Mendocino County Today: Tuesday, July 10, 2018

• Water Regulations
• Chava Missing
• Skyhawk Update
• Problem Property
• Little Dog
• Coach Gareth
• Ed Notes
• Asset Seizures
• RV Fire
• Yesterday's Catch
• Darn Tutin
• Economic Collapse
• Funeral Hits
• Summer Reading
• Humco Disappearances
• Declaration Revisited
• Next Surprise
• Come a'Thistlin'
• Planning Agenda
• Bum Whacked
• Suicide Prevention
• EPA
• Bluhm Benefit

UNTIL WE LEARN TO MAKE IT RAIN, WATER CONSERVATION REGS HERE TO STAY

by Jim Shields

The most frequent question that people have been asking me in the month since Gov. Jerry Brown signed a pair of bills that set permanent overall targets for indoor and outdoor water restrictions is, “How do those regulations affect me?”

Another inquiry is when do the laws become effective, and many folks also wonder if the new rules apply to their private drinking wells.

Okay, let’s see if I can make sense of all this new “water regulating.”

The new laws, Senate Bill 606 and Assembly Bill 1668 call for new water-efficiency standards for indoor and outdoor uses. In the midst of the historic five-year drought, the Brown administration developed a plan to make “water conservation a way of life.” SB 606 and AB 1668 build on Brown’s plan to modernize the state’s management of this invaluable resource by building a framework focusing on water use efficiency, something that has never been done before.

The laws apply only to water provided by municipal water districts and irrigation districts, not to water drawn from private drinking wells. The bills will take effect in 2019, although there will a grace period before enforcement begins.

The new laws, ostensibly, give water districts more flexibility than the strict cuts mandated under Brown’s emergency drought order and will eventually allow state regulators — the State Water Resources Control Board — to assess thousands of dollars in fines against jurisdictions that do not meet the goals. However, the California State Water Board will not enforce these new regs until November of 2023.

So keep in mind, the new laws and regulations do not apply to individuals, just water agencies.

The bills direct water agencies to limit customers’ indoor water use to an average of 55 gallons per person each day. The goal is reduced to 52.5 gallons by 2025 and 50 gallons by 2030. Just how consumers will be required to meet the goals remains unknown.

For example, the Alliance for Water Efficiency estimates a family of four would use 60 gallons per person, per day if they lived in a home with old and inefficient toilets, faucets, shower heads and dishwasher, as well as a 40-gallon washing machine. Also included are four eight-minute showers, a load of laundry and a load of dishes each day.

If the same family replaced only the washing machine with a high-efficiency model, use would decrease to 54 gallons per person per day.

State regulators in consultation with local water districts also will set limits on how much water can be used to water lawns and fill swimming pools. Outdoor watering accounts for the lion's share of total residential consumption in much of California. But those outdoor standards will vary greatly from one water district to another. For example, the legislation allows for places like Sacramento with comparatively large yards and hot, dry summers to use more water outdoors than here on the foggy North Coast where cool weather lessens the need to water as much.

The new rules also encourage water districts to replace leaky infrastructure. Ancient pipes and crumbling water mains account for millions of gallons of wasted water throughout the state.

The idea behind the legislation is that all those factors — the indoor standards, the limits on outdoor water use, making water systems more efficient — will be built into a utility's “water budget.” Eventually, the new legislation says water districts not following the rules could face fines of up to $1,000 a day, and more if the governor declares a drought emergency. But it's the water agencies — not individual ratepayers — that would get the fines. Sure, a district could pass those costs onto your water bill, but that move would create — most likely — a political firestorm.

The new legislation also incentivizes the use of recycled water for irrigation and other non-drinking uses. Already some water districts in the state have tentative projects to develop new drinking water supplies from recycled water, according to the State Water Board.

Here in the Laytonville County Water District that I manage, three years ago we implemented a permanent policy that prohibits outdoor watering during “heat-of-the-day” hours, from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. That measure alone resulted in a 5 percent reduction in water usage.

So I guess one way we can look at this new way of water life in California is that until we learn how to make it rain, we must do a much better job of conserving the water we have.

(Jim Shields is the Mendocino County Observer’s editor and publisher, and is also the long-time district manager of the Laytonville County Water District. Listen to his radio program “This and That” every Saturday at 12 noon on KPFN 105.1 FM, also streamed live: http://www.kpfn.org)

WHERE’S CHRISTIAN HERNANDEZ?

SKYHAWK UPDATE

CHRIS SKYHAWK, candidate for 5th District supervisor suffered a nearly fatal stroke on Tuesday, June 26th and was flown out of Fort Bragg to Stanford where he remains hospitalized but improved enough to soon be moved to a rehab facility. Cards and letters can be sent to him at P.O. Box 127, Albion 95410.

