Mendocino County Today: June 5, 2018

• Dwight Clark
• Dell'Ara Resigns
• Gibbons Reading
• AV Library
• Drama Production
• Staw Reading
• Pam Party
• New School
• Garden Job
• Little Dog
• Wynn's Tunnel
• Roderick Ad
• Carmona Transfer
• Supes Online
• Wild Iris
• Terence Reading
• Legalization Blues
• Marijuana Glut
• KZYX Report
• Yesterday's Catch
• Roseanne Show
• Rose
• Mussel Infested
• Vegas Dangers
• Bogota 1930
• Great Again
• Opioid Addicts
• Street Lamp
• West-coast Booby-trap
• Caltrans Career
• Rudy Booed
• Prison Nation
• Free Kindling
• Where's Melania
• Predatory Healthcare

LEGENDARY 49ER DWIGHT CLARK DIES AT 61

by Eric Branch

Dwight Clark, the dashing and charismatic wide receiver who played the starring role in The Catch, the most indelible and important play in 49ers’ history, died Monday at 61, 15 months after announcing he had amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.

Clark’s wife, Kelly, announced the news, via his Twitter account.

“I’m heartbroken to tell you that today I lost my best friend and husband,” Kelly Clark said. “He passed peacefully surrounded by many of the people he loved most. I am thankful for all of Dwight’s friends, teammates and 49ers fans who have sent their love during his battle with ALS.”

Clark suspected his battle with ALS, commonly known as Lou Gehrig’s disease, was caused by football, although there is no definitive link between the sport and the disease.

“My heart is broken,” said former 49ers owner Eddie DeBartolo Jr. in a statement. “Today, I lost my little brother and one of my best friends. I cannot put into words how special Dwight was to me and to everyone his life touched. He was an amazing husband, father, grandfather, brother and a great friend and teammate. He showed tremendous courage and dignity in his battle with ALS and we hope there will soon be a cure for this horrendous disease.

“I will always remember Dwight the way he was — larger than life, handsome, charismatic and the only one who could pull off wearing a fur coat at our Super Bowl parade. He was responsible for one of the most iconic plays in NFL history that began our run of Super Bowl championships, but to me, he will always be an extension of my family. I love him and will miss him terribly. Our hearts and prayers are with his wife Kelly, his children and the entire Clark family.”

In October, on “Dwight Clark Day” at Levi’s Stadium, Clark made his last major public appearance during halftime of a game against the Cowboys. He rose from his wheelchair in a suite and addressed the crowd in a weakened voice. He termed ALS a “little thing” he was going through and expressed gratitude for being able to see nearly 40 teammates “one more time.”

The sight of Clark in his condition was jarring to the legions who will forever see him, at 25, soaring outstretched in the right corner of the north end zone at Candlestick Park for The Catch. Clark’s six-yard, fingertip grab of Joe Montana’s pass on Jan. 10, 1982, gave the 49ers’ a 28-27 win over the Cowboys in the NFC Championship Game, sent them to their first Super Bowl and became the moment that launched one of the NFL’s greatest dynasties, while ending Dallas’ reign.

The play, known as “Sprint Right Option,” overshadowed the other accomplishments of a nine-year career (1979-1987) spent entirely with the 49ers. Clark went to two Pro Bowls and has the fourth-most catches (506), third-most yards (6,750) and sixth-most touchdown receptions (48) in franchise history. He led the NFL in receptions in 1982 and had the most catches (349) in the NFC over a five-year span (1980-84).

“What a great guy,” said Giants manager Bruce Bochy before Monday’s game. “A fun guy to be around. Just enjoyed life. We did a shootout together, the Giants and 49ers, at Pebble Beach. I know he loved baseball. We were talking about him coming into the dugout when he was diagnosed. Unfortunately, it didn’t happen. I know he’s going to be sorely missed. It’s a sad day today.”

Clark, who won two Super Bowls as a player and three as a team executive, was part of the inaugural class in the 49ers’ Hall of Fame in 2009, and had his jersey retired in 1988. Of the 12 49ers to have their jersey retired, Clark, defensive lineman Charlie Krueger and quarterback John Brodie are the only players not in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

Clark, who didn’t have great speed but possessed a gift for self-deprecation, often credited soggy Candlestick for his success.

“It was like a swamp,” Clark said in 2013. “… It was great for me; it slowed everybody down to my speed.”

After Clark’s iconic catch, CBS announcer Vin Scully noted, amid the “madhouse” at Candlestick, that “Dwight Clark stands 6-4 … He stands 10 feet tall in this crowd’s estimation.”

And Clark never lost his exalted status in the Bay Area over the next 36 years.

One example: In 1988, The Chronicle offered a not-fawning review of Clark’s just-opened restaurant, Clark’s by the Bay in Redwood City, and was quickly besieged by a flood of irate letters to the editor. One reader wrote that it was “Hardly the homage deserving a tremendous athlete” who had the served the 49ers with such distinction.

Clark would have been beloved in the Bay Area simply for his iconic catch, but his legend was enhanced by his personality and background: He had good looks, an aw-shucks Southern charm, a work-hard-and-play-hard ethos and compelling underdog story.

Born Jan. 8, 1957, in Kinston, N.C, Clark was a 10th-round pick of the 49ers in 1979 after an undistinguished career at Clemson, where he began as a strong safety and considered leaving school after his freshman year. Clark finished with 33 career catches, including 11 in his final season.

“If my football future had been decided by what I did in college,” Clark said in 1985, “I’d be working at Wendy’s now.”

