Mendocino County Today: Saturday, June 16, 2018

• Park Day
• Kemper Contract
• Rodriguez Resigns
• Little Dog
• DUI Conviction
• Parkland Forum
• River Funding
• PG&E Culpability
• Native Recordings
• Phone Crooks
• Yesterday's Catch
• Horowitz Report
• Hemingway
• Cartoonist Fired
• Press Secretaries
• Singapore Fling
• California Cannabis
• Deportation King
• Women's Retreat
• Homeless Interventions
• Church Question
• Humco Busts
• Marco Radio
• Flawed Buildings
• Man's Place
• Art Show

SOMETHING’S HAPPENING AT OUR LOCAL PARK!

Come see what a difference a day makes! Bring shovels, rakes, wheelbarrows, and buckets. Wear your sunscreen and work gloves and bring a water bottle to stay refreshed as we revitalize our AV Community Park (next to AV Health Center in Boonville).

LOVE YOUR PARK DAY

Saturday, June 16, 9am-1pm

Come for an hour or stay for the morning!

RSVP or for more info:

Elizabeth Jensen
(415) 713-3833
avparkday@gmail.com

LEE KEMPER WRITES HIS OWN CONTRACT

by Mark Scaramella

AT LAST MONTH’S meeting of the Measure B Advisory Committee, the committee made what appeared to be their final attempt to define what they wanted consultant Lee Kemper to do in the long-anticipated Needs Assessment for Mental Health Facilities to be financed by the Measure B tax increment.

Several months of essentially non-productive meetings had managed mainly to annoy the City of Willits whose officials complained that they were being excluded from an apparent foregone conclusion to convert old Howard Hospital to a medium sized Psychiatric Health Facility without even complying with Willits City rules, much less invite them to the party. (The Committee also labored long and hard to draft a “Mission Statement” even though it was right there in Measure B.)

In that final attempt at defining the “scope of work” for Mr. Kemper (after four months of meetings) on May 23, the Committee came up with: “Conduct an inventory of services needed for serving individuals suffering from a spectrum of mental illness and levels of care. This would include global/gap analysis of current infrastructure, services and locations. Also request his recommendation for services/facility locations and services sustainability.”

That over-simplified scope of work didn’t sit well with the Board of Supervisors when they first considered it.

Supervisor John McCowen said he had hoped information such as cost estimates of things like a residential treatment program and the feasibility of what it would cost the county and what those facilities would look like could be reviewed by Kemper and his associates. “I think he can do the gap analysis in 10 minutes if it’s just listing ‘these are the things you don’t have’,” said McCowen. “We’ll see what we get I suppose; I would hope there would be enough detail in there to provide some guidance to the committee and ultimately to the board.”

But nobody on the Board, much less the Committee, wondered why Mendo couldn’t do a needs assessment in house.

According to McCowen, discussion about various facilities and their potential co-location with an existing hospital or clinic could be explored by Kemper.

“I think the expectation of the board was there would be a definition of services that would at least provide a broad outline of what it is that he is going to be doing,” McCowen said, adding that the board was looking for a little more detail in the scope of work.

Board of Supervisors Chairman Dan Hamburg said a feasibility study may be a good option. “You can identify all sorts of needs,” he said. “Some might be feasibly accomplished and others might be impossible to accomplish.”

During that May 23 Committee discussion, County CEO Carmel Angelo said that the next step in the process would be to contact Mr. Kemper and ask him what he thought of the Committee’s statement of work. Angelo added that Mr. Kemper could refuse to do parts of it if he felt like it, so that whatever the Committee came up with may not be the final recommendation that goes to the Board of Supervisors for approval.

SINCE that May 23 Committee meeting it looks like Mr. Kemper has indeed been consulted but, knowing that the more the scope of work, the more money Kemper makes, he not only did not reject it, he expanded it — a lot.

How do we know that? Because the proposed “Definition of Services” that’s on next week’s Board of Supervisors agenda contains language that only Mr. Kemper is known to use:

“Guide and assist county through an assessment of mental health facility, service and organizational needs in support of program and policy planning necessary for implementation of Measure B, the "Mental Health Treatment Act," approved by Mendocino County voters on November 7, 2017. The needs assessment shall include all of the following:

Description of current Mendocino County behavioral health and rehabilitative services goals and objectives for mental health and SUD [sic — ?] programs.

Outline of a recommended optimal continuum of care for both mental health and substance abuse use in Mendocino County.

Identification of current planned additions to the existing continuum of care, i.e., programs and services under way by BHRS and its third-party administrator, Redwood Quality Management Company (RQMC).

Gap analysis that compares existing programs/services and all planned additions with those included in the recommended optimal continuum of care.

To the extent data is available and provided by BHRS and RQMC, prepare both of the following:

Summary description of current programs and services, target populations, funding sources, and expenditure amounts.

Summary data on all of the following: numbers of persons receiving services by program component, cost of care for services by program component, average daily census and costs of clients served in inpatient care settings outside of Mendocino County.

Outline options for the treatment of persons with acute inpatient psychiatric needs in Mendocino County including development of a psychiatric health facility and alternatives to inpatient psychiatric care and the projected costs of those options.

Present two snapshots of behavioral health service need in Mendocino County and include recommendation on both of the following:

Programs/services needed in the County right now due to gaps in the continuum of care.

Programs/services projected to be needed in five years based upon current and anticipated needs.

Outline key policy decisions that must be made by the Board of Supervisors to effectuate effective and sustainable use of the Measure B revenues over time.

Undertake the following activities in preparing the needs assessment:

Conduct key informant interviews with behavioral health system stakeholders, including representatives of government, private contractors, healthcare providers, community-based organizations, and consumers.

Conduct research and analysis of available program and physical data, program dynamics, and service delivery programs and approaches in Mendocino County and other comparable counties.

To the extent data is made available by BHRS and RQMC, prepare supporting data analyses and findings.

Prepare a written report that presents the consultant's findings from the needs assessment and presents recommendations on programs or services proposed for funding and their projected costs to the Board of Supervisors on the units of measure B. revenues to address the areas of need identified.

For this entirely unnecessary work — how can Mendo even operate and oversee the existing Mental Health Services contract with RQMC without knowing most of this already? (Never mind, don’t answer that; we already know) — Mendo will pay Mr. Kemper $275 per hour (the poor guy will only get $137.50 per hour for travel time), plus automobile mileage at well over 60 cents a mile — “unless contractor utilizes a rental car in which instance travel costs will be reimbursed for the car rental, hotel costs, gasoline for car rental.”

And, “Payments under this Agreement shall not exceed $40,000.”

But if you think Mr. Kemper won’t find more to do when the $40k runs out, I’ve got a Mental Health Services contract you should be bidding on.

