Mendocino County Today: Monday, Aug. 6, 2018

• Complex Updates
• Pedestrian Struck
• Eel Fire
• Fire Thoughts
• RVFD Shirt
• Little Dog
• Fair Deadline
• Footracers
• Budget Busters
• Black Market
• Yesterday's Catch
• Crazy Talk
• Under God
• Middle-Class Morons
• Marilyn Dead
• Russian Scare
• Peace & Love
• Top Ten
• Firefighting Army
• Ain't Darling
• Disaster Assistance
• Napkin Art
• PG&E Proposal

CALFIRE'S MENDOCINO COMPLEX UPDATE (Monday 7am): 273,664 acres; 30% contained; 169 structures damaged or destroyed.

"The River Fire had limited movement overnight, a burnout operation conducted on the Northern portion of the fire in the late afternoon improved containment. Today we will look at burning out and tying in containment lines. The Ranch Fire continues to grow in the north and south eastern directions, threatening communities in the fire's path. The terrain on the Northern quarter of the Ranch Fire make it challenging to access the fire front directly. Many crews will be on the ground in the communities threatened by the fire, providing structure protection. As there is increased containment and success on the River Fire, resources are being mobilized to help with the Ranch Fire."

FACT SHEET: cdfdata.fire.ca.gov/pub/cdf/images/incidentfile2175_3887.pdf

VIDEO: Charlie Blankenheim's Fire Chat

MAP: cdfdata.fire.ca.gov/pub/cdf/images/incidentfile2175_3890.pdf

THE RANCH FIRE was up to almost 220,000 acres late Sunday evening still with only 23% containment which is a lot considering the number of miles on the perimeter.

The Online map for Ranch fire and River fire with latest perimeter and satellite hotspot data. This map displays authoritative data from servers operated by the National Interagency Fire Center (fire perimeter) and NASA (satellite hotspots). These fires are jointly managed as the Mendocino Complex.

From the latest fire map it appears that Calfire is trying to use natural firebreaks on the southeast front of the Ranch fire, which means there’s still a lot of the Mendocino National Forest which will be allowed to burn before containment numbers go up substantially.

 

 

FORT BRAGG MAN STRUCK BY VEHICLE WHILE WALKING ON HIGHWAY 1

Peter M. Howe, 59, of Fort Bragg was airlifted to Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital from serious injuries he suffered when he was struck by a car driven by Tricia Godwin, 51, also of Fort Bragg, as he walked on Highway One. The accident occurred about 12:30 a.m. Sunday near Ocean Drive about a mile south of the Noyo River bridge and remains under investigation.  The CHP said “Alcohol or drugs is not considered to be a factor in this collision."

pressdemocrat.com/news/8604832-181/fort-bragg-man-struck-by

FIREFIGHTERS GAIN GROUND ON EEL FIRE, Now 60 Percent Contained

COVELO, Calif. - Calmer winds and lower temperatures aided firefighting efforts on the Eel Fire 10 miles east of Covelo on the Mendocino National Forest. Firefighters reached 60 percent containment on the incident Sunday and the fire remained at 972 acres. There are 144 personnel assigned to the incident to patrol, extinguish smoldering vegetation near containment lines (commonly referred to as mopping up) and to fell snags that pose a threat to firefighters working on the fireline. This incident is aided by personnel from the US Forest Service, Fish and Wildlife Service, Bureau of Indian Affairs, California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, Arizona and the private sector. Incident Commander Dale Shippelhoute said, "The interagency cooperation on this incident showed how individual agencies come together and work effectively to meet one set of objectives on incidents no matter the location or jurisdiction." On Sunday, minimal fire behavior was observed with mostly smoldering and creeping. A warming trend will return with no precipitation in the forecast. Mandatory evacuations were lifted for the North M1 Road from the Eel River Station to the Indian Dick Station. An evacuation advisory remained in place for this area. Please go to InciWeb at: inciweb.nwcg.gov/incident/6083, Facebook and Twitter for further updates or call 530-640-1168.