However, Clark was discovered by Bill Walsh by accident. In 1979, Walsh called to set up a pre-draft workout with Clark’s roommate, Clemson quarterback Steve Fuller, and Clark, on his way out their apartment door to play golf, picked up the phone. Walsh asked Clark if he would attend the workout to catch Fuller’s passes, and Clark, after accepting the invitation, ended up catching everything in sight.

“My whole story,” Clark once said, “is the right place and the right time.”

In his first training camp, Clark’s close friendship began with his roommate, Montana. Then a fellow rookie, Montana has often recalled that Clark was so convinced he would be cut from the team that he never unpacked his bags that summer.

However, the once-scared No. 249 pick in the 1979 draft had no problem adjusting to the spotlight that found him after The Catch.

Clark dated a former Miss Universe, Shawn Weatherly, and he and Montana became running buddies with singer Huey Lewis, even joining teammates Ronnie Lott and Riki Ellison as backups on a few songs. The image that best captured Clark’s matinee-idol status is that of him in a garish fur coat, smiling and pointing both index fingers skyward at the Super Bowl parade on Market Street in 1982.

In January, a day after he turned 61, Clark laughed at his youthful fashion choice, and revealed the fur was “coyote, man.”

“The parade, that’s the only time I ever wore it,” Clark said. “After I saw (photos of) myself in it I was like, ‘Jesus. Am I trying to be Joe Namath?’ And we were on trolley cars, people were coming up and pulling the fur out.”

In 1987, before his final season, Clark three arthroscopic surgeries on his left knee, and limped through a 24-catch, 290-yard season, his worst since his rookie year. Before his final game, a divisional-playoff loss to the Vikings, he acknowledged his legacy: Not only was he asked about The Catch daily, but autograph-seeking fans regularly mailed him the Sports Illustrated that featured him soaring over Cowboys cornerback Everson Walls on the cover.

“I’ve gotten a ton of them this year,” Clark said. “I guess they heard I was leaving, and they wouldn’t be able to reach me.”

Clark’s post-football life kept him close to the sport — he worked in the front office of the 49ers (1990-98) and Browns (1999-2001) — but it wasn’t always as charmed. His tenure as an NFL executive ended after the expansion Browns went 12-36 in his three seasons and financial problems followed.

In the late 2000s, Clark ran into hard times as a real estate developer in Charlotte, N.C., that coincided with a divorce. His resulting bankruptcy forced him to sell his five Super Bowl rings.

In 2013, Clark told ESPN he was saved by DeBartolo, who heard second-hand about Clark’s problems, sent him $5,000 and encouraged him to return to the Bay Area, where Clark rebounded by taking a business-operations role with the 49ers while also doing television work.

Clark and DeBartolo had a close bond that was highlighted during Clark’s battle with ALS.

During his playing career, Clark, noting his Southern roots, said he’d never hugged or kissed another man until he joined the 49ers and DeBartolo began showering him with affection.

In March 2017, Clark announced he had ALS on DeBartolo’s website, and DeBartolo later took Clark to Japan to get a three-month supply of a drug that could slow the effects of the disease. When Clark addressed the crowd in October at Levi’s Stadium, he did so with DeBartolo by his side, holding his hand.

Clark lived for several years in Capitola, and he began having weekly lunches with former teammates there a few months after announcing his diagnosis. In March, Clark and his wife, Kelly, moved to a ranch about 15 miles away from where DeBartolo lives for part of the year in Whitefish, Mt.

When Clark publicly disclosed his diagnosis, DeBartolo spoke for the legions who will forever see Clark, youthful and soaring, catching a pass and changing a franchise.

“We are absolutely devastated,” DeBartolo said.

(SF Chronicle)

COAST HOSPITAL PLANNING COMMITTEE MEMBER RESIGNS

Mendocino Coast District Hospital Directors,

Thank you all for the dedication of your time and experience to augment the success of our hospital and by extension, our community. After serving a four year term as an elected member of the Board of Directors of Mendocino Coast District Hospital, and nine years on the Hospital planning committee, it's time for me to move on. Please accept my resignation effective immediately.

As a planning committee member, I am deeply disappointed to see that the hospital discontinued the use of our interactive project management system Focus and Execute, I had anticipated that after spending approximately $80,000 for the most recent Strategic Plan that the board would reinstitute Focus and Execute as a planning and execution tool. All complex businesses need a visible way to measure progress towards planning goals, and without adequate metrics and tools, they tend to proceed like a ship without a rudder –affected by transient distractions.

Although budgetary and financial planning are crucial elements of a business plan, financial issues are only one of many important measures of progress toward the goal of becoming an outstanding and viable community hospital. Additional tools are necessary to achieve the stated goals of our mission statement, vision statement and value statements, and ultimately our hospitals survival.

During my term as a Board member, 2006 through 2010, I worked closely with our CEO and staff to create two consecutive Strategic Plans for the hospital. To ensure that these plans would be executed, the CEO, Ray Hino, selected and implemented an interactive planning and project management system called Focus and Execute. This software program was fully implemented with the support of our hospital managers and allowed us to delineate each element of the strategic plan including the planning, financing and construction of our Diagnostic Imaging Center, acquiring certification as a Healing Hospital and Creating the North Coast Family Health Clinic. This was accomplished by defining goals, assigning specific responsibility within the organization, and measuring the achievement of each specific milestone on a monthly basis during our public Planning Committee meetings and quarterly at the Board meetings.

The beauty of this system is that it engaged everybody on the team with the information they needed to be successful – it delineated each element of the plan with a start date, a completion date and an area to show percentage of completion. It allowed participants to have a global view of all projects and how each fit together – we were all playing by the same plan.

