive six years for the continuous sexual abuse of child under the age of 14 years, a felony. The sex acts constituting this crime were committed when this child was 10 to 12 years old.

In a separate felony case, defendant Cruce was sentenced to a consecutive 44 months in state prison for driving a motor vehicle under the influence of alcohol causing bodily injury to four separate victims, a felony.

The prosecutor who argued for the state prison sentence imposed today was Assistant District Attorney Rick Welsh. The investigating law enforcement agencies involved in investigating these matters were the Willits Police Department, the Mendocino County Sheriff's Office, the California Department of Justice, and the District Attorney's own investigators.

The sentencing judge today was Mendocino County Superior Court Judge Ann Moorman.

(District Attorney Press Release)