–Punky Moore, Public Affairs Officer, Forest Service

FIRES PROVIDE LOTS TO THINK ABOUT

While we keep our sights on hoping for the best for all those out there threatened by the fires still burning, and on appreciating the extraordinary work all the firefighters out there are doing, we want to take a moment to think about the future.

These fires came early in the season – usually it isn’t this dry until autumn – and they are sprouting up all over the place and spreading way too quickly. This, we believe, is going to be our ‘new normal’ in California and in Northern California.

We have to face the fact that we are likely to see this kind of fire activity every year, earlier in the year from now on. How do we cope with that? We have been talking to firefighters, local residents and local officials all week. Here are some of the ideas we think make sense and we welcome your ideas as well.

1. California needs more Cal Fire personnel and equipment. We think it’s time Cal Fire keep on more staff all through the year rather than just bulking up in the summer. They need to bulk up more in the summer but we also need Cal Fire out there helping to prevent fires during the winter. They can be cutting fire breaks and helping homeowners with fire safety (see more below).
2. Cal Fire needs more equipment. We hear too often that an air tanker has been diverted to here or there. Why don’t we have enough air tankers to fight multiple fires without having to borrow them from elsewhere? And while we’re on the point, thank goodness the citizens of Ukiah fought so hard to keep the air tanker base here in Ukiah when the state wanted to close it down years back.
3. We need do to a lot more to prevent fires from becoming so dangerous. We need to create good solid fire breaks around our residential communities. For instance, some seven or eight years ago, a fire break was created in the western hills of Ukiah, but that fire break is now overgrown again. We’re told it can’t be maintained because property owners won’t let crews on their property. We think it’s time to consider the safety of the whole community and insist that fire breaks be built regardless. A solid fire break can help stop a wildfire in its tracks.
4. We also think that the state needs to make fire safe residences easy and cheap. When you tell a homeowner to trim trees and cut back brush and other ground cover 100 feet around their homes, that’s heavy duty work and expensive if you get someone to come and do it for you. We need programs where trained crews can do that work for homeowners at low cost – and make it mandatory. This doesn’t mean cutting down trees around your house, it means cutting back dead wood on them and keeping the long grasses and brush cut.
5. Firefighters need to be able to fight fires quickly wherever they are. We are told that firefighters, when they come across a fence or a gate, have to stop firefighting and get permission from the landowner to keep going. That’s nuts. They should have automatic permission to cut a fence or a gate and keep going.
6. Our electric utilities need to use whatever technology is available to stop current flowing through wires when a transformer goes out or a pole is damaged. We’re told the technology is out there, so use it.
7. Caltrans needs to figure out fire resistant roadsides. Too many fires seem to start from cars pulling over off the roads or accidents. Maybe wider shoulders with gravel buffer zones?

We’d like to hear your ideas about how our communities can cope with what is likely going to be increased wildland fire in the coming years. What can we do to be safer during fires and make our communities safer before fires get started?

Write to us at Letters to UDJ, 617 S. State St. Ukiah, Calif 95482 or email the editor at udjkcm@ukaihdj.com with your thoughts and ideas.

(K.C. Meadows, Editor, Ukiah Daily Journal)

MEMO OF THE WEEK

From facebook:

Message from RVFD: Today a picture of an individual wearing a fire department shirt from our agency was posted by the Lake County Sheriff’s Office regarding his arrest for interfering with firefighting operations on the Ranch Fire. This person has never been a member of our department. The members of this department take our responsibility to serve our community extremely serious and would never condone this behavior. Please share this information with your friends and family in the area.

Maybe this is the only clean shirt this guy owns.

LITTLE DOG SAYS, “What do these guys do for fire prep? I tried to explain that any place could burn, even downtown Boonville. ‘Hook up a sprinkler and throw it up on the roof, LD,’ one of them said. ‘That'll do it.’ I try, the goddess knows I try.”

TERRY RYDER REMINDS US: This Friday, August 10, is the deadline for entry forms for the Mendocino County Fair & Apple Show in mid-September. People can go to the fair website to enroll online — mendocountyfair.com/entry-forms/ — or go to the fair office to fill out the forms and enter in person.