Once each manager is assigned clearly defined responsibilities by the CEO, the Focus and Execute system provides us a current view of where we stand on each element of our plan at any given time. It also provides us the ability to dynamically adjust as conditions change. This very effective tool was abandoned about 18 months after my term on the board expired, within another year we were entering bankruptcy.

Almost 2 years ago, the prior MCDH Board of Directors authorized Quorum Health Resources to develop an executable strategic plan, at an unusually high expense of approximately $80,000. I and many members of our community and hospital staff attended the weekend meetings to help formulate the plan which was presented in July 2015.

Unfortunately, I have little confidence that we can succeed in executing a strategic plan without a project management system and the will of management to use it. I have requested numerous times that we re-implement the Focus and Execute system, so that responsibility for each element of the plan can be delegated and tracked to assure that each of the high and medium priority initiatives outlined in the strategic plan are addressed, however, the current administration has demurred.

Our hospital is so vitally important to the viability of our community that we cannot afford to squander this opportunity to achieve the excellence that will assure our survival – that can only be achieved with transparency and accountability! Therefore, I implore the Board of Directors to empower themselves with the tools to hold the hospital administration accountable for achieving those and other important goals necessary to ensure the success of our hospital.

Focus and Execute creates transparency and allows oversight by the Board, its committees, staff and the public. Hospital administrators typically move on every four to five years, the Board needs to have the tools in place to assure continuity and to accurately measure and validate progress on an ongoing basis and allow timely adjustments if necessary. This process will also help to assure that the legacy our management leaves behind is positive!

It is likely that the Hospital Board and CEO will once again be petitioning our community to support a parcel tax. It is their obligation to convince all stakeholders that they are deserving of our support by virtue of their accomplishment of the goals delineated in our Strategic Plan.

Michael Dell'Ara

Caspar

(Mike has 30 years of experience in corporate management. He served as an elected member of MCDH Board from 2006 through 2010, and recently resigned after nine years on the Hospital Planning Committee.)

AUTHOR READING

Flashbacks: A Memoir
Tuesday, June 5
7pm in the Edgewater Room
Sausalito Public Library, 420 Litho Street

In 1969, Jim Gibbons dropped out of college and headed west, ending up at Gate 6 in Sausalito, where he joined other dropouts living free on the water during the ‘70s era of “sex, drugs, and rock 'n roll.” Jim converted a 22' lifeboat into a sailboat he named the Cowpie, sailed it around the San Francisco Bay, met Alan Watts and Shel Silverstein, and hung out with a local band called The RedLegs.

Join us to hear more about Jim’s Sausalito adventures when he reads from his new book Flashbacks: a Memoir at the Sausalito Library. Copies of Jim’s book will be on sale after the event.

THE ANDERSON VALLEY LIBRARY at the Boonville Fairgrounds will be closed Saturday June 16 through Tuesday June 26 to accommodate what might be called the non-book people of the Sierra Nevada Music Festival, reopening on Saturday June 30. “The Library’s $4 a bag book sale,” Elizabeth Dusenberry informs us, will start on June 30 and will last the month of July. So come on in and stock up on your summer reading. Our last open day for the summer will be July 31. We will not be accepting book donations in July.”

ANDERSON VALLEY HIGH SCHOOL DRAMA will perform their end-of-the-year production of Complaint Department and Lemonade this Friday at the AV Grange. Doors open at 6 and the show starts at 7. Children and students get in for free. It is $5 for adults (and donations are welcome). Come support high school theater this Friday!

SUNDAY, JUNE 10TH, Jane Anne Staw reads from her new book, "Small: The Little We Need for Happiness," and talks about how she learned to overcome overwhelm and anxiety--from 3:30-5:00, in the Gazebo, at the Boonville Hotel.

THIS WEEK AT BLUE MEADOW FARM

Pam is turning 75 and Roy is throwing a PARTY!
Come and Celebrate!
Saturday, June 9, 2:00 PM
Potluck, Musical Instruments
Plates & Utensils Encouraged
The Stand Opens next week.

A NEW SCHOOL is opening on the site of the Philo Methodist Church in the Church’s adjunct building where, old timers will remember, a thriving Headstart pre-school program once prospered. The proprietor’s Facebook statement says,

"Since we are not quite ready to open our doors, I thought I would introduce myself! The woman behind Boont Tribe!

My name is Seasha Robb. I was born and raised in California. I have lived in the Watsonville area, Walnut Creek, and San Diego, in addition to Anderson Valley for the past 11 years.

I am married to Patrick Dilley, a local farmer and handyman who has lived in the valley since he was young. We have rescue dogs, and a cat, and noisy chickens. We do not have any children of our own...yet. I enjoy travelling all over the United States and the world. I get a thrill out of creative crafty projects and making things with my hands. I love to cook healthy, delicious food for others to enjoy. I have a Elementary Teaching Credential, and a Masters in reading. I have about 8 years of teaching experience in the Bay Area, Ukiah, and Anderson Valley. Educating children is my life passion. I have been mentoring, teaching, and coaching since I was 8 years old. I look forward to making this dream to open my own school a reality. I can't wait for the doors to open!”

POSITION AVAILABLE AT DESTINY GARDEN CENTER

Garden Center Associate

Garden center help wanted ~2-3 days/week from June until September. Must be available Friday, Saturdays and Sundays for variable shifts. Duties include helping customers, watering plants, plant care and propagation, grounds maintenance and assisting in other areas as required. Must be physically fit and able to lift heavy pots and inventory. Ability to work outside in all weather conditions completing physical tasks is necessary. Ideal candidate has a great attitude, professional appearance and is a strong team player. Background in horticulture/agriculture is considered an asset. Training will be provided.