SINCE neither the County’s Mental Health staff nor the Measure B Committee (which includes several local alleged Mental Health professionals) was capable of preparing their own detailed statement of work, they let their own consultant prepare it himself and set his own price. No attempt to obtain competitive bids was made nor any real attempt made to do the job in-house because everybody is so enamored of Mr. Kemper and his prior work — even though they totally ignored all of his prior recommendations which had to do with financial transparency and accountability. (His main purpose last time was to provide professional cover for the dismissal of Ortner Management Group since the County was apparently incapable of doing that on their own either. I mean, the three year contract was up; all they had to do was say no thanks to the contract options, and turn over the whole shebang to Ms. Schrader which they did anyway.)

Since Kemper’s Definition of Services includes phrases like “key informants” (a phrase only Mr. Kemper uses) and “acute inpatient psychiatric needs” (a term of art laymen never use), and particularly the ass-covering caveat (twice!) “to the extent data is made available by BHRS and RQMC,” we are confident that most of the Definition of Services was written by Mr. Kemper.

AND as we have noted before, even though Sheriff Allman and his committee claim to be in somewhat of a hurry to get the Needs Assessment done so they can proceed to do what they would have done anyway without it — come on: does anyone really think the Old Howard Hospital won’t be converted into a PHF? — there isn’t even a completion date in the proposed contract with Mr. Kemper.

WE PARTICULARLY LIKE Mr. Kemper’s inclusion of “summary data on all of the following: numbers of persons receiving services by program component, cost of care for services by program component, average daily census and costs of clients served in inpatient care settings outside of Mendocino County” in his own work description.

COUNTY MENTAL HEALTH DIRECTOR Jenine Miller has already told the Measure B committee what the county pays for “inpatient care settings outside of Mendocino County,” not that anyone was listening — they’re all waiting for Mr. Kemper to tell them the same thing in a fancy report. But the rest of that “data” is not going to be found in any coherent form, and Mr. Kemper knows it, and that’s why he included that clever caveat: “To the extent data is made available…” in his contract.

THEN THERE’S that other little matter about the $10k the Board authorized to be added to the prior contract Mr. Kemper had with the county which was supposed to be used to kick-start Mr. Kemper’s work. Of course, that money will probably be folded into the $40k for the new “Definition of Services,” and should not be much of a problem. But the fact that it’s not mentioned in next Tuesday’s agenda item given that Allman and the County seem to be in such a rush to get going, is yet another indicator that the fix is in. (Not that we disagree in principle with the Old Howard Hospital conversion into a PHF, btw. That seems to have been the primary objective all along.)

THE TIMING is interesting too. The Kemper contract is on Tuesday’s Board of Supervisors agenda where it is highly likely to be approved. Then on Wednesday afternoon, the Sheriff’s Measure B Advisory Committee meets. But with the Needs Assessment presumably behind them for the time being, what is left for them to do? They’ve essentially spent four months producing nothing but an abbreviated statement of work to privatize the work they should have been doing and turning it over to Mr. Kemper.

CAN MENDO DO ANYTHING without paying a consultant or lawyer first?

MUSEUM ADVISORY BOARD MEMBER STEPS DOWN AMIDST CSA CONTROVERSY

by Ariel Carmona Jr.

The role of the Mendocino County Museum’s advisory board is in question with at least one advisory member stating she is resigning from the board in the wake of a controversial decision last week by the board of supervisors and the County Executive Office to move ahead with a plan to combine three departments into one amidst an ongoing review by the District Attorney’s office into intermingling of county general funds and the museum’s non-profit foundation.

At their budget planning session for the upcoming fiscal year last week, the board of supervisors voted to adopt their Fiscal Year 2018-19 budget which includes the formation of a cultural services agency combining the library, parks and museum into one entity.

Willits Vice Mayor Saprina Rodriguez, representing Willits on the Museum board for the past year and a half, publicly stated on her Facebook page following the budget session in Ukiah last week that the she would be submitting her resignation from the nine-member board. The MAB is already missing a member from the 5th district representing Ukiah, Hopland, Boonville and surrounding areas and a few of the members rarely attend according to Rodriguez.

Rodriguez told the Willits City Council Wednesday she is not sure if the board will be able to make a quorum for upcoming meetings without her. She has been very vocal about what she sees as a lack of transparency on the advisory board and about what’s been transpiring with the museum’s management and she said she opposed the formation of the proposed Cultural Services Agency despite county officials’ reasoning and justification for creating the combined department.

“Ultimately Supervisors ignored the advice of the public and advisory boards by slashing funding and combining the library and museum,” noted Rodriguez on her official Facebook page last week, adding that she advocated for the museum but that the museum’s Director Karen Horner and the county failed to provide advisory board members with any financials, in spite of repeated requests and claiming they ignored the MAB’s requests to give advice or be informed on museum issues.

Rodriguez addressed the board and stated her reasons for opposing the CSA at the June 5 budget meeting as a representative of the museum’s advisory board.

“I hesitate to say ‘advisory board,’ said Rodriguez. “For the year and a half I’ve been on the advisory board, I have yet to advise on anything.”

During the presentation to the board, County Chief Executive Officer Carmel Angelo said the CSA was being formed in order to “maximize services to the public by coordinating all the services under one administration.”

In a separate interview with The Willits News, Rodriguez said her frustration with the county’s decision is their lack of involving the community in the proposed changes.

Rodriguez said MAB members were told they would have the opportunity to hear a presentation about the specifics of the CSA proposal and to advise the board about job changes at the museum prior to the proposal moving forward, but they were never given an opportunity to weigh in or to be informed about the plan, nor to collect community input.

“I don’t believe they value the advisory boards,” said Rodriguez. “They never even considered our advice, they never gave us the critical information to give advice. We are supposed to be advising directly to the BOS not to Carmel Angelo. It makes you feel what you are doing is a waste of time.”

The MAB had been meeting monthly since the start of the year but the board did not meet in May because according to Rodriguez, they were under the impression the Board of Supervisors would provide them with information to weigh in on the CSA proposal.

MAB Chair and Mendocino College Representative Rebecca Montes said she would like to hear some details of how the staffing of the museum is going to continue and how the budget will benefit the museum in the wake of the CSA’s implementation.

“We’re all very frustrated,” she said. “I don’t see how sharing staff with the parks is going to be helpful to the museum. We’re all devoting our time and energy, we’re supposed to be representing the people of Mendocino County.”

Montes adds that despite delaying their meeting until July because director Horner was out of town, specifics about the CSA were never presented to the advisory board. “We weren’t consulted whatsoever,” said Montes.

Angelo added that quality of services would be ensured through better administrative oversight and by creating “A more efficient administrative entity” that focuses on delivering quality services to the public.