AHILMAR! Anderson Valley's distance-running prodigy outraced her peers Sunday morning at the Noyo Headlands grand trail opening, garnering yet another first place on the Northcoast's running summer circuit. Sid Frazer, 58, of Boonville, finished 6th overall in the race over the ocean bluffs, well ahead of 5th District Supervisor hopeful, Ted Williams.

MORE BIG RAISES FOR MORE OVERPAID BUREAUCRATS — the exchange continues

ON SUNDAY we posted:

BURIED DEEP in next Tuesday’s Consent Calendar are giant raises for two (or three) more of Mendo’s top officials: The Director of Planning and Building, and the Director of Health and Human Services.

Item 4x on the Consent Calendar appears to be an intentional attempt to hide the raises from the Supervisors and the public by describing them as: Adoption of Resolution Authorizing Salary Grade Adjustments as follows: Planning and Building Services Director from D48D to D52Z and Health and Human Services Agency Director from D50A to D54Z."

According to the attached resolution, itself slathered in more bureaucratic jibberish, both positions are being jacked up in grade from a “bi-weekly” mid-range rate (which obscures the actual amount because you have to do some math to get the annual pay) of the equivalent of $116k per year to $137k per year for Planning Director Nash Gonzalez, and from $124k per year to $153k per year for either (or both) Tammy Moss-Chandler and/or Anne The Inevitable Molgaard. Of course, no reasons are given for these gifts of public funds other than “it is the wish and desire of the Board of Supervisors to amend this resolution to meet the needs of County service.” And, “the various affected departments or agencies have agreed to incorporate the positions within their existing fiscal year budgets.”

Translation: Gonzalez and Molgaard (and Moss-Chandler?) are allowed to give themselves their own raises simply by putting the raises in their own budgets. Presto! $21k per year more for Gonzalez and almost $30k per year more for Molgaard/Moss-Chandler.

* * *

Supervisor McCowen responded:

"The increased salaries for HHSA and P&BS Directors are large but justified under the circumstances.

Tammy Moss Chandler is resuming her duties as HHSA Director and Interim P&BS Director Nash Gonzalez is taking over from her as Recovery Director. Meanwhile the County is in the process of hiring a permanent P&BS Director.

The increased salary for HHSA Director is necessary to retain Moss Chandler who had a competitive offer from another jurisdiction for a position that would be far less demanding. During her time at HHSA she has worked tirelessly to make it a more effective and responsive organization and has a comprehensive understanding of the complex funding streams that HHSA relies on. As Recovery Director she consistently went above and beyond to resolve issues with our State and Federal partners, particularly the over excavation issue, frequently working into the night. The increase in salary is minor compared to the value she brings to the County.

Nash Gonzalez has done a great job as P&BS Director but it was on an interim basis as we recruited for a permanent director. His willingness to serve as Recovery Director to continue the work from last year's fire disaster and now this year's, speaks to his commitment to his home community. His planning expertise is an invaluable asset to the recovery effort and we are fortunate to still have him on our team.

But the increased salary for P&BS Director is necessary to secure the services of the best qualified applicant for the permanent position. An announcement should be made shortly, but the incoming P&BS Director has the experience and skill set that is needed to avoid a break in continuity as we continue to rebuild P&BS.

The Board of Supervisors is very aware that the same could be said for many of our employees. In fact, employees working in about 20 classifications, ranging from custodians to social workers and public health nurses, have recently received unilateral pay increases at the direction of the Board.

We are well aware that many more employees are deserving of increases but in most cases this will be the subject of the next round of negotiations through the collective bargaining process.

It's easy to justify the need but it's a constant challenge to pay for the many services the County is required or expected to provide with the limited financial resources available.

That said, I honestly believe the increased salaries for these two positions will result in a much greater benefit that will make it easier to provide critical services and meet our many obligations."

* * *

Mark Scaramella Comments:

I appreciate Supervisor McCowen at least addressing this question, the other four Supervisors haven’t even bothered to reply.

