Mendocino County Today: Friday, July 20, 2018

• Eddie Missing
• Clean-up Costs
• Bastille Band
• Philo Vote
• Removing Barriers
• Pot Permits
• EDFC Bill
• Little Dog
• Humco Underwater
• Boonville 1987
• Yesterday's Catch
• Trump 2020
• MCBG Events
• Ag Scholarships
• Meeting Adversaries
• Lassie Classic
• Group Death
• Cheap Golfballs

THE FAMILY OF EDDIE KOCH IS WORRIED. The last time anyone in the family saw this lifetime resident of Eureka, was March 8. A missing person’s report was filed the second week in May, says his sister, Machelle Bates.

“It is very out of character for him to be gone longer than a week without at least a call,” she said. “Through word of mouth, we heard he was looking for a trimming job in Hayfork or Garberville CA.”

Eddie will be 28 in November. He’s 5’10” and weights about 165 pounds.

If anyone has information, the family asks them to please call the Eureka Police at (707) 441-4044.

KQED: WILDFIRE DEBRIS CLEAN-UP TAB: $1.3 BILLION

(An extensive report on the “disaster after the disaster”)

kqed.org/news/11681280/cleaning-up-inside-the-wildfire-debris-removal-job-that-cost-taxpayers-1.3-billion

LEE HOWARD ADDS: I have a whole lot more than this! Where was our local government? This may be the start — and the $1.3 Billion is just clean-up.

CORRECTION: Last week we reported that “a large crowd celebrated Bastille Day at the French-owned Roederer Winery on Sunday, enjoying music by the Boonville Big Band and a locally-catered lunch.” Most of that was correct, but the music was not provided by the Boonville Big Band, but by an impromptu five-piece jazz band assembled by Philo drummer Kevin Burke (piano, bass, drums, saxophone and trumpet) fronted by local singer Dorothea May. Their four hours of jazz standards were indeed “enjoyed” by the large crowd.

HUTCHINS’ PHILO FOES

Marshall Newman writes: I was looking at the local results regarding Michelle Hutchins’ election as County Superintendent of Schools and was startled by the total votes cast in Boonville and Philo. Boonville cast a total of 95 votes in this race, while Philo cast a total 125 votes. So Philo cast 30 more votes than Boonville, even though Boonville has a population almost triple Philo (the 2010 numbers are and 1035 and 349, respectively). I’m puzzled as to how this happened. To quote The Lion King, “What’s going on here?”

ED NOTE: I wondered about that apparent discrepancy myself. Can it be that behind Philo's welcoming face lurks that many assassins?

DEPARTMENT OF UNINTENTIONAL SATIRE:

Mendocino County Board of Supervisors Agenda Item 5a, July 24, 2018:

Noticed Public Hearing - Discussion and Possible Action Including Adoption of Resolution Accepting Two Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) Funded Studies; One Titled “Removing Barriers to Entry for Local Economic Development in Mendocino County” and the Second Titled, “Housing Conditions Survey.”

(The “housing conditions survey,” by the way, is three years old, and what it has to do with “removing barriers” is not explained, but, WTF, they threw that up there too. The Supes don’t care.)

Housing Conditions Survey

AMONG THE ASTOUNDING RESULTS of the “Removing Barriers” report are such keen insights as “Employee recruitment and retention is the largest concern for businesses in Mendocino County,” And, “Housing costs was another issue that was reported as being a difficulty.” And, “Insurance costs (health and liability) as well as worker’s compensation costs were also challenges.” And, “the biggest struggle reported was the planning and zoning processes.”

You see, Mendo would never know about these problems without a high-paid consultant telling them.

But this “result” stands out:

“While the survey did not directly address the marijuana culture in Mendocino County, the comments section made it clear that this was a major issue affecting businesses throughout the County. The words marijuana/pot/weed were mentioned 36 times in the comment section. Unfortunately, few conclusions could be drawn from the comments. There was considerable conflict between comments as many comments pointed out that it brought people and money into the region, while others felt it was a drain on local resources. Several businesses did agree that marijuana cultivation makes it difficult to retain employees because legitimate businesses cannot compete on wages and employment taxes. One business said, ‘when you are paid $35 per hour cash to trim marijuana, it's difficult to find people who want to work in the legitimate jobs.’ They were not the only one to express this sentiment.”