* * *

June 29: He underwent surgery to remove excess blood from his brain as he was at risk of losing his life. The surgery went well but we do not yet know the extent of the damage.

* * *

Journal entry by Samantha Abbott — Jul 7, 2018

Not much change, still waiting to see where he will be moved to for rehab. He remembers a lot from his life and still has a sense of humor. The right side is strong, left side not. Still pretty foggy but has moments of clarity. My sense is that there is a lot more going on inside than meets the eye. Good news is that he can still sing and remembers the words to songs!

(Current info: https://www.caringbridge.org/ )

COUNTY COUNSEL KATHARINE ‘KIT’ ELLIOTT is up for a big pay raise, a $15k a year bump from $131k per year to $146k per year. Of course the raise is on the consent calendar, meaning it will sail on by with no discussion of whether or not it’s deserved. Ms. E was hired at $120k a year in March of 2016, bumped up to $131k per year in August of 2017, which is nice pay for farming out a bunch of work to high priced outside law firms and supervising the in-house attorneys who mostly specialize in child custody cases and the County’s entirely overcomplicated pot permit regs. Given the County’s very tight budget with very little Sheriff’s budget overtime, an arguable “soft hiring freeze,” a dubious Probation/Juvenile Hall budget, etc a 12% raise after less than a year?

THE EYESORE ON PINE STREET, FORT BRAGG…

A Short History Of 119 Pine Street

The residential property at 119 Pine Street has been the subject of numerous code enforcement violations over the years. In November 2017, the City red-tagged the building as uninhabitable and for violations of the building and nuisance codes. Two months later, on January 20, 2018, the property was partially destroyed by fire which also exposed the unsafe interior. To secure the property, the City immediately installed stormwater protection measures and arranged for fencing.

The City pursued both the homeowner and insurance company expecting that insurance funds from the fire could be used to demolish the building and clean up the site. In February, the mortgage holder (Nationstar Mortgage based out of Ohio) initiated foreclosure proceedings. None of the parties (insurance company, Nationstar Mortgage or the property owner) were willing to take any financial responsibility for building demolition. In March, Nationstar received the insurance payout of $173,000. In April, Nationstar completed the foreclosure process on outstanding amounts in excess of $250,000 and became the new property owner. The City tried numerous tactics to convince Nationstar to undertake demolition of the building. Nationstar was unresponsive and the City’s calls and letters went unanswered.

On May 23, the City held an administrative hearing, as required by ordinance, to force Nationstar to demolish the building. Nationstar did not attend the hearing or respond, making the City’s judgment against the property final. In late May, the property owner tried unsuccessfully to auction off the building. On June 8 the City’s Community Development Director sent a certified letter to Nationstar notifying them that they would be fined $1,000 per day for each day after July 10 that the building remained standing.

During the same time period, Nationstar listed the property for sale with Century 21 Realty. The City Attorney initiated an injunction against the property owner to require them to demolish the building before the property could be sold. To avoid the injunction, Nationstar delisted the property and agreed to solicit bids to demolish the building and clean up the property. On July 3, Nationstar’s law firm communicated that they were working “diligently” to obtain bids for the demolition. On July 5, the Community Development Director received a call from Will Wheelehan of Pinelands Preservation Inc., a distressed property management firm based in Sacramento, who is bidding on the demolition project. That work will require a City demolition permit, which has not yet been submitted.

The City is hopeful that Nationstar will work diligently to demolish the building and clean the site. However as motivation, the City will still initiate the $1,000 per day fine on July 10, which will continue until the building is gone and the site cleaned. If necessary, the City can place a lien on the property to recover the outstanding fines and fees.

(Fort Bragg City Press Release)

LITTLE DOG SAYS, “I'm surprised they got the Thai kids outta that cave without a rescue dog. I volunteered but never heard back. O well. Next time.”

THE TURKEY VULTURE ABROAD

England loves England Head Coach/Manager, Gareth Southgate: bbc.co.uk/sport/football/44758729

And celebrating victory in the sunshine: bbc.co.uk/sport/football/44752615

ED NOTES

YOU'LL CERTAINLY feel good, doctor, if you stop in at the Navarro Store for outtasight grilled hotdogs and hamburgers from Guy's Grill, Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays, 11am to 5pm. I know there are some great burgers in Mendocino County, but these babies at the Navarro Store are mondo boffo!