“I would hope we would be able to create some efficiencies and to create more services to the public doing the consolidation,” said Angelo, adding the county has been successful in the past with similar endeavors and noting the county would like to see some cost savings.

Under the proposed CSA budget model, officials noted personnel and administrative changes would net a savings of $58,280 to the library with the museum’s general fund cost totaling $198,882 and park management costs, mainly due to staffing, maintenance and services, adding up to $146,694.

However, according to the financial records presented to the board, the county still incurred combined operating costs of $4.4 million including staff salaries and benefits, during Fiscal Year 2018 operating all three departments.

Deputy CEO Janelle Rau said even though vacant positions were not included as part of the budget presentation to the board, in addition to the vacant museum director position, there is a vacant position for a services supervisor and a program administrator which the county is recruiting for currently.

The implementation of the CSA is expected to take approximately 90 days according to County officials. Angelo said there will be minimal disruption of service during the merging of operations. The plan calls for Horner to dedicate 20 percent of her time supporting the library and 10 percent managing the parks and the museum, an arrangement Rodriguez and other constituents have called into question. Management of the parks had previously been under the aegis of Deputy CEO Rau.

Rodriguez said she did not believe a 10 percent museum director is going to create a stronger collaboration while spending 80 percent of her time on the library. She said it is likely that things are going to fall between the cracks because there are specific things each director takes care of in all the individual departments.

Supervisor Dan Gjerde said despite misinformation and speculation about the proposal, he could not find any “fatal flaw” with it, adding that there would be cost savings to the taxpayers by decreasing from two county department heads to one.

“We have 18 department heads in this county,” he said, “That is too many for a county of 90,000 people.”

Gjerde said the county has in the past, when opportunities have arisen, consolidated and reduced department heads and would continue to do so.

In addition to approving the CSA, Angelo recommended the supervisors establish a Cultural Services Agency Advisory Committee, but it was not clear if the formation of a new advisory arm of the CSA would phase out the existing Library Advisory Board and the MAB or fold them into one entity. Three board members said they were not in favor of a joint advisory committee for the newly approved CSA.

Supervisor Carre Brown, who along with Supervisor Georgeanne Croskey has attended recent MAB meetings, said she was totally opposed to the creation of a CSA Advisory Board, stating she believed the parks could be added under the existing MAB. She said she believes that under the county’s agreement with the Mendocino Historical Society, there are legal reasons why the MAB needs to continue. Supervisor McCowen said he felt the formation of a CSA advisory board would be “ill advised.”

(Courtesy, the Willits News)

ED NOTE: This is one major reason why advisory board vacancies go unfilled.

LITTLE DOG SAYS, “I see these people have a 'Free Pregnant Cat' advertisement going. Like someone's going to pay for a pregnant cat? Skrag should take responsibility for his family, but that'll be the day he takes responsibility for anything!”

UKIAH, Thurs., June 14. — A Mendocino County Superior Court jury returned from its deliberations today in less time than it took the defense counsel to present his closing arguments.

Defendant John Sebastian Rossavick, age 46, of Roseville, was convicted of driving a motor vehicle while under the influence of alcohol, as well as driving a motor vehicle with a blood alcohol .08 or greater, both as misdemeanors. The evidence presented at trial indicated the defendant's blood alcohol at the time the defendant was driving was .11/.12.

The prosecutor who presented the People's evidence at trial was Deputy District Attorney Jamie Pearl. The investigating law enforcement agencies were the California Highway Patrol and the Department of Justice forensic crime laboratory.

Mendocino County Superior Court Judge Keith Faulder presided over the four-day trial.

(District Attorney Press Release)

A PARK, NOT AN ORV RACEWAY

Dear Editor,

An important event for the future of parks on the coast is coming up on June 28th. The Mendocino Coast Recreation and Parks District will hold a Public Forum addressing the use of the Regional Park (2 miles out Hwy 20 at Summers Lane) at Cotton Auditorium from 6:30-8:30 pm. Concerned citizens and residents are encouraged to attend and express their interests in use of the Park. This is the only large park owned by the District, which includes the whole Mendocino Coast, and has been underutilized and abused for many years.

The Park has a desolate history of being used by illegal Off-Road Vehicles, which have broken through the forest to run on the old trails and dirt roads, causing deep cuts in the surface and loosening the dirt to erosion. Newman Gulch, which supplies drinking water to Fort Bragg, cuts across the property and receives much of this sediment.  The Park was also proposed to contain a golf course, and many of the taller trees cut down for fairways. That proposal died, but new plans for an Off-Road Vehicle Park have brought new challenges to the Park. Despite the impacts, much of this property can be allowed to recover and can be protected in a manner that values its natural significance, while at the same time serving to educate the public about the uniquely special habitats that are found there.

The Sierra Club has a great concern that the entire Park will be dedicated to Off-Road Vehicles to the exclusion of any other activity, and that the botanical resources will be destroyed. Specifically, the California Native Plant Society has stated their concerns: “The 586-acre property off of Highway 20, which the MCRPD and the California Recreational Alliance plan to develop as an Off-Highway Vehicle Park, contains one of the rarest plant communities in California, and one that is unique to our Mendocino Coast, the pygmy forest . . .. only 1480 acres of pygmy forest remain.” The property contains approximately 20% of all remaining Mendocino Pygmy Cypress Woodland (“pygmy forest”). Additionally, other sensitive natural communities including Bishop pine forest exist on the property. CA Dept. of Fish & Wildlife estimates a majority of the Regional Park is comprised of sensitive natural communities. The Regional Park rests on soils that are essential to the maintenance of that habitat. Pygmy soil types are ancient soils perched on a very flat and sandy terrace and retain water in a wetland type regime. Disturbance of the surface causes quick erosion and downcutting, which can drain the vegetation of needed moisture. The Park already has some roadcuts of 12-30 inches deep and at least one 6’ deep.

The MCRPD has received a grant for restoration in the Park, which is mainly to be used for fencing. While fencing is a good idea, the plan for it was proposed with no environmental review, using an “exemption” for the State Parks Off-Highway Vehicle grant. Therefore, there is no document that directs the restoration in avoiding damage and protecting sensitive plants. In fact, the MCRPD Board already allows continued use of the Park for Off-Road Vehicle training and trail rides. The “restoration” would not include improving or decommissioning the damaged roads at all, but anticipates continuing their use by ORVs and dirt bikes. A new EIR in the works is addressed to only the ORV proposal, not other desired activities.

The Park is simply not a good place for off-road use, with issues of water pollution, sensitive plants, neighborhood noise and exhaust, and incompatible activity. The public has an interest in developing its only Park in a responsible way for the enjoyment of all sorts of activities, and the neighbors are very concerned about the impacts to their neighborhood. Please attend the public forum on June 28th at Cotton Auditorium at 6:30-8:30 pm to voice your interests.