RemovingBarriers2-2

HOW TO APPLY FOR A POT PERMIT

(Never mind it’s a year late, but then the process itself is a moving target…)

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

Ag Commissioner’s Report – July 24, 2018

“The cannabis unit has planned four events to allow cultivators to complete application requirements and move permits forward. Each day will consist of two sessions. One will be open to allow applicants who need help with applications, have questions about the status of their permit and/or would like to submit applications for administrative permits. The other will be a presentation by Chevon Holmes from the Department of Agriculture and Jesse Davis from Planning and Building Services to review new application documents and process. Those who would like to attend but are unavailable during these times can contact Chevon Holmes at (707) 234-6830 or holmesc@mendocinocounty.org.”

Tuesday, July 31, 2018
8-12 Open AG,
1-1:30 Process Presentation

Wednesday, August 1, 2018,
8-12 Process Presentation
1-1:30- Open AG,

Monday, August 6, 2018
8-12 Open AG,
1-1:30 Process Presentation

Tuesday, August 7, 2018
8-12 Process Presentation,
1-1:30 Open AG

MENDO-LAKE EDFC WANTS THE COUNTY TO PAY A FOUR-YEAR OLD BILL FOR $29K

Agenda Item: 4g) “Approval of Payment to the Economic Development and Financing Corporation (EDFC) for Invoice No. 199, Dated July 1, 2014, in the Amount of $29,000 for Contract Services Completed in Fiscal Year (FY) 2014-15”

WHAT DOES EDFC DO, readers may ask?

Oh, lots! They “connect money and ideas with entrepreneurs to create sustainable prosperity in Lake & Mendocino Counties.”

Translation: We don’t do anything really. And don’t ask us for a list of “sustainable prosperity” activities.

Supervisor McCowen loves EDFC anyway: “I am proud to say that we are putting the Economic Development back into EDFC,” Supervisor McCowen is quoted as saying in a prominent blurb on EDFC’s website.

Here’s what the taxpayers get for their $29k a year or more:

In the 2017 – 2018 Fiscal Year, EDFC accomplished the following:

Hired a new Executive Director

Awarded Community Development Financial Institution Fund Financial Award Grant for $350,000 ($300,000 for loan funds)

Awarded $500,000 in USDA Rural Development Intermediary Relending Program loan funds

Provided technical assistance through our Rural Microentrepreneur Assistance Program via West Company and Community Development Services to 41 business owners and entrepreneurs.

Provided an “Access to Capital” Workshop in Ukiah and Fort Bragg on May 17, 2018.

Provided digital access to content from “Access to Capital” online in perpetuity

Participation in the Healthy Mendocino Poverty Action Teams for inland Mendocino and the Mendocino Coast

Lent out $150,000 to 3 businesses

Applied for 3 grants to support economic development work

Participated in meetings to re-establish a Mendocino County Committee for the North Bay Workforce Alliance

Participated in the Broadband Working Group to develop a broadband plan

Participated in the CalRecycle Recycled Marketing Development Zone and created new marketing materials to promote RMDZ and EDFC.

Revision and distribution of the “How to Do Business in Mendocino County Resource Guide”

Created a page on our website with links to current economic and demographic data for Mendocino County.

* * *

THAT WEB-PAGE “ACCOMPLISHMENT” was probably worth thousands of dollars all by itself! Plus the participation! And the grant applications! And the workshops! I mean! How much more “economic development” could anyone want?!

LITTLE DOG SAYS, “Nipped over the fence for a burrito at the Redwood Drive-in today. Guy says to me, ‘I didn't know dogs ate burritos.’ Live and learn, buddy, I said, and walked on out the door with extra salsa.”

BAD NEWS FOR HUMCO

Humboldt Bay is at the highest risk of sea level rise on the entire U.S. west coast. The County has completed a sea level rise vulnerability assessment indicating three communities are at risk of being inundated by sea level rise. Nearly 400 residential parcels are vulnerable in the unincorporated communities of King Salmon, Fields Landing, and Fairhaven.