* * *

I WAS PLEASED to see a Highway Patrol presence in the Anderson Valley for an entire day a week ago Tuesday. Through traffic, and plenty of locals, bomb through here at all hours every day and all night, too frequently moving at dangerously high speeds. All of us locals can tell plenty of our own vehicular horror stories. I'll never forget the afternoon I was sitting at an outside table at Boont Berry Farm when a large Mercedes, illegally passing on the right, hurtled past, missing me by a couple of feet, and throwing dust and gravel onto my plate of Eggs Mogambo. Anybody exiting the store would have been killed. And just the other day, pulling out for Boonville from the Navarro Store, a lunatic behind the wheel of a battered black pick-up raced up behind me at such a speed that if I'd even touched my brakes he would have crushed me. And he stayed right on me until I could pull over to let him pass. The guy was simply malicious, a manchild indifferent to human life, a man who deserves to be locked up.

* * *

IF THE SHERIFF put a full-time, strictly traffic officer, on 128 between Yorkville and Navarro, the County could make a lot more in speeding tickets than the County will ever make licensing marijuana.

* * *

SHAUNA ESPINOZA COMMENTED via facebook: “Ok, truth time. I don’t understand the CHP warnings on our local pages. Half the time I’m always getting complaints about there never being an MCSO or CHP presence here, and then people complain when they are here. A quick story: yesterday morning I was driving to Ukiah, a black car tailgating me passed me on the double yellow going up the hill and then passed the car in front of me by using the gravel turnout on the right hand side. I doubt that driver even knew he was there, and they almost crashed when he was getting back on the road. You don’t think we need CHP here? Drivers like that one yesterday, make me believe otherwise.”

* * *

IMPATIENT MALE CALLER; “Can you put me in touch with your historian Bruce Levine?” I don’t have his contact information here. “Is he dead?” If he is I definitely don’t have his contact info, but I think Bruce is still with us. “Did you know that a skeleton with a buccaneer’s hat and sword was found in a sea cave near Westport?” No, but I’m not surprised. Strange things happen in Westport. “Any idea who I might contact for historical information?” The Held-Poage Library in Ukiah and Katy Tahja in Comptche. “Katy what? Held Comptroller?” No, Katy Tahja. “How do you spell Katy? Oh, here she is. She’s written a lot of books. Thank you. Goodbye.”

* * *

SPEAKING OF THE BOBBLEHEADS, the station’s lockstep board of directors is meeting at Anderson Valley High School on Monday, July 16th, 6pm. Which room? Who could possibly care, but look for grayish, gender-neutral people vaguely reminiscent of funeral directors or the opening scene of a zombie movie. The meeting? Interesting only as a study in organizational obliviousness. The true state of Public Radio Mendo? Stagnant membership, overpaid staff, fundraisers not meeting goals, failing equipment. Report out of the July 16th meeting? “We’re doing real good and doing gooder every day.”

* * *

CORRECTION: In our issue of 20 June under Court Notes by Bruce McEwen, the following sentence appears: “Out in the hall I encountered another form of misery, Andrew’s father, who tried to provoke me about, “Did you get anything good?” meaning juicy for the press; little did he know I very nearly shot my own ex and still sometimes wonder if it wouldn’t have been for the best if I had…”

The person referred to as ‘Andrew’s father’ was not John Crowningshield but an anonymous person the writer encountered outside the courtroom. We regret the error and apologize for it to John Crowningshield and his family.

* * *

AN ON-LINE WARRIOR WRITES: “Our homeless problem has been out of hand for a long time. It predates the fires. If there has been an increase of homeless people in SoCo post-fires, it is probably due to them wanting to come to our area to further exploit resources and take advantage of lawlessness. Go talk to some homeless people, NIMBY’s and liberals. These homeless people aren’t from the area.

I have some good news for Sonoma County. I have two flawless solutions to solve this problem for good.

1). All liberals should voluntarily take one homeless person to live in their house. I will volunteer to deliver a homeless person to any lib willing to open up their as long as they give me their address. I will voluntarily use my own money to pay for the gas to ensure that every last homeless person gets a dignified home (in a liberal’s home). There are 9,000 of them in the county. There are probably 250,000 libs. less than 2.5% of libs need to participate.

2). Now that we have found homes for these homeless people, we can use that positive to solve our illegal immigration problem and put our homeless friends to work. We are all on the same page that illegals do jobs that Americans won’t do. It is 100% because we pay so many Americans to stay at home and not do anything all day, but I just ate a few paint chips, so I am going to think like a liberal and ignore that fact. We can deport all of the illegals picking grapes and put the homeless people to work as grape pickers. I will also volunteer my time and money to drive the illegals back to whichever part of Mexico they came from (including Guatemala and El Salvador)

Dignified homes, dignified jobs. The ball is in your court, liberals.

What is the next problem that you would like for me to solve?