Without getting into the merits or demerits of individual employees, this is the kind of budget-busting thinking that puts the entire County budget at risk. The budget is already teetering under the weight of huge deficits in the pot permit program, the Sheriff’s overtime, the loss of assessed value of property from last fall’s fires (and a good chance of more), Juvenile Hall overruns, a declining economy (largely from the drop in pot revenue and the lack of housing which the Board hasn’t done a thing to address), declining reserves, and no regular review of budget status. So far the County’s only objective response to these budget pressures has been an as-yet unspecified 5-10% vacancy rate in General Fund line worker positions. Yet here come all these big management raises on the consent calendar, as if they're as routine as 15-year service pins.

As Supervisor McCowen likes to remind people, the Board’s first responsibility is to the solvency of the County as a whole, not the welfare of its employees (who should be paid a fair, but not artificially high wage.)

Letting certain management employees whipsaw counties by engaging in bidding wars creates salary levels out of all proportion to workload or responsibility.

Paying people based on their knowledge of “funding streams” borders on extortion, and implies that that is more important than delivering efficient services.

If these huge raises are so easy to justify with this kind of glowing praise why hide them deep in the consent calendar?

Taken as a group, how much has it cost the County for all these management level raises in the last year? The Supervisors alone hit us up for about $120k plus bennies. And if, say, 15-20 department heads are getting large raises on the scale of these proposed raises for Gonzalez and Moss-Chandler, we’re talking about several million dollars in salaries, benefits and pension obligations for management which they apparently can just roll into their own departmental budgets without any kind of review. And as the Grand Jury recently pointed out these big management raises put an especially big burden on general fund services and line workers by loading up net departmental costs with excessive overhead and putting more work on employees in departments which are understaffed.

Why does the County need two people in charge of HHSA now with Moss-Chandler going back to HHSA? If Ms. Moss-Chandler is so good, why can’t the County dispense with her redundant and equally overpaid assistant, Anne Molgaard?

What have any of these high-paid managers done to save the County money?

There is still no regular monthly departmental reporting on basic things like budgets, staffing or project status, so Supervisor McCowen’s alleged justification of these raises requires the public/taxpayers to take his word for the wonderfulness of all these officials, making the whole affair seem more like a self-congratulatory revival meeting of The Church of Mendo Insiders, than an objective evaluation of employees.

THAT OLD BLACK MARKET has me in its spell…

Pot Economics, Black Markets & Vaccination Scares

by Jim Shields

Last week’s column discussed marijuana legalization and some of the adverse consequences, especially economic consequences, it’s having on local communities such as Laytonville.

I argued that there are one too many sets of regulations with the state and local governments each issuing their own regulatory frameworks. I said, “One must be eliminated. And there’s really no doubt or difficulty in determining which set of regulations is on the cut list. By any other description, the County’s pot ordinance is a complete mess, growing messier all the time. It’s time for Mendocino County to exit the pot regulation stage, in fact, the county has over-extended its stay.”

Quite a few people commented on the issue, and here are some excerpts from emails and personal discussions I had with them.

“Don’t people realize this a capitalistic economy and society? The too small, inept or shoddy businesses never last for long up against knowledgeable competition. You check out the survival rate of restaurants?”

“Isn’t there some way to regulate the Supervisors and put them out of business? Just think how much better off everybody would be!”

“I agree with what Mendocino Mike said on your show. The black market is making and will make a comeback Big Time! Count on it! You can’t stop a system that has always worked and people who need it. You might slow it down for a while with these regulations but you will never kill it. Cannabis is not a one size fits all deal because most people know what market fits them best and it’s not what the politicians say you got to take it there and only there. It’s not going to happen.”

“I think it’s very fitting and fair that the water you sell to growers is used to keep customers water bills low. That’s the way a self-supporting rural economy should be. Who ever thought that legalization would be this bad?”

Speaking of the black market, the state Bureau of Cannabis Control (the “Bureau”) just released pot test results that found 20% of marijuana batches flunked lab testing. The new testing procedures started on July 1.

According to data from the Bureau, tested pot flunked because of pesticide contamination from long-banned substances, presence of bacteria and processed chemicals, and inaccurate labeling.