Community members will have the opportunity to learn about local sea level rise and participate in planning conversations at two public workshops focused on these three communities. The first workshop will be for the communities of King Salmon and Fields Landing on Tuesday, August 7, at 6 pm at the Humboldt Agricultural Center, 5630 South Broadway in Eureka. The second workshop will be for the community of Fairhaven on Tuesday, August 14 at 6 p.m. at the Samoa Women’s Club, 115 Rideout Ave, Samoa. Refreshments will be provided.

Local sea level rise planner Aldaron Laird of Trinity Associates will present the results of the vulnerability assessment and lead the discussion.

“The first thing we want to do is educate the people who live there, own property there, have a business there or just use those areas recreationally. By 2040, King Salmon could be tidally inundated at least eight times a year, and that’s most of the residential lots. That’s going to be problematic with the existing development in King Salmon,” Laird said. “There’s a limited amount of time; by 2070, King Salmon and Fields Landing could be inundated on a daily basis by mean high water. And it’s not just these three communities with something at risk. By 2100, the PG&E power generating plant is expected to be tidally inundated on a monthly basis, and that would affect all of us.”

Residents, property owners, business owners, utility service providers, stakeholders and other interested community members are encouraged to participate in the workshops. Attendees will have the opportunity to ask questions and contribute to the discussion of potential adaptation strategies.

“The first thing that needs to be explored is how can we protect these existing communities?” Laird said.

(Ryan Burns, LostCoastOutpost.com)

BOONVILLE 1987

by Bruce Anderson

Arturo Flores might be Boonville's least known serial killer. In 1987, Flores would tell his friends that “all anglos should be exterminated.” Then he exterminated one. Maybe he'd exterminated others, too, but we knew from the cold, dead fact of Gregory Evans, a 27-year-old softball player from Rohnert Park, that Flores exterminated Evans because two men saw Flores do it. That was almost forty years ago, and Flores got away with it, and then he ran away, far away.

You'd see Flores around Boonville at all hours of the day and night. Couldn't miss him. He was tall for a Mexican, lean and he stared a big-eyed stare right at you, unblinking, not hostile exactly but homicidally indifferent, a vacant-eyed psycho-stare, a kind of encompassing death ray. Vehicles, people, dogs, insects disappeared into those eyes. You got the feeling that Flores wanted to kill it all.

Some people thought Flores was crazy. Others were merely unnerved by him. "That Mexican creeps me out big time," someone would say. "Does he sleep standing up? He's always here," another person would say. There he was, a constant staring public presence, a brooding human surveillance camera, leaned up against the wall of the Lodge or Tom Cronquist's cyclone fence or the Anderson Valley Market, never saying a word to any anglo body, not much to his countrymen, always staring that blank stare that somehow seemed to go blanker at the gringo visuals.

Of course it is better than likely that Senor Flores had had unhappy encounters with gringos some of whom, at the time, amused themselves by heaving Mexicans out the door of the Boonville Lodge like so many fifty-pound bags of pinto beans. Mexican-tossing finally ended the memorable afternoon the Mexicans counter-attacked, beating down the locked door of the bar with half a telephone pole to get at the Mexican tossers who had barricaded themselves inside the bar when fed up Mexicans suddenly appeared outside the bar in seriously angry numbers.

When a contingent of riot-geared deputies arrived from Ukiah, the Mexican assault force was inside the bar where a replay of the Alamo was underway. A small group of Mexican-tossers was backed up in a corner where they were beating back their attackers with broken pool cues. Another gringo — a fat, strong one — was all-fours on the floor with a determined Mexican riding his bucking back, sawing away at the big man's enlarded throat with a knife not quite sharp enough to penetrate the suet. "His fat and his arm strength saved him," a deputy commented later. "The Mexican couldn't cut all the way through the neck because the guy was able to scrunch up tight enough to keep the knife from penetrating. He was starting to fade, though. Another minute or so and the Mex would have had him sliced and diced."

Boonville was a hard place for Mexicans then, and Arturo Flores didn't bother making distinctions between good gringos and bad gringos. He hated them all.

The night Flores launched his gringo eradication program, assuming he hadn't already notched one or two before he touched down in bucolic Anderson Valley, Anastacio Yanez and Luis Orozco had met Greg Evans in the Boonville Cantina, also known as The Mexican Bar. (Now Lauren's Restaurant.) Yanez and Orozco had watched Evans drive in the winning run in a Boonville slo-pitch softball tournament across the street at the Mendocino County Fairgrounds. It was the first tournament of the year, and the weather was in and out; it rained a little, the sun came out, it rained a little more, the sun came out. That night it rained steady and hard.