Rixanne Wehren,

Sierra Club, Mendocino Group

RUSSIAN RIVER WINS BOND VOTE

Proposition 68 includes $3 million for what could be one of the most ambitious environmental planning efforts on the North Coast in years.

pressdemocrat.com/news/8406309-181/3-million-available-for-russian

PG&E’S CULPABILITY

Editor:

PG&E is once again being faulted for violating state law by failing to trim trees near power lines, with criminal prosecution a possibility. It wouldn’t be the first time.

In 1997, the company was found guilty of 739 counts of negligence for failing to trim trees that ignited a massive Sierra blaze. Last year, the company was fined $8.3 million for causing a Butte County fire that killed two people. The company also was found guilty of obstructing a federal investigation and violating pipeline safety laws after its San Bruno gas explosion killed eight.

But rather than accept responsibility for its misconduct, PG&E has launched a glitzy ad campaign blaming everything from climate change to poor warning systems for the destruction. In fact, PG&E’s equipment sparked the fires.

It’s time for PG&E to take responsibility and do its job. If it had, people would still be alive.

Patricia Grimm

Santa Rosa

LISTEN TO THE LOST LANGUAGES OF CALIFORNIA: RESEARCHERS RECOVER AUDIO OF NATIVE LANGUAGES WITH NO SURVIVING SPEAKERS FROM CENTURY-OLD WAX CYLINDERS

by Cheyenne Macdonald

A digitization effort led by an anthropological museum in California is working to revive the ‘lost languages’ of more than 70 indigenous tribes that have long called the Golden State home.

Researchers with UC Berkeley’s Phoebe A. Hearst Museum of Anthropology have embarked on a mission to restore audio captured over 100 years ago on thousands of wax cylinders, which have, in some cases, suffered extensive damage at the hands of time.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CCfJPWZf7vM

Cylinders were created using the Edison phonograph and allowed, for the first time, for audio to be captured and replayed.

Among the many remarkable recordings are the songs and musings of Ishi – who was the last surviving member of California’s Yahi tribe before his death in 1916.

While California was once home to at least 78 distinct indigenous languages, many of these died out over the last century along with their last surviving speakers.

For their living descendants, the 2,746 wax cylinders are a crucial tool in keeping the lost languages alive.

The archive, for example, contains 27 recordings spoken in Rumsen, which no longer has any living speakers.

‘Because we don’t have old timers who can sing these songs or other songs for us, this is one of our sole resources,’ said Louis Trevino, of the Rumsen Ohlone Community, in a video made for the National Science Foundation last year.

‘For that reason it is especially precious to us.’

There are over 100 hours of audio across the thousands of wax cylinders, according to the researchers.

But, given their age and the material upon which they’ve been saved, it isn’t always easy to make out what the sounds are.

‘The existing versions of them sound terrible,’ Andrew Garrett, UC Berkeley, explained in the video.

‘They are full of noise. You can’t make out that there’s sound, or you often can’t tell what the sound is.’

To overcome these issues, the researchers have been using optical scan technology developed by a team at Lawrence Berkeley National Lab to digitally restore the entire collection.

‘I see what we’re doing as creating the possibility of digital repatriation of cultural heritage for the people and communities where the knowledge was created in the first place, while still making it available for scholars,’ Garrett said.

While the light-based techniques have allowed researchers to ‘essentially read the sound recordings,’ it hasn’t been an easy job, explains Carl Haber, who led the team that developed the method.

Many of the cylinders are damaged and molding, causing gaps in the recordings that show up on the screen.

The amazing effort has brought dozens of languages back to life in stunning clarity.

The Yurok language, for example, can be heard distinctly enough for Garrett to begin compiling a volume of stories and translations.

‘I’ll be able to actually use the cylinder recordings to figure out what the language of the stories is,’ Garrett says.

‘That, for a researcher, provides all kinds of information about the sentence patterns, morphology, pronunciation.’

PHONE CROOKS

MCSO Public Service Annoucement (Telephone Fraud Scam)

On 06-15-2018 the Mendocino County Sheriff's Office became aware of several incidents of a telephone fraud scam that has been occurring for the past couple of weeks in Mendocino County. The calls are being made to Mendocino County residents and the caller is identifying themselves as being a member of the Mendocino County Sheriff's Office. The residents are being told that they have a warrant for their arrest or that they had missed a court appearance which resulted in the issuance of the arrest warrant. The resident is told to provide payment to the caller or someone from the Sheriff's Office will be responding to the their house to arrest them. Anyone receiving a call of this nature should disregard the caller's instructions as it is a common telephone fraud scam. The Mendocino County Sheriff's Office does not make telephone calls of this nature and never solicits payment to circumvent an arrest. Anyone wishing to notify the Mendocino County Sheriff's Office of such calls can do so by calling the Sheriff's Office Tip-Line at 707-234-2100.

CATCH OF THE DAY, June 15, 2018

PARIS BEACHAM-VANDERPOOL, Covelo. Domestic abuse, domestic battery, probation revocation.

JOSHUA BELL, Fort Bragg. Receiving stolen property.

ELYASHIYB DEVINE, Willits. Controlled substance, false ID, probation revocation.

JOSHUA GUEVARA, Talmage. Concealed dirk-dagger, probation revocation.

LEVI LAMOUREUX, Laytonville. Probation revocation.

MARIUM LANGE, Elk Grove/Fort Bragg. DUI.

JONATHAN MIRAVALLE, Ukiah. Protective order violation.

JAMES NORTON, Willits. Arson of structure or forestland.*

IVORY PINOLA, Redwood Valley. Embezzlement of leased/rented vehicle, receiving stolen property, criminal threats.

DAMIAN SANCHEZ, Hopland. Disorderly conduct-alcohol.

FELIX SWEARINGER, Covelo. DUI with priors, county parole violation, probation revocation.

ANTHONY TOLBERT, Willits. Disorderly conduct-alcohol.

BENJAMIN TORANGO, Ukiah. Resisting, probation revocation.

MICHAEL WILLIAMS, Fort Bragg. Domestic battery, probation revocation.

DON WILTSE JR. Willits. Parole violation.

LUIS ZAMORA, Ukiah. Suspended license, illegal entry.

*James Norton: "Random Acts of Fshhhh & Swooof"

WASHED, BLEACHED & RINSED

by James Kunstler

The FBI brass must have needed hazmat suits to scrub DOJ Inspector General Michael Horowitz’s report on agency misconduct around the 2016 elections. The result of their mighty exertions is something like 500 pages of pasteurized tofu. I will be surprised if a new scandal does not erupt over exactly how the scrubbing went down, and I wouldn’t count out the possibility of the original unscrubbed report emerging from deep inside the FBI itself. You have to wonder how embarrassed Mr. Horowitz is, and whether he, or others seeking to defend his integrity, might do anything about it.