Start date: June 15th or sooner

Please provide cover letter and resume to: 11201 Anderson Valley Way, Boonville; or send to: PO Box 158 Boonville, CA 95415.

Job Type: Temporary

Salary: starting at $13.50/hr (wage commensurate with experience)

Education: High school or equivalent

LITTLE DOG SAYS, “Skrag's been gone for a couple of days, but these guys don't seem concerned. ‘He's been gone before, L.D., relax.’ I don't even like him, but you know how it is when part of the scenery is altered? Worrisome, that's what. PS. Cavs will take two in Cleveland.”

YOU'RE AN OLD TIMER IF....

• You followed J.T. ‘Buster’ Farrer’s old Ford pickup (a Model T or Model A) as he drove slowly from Philo to Boonville or back. You bought apples and/or produce at Art’s Apples (Art was Art Gowan) west of Philo or apple juice at Peterson’s Apples (where Goldeneye Winery is now).
• You had Mr. Rapp as your high school science teacher.
• Don Van Zandt sighted-in your rifle.
• You remember Marshall Wynn Sr. as the Philo Postmaster.

(—Marshall Newman)

MR. WYNN preceded Thelma Pinoli and Dot Becker at the old Philo Post Office. One day my late mother walked in and immediately recognized Wynn as a high school classmate of hers at Hillsboro High School, Hillsboro, Illinois, and how’s that for pure coincidence? Wynn, apart from his job at the post office was also well known locally for the tunnel he patiently dug during his off hours leading from his house to a distant tree line. He was convinced that the Japanese intended to land an expeditionary force at Navarro-by-the-Sea at the outset of World War Two. Subsequent owners of the Wynn property on Ray’s Road, Philo, filled in the postmaster’s tunnel as a safety hazard to children who, of course, found it irresistible.

MORE THAN ONE 5th District liberal was startled to hear a commercial radio advertisement for candidate Roderick read by retiring Supervisor, Dan Hamburg, the ad paid for by inland businessman, Ross Liberty.

ARIEL CARMONA, the excellent reporter for The Willits News and the Ukiah Daily Journal, has been promoted to Managing Editor at the Lake County Record Bee, moving east to assume his new responsibilities.

SPECIAL THANKS to Cathy Wood and Kathy Wylie for their work on the facebook page devoted to the 5th District Supe's race. It was steadily informative to read candidate responses to the specific issues they are likely to meet as Supervisor. However the election turns out, no one can plausibly claim that the candidates and their positions were invisible.

BLUE WILD IRIS, Anderson Valley.

(Photo by Marshall Newman)

AUTHOR MALCOLM TERENCE, a pioneer hippie, will appear at the Gallery Bookshop in Mendocino at 6pm June 9 to discuss his new book “Beginner’s Luck: Dispatches from the Klamath Mountains. ‘Beginner’s Luck’ will appeal to anyone who experienced life on a commune in the 1960s–1970s or who wants to learn about this chapter in modern American history. Terence offers insight into environmental activism and the long history of conflict between resource exploitation and Native American rights without lecturing or pontification. With wit, humor, and humility, his anecdotal essays chronicle a time and place where disparate people came together to form an unlikely community. Paperback, $19.95.

YEAR ONE OF LEGALIZATION WAS A BUST! CANNABIS PLAN BUILT ON LANDFILL COLLAPSES

This is what the Cannabis War on Mendocino County Soil looks like.

Over the past 4+ years, Mendocino Supervisors have diddled, reaping loss to the public. Their cannabis regulatory program is in shambles because they don't know what they're doing and will not admit it or reach out to the cannabis community, which is steeped in the knowledge base with four decades of cultivation experience. They'd rather flounder and fail.

The county's inexperienced one-sighted revenue stream motive without any meaningful input from cannabis farmers or planners recognized by the community is a recipe for the current disaster. Reportedly, BOS was expecting $1.3 million the first year, but that stalled and fell flat with less than 50% of financial expectations. The county is casting a net for newly legal commercial growers to get in on the action, sign here to get priority next year, yet they don't even have a respectable regulatory program in place as the season opens this year.

Growers are starting to withhold applications for regulatory permits as they encounter an unfinished punitive program with cultivation bans in three major zones (Rangeland, Forestland, TPZ), comprising a whopping 80% of total county acreage. The bans deprive property owners of their right to grow, as well as reducing the value of their property for prospective buyers. A former Willits City Councilmember in the real estate business reports that, much to his surprise, people are not buying property where cannabis is banned; he advises the sweeping bans be reconsidered as unthought out. There is also the issue of new cannabis crimes in tax law, i.e., 'violations deemed misdemeanors', passed at the local ballot. These countywide assaults on cultivation lead many to believe a cultural cleansing of the cannabis community is taking place, in order to make way for the "real money" and wipe out generations of cannabis heritage shared by stewards of the plant.

The Mendocino County CEO's annual salary is around $300,000, in the same league as the governor and many times greater than the average worker. For this she authorized the loss of two qualified Agriculture Commissioners tasked with regulating cannabis cultivation as an agricultural crop who were put out to pasture one after the other in a 10 day period--and instead she has arbitrarily shifted the task of regulating cannabis cultivation to herself, without explanation. This proves how unprepared the county program is. When something goes wrong there's no back-up or public accountability.