ED NOTE: Versions of this comment are routine among the blowhard sectors of the population, as if homelessness is somehow a liberal project, that libs are enjoying the rising tide of hopelessness all around them. Homelessness has specific causes, none of them "liberal" in origin. (Reagan's dismantling of the state hospital system, for one, was and is a huge factor in putting people unable or unwilling to care for themselves on the street.) But liberals and most conservatives are for getting people housed. The nut of the prob, or at least a big part of the prob, as the mighty ava sees it, is the non-profit mafia that has grown up around homelessness, feeds off it, resists doing anything about it that threatens them, the helping professionals. Right here in Mendocino County we have a midget version of San Francisco where the non-profit axis is so large and influential that "liberal" officeholders are afraid to take them on and, of course, the non-profit czars and czarinas, like the liberal officeholders, are all liberals of the active Democrat type, hence the rightwing windbags pinning the prob on generic liberals although only a sliver of libs, or pseudo-libs are responsible. (Get between a non-profit honcho and a fat homeless grant and you'll find out how "liberal" the non-profit liberals are.) Right here in Mendocino County, as we meet here today, the non-profit axis, supported by the supervisors, are actively avoiding putting into practice the irrefutably sensible homeless recommendations of the expensive consultant the County hired to make those recommendations. And on and on it goes.

* * *

CALIBRE, a Scottish made and acted thriller on NetFlix about a couple of city boys who go hunting in the Highlands and.... well, I doubt Scotland's Tourist Board approved this one but it's very well done and plausibly realistic throughout. Recommended Viewing for sure.

FORMER SERGEANT UNDER INVESTIGATION LED ROHNERT PARK’S AGGRESSIVE ROLE IN ASSET SEIZURES

Over the past three years, Rohnert Park’s police officers have seized more cash and valuable assets from motorists and others suspected of breaking the law than any other law enforcement agency in Sonoma County. The total came to more than $2.4 million, nearly as much as the top two largest agencies combined.

pressdemocrat.com/news/8438487-181/former-sergeant-under-investigation-led

UKIAH VALLEY FIRE AUTHORITY and CALFIRE were called to a RV fire with threat to the wildland. The vehicle had been traveling northbound on Hwy 101, across from Hwy 253, when the fire started. The fire was extinguished without road side vegetation catching on fire.

Photo by Peter Armstrong

CATCH OF THE DAY, July 9, 2018

DAVID BOWMAN JR., Fort Bragg. Domestic abuse.

RYAN DICKERSON, Ukiah. Petty theft, disobeying court order, probation revocation.

JEROME GUILLORY, Willits. Domestic battery.

JOHNNY RAY HARDING, Boonville. Suspended license, evasion, failure to appear.

WHEN COLLAPSE GOES KINETIC

by James Kunstler

I suppose many who think about the prospect of economic collapse imagine something like a Death Star implosion that simply obliterates the normal doings of daily life overnight, leaving everybody in a short, nasty, brutish, Hobbesian free-for-all that dumps the survivors in a replay of the Stone Age — without the consolation of golden ages yet to come that we had the first time around.

The collapse of our techno-industrial set-up has actually been going on for some time, insidiously and corrosively, without shattering the scaffolds of seeming normality, just stealthily undermining them. I’d date the onset of it to about 2005 when the world unknowingly crossed an invisible border into the terra incognito of peak oil, by which, of course, I mean oil that societies could no longer afford to pull out of the ground. It’s one thing to have an abundance of really cheap energy, like oil was in 1955. But when the supply starts to get sketchy, and what’s left can only be obtained at an economic loss, the system goes quietly insane.

In the event, popular beliefs and behavior have turned really strange. We do things that are patently self-destructive, rationalize them with doctrines and policies that don’t add up, and then garnish them with wishful fantasies that offer hypothetical happy endings to plot lines that do not really tend in a rosy direction. The techno-narcissistic nonsense reverberating through the echo-chambers of business, media, and government aims to furnish that nostrum called “hope” to a nation that simply won’t admit darker outcomes to the terrible limits facing humanity.

Thus, we have the Tesla saga of electric motoring to save the day for our vaunted way of life (i.e. the landscape as demolition derby), the absurd proposals to colonize distant, arid, frigid, and airless Mars as a cure for ruining this watery blue planet ideally suited for our life-form, and the inane “singularity” narratives that propose to replace grubby material human life with a crypto-gnostic data cloud of never-ending cosmic orgasm. The psychological desperation is obvious. Apparently, there are moments in history when flying up your own butt-hole is the most comforting available option.