In any case, the report managed to whitewash or evade altogether the most troubling angles of the FBI’s role around this garbage barge of institutional roguery. Among unanswered questions: just what were Bill Clinton and then Attorney General Loretta Lynch up to in their mysterious airport tête-à-tête July 2016, a few days before then FBI Director James Comey let Mr. Clinton’s wife, a presidential candidate, off the hook on the email server issue? How did Deputy FBI Director Andy McCabe consort with Clinton campaign bag-man and then Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe in a way that dropped nearly $700,000 into Mrs. McCabe’s own campaign war chest for a state legislative race? How did the wife of FBI higher-up Bruce Ohr get on the payroll of the Fusion GPS company that brokered the nefarious Christopher Steele “dossier?” How did the FBI conceal the Clinton campaign’s payments for the Steele dossier from judges who ruled on FISA warrants against Trump campaign associates?

Instead, the OIG report focused on the now-shopworn “love-bird” emails between FBI counter-espionage chief Peter Strzok and FBI lawyer Lisa Page, finding only a vague “biased state of mind,” but nothing tied to any particular actions taken by them, despite overt declarations of intent by Strzok to “stop” Trump, presumably by using the powers of the FBI. Former FBI Director Comey got off with the equivalent of a wrist-slap on vague allegations of “insubordination” — to whom? What did insubordination have to do with Comey granting immunity to many Clinton campaign factotums before Mrs. Clinton was interviewed by the agency (not under oath, by the way, for reasons never advanced nor discussed in mainstream media).

If this is the end of all these matters then the FBI will remain permanently tarnished and the public interest will have been very poorly served by a tractable Inspector General who is sure to be a national joke in the months ahead — the pooch screwed by his own pack. The USA really can’t take a whole lot more institutional failure without irreparable political damage. Americans will become only more distrustful of our reckless leviathan state, and more inclined to disrespect it.

Meanwhile, the Mueller probe slogs on — a likely set-up from the get-go by the same cast of characters and their political allies, who set it in motion as a vengeful ruse against their own nefarious election meddling. They may easily find misdeeds in Donald Trump’s lifetime of sketchy real estate finaglings and associations, especially with mob interests that rule the New York City construction scene, and they have means to shift all that to the US attorney there, but after two years, the Russia collusion story itself looks like a figment.

Also meanwhile, more dangerous forces are loose on the international finance scene now, with the European Union twisting slowly slowly in the wind over a gale of unraveling bad debt. The situation will infect the global system, including this country, and the nation’s attention will shift to the cascading repercussions soon enough.

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

AN AWARD-WINNING EDITORIAL CARTOONIST WHO HAS WORKED AT THE PITTSBURGH POST-GAZETTE FOR 25 YEARS ANNOUNCED ON THURSDAY THAT HE WAS FIRED FROM THE PAPER.

Rob Rogers' firing comes after the paper stopped publishing his cartoons — many of which were critical of President Trump — last month.

"Today, after 25 years as the editorial cartoonist for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, I was fired," Rogers tweeted on Thursday.

The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette last published one of Rogers' cartoons on June 5 and before that, the last editorial cartoon to appear in the paper was on May 24. Rogers continued to draw during the absence, posting his work on his personal blog and social media feeds.

Rogers told CNN's Jake Tapper last week he didn't know why the paper was killing his cartoons, but he said he got the feeling that management wanted him to be "less negative to Trump."

"I'm feeling, at least, that they want me to be a cartoonist that I'm not," Rogers told Tapper.

He reiterated this on Thursday night when he appeared on CNN's Erin Burnett Outfront not long after he announced that he was fired. He told Burnett that management didn't give him a reason his cartoons were getting killed.

"But the common theme in all the ones that have been rejected, I'd say 90% of them have something to do with Trump," Rogers told Burnett. "So there's a clear pattern they were trying to tamp down the voice I was having, being critical of Trump."

Rogers has taken shots at Democrats as well and he said the paper did not take issue with his cartoons about former President Obama or Hillary Clinton.

"I think that I've been pretty even handed in terms of presidents," he said on Thursday. "It's clear I've drawn more cartoons about Trump than Obama because I was more aligned with Obama's politics. I've certainly hit both sides."

In a statement provided to CNN, Rogers said he was "troubled" by the move. He said he felt that he was a "valued and respected member of a quality newspaper staff," but that the "situation changed dramatically and abruptly in recent months."

"The Post-Gazette's leadership has veered away from core journalistic values that embrace diverse opinions and public discourse on important issues," Rogers said in a statement on Thursday. "I am especially troubled that management's decision to fire me discounts the thousands of readers who turn to the Post-Gazette for editorials, columns, and cartoons that, while not always reflecting their own positions, challenge preconceived notions and invite thought, conversation, and keep the civic conversation going. I fear that today's unjustified firing of a dissenting voice on the editorial pages will only serve to diminish an opinion section that was once one of America's best."

A spokesman for the Post-Gazette told CNN in a statement that the paper "does not provide details about employment matters."

The Post-Gazette on Thursday published its own story on Rogers' termination, reporting that editorial director Keith Burris offered Rogers "a deal in which he would be an independent contractor and produce two cartoons per week for the paper's op-ed page along with his weekly strip, 'Brewed on Grant'."

"We tried hard to find a middle way, an accommodation to keep him with the paper," Burris told his paper. He reportedly denied suppressing Rogers' cartoons and said Rogers was not willing to "collaborate," according to the Post-Gazette.

Pittsburgh Mayor William Peduto criticized the paper for firing Rogers, calling the move "disappointing" in a statement in which he also called out President Trump without using his name.

"This is precisely the time when the constitutionally-protected free press — including critics like Rob Rogers — should be celebrated and supported, and not fired for doing their jobs," Peduto said. "This decision, just one day after the President of the United States said the news media is 'Our Country's biggest enemy,' sets a low standard in the 232-year history of the newspaper."

Over the last few weeks, Rogers used Twitter to keep his supporters updated about his employment status at the paper. At one point, he thanked his followers, saying that their "outpouring of support and well-wishes have buoyed my spirits immensely."

"Now, more than ever, I believe in the power of satire and the public dialogue that it can create," he tweeted last week.