How can growers, largely small family farms, be held responsible for the county's failure to get enough input to do its job? Presumably BOS approved the move to put regulation of cannabis cultivation in the lap of the CEO, exposing a paralysis in the apparatus. The motive appears to be to keep post-prohibition control of the cannabis plant and expected revenue, denying input from the very people who've kept the plant and economy alive for decades. A combination of no guidance, no clarity, scant information and excessive regulation has squandered the opportunity at the crossroads to build "new era" regulatory relations. Instead, mistrust between growers and government has been sowed, souring the chances of reasonable regulation in the heart of the Emerald Triangle. Year One of Legalization was a bust!

We need to form a Cannabis Commission, broadly representative of county stakeholders, as the best way to counter government disfunctionality and lack of transparency. Tasked with researching and reporting on issues as they arise, the Commission would add weight to BOS findings with data and evidence and would produce an annual economic impact report for public benefit. BOS would continue to make decisions, but with updated expert information, not in a vacuum.

The insulated Board has come through two eras, first: cannabis being classified as a crime with thousands of raids/prosecutions/seizures of medicine by law enforcement despite widespread support as a medicine; second: cannabis being classified as a public nuisance with loss of constitutional rights, such as presumption of evidence and requirement of a warrant for law enforcement to enter private property.

A true departure from prohibition would involve the county welcoming the cannabis community as equal citizens with tax incentives and assistance in helping small farmers survive the arduous regulatory process. That is sadly not happening in the county or the state. Instead the powers that be are blocking a meeting of the minds.

Two pieces of CA Legislation show the tension of war.

1) Cannabis businesses must provide an armed guard outside the facility 24/7, patrolling the perimeter nite and day to discourage theft of cannabis. Even banks don't have such a draconian rule, despite dealing in much greater riches. Cannabis is not plutonium. Forcing dispensaries to hire a 24/7 armed guard is an economic hurdle designed to cripple small businesses, as well as increase negative stigma associated with cannabis.

Paula Deeter of Herban Legend sent an email to the BOS, thinking it was a county law. Supes Djerde and McCowen responded telling her it's a state law and they don't support applying it in the county. Can we have that in writing?

2) The Dept of Agriculture's violation of Prop 64's 5-year delay clause is more egregious. AUMA/Adult Use of Marijuana Act, passed by the voters in 2016, delays the ability of large grows to get permits until after a 5-year period of time from the date in the law. This insert in the text was to win the endorsement of people like Tim Blake to give small and medium growers a head start in light of anticipated corporate dominance.

California Growers Association/CGA filed a lawsuit against the CA Department of Agriculture to stop the wrongful issuing of grow permits to large entities over 10,000 sq ft in violation of the 5-year delay. Unbeknownst to the cannabis industry as a whole, the 5-year delay was built on porous landfill and collapsed in the second year, when Dept of Ag issued permits to large grows, without regard to the delay. WTF?

As a result of CGA's lawsuit, CA Food and Ag now reveals that they were working from 'Emergency Regulations', so the 5-year delay didn't apply. Poof! The result is months of a free ride for corporate grows over 10,000 sq ft sliding in ahead of the 5-year delay, not after as the law states. They'll take the fine, cost of doing business.

California lawmakers have withdrawn the Emergency Regulations, thanks to the lawsuit. Perhaps they'll come back with a 5-year delay protection, but without acknowledging wrong doing. They knew what they were doing and we didn't. By making the 5-year delay inapplicable under emergency regs which they roll out first, they've finished their goal before we're even aware of it.

The CA Dept of Ag should be called out for allowing Corporate Cannabis permits via the back door, giving them an advantage while officially outlawing them in the 5-year rule. This is biased, embarrassing, illegal, ethically wrong, cheats on the public vote and shows bad faith.

The integrity of the process stands to gain if we start over. A Cannabis Commission can establish a balance of stakeholders based on points of agreement rather than adversaries based on disagreements. However thin those may be, the future is relying on us to pinpoint mutual understandings and protections--for the plant, patients, parents, property owners, consumers under labeling laws, the environment, ecosystems, and the planet.

The stage is set for the creation of a new cannabis tax ordinance to replace AI, if the lawsuit Johnson v Mendocino prevails in the CA Appeals Court where it awaits a constitutional ruling. If the Court voids AI as a special tax, rather than a general tax, that fell short of a super-majority with only 63 2/3% rather than 66 2/3%, the Board will have to start over and write a new cannabis tax law, capable of winning a super-majority of voters at the following ballot. Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association agrees with us and filed an Amicus Brief in Support of Johnson. That improved our chances of prevailing. (Full disclosure: I'm one of the seven co-plaintiffs in Johnson.)

Hopefully a victory in court will clarify the California Constitution's definition of a special v general tax. And hopefully that clarity will produce a more enlightened draft BOS Tax Act with more public input and no new cannabis crimes. And hopefully, that will lead to a local Cannabis Commission, broadly representative of stakeholders, designed to research and clarify cannabis-related issues for the BOS to use as they see fit.

Pebbles Trippet, Planet x-rated

Elk

THE MARIJUANA GLUT, an on-line observation: "Desperation is spreading. Glutted market. Thousands of pounds unsold in June and getting old. People who have no business leaving CA with weed are now doing desperate things. It will be getting a lot worse soon…Economic devastation spreading over the area. Enjoy your 'legalization' everybody!"

KZYX: WHERE THE EXCITEMENT NEVER STARTS

by Shiela Dawn Tracy

KZYX'S New Board of Directors

At the Annual Membership meeting on May 14th, KZYX continuing Board members Jonathan Middlebrook and John Azzaro presided over the induction of six new Board members. (4th District Director, Aspen Logan was absent.) Former At-Large member, Ed Keller was thanked for his six years of service. No totals of election counts of the candidates were given by outgoing Election Coordinator, Ed Keller, a practice that has been discontinued at recent past membership meetings.