I expect the collapse to pick up more momentum as we turn the corner around summer. The system that we have most willfully abused and perverted is finance. This monster that so many observers call “capitalism” is just a set of methods for managing surplus wealth — the catch being that nothing nearly this complex has ever been seen before in history and is a pure product of the 200-year-long industrial orgy driven by fossil fuels. That is, the world never before accumulated so much surplus wealth in such a short span of time. We commonly refer to this dynamic as “growth.” When that growth, as expressed in modern GDP terms, slowed dramatically after 2005, we launched an array of clever mechanisms to keep faking it for a while. Racking up immense debt was our way of faking it. If you can’t cover your costs in the present, just borrow from the future. Unfortunately, that works only as as long as there’s some reasonable expectation that debt can be paid back. We’re so far beyond that now, it’s not funny. And that realization alone will destroy the bond markets and anything related to and dependent on its operations to function.

This is a broad outline to the coming end of the Trump miracle economy. It was the after effects of the previous debt blowup — the phony-baloney mortgage bond market in 2008 — that mortally wounded the American middle class and put Donald Trump in the White House. His base is correct to feel swindled. That is exactly what happened to them, and the beat goes on now with securitized sub-prime auto loans. Throw in the horrific burdens of unpayable and non-dischargable college loans that will ruin millions of lives and pricey health insurance with $5000 deductibles and you have recipe for a complete loss of faith in the system.

The next debt blowup will be the end of Mr. Trump’s improbable credibility. It may also be the beginning of serious difficulty in being able to get many of the goods of daily life, because the producers of things will be very unsure of getting paid on delivery of just about anything. A freeze up of short-term lending would quickly lead to empty WalMart shelves and “no gas” signs at the filing stations. That’s when collapse finally goes kinetic, and becomes something more than just bad feelings inane ideas.

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

ENGROSSING SUMMER READING & VIEWING

by Ralph Nader

Skin in the Game: Hidden Asymmetries in Daily Life by Nassim Taleb (Random House, 2018). Taleb writes: “The necessity of skin in the game is a simple rule that’s necessary for fairness and justice, and the ultimate BS-buster. Never trust anyone who doesn’t have skin in the game. Without it, fools and crooks will benefit, and their mistakes will never come back to haunt them.” Taleb includes people who spearhead military interventions and make financial investments for others. This book is a must-read for those who make or will make decisions affecting others.

Our Towns: A 100,000-Mile Journey into the Heart of America by James Fallows and Deborah Fallows (Pantheon, 2018). For five years, the Fallows have been flying their single-engine prop airplane into dozens of towns to understand what the people there see as their community’s problems and how they are handling them. If you are similarly concerned about your town or city, there is no better book to provide a roadmap for what it takes to improve your community.

Mind Over Meds: Know When Drugs Are Necessary, When Alternatives Are Better and When to Let Your Body Heal on Its Own by Dr. Andrew Weil (Little Brown, 2017). Dr. Weil is a pioneer in integrative medicine and a professor of Public Health and Clinical Medicine at the University of Arizona; you may have seen him on Oprah. According to Dr. Weil, “too many Americans are taking too many drugs—and it’s costing us our health, happiness, and lives… Prescription drug use in America has increased tenfold in the past fifty years, and over-the-counter drug use has risen just as dramatically.” The situation has gotten so dire that “adverse drug reactions are America’s fourth leading cause of death.” Dr. Weil’s most recent book is specific, useful, and will alert you to the dangers of living in a society that has become “drastically overmedicated.”

It’s Even Worse Than You Think: What the Trump Administration Is Doing to America by David Cay Johnston (Simon and Schuster, 2018). Johnston is the last man on Earth that Trump would want to be questioned by or debate. Following Trump’s past business practices and now his White House antics, Johnston rolls out the facts and adds to his bestselling books and articles that have earned him journalism’s top prizes and built his devoted readership.

“Rule of Law,” Lapham’s Quarterly (Spring 2018). Drawing from a collection of essays, sayings, proverbs, and excerpts from the most insightful legal minds of the past 5,000 years, this edition of Lapham’s Quarterly paints a compelling portrait of what the law encompasses. This 220 page journal is stunning, gripping, and can best be read in small slices on the beach or in the mountains. I have an essay, “Land of the Lawless,” in this collection.

Injustice: The Story of the Holy Land Foundation Five by Miko Peled (Just World Books, 2018). Post 9/11, Bush’s Feds were looking for scapegoats. They persecuted the people at the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development, a Muslim charity, and lost. The Feds then brought another documented miscarriage of justice, a brazen malpractice of the judicial process, to put innocent elders in prison for many years. Peled, a courageous and prominent Israeli champion of justice for Palestinians, takes you through the trauma this persecution caused and the shameful lack of media coverage of this travesty. Meanwhile, mass war criminals, George W. Bush and Dick Cheney are at large, enjoying big speech fees, while Iraq still burns.