Those testing requirements and results have left some retailers with severely limited inventory over the past few weeks, as cultivators and product manufacturers scramble to get compliant products to market.

According to published reports, those bad test results have left dispensaries and other pot retailers with low or even no stock on their shelves.

I’ve spoken to a number of local growers who surmise that once the state’s rigorous testing protocols are fully implemented by year’s end, there will be so much rejected ganja that the “white market” won’t have enough legal supply to meet demand.

Thus, the resurrection of the old black market.

That is a scenario that is music to the discerning ears of Mendo pot farmers. Definitely a development to keep an eye (and an ear) on.

Vaccine Conspiracies

The Sacramento Bee is reporting, “State Sen. Richard Pan, who’s an MD, is being sued by anti-vaccine activists, who say he blocked them on Twitter in violation of their First Amendment rights. The lawsuit argues Pan’s Twitter account is a modern public forum because he is a government official. The suit, which was filed in federal court in Sacramento on July 27, alleges Pan blocks people with dissenting perspectives based solely on his unconstitutional viewpoint discrimination. Suzanne Rummel and Marlene Burkitt, who could not be immediately reached for comment, are the two anti-vaccine activists who filed suit. They strongly opposed Senate Bill 277 — a law Pan co-sponsored in 2015 that eliminated the personal belief exemption from mandatory childhood vaccination. Pan received heavy backlash on Twitter at the time. Rummel and Burkitt have a history of posting provocative tweets about Pan, including references to him as a ‘Mercury joker’ and depictions of him as a Nazi.”

Let’s get something straight, following the passage of Pan’s Senate Bill 277, the RAND Corporation released a study that was published in the journal Pediatrics that backs up findings from countless other studies showing that the vaccines administered to U.S. children are very safe and serious side effects are extremely rare.

Also, know this, vaccines do not cause autism In 1998, researcher Andrew Wakefield falsified data to inaccurately represent a link between autism and vaccines. The study was ultimately retracted by the journal that published it. Numerous subsequent studies worldwide involving hundreds of thousands of children have proved that vaccines are safe and that there is no link between vaccines and autism. Further investigation also revealed that Wakefield was paid more than $674,000 by a product liability attorney to falsify his data.

Under the state’s vaccine law, vaccination checks take place during currently mandated reporting periods: when a child enrolls in kindergarten, in seventh grade or when a child enrolls in a new school district. So for anyone who may have misgivings about the vaccination issue, rest assured there’s no foundation or scientific basis to long-discredited conspiracies raised by vaccination opponents, so get your kids vaccinated.

(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.)

CATCH OF THE DAY, August 5, 2018

DAVED ARDALO, Sacramento. DUI.

GERALD BRITTON, Covelo. Grand theft: firearm, assault weapon, short-barreled shotgun, large capacity magazine.

JESSE CONNOLY, Ukiah. Under influence, probation revocation.

JESSE DAVIDSON, Covelo. DUI.

JOSHUA GUEVARA, Talmage. Disorderly conduct-alcohol, probation revocation.

GENE HOLDER, Fort Bragg. Assault with deadly weapon not a gun, reckless driving.

JACQUELYN JORDAN, Lakeport. Petty theft-bicycle, entering closed disaster area.

IVAN LOPEZ-CERECEDO, Chula Vista/Willits. DUI.

MIGUEL MORA, Ukiah. DUI.

MARK NIELSEN, Nice/Lower Lake. Burglary tools, saps/similar weapons, paraphernalia, misrepresentation as peace officer, receiving stolen property, suspended license,

CHARLES PAUGH, Ukiah. Resisting.

CASEY RAY, Covelo. Failure to appear.

JACOB WALTRIP, Ukiah. Resisting.

FRANCISCO ZAMORA, Ukiah. Probation revocation.

RATTLESNAKE TRAILS

Editor,

What kind of drugs did people like Frank Graham of Navarro and Bruce Patterson from Prineville Oregon take when they were young men? Maybe they smelled too much of a Bunsen burner? There's no other explanation for how they came up with the crazy talk in last week’s AVA, especially Patterson. I can't even understand some of his words. When he asks what God am I talking about when I say God bless Donald Trump, I am talking about my God, the only God as far as I'm concerned. And Mr. Graham said all kinds of ugly stuff about Mr. Trump.