Yanez and Orozco said Evans was drinking a lot of beer before he left the Cantina. They said they next saw him outside the bar trying to flag down cars for a ride. When Evans saw Yanez and Orozco walk out of the Cantina he asked them for a lift to Ukiah. Evans said he'd pay them for the trip. Yanez said he was going to Ukiah anyway so Evans didn't have to pay him.

Yanez said later that Evans "was a very good person."

Yanez invited Orozco and Flores to drive with him to Ukiah in his Ford Pinto. Yanez said he was headed to Ukiah for a dance. Flores and Orozco climbed in the back. Yanez got behind the wheel, Greg Evans rode in the passenger seat, which Flores may have seen as an undeserved concession to the gringo or, worse perhaps to Flores, the human panopticon, gringo-hood's assumed front seat privilege.

Yanez said Evans was "friendly" during the trip over the hill. He said that he and Evans hit it off so well that Evans offered to introduce Yanez to some bimbitos* in Ukiah. Yanez said that Evans gave him a card with Evans' name and address and telephone number on it. Evans and Yanez chatted as best they could in mutually unintelligible languages all the way up and over the Ukiah hill until the carload of merrymakers was about five miles from Highway 101 and Ukiah's night life, rightly assumed, but not by much, to be more exciting than Boonville's.

Gregory Evans suddenly threw up his hands and exclaimed, "I'm sorry, I'm sorry!"

Whatever Evans thought he'd done to be sorry about was neither audible nor visible to either Yanez or Orozco.

Flores, seated directly behind Evans, had suddenly reached over the seat and driven a knife blade deep into Evans' heart. Evans said he was sorry and then he was gone.

Orozco asked Flores why he'd done it. "This is nothing," Flores said. "These guys we have to exterminate."

Yanez and Orozco couldn't have been too upset about the murder of the Rohnert Park softball player because the three amigos dumped Evans' body about a foot off the pavement of Stipp Lane, then drove to a Mexican bar on North State Street to re-commence their Saturday night festivities. In the men's room of the bar on North State, Yanez said he saw Flores wash the blood off the folding knife he'd murdered Evans with.

Evans' body was discovered by a passing motorist at about 11pm, only a few hours after his final apology. Evans hadn't even been dragged into the bushes, just dumped on the side of the road.

Flores, Yanez and Orozco saw the cluster of police and police vehicles as they drove back to Boonville.

Yanez and Orozco said their fear of Flores prevented them from voluntarily turning themselves into police. They didn't say that Flores had threatened them; he didn't have to. He might prefer to murder gringos but anybody would do.

There being few secrets in the Anderson Valley, and the few secrets that aren't in general circulation are fully known by Deputy Squires, the three Mexicans were arrested three days after Gregory Evans said he was sorry. Orozco and Yanez quickly agreed to tell all in exchange for immunity from prosecution. Their stories matched, and Yanez and Orozco were released from custody. Flores was arrested and, it was assumed, confined to the County Jail to await trial.

The Mendocino County Jail was rather loosely administered in the middle 1980s. An inmate was caught boffing a female jailer in a broom closet, and tennis balls stuffed with marijuana frequently sailed into the prisoners' outdoor commons by dope missionaries passing by on Low Gap Road. The day before he was scheduled to be arraigned for exterminating Gregory Evans, perhaps while inmates scrambled for a pot ball, Flores vaulted the jail fence out onto Low Gap and hasn't been seen since.

(*Bimbito, n. 1. Spanish for bimbo. 2. Loose woman short in stature. 3. Bilingual welcome wagon specializing in intimate transnational relations.)

CATCH OF THE DAY, July 19, 2018

ODDIE BLAGG, Fort Bragg. Probation revocation.

BRENDAN BRITTON, Willits. Probation revocation, resisting.

TALON BRITTON, Willits. Vandalism, resisting, probation revocation.

ENRIQUE GARCIA-JORDAN, Point Arena. Harboring a wanted felon, evasion.