The paper's decision to spike Rogers' cartoons sparked backlash across social media and by advocates of the press, with many saying he was being silenced for criticizing the president. In response to the criticism, the Post-Gazette released a statement last week saying that it was a "personnel matter" that "has little to do with politics, ideology or Donald Trump." (CNN)

BY AND LARGE, Americans are pragmatic. That’s why upwards of 70% think it’s a good thing that our autocrat sat down to talk with the North Korean autocrat. Suspicion and skepticism about the meeting must be relentlessly pounded into their minds by experts. This is, of course, the function of Rachel Maddow, who carpet-bombed her cultish audience with a bizarre 18-minute-long seminar purporting to disclose that North Korea, get this, shares a border with…RUSSIA, thus Putin must’ve been the secret puppeteer pulling the strings at the Singapore Fling.

—Jeff St. Clair

CANNABIS IN CALIFORNIA: A Report from Sacramento

by Jonah Raskin

“As a breast cancer survivor and a dispensary operator for eleven years, I feel that my voice has both weight and wisdom. I want to be an example to my daughter and all women to challenge the status quo, to speak out and make our voices and hearts heard.”
— Jewel Mathieson, June 2018

Nearly three years after a majority of Californians voted for Prop 64, which called for the adult use of cannabis, the California cannabis world is still in upheaval and there’s no stability in sight. In many parts of the Golden State, there’s a backlash against marijuana, though cities, towns and counties are also imposing taxes on cannabis businesses.

The big cannabis picture emerged from the fog of politics on the annual California Citizen Lobby Day, when residents of Sonoma, San Francisco, Santa Cruz, San Jose and elsewhere gathered in Sacramento on June 4 to speak to their representatives in the state legislature on the subject of cannabis.

Senators and assemblymen listened politely and made no promises. Citizens came away feeling that they were heard and that grass roots democracy works, at least for a day.

At the Citizen Hotel on J. Street near the state capitol — before lobbying began — one hundred or so cannabis advocates, cannabis lawyers, cannabis doctors and cannabis users, listened to speakers who talked about the complex and often contradictory world of cannabis in California.

Dale Gieringer, the director of California NORML, the oldest cannabis lobbing organization in the nation, told the audience that “two thirds of the municipalities in the Golden State have no legal pot dispensaries” and that “there’s a crack down on cannabis cultivation from one end of the state to the other.”

Of the 600 bills before the state legislature this session, 60 were about cannabis: cannabis delivery services, cannabis dispensaries, cannabis for pets — veterinarians are against it — cannabis and employment, and the removal of felony cannabis convictions from criminal records in California.

A legislative aide to an assemblyman told two citizen lobbyists from Sonoma, “Yes, the state legislature is a factory that produces laws very efficiently.”

According to NORML’s Gieringer, there are 100,000 felony convictions on the books for cannabis in California. District attorneys in Alameda and San Francisco, he explained, have volunteered to go through their records and expunge cannabis felony convictions in their jurisdictions. Senate Bill 1793, introduced in January 2018 by Rob Bonta from the East Bay, would make the “resentencing” process statewide. Not surprisingly, NORML supports it wholeheartedly.

Bonta is the first Filipino American legislator in the entire history of California and a real standout on the subject of cannabis. If his bill becomes law, the California Attorney General’s office would take charge of the entire process of clearing all felony cannabis convictions. That would make the nightly news and rewrite cannabis history.

Earlier this year, Sonoma County District Attorney, Jill Ravitch, announced that she would not initiate the process of expunging cannabis convictions in her jurisdiction. Individuals themselves would have to initiate self-expungment of criminal records. Others have followed her lead.

Senate Bill 829, which NORML has also endorsed, would exempt cannabis compassionate care programs from paying cultivation and excise taxes. California State Senator Scott Wiener, who represents San Francisco, introduced 829. Assemblyman Jim Wood who represents the 2^nd Assembly District — which encompasses large parts of the North Coast — is a co-author of the bill.

At the Citizen Hotel, Gieringer explained that NORML wants the state legislature to extend civil rights to cannabis users. That means no obligatory on-the-job, random drug testing by employers, as well as the opportunity for patients to use cannabis to help end addictions to opioids.

The federal government does not allow doctors to prescribe marijuana for individuals suffering from opioid addiction, though studies show that it helps in many cases.

Ever since the passage of the Controlled Substances Act of 1970, Washington, D.C. has categorized cannabis as a substance with no medical benefits. Indeed, while some rely on a joint, a pipe or an edible to get through the day, marijuana is not addictive in the way that nicotine and opioids are. Research shows that no has ever died of a marijuana overdose, though in some cases there can be impairment and driving can be risky for some, though not for all individuals.

On the subject of drug testing, Gieringer explained that construction companies don’t want employees to be stoned on the job. The Service Employees International Union (SEIU) argues that workers ought to have the legal right to smoke marijuana on their own time, away from work, in much the same way that workers enjoy a cocktail or a glass of wine in their own homes at the end of the day.

Part of the problem for law enforcement, employers, testing services and users themselves, Gieringer reminded the audience, is that cannabis stays in the human body for days, even though the “stoned” sensation is long gone. A construction worker or a secretary or a nurse who smoked a joint on Saturday night would probably test positive for cannabis on Monday morning.

Matt Hummel, the chair of the Cannabis Regulatory Commission in Oakland, covered some of the ground that Gieringer just couldn’t get to, given time constraints and the sheer mass of information.

During a break in the session, Hummel explained to a group of citizen lobbyists that the marijuana black market was thriving in Oakland in large part because the real estate market had made it all but impossible for many wanna-be dispensaries to enter the legitimate cannabis business.

“It’s a struggle to get a permit,” Hummel said. He added, “At the same time, big money for the cannabis industry has flooded Oakland.”

One long-time Sonoma cannabis cultivator called himself “disgruntled,” and added that he wasn’t going to apply for a permit from the county.

“I’m going to continue to do the outlaw thing,” he said.

Veteran cannabis advocate, Jewel Mathieson, attended the California Citizen Lobby Day and spoke out about SB 829 and AB 1793. A founding member of the Sonoma Patient Group (SPG), the oldest, longest running cannabis dispensary in Sonoma County, Mathieson also serves on SPG’s board of directors.

“As a breast cancer survivor and a dispensary operator for eleven years, I feel that my voice has both weight and wisdom,” she said. “I want to be an example to my daughter and all women to challenge the status quo, to speak out and make our voices and hearts heard.”

Mathieson added, “The war on drugs is and has always been essentially a war against the poor, blacks and Latinos. Passage of AB 1793 won’t end racism, but it will mean that many Californians will be able to come home from the Drug War and reclaim their lives. Hallelujah! Let’s have a well overdue jubilee.”

A week after the California Citizen Lobby Day, California NORML posted on its website (canorml.org/) the results from Election Day on June 5. There was good news and bad news. In the town of Yucca Valley in San Bernardino, cities defeated a measure that would have allowed state licensed commercial cannabis operations. In Sierra County, a measure prohibiting commercial marijuana cultivation, processing and dispensaries won by a significant margin.