The new Board members were introduced by Interim President Azzaro. Programmer Bob Bushansky was elected to an At Large seat. Having previously worked with former Treasurer Stuart Campbell on the Finance Committee, he was nominated to serve as Treasurer on the Board's Executive Committee.

Dina Polkinghorne representing District 2 (Ukiah), who has had previous experience with several nonprofits, was nominated to be Vice President. David Hulse-Stephens of District 3 (Willits) expressed an interest in chairing the Strategic Planning committee. Tom Dow representing District 5 (Boonville, Hopland) will chair the Fundraising Comittee. Renee Vinyard of Ukiah won the second At Large seat. She ably provided refreshments for the members Meet and Greet at the conclusion of official Board business. Jerry Karp ran unopposed for the Programmer Representative seat.

Middlebrook was nominated as Secretary for the Board while Azzarro was nominated to continue as Board President. All nominations were seconded and approved. General Manager, Jeffrey Parker summarized the station's accomplishments of the past year in his report to the Board. A switch to local provider, Mendocino Community Network to a "voice over internet protocol" system in December from AT&T provider, Birch Communications saved the station from a 400% increase in charges. After working out a few challenges to the complex multi-studio needs of KZYX, the phone system has run smoothly since March and the cost to the station is lower than what was being charged before the rate hike by Birch.

The station has sought to keep up with the growing demand for fast bandwidth. Except for NPR signals that arrive by satellite, most programming arrives in digital form. What was state of the art technology in the 1960's--T1 lines which serve the Willits and Fort Bragg studios, have a capacity to carry only 3.2 megabits per second. That is insufficient to carry the station's digital streamer traffic, internet based phone systems, internet data links as well as studio signals.

Recently, KZYX has been working with an innovative local wireless provider to establish a high speed data link through a series of repeaters originating in Manchester where they tie in to a huge trans-Pacific fiberoptic cluster.

Collaboration with the faculty and students of Mendocino College's Recording Arts & Technology program has expanded. Students broadcast the KZYX's Candidates Forum on March 5th as well as several candidate forums for the 3rd & 5th County Supervisor's elections, the Ukiah Community Concerts 2017-18, the daylong Redwood Fire Rebuilding Expo and episodes of the Rural Resilience broadcast series on County childhood services.

The Fort Bragg studio was launched on a Tuesday morning in February with Susan Juhl's show, Loose Cannon Classics. The Mendocino H.S. studio was closed due to difficulties presented by State restrictions regarding operations where minors are present and the needs of a growing academic schedule for students.

KZYX also hosted John Sepulvado, lead anchor of KQED's California Report for a week long production and training session. A workshop on interviewing techniques was held at Mendocino College. Collaboration with KQED gave valuable mentoring and experience to local reporters with the possibility of having more Mendocino County stories reach a statewide audience. As KQED is being developed as a West coast hub for NPR, the station's news and production teams may play a growing role in NPR's news production.

Finances -- From March 19-23, a site visit was made by a senior accountant and a senior lawyer from the Corporation of Public Broadcasting's (CPB) Inspector General's office. They conducted an audit of the Annual Financial Report that identifies all non federal financial support received by the station that is the basis for the amount awarded in the CPB's Community Services Grant (CSG). The audit also checked for compliance with open meeting and other regulations. One accounting error was discovered--that of counting revenue received from an entity which also gets federal funding-- that of Capitol news coverage out of Sacramento. The audit will take several months to complete.

Community Advisory Board Report (CAB) -- Ellen Saxe reported that she had an hour long phone interview with the CPB attorney. She was questioned on why there were no Hispanic or Native American members of the CAB. She learned it was the responsibility of the KZYX Board to recruit new members for the CAB. To solve the dilemma of long drives to different locales in the County, a proposal to create local CAB's in each populated area is being considered. The next CAB meeting will be in early June in Ukiah. Anyone interested in being a CAB member or attending a meeting can get more information either at cab@kzyx.org or through ellensaxe@wildblue.net.

The agenda of the next meeting will include reviewing the results of the survey which appeared on the election ballot.

Public Comment -- Former Board members, David Hopmann and Meg Courtney were optimistic with the experience and energy of the new Board. Courtney hoped that the rotating meeting schedule would be continued.

CATCH OF THE DAY, June 4, 2018

ANGELA FERNANDEZ, Redwood Valley. Probation revocation.

DIVIN GRAMAJO-MALDONADO, Marin/Ukiah. DUI.

MOISES MARTINEZ-SANTACRUZ, Philo. Domestic battery, assault with deadly weapon not a gun.

BENITO MENDOZA, Fort Bragg. Possession of alcohol in jail, paraphernalia, probation revocation.

JACOB PARMELY, Ukiah. Parole violation.

WILLIAM POWELL II, Ukiah. Controlled substance, probation revocation.

PAUL SASSO, Laytonville. Pot cultivation, pot possession for sale.

KEVIN STARNES, Ukiah. Resisting.

BENJAMIN TORANGO, Fort Bragg. Resisting.

RICHARD WATKINS JR., Fort Bragg. Rape-unlawful sexual intercourse with person under 18.

MARIA ZEPEDA, Sacramento/Ukiah. Disorderly conduct-alcohol.