When people talk about our country and about our president I just don't have words to say how foul they must be. It's just ugly.

What kind of line has Caltrans put on Highway 253? It looks like a rattlesnake trail to me. It's pretty ugly. And there is something like a 4 inch drop off on the shoulders which if you caught with your front wheel you'd be gone. Typical Caltrans work in California. If you go to another state and see how they do it, you wouldn't believe yourself. Compared to Oregon, Nevada, and Washington, California highways make me want to puke. Just that ugly.

God bless Donald Trump, I repeat Mr. Patterson, God bless Donald Trump.

Jerry Philbrick

Comptche

PS. Congratulations to Tommy Lemons on his refurbished restaurant. It looks really good. I can't wait to get a bite to eat there. Good job, Tommy.

PPS. On Friday a white pickup drove up to my driveway and four young men got out. They came in to visit me. It was Tony Pardini, Tony Pardini Jr., Olie Ericson, and his cousin. We had a great visit. They are refurbishing the old schoolhouse over on Chamberlain Creek. What a nice group of guys. I'm proud to have them for friends. Young Tony will be quite a guy. He has a lot going for him. He will do good, that guy.

PPPS. I hope my old friend Mancher Pardini gets better because he has been stoved up a little bit lately. I know he will get better.

http://jonmcnaughton.com/one-nation-under-god-interactive/

AUGUST 8, 1943 -- A plea to the nation to remake its social and educational system after World War II so that "so many middle-class morons and physically unfit fathers won't be turned down," was made yesterday morning during a press conference by national director of selective service Major-General Lewis B. Hershey. In referring to the great problems faced by draft officials in handling the three million 4-Fs and 50% rejects on draft candidates over 30, General Hershey said, "After the war let’s readjust our lives so that men can pass moderate physical examinations when they get over 30 years old and let's not have a third of those examined rejected for medical reasons. There are too many middle-class morons in the country, people with mental diseases who can't pass Army tests. I hope after the war we have time to grow up mentally. We are down to the bottom of the barrel on 1-As and all we have left are the cardiacs and psychopaths, and the military forces are getting particular." General Hershey described the selective service as having finally arrived at a plateau. In the procurement of recruits for the Armed Forces only one million more men are needed, or about 14% of the number already in uniform. "We have the enemy on the run, but this is no time to lean back on the ropes and take the plaudits of the crowd. Now is the time to start kneeing and kicking our opponent."

Stuart Welch, San Francisco Chronicle, 1943

ON LINE COMMENT OF THE DAY

Those of us who continue to read and re-read history understand. In another great book by David Talbot titled “Brothers” the original Russian scare was documented superbly:

[Page 68 – In Summer 1961, Kennedy came under increasing pressure from military and intelligence officials to consider launching a preemptive nuclear strike against the Soviet Union. The president was informed that far from suffering a “missile gap”, the United States actually enjoyed a growing lead in land-based nuclear missiles. According to a National Intelligence Estimate delivered that year, the Soviets had only four intercontinental ballistic missiles in place — all of them on low alert at a test site — while the U.S. had 185 ICBM’s and over 3,400 deliverable nuclear bombs at the time. This clear “window” of nuclear superiority would eventually close as Soviet nuclear weapons production began to catch up. While it remained open, Washington was a hothouse of militaristic fever, which accounts for LeMay’s intemperate remarks about an imminent nuclear war at the July dinner party.

On July 20, at a National Security Council meeting, Kennedy was presented an official plan for a surprise nuclear attack by the Joint Chiefs chairman, General Lemnitzer, and Allen Dulles, who would remain at the helm of the CIA until the fall. Lemnitzer, whose intellectual abilities the president found wanting, presented the doomsday plan “as though it were for a kindergarten class” according to Schlesinger, and a disgusted Kennedy got up in the middle of the meeting and walked out. “And we call ourselves the human race”, he bitterly remarked to Secretary of State Dean Rusk afterwards.]