On the plus side, Senator Dianne Feinstein, who has long been “a staunch opponent of all things marijuana” — as California NORML’s Gieringer put it — announced a shift in her outlook on the subject. Indeed, a week before Election Day, she said that, “Federal law enforcement agents should not arrest Californians who are adhering to California law.”

Restive California cannabis advocates might find solace in small things and remember that change happens incrementally.

(Jonah Raskin is the author of For The Hell of It: The Life and Times of Abbie Hoffman and American Scream: Allen Ginsberg’s ‘Howl’ and the Making of the Beat Generation.)

AS WITH MOST VILE POLICIES over the last 25 years, when it comes to deportations it was Clinton who led the way:

Total Deportations:

Clinton: 12.3 Million

GW Bush: 10.3 Million

Obama: 5.2 million

(Jeffrey St. Clair)

SOLSTICE ON THE ALBION RIVER

Happy Summer to All You Blooming Beauties,

The Mendocino Women’s Retreat invites you to a Solstice Celebration Saturday June 23rd @ Schooner’s Landing on the Albion River starting at 1PM till—???

Here at this special place we will gather by the river to visit, play, drum, sing, dance around the campfire, swim, kayak, hike, and give thanks for the summer sun, the earth, air, fire & water and our warm companionship. We will also feast on our yummy potlucks; a grill is provided. Later, all are welcome to join in the Heart Circle ritual.

Camping is available

Bring: Something that means Summertime for you; food to share, drums, rattles, & other instruments; chairs, (some will be there); towels if you plan to go in or on the river; appropriate layers of clothing, a piece or more of fire wood, a donation to help cover the $80 fee & $10 to park your car. Please Carpool. For more info re the event call Ohi 964-2742

For more information about the location go to schoonerslanding-albion.com

Directions: Schooner’s Landing is located off HWY 1, 7 miles South of Mendocino Village, on the North bank of the Albion River. Take a sharp turn inland off HWY1 immediately North of the historic Albion Bridge, as if you are trying to get under the bridge. Wind down a steep, narrow road to the river, and turn left when you reach the bottom. Head upriver a short distance to Schooners Landing. Watch out for RV traffic on the 14% grade with a hairpin turn! Park at areas marked with big blue P when possible.

Address for GPS: Schooners Landing, 33621 Albion River North Side Road, Albion CA 95410

Judy Vidaver <indigoa@mcn.org>

WHAT TO DO ABOUT THE HOMELESS: Two solutions would work. We need a new type of detention within the justice system – one dedicated to drug treatment and mental health. And we need to lengthen jail terms for misdemeanors. That may sound odd, but it’s rational.

A misdemeanor is a crime for which someone spends 364 days or less in jail. But in big counties, if a person is convicted for a misdemeanor, that person may spend less than a day in jail. This is too short to conduct any meaningful assessment or intervention.

Homelessness is not a crime, and a good society treats the least fortunate compassionately. I don’t seek a return to the days where drug possession conferred a stint in state prison. But some homeless, especially those on drugs, commit crimes. And those “minor” crimes are a major scourge for urban dwellers.

Many discouraged police forces are openly apathetic when a victim reports yet another smashed window, stolen bicycle, or purse snatching – never mind public defecation or drug dealing. Plus, certain homeless prey on other homeless. Society cannot allow them to avoid consequences. This produces disrespect for laws.

It’s time to view criminal activity as an opportunity for engaging those who need help. The justice system is a powerful tool because participation is involuntary. It’s society’s way of staging an intervention for those not lucky enough to have a group of friends able to do so.

Many will continue pushing for spending on more beds, while dozens of free, voluntary programs remain underutilized.  Until we start viewing the problem differently, we will continue to give spare change to panhandlers and deploy tax dollars ineffectively. That way of thinking might salve our guilty consciences, but it hasn’t done much to improve the lives of those in need.

— Mike Gatto, D-Los Angeles, served in the state Assembly from 2010-16.

ON LINE COMMENT OF THE DAY

Weinstein’s company went belly-up not least because of a torrent of abuse allegations by grown women who had the benefit of grown-up common sense and judgement (at least presumably) when they accepted invitations to ole’ Harv’s hotel suites. Now, it wasn’t really a secret in the entertainment biz what Harvey was all about. Yet women still accepted his invites and they still went to work for him. Yes, the company was in debt and yes, it had been financial issues in prior years. But Harvey’s troubles, IMO, put a spike in it.

Now, I’m just a simple country boy, and I’m not well versed in the looser ways of the city let alone the sophisticated mores of Hollywood. But even I would be awful suspicious when the meeting isn’t in a company office, but rather in a rented hotel suite, and the dude in question is sitting around in a bath-robe.

But in the case of the Roman Catholic Church the abuse allegations by-and-large involved minors, not grown adults, and we aren’t talking about a pit of scum and villainy like Hollywood, but rather an organization that’s supposed to be the civilizational bulwark AGAINST scum and villainy, that is, a society all about behavioral restraints.

Now, the charges against Weinstein have yet to be tried in court, but that didn’t prevent the disemboweling of his company. As you say about voluntary associations, nobody was OBLIGED to do business with Weinstein’s firm, nobody was obliged to rescue it, and so down the shitter it went.

But there were many court cases that went to trial and resulted in convictions of Roman Catholic clergy. Not just a few but many. Not just in one place but in different countries. Given this circumstance I find it amazing that an organization that apparently harbored not just one or two pedophiles is still around. As you say the association is voluntary and it’s not like the RC Church is the only game in town.

It’s not only that people still voluntarily set foot in RC Churches. If there’s any faith in the judicial system to suss out the truth, and if the established truth is the guilt of so many priests in diddling kids, then how is it possible that law-makers, who after all are there to ensure public safety and security, haven’t taken action to dismember the organization like they would the Sicilian mob? By an act of law ban the fucking thing IOW, close the churches and shut down all its offices. If such a ban results in court challenges on the basis of freedom of religion, well, then go to court. But taking action against religious associations has been done before, as in the Branch Davidians in Waco.

Now, it could be that all the allegations and convictions are bogus, that all of this is the result of a mass witch-hunting hysteria. After all we’ve seen this movie before. But if a lot of folk believe otherwise, and if they believe in the magnitude of the harm done to so many kids, and if church membership is voluntary, and if law-makers are there to protect society, then the question is a simple one, why is the Roman Catholic Church still around? As you so aptly put it, WTF?