ZACHARY GLIDDEN, Eureka/Ukiah. DUI.

CASEY IRELAND, Willits. Parole violation.

ZACHARY IRVEN, Fort Bragg. Trespassing, vandalism, resisting.

DEREK JOHNSON, Willits. Domestic battery.

DEBORAH LAWRENCE, Ukiah. Under influence, disorderly conduct-alcohol. (Frequent flyer.)

KELLY LINDLAND, Sacramento/Ukiah. Probation revocation.

LUKE MCCRAE, Ukiah. Battery on peace officer, resisting.

MICHAEL MENDEZ, Ukiah. Probation revocation.

DAVID NEWTON, Ukiah. Disorderly conduct-alcohol.

JUSTIN SCHAEFER, Lakeport/Ukiah. Battery, petty theft, contempt of court, probation revocation.

ARNOLD SISSON, Willits. Probation revocation.

MOLLY WHEELER, Eureka/Ukiah. Disorderly conduct-alcohol.

RIGHT NOW IT LOOKS LIKE TRUMP IN 2020

by Ted Rall

First: No. It’s not too early to discuss the 2020 election. The Iowa caucuses are only a year and a half away. Any presidential hopeful who hasn’t begun chatting up donors by now will find it nearly impossible to mount a viable campaign.

At this point insert the usual caveats that anything can happen, no knows anything, scandals happen, politicians get sick, a year is an eternity in politics.

Let’s speculate!

On the Right: Donald Trump will almost certainly be the Republican nominee.

Impeachment? Republicans are knee-jerk loyal AF, so Democrats would have to initiate proceedings. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi says impeachment “is not somewhere I think we should go.” Also, note the word “minority.” Democrats can’t do jack without taking back the House — far from a sure thing.

A serious Republican primary challenge? Most incumbent Republican presidents have nothing to worry about there but Donald Trump is not most presidents. You can imagine a right-wing version of Ted Kennedy’s devastating 1980 challenge to Jimmy Carter.

The GOP doesn’t have superdelegates so it’s harder for the RNC to fix the race the way Democrats did for Clinton in 2016. Still, I don’t think a serious (as opposed to symbolic) challenge will materialize from the three currently most-talked-abouts. Jeff Flake can’t raise enough dough. (Trump, on the other hand, already has a whopping $88 million.) Mitt Romney could self-fund but seems too bogged down in Utah’s primary race for Senate to have time to pivot for another presidential run in 2020. Ohio governor John Kasich is beloved by the Beltway media but not GOP primary voters. I could be wrong. But my political instincts say Trump will coast to renomination without a significant primary challenger.

On the Left: The Democratic nomination belongs to Bernie Sanders. If he wants it.

Neither the centrist-controlled Democratic National Committee nor its official mouthpiece the New York Times have learned anything from the debacle of 2016, when guaranteed-to-win Hillary Clinton lost to Trump because she and the party snubbed Bernie Sanders and the progressive wing of the party he represents. These days, they’re floating Elizabeth Warren.

Until 2016 progressives saw Warren as a Bernie alternative but then she lost her leftie street cred by endorsing and supporting Clinton.

“On her Western swing, Ms. Warren sought to strike a unifying chord. At a tapas restaurant in Salt Lake City, she said Democrats had to close ranks in 2018 in order to recapture the White House. “Perhaps most appealing to Democratic leaders,” wrote the Times, “Ms. Warren might please their activist base while staving off a candidate they fear would lose the general election. A candidate such as Mr. Sanders.”

Throughout the campaign, polls showed that Bernie Sanders would have beat Trump.

My gut tells me Warren doesn’t really want to run. If she does, she’ll have charisma problems. As Boston magazine pointed out last year, even the people of Massachusetts aren’t much into her. (Bernie Sanders has the highest home-state approval rating of any U.S. senator, 75%.)

Given a choice between Sanders and Warren, progressives will choose the reliable progressive over the accommodationist pragmatist. That said, Warren would make a fine veep option.

As mayor of Newark, then up-and-coming political star Cory Booker made headlines by rushing into a burning house to save a woman in 2012. But politics is a fickle mistress. In the “what have you done for us lately” category, Booker was chastised for tying right-wing Republican Mitch McConnell as the senator who received the most contributions from the big Wall Street banks who destroyed the economy in 2008-09. This won’t affect his standing among the corporatists who supported Hillary Clinton despite her fundraising in the Hamptons. But it makes him anathema to the progressive Democratic base.