Citizen Clark: A Life of Principle (La Polama Films, produced by Joseph C. Stillman, 2018). This film on the life of former U.S. Attorney General and bold human rights activist Ramsey Clark won the best documentary award at the Berkeley Film Festival. Fearless, dauntless, calm and focused, Clark journeys around the world representing both the righteous and the wrongdoers because of his belief in due process of law and the adversarial system of justice. In a serious society dedicated to the rule of law, Clark would be a household name up there with the entertainers, athletes, and bloviating politicians.

Democracy in Chains: The Deep History of the Radical Right’s Stealth Plan for America by Duke University History Professor Nancy MacLean (Viking, 2018). This is the archive-based story of a systemic, cunning conspiracy led by a determined professor of economics, the Koch brothers, and other morally bankrupt plutocrats who helped their cruel ideologies secure footholds in our political institutions. MacLean outlines the steps the radical right took to take control of Congress, the courts, state legislatures, governorships, and the White House. Sadly, their sheer energy of purpose and financial resources towers above their liberal/progressive/affluent counterparts. Sobering reading that should galvanize readers who want to see progressive change in the United States.

Thoughtful Pause: A Political Philosophy by Michael G. Merhige (2017). Who could have ever envisioned this 67 page book full of laser-beam wisdom and insights by a former college baseball player, U.S. army careerist, former CIA officer in the Far East, and corporate development executive? Niccolo Machiavelli, Mark Twain, Thomas Paine, and Will Rogers would have wanted to review these hundreds of memorable observations—so timely in today’s world.

America: The Farewell Tour by Chris Hedges (Simon and Schuster, August 2018). Chris Hedges, the realist and no-holds-barred award winning journalist and war correspondent gives us the full antidote to Trump’s and other politicians’ fantasies and sugarcoating of what Americans are experiencing in this inverted home of the free. Hedges walks you through the reality of this “other America” blows away the insidious incense of the pontificating plutocrats and their toady oligarchs.

When the Senate Worked for Us by Michael Pertschuk (Vanderbilt University Press, 2017). This book should not be ignored by today’s Senators and staff. It is a throbbing narrative of the days in the sixties and seventies when enough Senators and their valiant staff overcame the corporate greedhounds and gave our country the structures of health, safety, and consumer justice that today’s Trumpsters are trying to tear down and make America Dread Again. Story after story about autos, drugs, energy, cigarettes, food, product safety, herbicides, flammable fabrics and much more will make it hard to forget a time when the Senate indeed worked for us—we who gave them the constitutional power that their successors now so abuse.

As we know, readers think and thinkers read. Enjoy!

(Ralph Nader is a consumer advocate, lawyer and author of Only the Super-Rich Can Save Us!)

MYSTERIOUS DISAPPEARANCES IN HUMBOLDT

"...All of this has long combined to make Humboldt County a haven for backpackers, hikers, campers, fishermen, artists, new-agers, and hippies, as well as people just looking to get away from society and the hectic life of civilization to live off the grid. However, there has also long been a darker side to all of the natural splendor, pulsing under the peaceful visage, and Humboldt has unfortunately also become known for its strange unsolved vanishings, with one spate of such disappearances beginning in the 1990s."

mysteriousuniverse.org/2018/07/mysterious-vanishings-in-humboldt-county-california/

READ CAREFULLY

Editor:

Every year on the Fourth of July, I re-read the Declaration of Independence to remind myself what and why we celebrate. It’s interesting to read the list of grievances following the familiar opening paragraphs; the injuries, abuses and usurpations that marked the tyranny of King George III. This year, I was struck by the seventh of the 18 grievances that begin with “He”:

“He has endeavoured to prevent the Population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their Migrations hither, and raising the Conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.”

While we are no longer appropriating lands, we are still a country in need of immigrants. Our unemployment rate is down to 3.9 percent, and many jobs are going begging. King George knew that immigrants would strengthen the colonies and weaken his power; without immigrants the economy would slow and stagnate. Today, immigrants are still our strength. Knowing our history, and we should keep our welcome mat out.

Virginia MacIntosh

Ukiah

ON LINE COMMENT OF THE DAY

There’s a lot of deformations, a 21 trillion dollar national debt, a trillion dollar a year federal deficit, a six hundred billion dollar trade deficit, the chief of them being the mental deformation that blindly assumes that this is workable and can keep going. Which of course it can’t. You can only wonder about the splatter patterns when it hits the fan.

But it’s not just economic. It’s political and it’s not just all about American politics.

In the sixth and early seventh centuries when the East Roman Empire was slugging it out with the Persians over turf in the middle east and its environs, guess what took shape? Islam, with Mohammed and his supporters forming a new polity.