ON JUNE 13, 2018, deputies with 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 U.S. Forest Service Route 1 near Hyampom. The following agencies assisted the DEU: wardens and environmental scientists with the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, specialists from the Humboldt County Environmental Health and HAZMAT Unit, inspectors from the Humboldt County Planning and Building Department and CAL Fire law enforcement officers and personnel.

Two parcels were investigated during the service of the search warrants. Neither parcels possessed or were in the process of obtaining a commercial cannabis permit with the County of Humboldt. During the service of the warrants, DEU deputies located five greenhouses and eight outdoor marijuana cultivation gardens. Deputies eradicated a total of 5,387 marijuana plants and seized three firearms.

On both properties, assisting agencies also located several water diversion violations (up to $8,000 per day fine), stream pollution violations (up to $20,000 per day fine), multiple grading violations (up to $10,000 per day fine) and improper disposal of garbage. Additional violations with civil fines are expected to be filed by the assisting agencies. Nou Kia Vang, 35, of Fresno, was arrested and booked into the Humboldt County Correctional Facility on charges of unauthorized cultivation of marijuana, carrying a concealed firearm in a vehicle, streambed alteration without a permit and water pollution.

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.

Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office

MEMO OF THE AIR: GOOD NIGHT RADIO TONIGHT!

Friday night, 9pm to 5am, I'm doing Memo of the Air from the KNYO performance  space at 325 N. Franklin, next door to the Tip Top bar, so waltz in like  you own the place, head for the lighted room at the back, and  show-and-tell, or do your act, or talk about your project, or read from  your own work, or really whatever. I don't care how you're dressed or  what you smell like or who you're mad at; they was your man and they  done you wrong, and now it's your turn. You're totally welcome to the  air and the stale crackers and the cheap chocolate.

And/or get custom airtime for a show or series of shows entirely of your  own design, or the design of the demon that rides you like a monkey, or  both. Contact Bob Young: bobb@poetworld.net and he'll get you and your  monkey demon on the schedule.

Also if you tune in a little early tonight you'll hear another one of  Rich Alcott's impromptu interviews with people he accosts on the street  and draws out of themselves on various subjects. Maybe about ten minutes  early.

Email your writing to be  read on MOTA — deadline is always around five or six p.m. the night of  the show. Even more time for next week. Just paste your poem or  material desire or essay or kvetch or conspiracy theory or harrowing  MeToo story into the body text of an email, check that it's going to me  and not also to the whole group, unless that's what you want, and press  send. There are no restrictions; just if you swear like a Scottish hoor  I have to read it after 10pm, otherwise it agitates the weasels, as you  well know.

Memo of the Air: Good Night Radio: Every Friday, 9pm to 5am on 107.7fm  KNYO-LP Fort Bragg, and 105.1fm KMEC-LP Ukiah. And also there and  anywhere else via http://knyo.org

Marco McClean

VERTICAL FRISCO BUILDINGS LIKELY TO GO HORIZONTAL

In April, the United States Geological Survey published a report with a list of high rises in downtown San Francisco that included 39 steel-frame buildings constructed between 1960 and 1994, the approximate years when a flawed welding technique was employed. The list was compiled with help from the Structural Engineers Association of Northern California.

1. Hartford Building, 650 California
2. Beal Bank Building, 180 Sansome
3. Bechtel Building, 50 Beale
4. 44 Montgomery
5. 425 California Street
6. 555 California Street
7. McKesson Plaza, One Post
8. Pacific Gas & Electric Building, 77 Beale
9. One Embarcadero Center, 355 Clay
10. Transamerica Pyramid, 600 Montgomery
11. 100 Pine Center, 100 Pine

IT IS STRANGE AND FINE — Nature's lavish generosities to her creatures.  At least to all of them except man.  For those that fly she has provided a home that is nobly spacious — a home which is forty miles deep and envelops the whole globe, and has not an obstruction in it.  For those that swim she has provided a more than imperial domain — a domain which is miles deep and covers four-fifths of the globe.  But as for man, she has cut him off with the mere odds and ends of the creation.  She has given him the thin skin, the meager skin which is stretched over the remaining one-fifth — the naked bones stick up through it in most places.  On the one-half of this domain he can raise snow, ice, sand, rocks, and nothing else.  So the valuable part of his inheritance really consists of but a single tenth of the family estate; and out of it he has to grub hard to get enough to keep him alive and provide kings and soldiers with powder to extend the blessings of civilization with.  Yet man, in his simplicity and complacency and inability to cipher, thinks Nature regards him as the important member of the family — in fact, her favorite.  Surely, it must occur to even his dull head sometimes that she has a curious way of showing it.

—Mark Twain, 1897; from "Following the Equator"

TELL TALE: GALLERY ROUTE ONE’S ARTIST MEMBERS’ SHOW

Friday, July 6th through Sunday, August 12th

Point Reyes Station, CA – Opening Reception and Artist Talk: Saturday, July 7th, 2:30 – 5 PM

Closing Party: Sunday, August 12th, 3 – 5 PM

This year's Members’ show offers an invitation to visit private worlds where artists call up the power of concentration, and the mystery of imagination to create their latest work. Gallery Route One’s artists are a diverse group; in this exhibition visitors will find twenty-six artists with twenty-six approaches to art-making,

Gallery Route One, now entering its 35^thyear, offers an exhibition of members’ work that includes gallery founders as well as work by two new Fellows who will join the gallery for 2018-19. Through GRO’s Fellowship program two artists are selected annually to participate in the running of the gallery and to exhibit their work.

This year’s show includes conceptual art, collage, mixed media, artist books, photography, and sculpture. Photographs of the artists’ studio or of the artist at work are displayed next to their artwork giving visitors a peek into the working environment of each artist. Among the photos: an image of a painting on cardboard clamped to a table covered with palette knives, paint cans and paint brushes; an artist lying on top of sheets of calligraphy, hinting at a future performance; walls covered with drawings in every stage of completion.

Gallery Route One Artists: Mimi Abers, Johanna Baruch, Marna Clarke, Mary Mountcastle Eubank, Joe Fox, Tim Graveson, Isis Hockenos, Madeline Hope, Tania Houtzager, Steven Hurwitz, Marie-Luise Klotz, Geraldine LiaBraaten, Linda MacDonald, Diana Marto, Bruce Mitchell, Zea Morvitz, Dorothy Nissen, Andrew Romanoff, Igor Sazevich, Bernie Schimbke, Marj Burgstahler Stone, Will Thoms, Vickisa, Xander Weaver-Scull

Gallery Route One

11101 Highway One, Point Reyes Station, CA 94956 / Box 937

PH: 415.663.1347 / www.galleryrouteone.org

Email Public info :   <query4@galleryrouteone.org>

https://www.facebook.com/GalleryRouteOne.

Gallery Route One is open 11 AM – 5 PM every day except Tuesday.