Once again, Joe Biden is being touted as a possible Democratic candidate. But he has signaled that, once again, he’s funnin’, not runnin’. Yeah, but what if he does?

Biden would have no choice but to compete for centrist votes against Booker and California’s Kamala Harris. Though once known as more liberal, his vice presidency for centrist Democrat Obama, his focus on building a Southern strategy for the primaries and his disconnection from the left makes him unlikely to appeal to the Berniecrats.

Harris, a law-and-order “lock ‘em up” former prosecutor and California senator, seems to be running a Clinton-style identity politics-based campaign based on her double history-making potential as a woman of color. While it’s true that she hasn’t always been a lock-step establishmentarian, she has gotten much closer to banks, cops and other elites than ordinary Americans as she has considered how to market her policy positions.

Harris is canny.

Some say slippery.

Harris is the biggest threat to Bernie. Harris supports “the concept of single-payer healthcare, and bills to incrementally raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour, eliminate tuition and fees at four-year colleges and universities for families making up to $125,000 and creating more campaign finance disclosure requirements for corporations, unions and super PACs.” Good stuff. Call her Berniedette?

But those are official positions. She doesn’t campaign on them. It’s like how Obama’s 2008 campaign website promised a public option on the Affordable Care Act/Obamacare, but he never talked about it and then never proposed it in his healthcare bill. Good positions don’t get far unless they’re articulated loudly and repeatedly.

The Democrats are a 50-50 party divided between progressives and liberals. Three serious liberals — Harris, Warren, Booker and whoever else pops up between now and then — divvy up the liberal half. Bernie Sanders has the progressive half all to himself. So he wins the nomination — if he wants it.

I think he does.

In the general election? This is sad, and bad for America’s baby Left, but I think it’s true: Trump defeats Sanders. Not because he’s a self-declared democratic socialist though you can be sure GOP attack ads will be full of stock footage of old Soviet May Day parades. Also not because he’s too far left: he really would have beaten Trump in 2016.

Trump defeats Sanders because of the innate advantages of incumbency, the historical hesitancy to change horses midstream, Sanders’ advancing age and the sad fact that the DNC will never push for him as hard as they would have for one of their own: a Wall Street-friendly corporatist.

Again: anything can happen, no one knows anything, scandals happen, politicians get sick, a year is an eternity in politics.

(Ted Rall, syndicated writer and the cartoonist for ANewDomain.net, is the author of the book “Snowden,” the biography of the NSA whistleblower.)

SUMMER HOURS!

Give yourself something to look forward to and plan on an evening stroll at the Gardens. The Mendocino Coast Botanical Gardens is extending hours through the summer! Come and experience the magic of this 47-acre garden by the sea in the warm filtered evening light. The Gardens will be open until 7:00pm each Thursday, Friday, and Saturday through the end of September. Regular Gardens admissions applies. Free for members of the Gardens, sign up for a membership today (online www.gardenbythesea.org or at The Garden Store)!

* * *

ART IN THE GARDENS!

Also a great time to get your discounted tickets to the 26th anniversary of Art in the Gardens (Sat, August 4) which is just 17 days away! Advance tickets are available now through Friday, August 3rd (online sales end at 4:00pm PST on 8/3/18) on the Gardens' website. Tickets can also be purchased at the pre-sale price until August 3rd at The Garden Store at MCBG, Harvest Market in Fort Bragg, and Out of This World in Mendocino.

General admission tickets $20 in advance or $30 at the door; $5 children ages 6 to 16; Free for children ages 5 and under

$25 additional for wine tasting (Includes complimentary tasting glass and wine tastings from 11 wineries spread throughout the Gardens)

MENDOCINO COUNTY FARM BUREAU CELEBRATES 100 YEARS IN MENDOCINO COUNTY AND AWARDS SCHOLARSHIPS

In 1917, several Mendocino County farmers recognized the value of bringing an Agricultural Extension Service into the county and began the process of forming a Farm Bureau. An official Farm Bureau needed to be organized prior to a county petitioning for a U.C. Farm Advisor position.