Remember that line from the Who song “We won’t get fooled again”? Bullshit! We always get fooled again and even by the same line of crap. It is getting a bit ridiculous, don’t you think?

THE 10 BEST THINGS TO DO IN MENDOCINO COUNTY

sfchronicle.com/travel/article/The-10-best-things-to-do-in-Mendocino-County-13126954.php

STEP UP

Editor:

A firefighting army.

There appears to be a lack of available resources with which to combat wildfires in our region. California needs a volunteer wildfire corps that offers systematic training to civilians who want to help fight fires, or who want to help law enforcement keep order in evacuated communities, and which deploys these resources regionally or statewide.

We need a strategy of massive retaliation. We need an air wing of 1,000 Boeing 747s, 3,000 C-130s, and 5,000 helicopters; industrialized, scaled mobilization similar to a military operation — corps, divisions, battalions of firefighters. We need investment at the state and national level. We need student loan forgiveness or tax credits, or relocation stipends, to those who sign up for a summer deployment in a fire-stricken community.

To my mind, this is great politics. Any political leader should see the benefit of uniting constituents behind a shared enemy. There would be employment opportunities, professional skill development, increased civic awareness, greater social unity.

These fires aren’t going away. They are going to reoccur and intensify with climate change. Thank you for publishing my comment, and for doing your part as journalists to cast more light on this issue.

Andrew McGlaughlin

Santa Rosa

From Dick Cavett in the Digital Age:

Theirs [Cavett, Muhammad Ali] was a close if unlikely friendship that lasted five decades. “Dick Cavett was the whitest of white guys in America,” The Rev. Al Sharpton says in the film. “But he gave blacks that had been considered outside of the mainstream like Ali a chance to be heard, and a chance to say what they wanted to say unfiltered, which was rare.”

One night in the 1970s, Mr. Cavett recalled, the phone rang in his renowned summer house, Tick Hall. It was Mr. Cavett’s wife, the actress Carrie Nye, who was at their place in the city.

“Darling?” she said.

“This ain’t ‘darling,’” said Mr. Ali, who had been invited for an impromptu visit and given the master bedroom. “This is the three-time heavyweight champion of the world, and I’m lying in your bed, watching your TV.”

THANKS, DON

WASHINGTON – The Federal Emergency Management Agency announced that federal disaster assistance has been made available to the state of California to supplement state, tribal and local recovery efforts in the areas affected by wildfires and highs winds from July 23, 2018 and continuing.

The President’s action makes federal funding available to affected individuals in Shasta County. Assistance can include grants for temporary housing and home repairs, low-cost loans to cover uninsured property losses, and other programs to help individuals and business owners recover from the effects of the disaster.

Federal funding is also available to the state, tribal and local governments and certain private nonprofit organizations on a cost-sharing basis for emergency work and the repair or replacement of facilities damaged by wildfires and high winds in Shasta County.

Federal funding is also available on a cost-sharing basis for hazard mitigation measures statewide.

William Roche has been named as the Federal Coordinating Officer for federal recovery operations in the affected area. Roche said additional designations may be made at a later date if warranted by the results of further damage assessments.

Individuals and business owners who sustained losses in the designated area can begin applying for assistance tomorrow by registering online at www.DisasterAssistance.gov or by calling 1-800-621-FEMA (3362). Disaster assistance applicants, who have a speech disability or hearing loss and use TTY, should call 1-800-462-7585 directly; for those who use 711 or Video Relay Service (VRS), call 1-800-621-3362. The toll-free telephone numbers will operate from 7:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. (local time) seven days a week until further notice.

(FEMA Press Release)

SEA GULL CELLAR BAR NAPKIN ART, Roy Hoggard artist

PG&E PROMOTES PLAN THAT WOULD HAVE RATEPAYERS PAY WILDFIRE DAMAGE

Facing multibillion-dollar claims for damage done by last year’s Northern California wildfires, PG&E is pushing for a state-authorized financing plan to cover liability claims and compensate survivors, proposing the utility’s ratepayers pick up the tab.

pressdemocrat.com/news/8599399-181/pge-backs-ratepayer-financing-plan