I think it’s fair to say that nobody at the time saw it coming.

From the perspective of Germans in the year 1900, nobody would have predicted the rise of an unnoticed 10 year old Austrian boy to lead something called the National Socialists. Who saw THAT coming? Did anyone foresee the removal of the Russian ruling family and the rise of the Bolsheviks?

So I wonder what it is nowadays that’s right under everybody’s nose that everybody’s missing?

THE ETERNAL STRUGGLE

Navarro Point thistle-removing

THIS WEDNESDAY, 10am-noon

Hello. You are invited to join us as we remove thistles at Navarro Point this Wednesday, July 11th, from 10am until noon. We’re at the peak of spring wildflower blooming so it’s a great time to be out on the headlands there even if you’re not removing thistles. You can find us in the parking lot on the west side of Highway 1 a half mile south of the Navarro Ridge Road turn-off at 10am. No tools or previous experience are necessary, altho gloves and clippers would be helpful. We hope to see you there this Wednesday at 10am. Contact me if you have questions.

Tom Wodetski, 937-1113, tw@mcn.org

THE CAREFULLY LAID PLANS OF MICE AND....

Planning Commission meeting Agenda for July 19, 2018, is posted on the department website at: mendocinocounty.org/home/showdocument?id=21569

Please contact staff with any questions.

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

ED NOTE: The Schnaubelt Distillery Parking non-problem in Noyo Harbor is first on the agenda.

SUICIDE PREVENTION

by Lisa Burtis

The North Coast Mental Health Action Team is currently formulating a suicide prevention campaign that will build awareness; increase the opportunity for the community to identify people at risk; provide meaningful connections to appropriate services; and enhance the web of support for community members. These ideas are important for us as a community to reduce and eliminate suicidal self-directed violence, a term used to more accurately describe suicide by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDCP).

Suicidal self-directed violence is responsible for an average of 21 deaths each year in Mendocino County (6 deaths/Coast, 15 deaths/Inland based on 2006-2016 statistics). For Northern California counties, including Mendocino, there is a higher per capita rate of suicidal self-directed violence compared to the rest of the state. “Age-Adjusted Death Rate due to Suicide” indicator, on HealthyMendocino.org, shows 23.6 deaths/100,000 population compared to the CA value of 10.3 deaths/100,000 population. According to the CDCP, suicide is the second leading cause of death among young people ages 15-24 in the US.¹ For US Veterans, a study released in June 2018, reports, “In 2015, an average of 20.6 active-duty Service members, non-activated Guardsmen or Reservists, and other Veterans died by suicide each day.”² The World Health Organization reports, “Suicide is one of the leading causes of death worldwide and is an important public health problem. Among those aged 15-44 years, self-inflicted injuries are the fourth leading cause of death and the sixth leading cause of ill-health and disability.“³

There are innovative changes currently being implemented. For example, in 2016, California Assembly Bill 2246 was passed requiring school districts serving 7th-12th graders to implement a Suicide Prevention Policy by the beginning of the 2017-2018 school year. The Bill was inspired by a national survey conducted by the Jason Foundation that found the primary person a student would reach out to if they were having thoughts of suicide is a teacher. The Suicide Prevention Policy focuses specifically on suicide prevention, intervention, and postvention (activities which reduce risk and promote healing after a suicide death). Teachers and school staff all over California were trained last summer to ensure they have the knowledge, tools, and resources to respond appropriately.⁴

Zero Suicide, a Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) sponsored organization, promotes a multifaceted approach for providers of behavioral and physical health services. The Zero Suicide initiative targets the following areas:

Leadership through making an explicit commitment to reduce suicide deaths;

Training of all clinical and non-clinical staff to develop a confident, competent, and caring workforce to respond effectively, commensurate with their roles, to clients at risk for suicide;

Identification of every person at risk for suicide through screening and assessment practices;

Engagement of clients in a Suicide Care Management Plan, following closely everyone at risk for suicide;

Treating suicidal thoughts and behaviors directly with evidenced-based treatments that focus explicitly on the suicide risk;

Following patients through every transition in care ensuring safe hand-offs between care-givers; and

Improving systems through leveraging data to inform system changes that will lead to improved patient outcomes and better care for those at risk.5

There are many web sites that are available for ‘just in time’ education or innovative ways to increase youth awareness. For example, “Know the Signs-Suicide is Preventable”, is a prevention campaign that provides education and access to resources online. “Know the Signs,” “Find the Words,” and “Reach Out” are the key components to this campaign.⁶