ROSEANNE

Editor:

It strikes me that, in all the upheaval over Roseanne Barr and her awful tweet, no one seems to realize that her show shone a spotlight on everything wrong with the country: older people who can’t afford their meds, one of whom is going without an operation and instead is addicted to opioids; a contractor who can’t make it without hiring illegal immigrants; a war-widow daughter who tries to be a surrogate so she can pay off her student loans; another daughter forced to move back with her parents because she lost her job and benefits; a single veteran caring for his daughter while her mother is in the war zone; an aging parent no one can afford to care for. Yet people seem to think it is pro-Donald Trump, and Trump thinks it shows how great he is.

Jessie Gordon

Sonoma

HEY! WHERE'S MY FLOWER? I DON'T SEE IT!

(Photo by Susie de Castro)

MUSSEL-INFESTED BOAT STOPPED AT LAKE MENDOCINO

A specially trained dog named Noah is receiving well-deserved praise after preventing a mussel-infested watercraft from launching Saturday in Lake Mendocino — a frighteningly close call that public officials say underscores the need for long-delayed, full-time measures to protect regional reservoirs and critical infrastructure from exposure to the destructive organisms.

pressdemocrat.com/news/8393215-181/mussel-infested-boat-stopped-at-lake

ON LINE COMMENT OF THE DAY

For many years, I hiked in the foothills of northern Colorado’s Front Range above Boulder, which is still prime mountain lion habitat. I never saw any big cats, but I know they have seen me! Amazing stealth creatures! Their turf keeps getting encroached upon by wealthy trust funders, hedge funders, etc who are building mountain mansions deeper into the wildnerness to escape the riff raff. However, they call on the riff raff to put out the forest fires that frequently threaten to incinerate their dream Taj Mahals. Now I live in the Las Vegas area, where the worst drivers in the world reside. It is pedal to the metal on the freeway while at the same time texting. More than half are either drunk or high on something. So, it is a calculated risk everytime you venture out. If you get maimed by one of these nimrods, you get to deal with the monster called the American Health Care System. I feel safer among the bears and mountain lions.

MY UNCLE AND FATHER (dark suit) reading the newspaper while walking in Bogota, Colombia circa 1930

(Photo By Susie de Castro)

TRUMP'S LEGAL THEORY

I didn’t collude with Russia or obstruct justice. If I did, it wasn’t bad. If it was bad, it wasn’t illegal. If it was illegal, it’s not illegal for me. If it’s illegal for me, I can’t be charged. If I can be charged, I can’t be convicted. If I can be convicted, I can pardon myself. If I can’t pardon myself, I can ignore it. If I can’t ignore it, I can insult it. If I can’t insult it, I can grope it because I’m a star. If I can’t grope it because I’m a star, I can grope it anyway. If I can’t grope it anyway, I can hold a rally of supporters. If I don’t have supporters left, I can hold a rally of rich friends. If I don’t have any more rich friends, I can hold a rally of my business partners. If I don’t have any more business partners, I can have a rally of my legal team. If my legal team has all quit, I can rally my family. If Melania doesn’t show up, I can rally the rest of my family. If the rest of my family is in jail, I can go on TV. If I can’t go on TV, I can tweet. If I can’t tweet, I can shoot somebody on Fifth Avenue. If I can’t shoot somebody on Fifth Avenue, I can sell steaks on Fifth Avenue. If I can’t sell steaks on Fifth Avenue, I can eat steaks. If I can’t eat steaks, I can eat cake. If I can’t eat cake, let THEM eat cake. If they can’t eat cake, they can golf at one of my golf courses. If they can’t golf, they can stay in one of my hotels. If they can’t stay in one of my hotels, the Russians can stay there. If the Russians can’t stay there, they can buy it. If they already own it, they can find Hillary Clinton’s emails. If they can’t find Hillary Clinton’s emails, they can give me dirt on her. If they can’t give me dirt on her, they can spread fake facts for my campaign. If they did that, it wasn’t collusion. If it was collusion, I didn’t know about it. If I did know about it, I didn’t obstruct justice. If I did obstruct justice, that’s how I made America great again.

–Tim Toles, Washington Post

BUREAU OF POWER & LIGHT WORKER CHANGING OUT A STREET LAMP, early 1920s.

(photo waterandpower.org)

A WEST COAST STATE OF MIND

by James Kunstler

Driving south on I-5 into Seattle, the Cascadia Subduction Zone came to mind, especially when the highway dipped into a gloomy tunnel beneath Seattle’s relatively new skyscraper district. This fault line runs along the Pacific coast from north of Vancouver down into California. The western “plates” move implacably east and downward under the North American plate, building up massive tectonic forces that can produce some of the most violent megathrust earthquakes on the planet.

The zone also accounts for a chain of volcanoes that tend to produce titanic explosions rather than eruptions of lava and ash as seen in the hula movies. The most recent expression of this tendency was Mt. St. Helens in 1980, an impressive cataclysm by the standards of our fine-tuned complex civilization, but a junior event of its type compared to, say, the blow-off of Mt. Mazama 7,500 years ago, which left Crater Lake for the tourists. A publicity-shy correspondent writes:

By all acounts Mazama was floating upon a vast lake of steamy rhyolite. It was a structurally unstable stratovolcano the size of Mount Shasta with a net volume of 80 cubic miles. A 5 minute Triple Junction 9.3 Richter Scale shaker uncorked the Mount Mazama champagne bottle via massive lahars which removed the overpressure. Geologists estimate that the eruption lasted for about one day.

It’s only been in the last thirty years that Seattle hoisted up its tombstone cluster of several dozen office and condo towers. That’s what cities do these days to demonstrate their self-regard, and Seattle is perhaps America’s boomingest city, what with Microsoft’s and Amazon’s headquarters there — avatars of the digital economy. A megathrust earthquake there today would produce a scene that even the computer graphics artistes of Hollywood could not match for picturesque chaos. What were the city planners thinking when they signed off on those building plans?