Redwood Valley was the first to form a Farm Bureau center by obtaining 40 signatures for their roll. Redwood Valley’s effort was followed closely by Ukiah, Potter Valley, Willits and Fort Bragg. A petition of 280 signatures from these districts were presented to the Mendocino County Board of Supervisors at the December 10, 1917 meeting along with the unanimous support from Anderson Valley which had just held their first discussion on the subject.

With the approval of the Board of Supervisors in December 1917, the Farm Bureau was officially recognized which allowed for Mr. Charles Myszka to enter the county in January 1918 as the first U.C. Farm Advisor for Mendocino County. The first meeting of the Mendocino County Farm Bureau took place in February of 1918 where the bylaws were written and officers were elected.

Now 100 years later, the Mendocino County Farm Bureau is still working to protect and promote agriculture in the county. To celebrate the last 100 years, Mendocino County Farm Bureau hosted a centennial celebration on June 30^th. Although the temperatures were hovering around 106 degrees that day, close to 400 people were in attendance to help celebrate. With historical displays, music by the Gibson Creek Bluegrass Band, tasting of the 2015 CORO wines, local beer provided by Hare In The Forest brewing from Potter Valley, a live historical reenactment by the Roadshow Players as well as the after party with Waylon and the Wildcats, the event was a greatly enjoyed by all who attended.

Part of the celebration included the annual recognition of the local high school and college students who were selected to receive scholarships from Mendocino County Farm Bureau. This year, with generosity from many donors and proceeds from our annual fundraiser, we were able to provide $30,000 worth of scholarships to local high school graduates and students continuing in higher agriculture education programs.

High school graduates receiving scholarships were: Cassandra Renteria from Fort Bragg, Katie Penry and Javier Alvarez from Potter Valley, Jocey Thieman from Round Valley and Gracie Silva from Laytonville

College students receiving scholarships were: Alison Morse, Natasha Looney, Emma Braught, Matthew Delbar, Aaron Becerra-Alvarez, Casey Looney, Charles Lucchesi, Jamie Connor, Andres Aceves, and Ashley Hautala.

For more information on the Mendocino County Farm Bureau or the scholarship program, please contact the Farm Bureau office at (707) 462-6664 or admin@mendofb.org

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Attached: Press Release with pictures of scholarship receipients.

FarmBureauCentennialPressRelease

THIS IS AN EXTRAORDINARY THING about President Trump that should be lauded and not a little, is that he is willing to meet with adversaries to try to prevent us from having World War III. He has undergone an onslaught of a year, year and a half of a partisan investigation accusing him of somehow colluding with the Russians. We all have now concluded and all understand that the investigation was started by partisans, James Clapper and John Brennan, who started the investigation at the behest of the Clinton campaign, who paid somebody in Russia to come up with a dossier. So it's funny that we keep talking about Trump and Russia, when in fact the only person actually known to pay Russian agents was Hillary Clinton, who paid a British spy who then paid British agents who concocted dirt on Trump.

— Rand Paul

YOU KNOW HOW IT IS, you want to look and you don’t want to look. I can remember the strange feelings I had when I was a kid looking at war photographs in Life, the ones that showed dead people or a lot of dead people lying close together in a field or street, often touching, seeming to hold each other. Even when the picture was sharp and cleanly defined, something wasn’t clear at all, some repressed feeling that monitored the images and withheld their essential information. It may have legitimized my fascination, letting me look for as long as I wanted; I didn’t have a language for it then, but I remember now the shame I felt, like looking at first porn, all the porn in the world. I could have looked until my lamps went out and I still wouldn’t have accepted the connection between a detached leg and the rest of the body, or the poses and positions that always (one day I’d hear it called “response-to-impact”), bodies wrenched too fast and violently into unbelievable contortion. Or the total impersonality of group death, making them lie anywhere and any way it left them, hanging over barbed wire or thrown promiscuously on top of other dead, or up into the trees like terminal acrobats, Look what I can do.

—Michael Herr, Dispatches

UNFORTUNATELY, too many people, when you try separating them from their material possessions and activity, turn out to be like cheap golf balls. You unwind and unwind but you never get to the core because there isn't any.

— Betty MacDonald