“Directing Change” targets youth in emotional crisis. The Directing Change Program and Film Contest engages youth to learn about the topics of suicide prevention and mental health through the creation of short films. Take a peek at the winners from this year’s contest (http://www.directingchangeca.org/films/).⁷

Protective factors help reduce the risk for suicidal self-directed violence. For youth, protective factors include parent engagement, school connectedness, and positive parenting practices. Parents of teens can improve protective factors by taking an active role in their teen’s life. For example, monitoring youth’s activities, ensuring fathers are involved and talking to their teen about how to avoid risky sexual behavior, improving quality of information relative to raising lesbian, gay or bisexual youth, learning how to have meaningful discussions about sex, relationships, and the prevention of HIV, STIs and pregnancy, and connecting youth to a trusted primary care provider to talk about sensitive subjects like mental health.⁸

For the general population, protective factors include effective clinical care for mental, physical, and substance use disorders, easy access to a variety of clinical interventions and support, family and community support (connectedness), support from ongoing medical and mental health care relationships, skills in problem solving, conflict resolution, and nonviolent ways of handling disputes, and cultural and religious beliefs that discourage suicide and support instincts for self-preservation.⁹

Suicidal self-directed violence is preventable. As a community, we must continue our efforts to build awareness, support programs that enhance protective factors and improve the networks of support.

The North Coast Mental Health Action Team meets the last Tuesday of each month at 5pm at the Healing Center on Main, 544 S. Main Street, Suite A, Fort Bragg, California. Call (707) 961-0115 for more information.

Help is available…

1-855-838-0404

Redwood Community Crisis Center, a division of Redwood Community Services, Inc., operates 24/7 and is available for people in crisis. Early intervention support services are available for people who need immediate help with symptoms of mental illness but might not need psychiatric hospitalization. Early intervention support focuses on helping people choose their best path while identifying coping skills and support networks. The services are available to everyone including children, teens and adults.

Crisis Text Line: Text “home” to 741741 anywhere in the United States for any type of crisis. A live, trained crisis counselor will respond.

Life Line Chat: https://suicidepreventionlifeline.org/chat/

National Suicide Hotlines: http://www.suicidehotlines.com/california.html

Upcoming Training Opportunities: Mendocino County MHSA sponsored ASIST (Applied Suicide Intervention Skills Training) training in July in Ukiah, and October in Fort Bragg. Contact Robin Meloche for more information: (707) 472-2332

Lisa Burtis is the Adult Services Clinical Coordinator at Redwood Community Services in Fort Bragg.

Visit www.HealthyMendocino.org to view this story and more additional information on health and well-being in Mendocino County. For more information on this story, contact healthymendocino@ncoinc.org.

“Mr. Trump would like you to consider serving as his head of the Environmental Protection Agency.”

GUALALA ARTS & FRIENDS OF GARY BLUHM PRESENTS

Summer Dance Party! A Benefit For Gary Bluhm

**(Please note new information about Bank Account for Gary to be set up Tuesday, July 10 for donations - See below)

Saturday, July 28, 2018 At Gualala Arts Center Redwood Grove - 5:00pm

Entertainment:

1. J. Mule Kat (Paul Mueller, Tim Mueller, James Hayes, Jesse Hanna and Katrina Coffman

DJ Sister Yasmin

And Special Guests to be announced

Potluck and BBQ, No Host Beer, Wine & Soft Drinks

Tickets In Advance: $15.00 Adults; $5.00 more day of event; Youth 7-17 free with paying adult

Tickets at: Gualala Arts Center, 46501 Old State Highway, Gualala, CA; Dolphin Gallery and BrownPaperTickets.com - 1-800-838-3006

Join us for a Celebration of Friendship, Dancing, Music, Food & Fun to help Gary Bluhm with his struggle with cancer;

**A Bank Account At Redwood Credit Union Will Be Set Up For Donations On Tuesday, July 10, 2018.

More Information About This Account Will Be Forthcoming Shortly, So Please Stay Tuned.

Thanks To All For Any Donations You Can Give!

Volunteers And Donations Are Needed. If you can volunteer at the event, please call Sus or Yasmin. Thank you.

Information: GualalaArts.org; 707-884-1138; 884-4703

This is a Local Eyes Production

Story: Long time local resident, Gary Bluhm, teacher and mentor to many South Coast musicians and all around "Good Guy", needs our help in his struggle with cancer, for medical expenses, food, gas money to doctors, and much more. Let's lend a hand to this "Local Hero" who has brought so much musical joy and inspiration to our Coast for so many years. He and his Care Giver and friend Juanita Martinez are grateful for our support. Please help spread the word and attend this important and fun event for our friend, Gargy Lee Bluhm!

"Let's get together and feel all right!"

Bob Marley

(Sister Yasmin)