I survived the journey through the Seattle tunnel, dogged by neurotic fantasies, and headed south to California’s Bay Area, another seismic doomer zone. For sure I am not the only casual observer who gets the doomish vibe out there on the Left Coast. Even if you are oblivious to the geology of the place, there’s plenty to suggest a sense of impossibility for business-as-usual continuing much longer. I got that end-of-an-era feeling in California traffic, specifically driving toward San Francisco on the I-80 freeway out in the suburban asteroid belt of Contra Costa County, past the sinister oil refineries of Mococo and the dormitory sprawl of Walnut Creek, Orinda, and Lafayette.

Things go on until they can’t, economist Herb Stein observed, back in the quaint old 20th century, as the USA revved up toward the final blowoff we’ve now entered. The shale oil “miracle” (so-called) has given even thoughtful adults the false impression that the California template for modern living will continue indefinitely. I’d give it less than five years now. The movers and shakers of that state dwell in an extra-special political bubble of their own that doesn’t accommodate much thought about the actual future in which all their recent investments in public infrastructure fail spectacularly.

There will be no Tesla utopia of self-driving electric cars to “solve” the dilemmas of internal combustion, despite the prototype demonstrations among status-seeking tech executive millionaires. From the Berkeley highlands at night, you could see across the fabled bay to the twinkling new skyscrapers of San Francisco — like Seattle’s, another expression of the inordinate riches spawned by computers. How was that a good idea, considering what happened there as recently as 1906?

What you see out there along the Pacific rim of the USA is a giant booby-trap of certain cataclysm. It’s part of the even greater tectonic phenomenon called the Ring of Fire, which circles the whole western ocean from the Aleutian Islands to Japan through Indonesia and up again along the western edge of South America. Things are livening up all over the darn thing right now, including the rumblings of a bunch of big volcanoes in the South Pacific and the Fuego volcano in Guatemala, uncorking lethally as I write. And, of course, none of the foregoing includes the giant magma dome of worthless stock and bond values swelling under the towers of Wall Street back east.

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

CALTRANS CAREER FAIR THIS THURSDAY IN EUREKA

’THIS TRUMP THING,’ or as it had been known previously for nearly 250 years up until now, The US Presidency. Rudy Giuliani, formerly known as America's Mayor, ventured to Yankee Stadium this past Memorial Day weekend to celebrate his birthday. When the stadium announcer shouted him out, the 50,000 New Yorkers in attendance had a clear response. They booed. Of course, this reception for the former mayor didn't come out of nowhere. Giuliani has repeatedly embarrassed himself and brought shame to the city he once helmed since taking his place on Trump's legal team for the Russia probe.

The disgrace began well before Trump snatched THE Electoral College victory from the jaws of popular vote defeat in 2016. In March of that year, Giuliani suggested on Fox News that Hillary Clinton “could be a founding member of ISIS.” The same month, he appeared to blame President Obama for the terror attacks in Brussels. He offered a deranged speech at the Republican National Convention, howling at the crowd about Benghazi and the prospect of the US accepting Syrian refugees. “They're going to come here and kill us,” he said. “We cannot repeat the mistakes of the past."

Giuliani was one of the few Trumpists willing to publicly defend the Republican nominee's talk in the Mobile Locker Room. Giuliani suggested that “he who hasn't sinned, throw the first stone here.” Is it his contention that most people brag about grabbing women “by the pussy” without their consent? Do we all lack the moral standing to judge Trump for his blatant misogyny? Or is Giuliani just willing to say anything to once again feel the adoration of the crowd — no matter what crowd that is?

It is in some ways unfortunate. This child of East Flatbush, Brooklyn, once demonstrated a real appreciation for the story of the city of New York, the beating heart of a nation continually striving to live up to its own founding principles, and a place for anyone from anywhere in the world willing to work hard and adopt the values of this nation to come and test themselves in the great, churning cauldron of America. Now he is a modern-day Know-Nothing, working in service of the least presidential of all US Presidents because, to Rudy Giuliani, there is no fate worse than irrelevance. Sad bastard.

(Steve Sparks)

FREE KINDLING

Anyone interested in wood shingles for kindling in the area of Fort Bragg please e-mail us at info@redwoodroofers.com and include your address as well as a phone number where you can be reached. Priority will be given to those willing to take a full dump truck load and proximity to the work site. Please have a truck accessible area marked out for us to drop it off. We will contact you if we are able to deliver to you. Please note we are unable to have people pick up shingles from the work site due to both privacy and safety concerns. Deliveries will be made this week.

Dakota Murray | General Manager
Redwood Roofers| Contractor's License# 957548
Postal Box 361 | Mendocino, CA 95460
707.937.1700 (P) | 707.937.4345 (F)

“Reports that we’d found Melania have turned out to be incorrect. We’ll keep you updated.”

ON LINE COMMENT OF THE WEEK

“The drug and healthcare titans are intent on making it about ability to pay…” The predatory healthcare system, and all the predators involved, is designed to wring out every last dollar of net worth from individuals. A 40 year old patient with no ability to pay – “Sorry, we can’t help you.” A 90 year old patient with ability to pay – “How can we help you?” Economically perverse, in that I am 56 years old, perfectly healthy, don’t see a doctor, and don’t take any medications, therefore, I’m not nearly as economically “valuable” as someone on dialysis. Regardless, we are all meant to die poor, it just depends, as you say, on when “ability to pay” runs out. That’s the end game. Go figure.