Mendocino County Today: Wednesday, Aug. 29, 2018

• Pop-up Pot
• Cleanup Condemnation
• Ranch Fire
• BAER Meeting
• FB Grassfire
• Center Shooting
• Peace Crime
• B Meeting
• Barn Sale
• Find Khadijah
• Pot Regs
• Little Dog
• Hospital Mysteries
• Urbane Cowboy
• Cannabis Hour
• MCDH Meetings
• Yesterday's Catch
• Polluter Fee
• Climate Warning
• Exhausting
• Illegal Clearing
• Powell Turnaround
• Pot Anarchy
• Peace Lovers
• 60s Cowgirl
• Ibsen Reading
• Devil Lovers
• Symphony Schedule
• Bail Reform
• 50s Hipsters
• SMART Economics
• YouTube Purge

THE CANCELED SESH

by Fred Gardner

A sesh is a pop-up pot club. The oldest is said to be the Dream Sesh in Los Angeles, founded 2013. Sesh organizers have venues of their own or rent an event space. People get notified by word of Instagram. Ten or 12 seshes a week might be held in the Bay Area.

Three weeks ago a friend brought me to the Cloud Sesh at a warehouse in Oakland. It cost $10 to get in. Vendors stood behind 20 tables displaying their wares. The possible buyers circled and sampled. No rich people were present. The scene was friendly and mellow — the end of the work week, a touch of freedom in the air. Maybe 150 people in the warehouse and its parking lot, socializing and enjoying the eerie spectacle of a giant derrick moving scrap metal in a steelyard across the street. The crowd looked to be at least half third world, all ages but mostly young. A couple had a grill and were preparing and selling delicious papusas.

Another young couple had driven down from Covelo with buds in mason jars. My friend bought an ounce of sun-grown, manicured flowers for $90. Using a tweezer and a cute little scale, the gent weighed out 1/3 oz sour diesel lemon kush, 1/3 Lemon OG, and 1/3 Irene, while the lady wrote the names of the strains on plastic baggies with a sharpie. No tax, no cancer warnings. They said they’d paid $100 for the table and would spend $50 on gas. I hope they made their nut.

We went back the evening of Friday August 16 and the crowd was maybe 240. The Covelo couple had brought down some pounds, too, in turkey bags. Their price was $700 a pound for outdoor (2017 harvest), $1200 a pound for fresh “light dep” (flowering triggered by pulling a tarp over the greenhouse to create shorter days). The pound buyers were mostly lads from the hood who intended to sell ounces and quarter ounces to their friends. At the sesh we are back full circle to the time when most “dealers” were just people moving small quantities at a small mark-up so they themselves could afford to smoke the herb.

The Cloud Sesh had been a weekly affair, growing in popularity until late June when attendance approached 700 and the organizers felt bold enough to declare that they were going to hold a “cannabis cup.” The proprietor of a properly licensed dispensary threatened to notify the authorities and the sesh organizers canceled.

“She was a freedom fighter,” my friend lamented. “Why would she do that?”

Money changes everything.

The Cloud Sesh resumed after a four-week hiatus and attendance started building back up. On Friday morning August 23 a Cloud Sesh organizer got a call from a friend at City Hall warning that they were going to be shut down. Shortly before 3pm the word went out on Instagram — that night’s sesh was canceled. Close to 100 people showed up. Fortunately, there was another sesh the organizer could steer them to.

He doubted that the Oakland Police would have raided his event. “Maybe the BCC [Bureau of Cannabis Control],” he speculated. “More likely the Fire Department. We installed a sprinkler system, but the building is licensed for no more than 49 occupants.” The ghost of the Ghost Ship fire — in which 36 people died at a party in a warehouse — looms over Oakland.

The organizer’s bottom line: “We need to raise $200,000 to bring this building up to code to accommodate a thousand people.”

POOR FEDERAL OVERSIGHT DURING OCTOBER FIRE CLEANUP CAUSED DAMAGE TO MANY NORTH BAY PROPERTIES, OFFICIAL SAYS

California’s top emergency services official has lambasted the federal government’s handling of the October wildfire cleanup, saying poor oversight allowed contractors to cause unnecessary damage to many burned properties in the North Bay.

pressdemocrat.com/news/8676979-181/poor-federal-oversight-during-october

FOR THE FIRST TIME since the Ranch fire began back in late July, Calfire reported Tuesday evening that the size did not significantly increase on Tuesday, remaining at about 410,000 acres with containment up to 93%. Calfire did not have anything new to report about the fire status.

MENDOCINO COMPLEX US FOREST SERVICE NEWS RELEASE — Tuesday Morning, August 28, 2018

Ranch Fire: A short change in the weather pattern is predicted to push smoke from the fire toward the west Tuesday. This change will bring higher wind speeds, warmer temperatures and lower humidity to the fire area. These conditions are expected to cause more active burning within the fire perimeter. The fire size increased by 7,714 acres (primarily due to mapping changes eliminating a large interior island) in the last twenty-four hours with the fire now estimated at 459,102 acres and 90 percent contained. There are 2,440 personnel assigned to the Ranch Fire.

In the east zone, firing operations have been completed and crews are focused on mopping up smoldering vegetation found near the fireline. Crews have mopped in 150 feet from the edge of the line and will be improving that effort today. Large interior stands of fuel are expected to produce smoke as they continue to burn.

In the west zone, a change in wind direction and velocity will test fireline in the area of Little Round Mountain and Bloody Rock on Tuesday. Firefighters will be watching closely as easterly winds push toward the ridge up to 25 mph. The fire in this area has burned down to the Eel River and Anderson Creek drainage and is not expected to escape current lines. Suppression repair activities include chipping cut fuels, water bar construction, deconstruction of berms and pulling cut materials back across the line.

Smoke: Easterly winds Tuesday will drift smoke and haze from the Ranch fire to the west and over the coast. Local communities such as Covelo, Potter Valley and Laytonville are expected to have the highest impacts with moderate to heavy smoke increasing through the day. Ukiah and areas closer to the coast should have hazy skies and moderate smoke impacts. In the Sacramento Valley, including Elk Creek, Stonyford and the Clear Lake region, markedly improving air quality is expected by midday. Wednesday, a return to light and variable winds will allow lingering smoke to sink into local communities on all sides of the fire.

Below is the link to the smoke forecast: https://wildlandfiresmoke.net/outlooks/MendocinoNationalForest-SacramentoValleyArea

RANCH FIRE BAER TEAM TO HOLD COMMUNITY MEETING

UPPER LAKE, Calif. - A Burned Area Emergency Response (BAER) team was recently established by the Mendocino National Forest to begin a survey of the Ranch Fire that burned on private, state, and federal land. The BAER team has completed its review of the Phase 1 Assessment Area and would like to share the results with local affected communities.  Please attend a one-hour community meeting on Thursday, Aug. 30, at 6 p.m. at the North Shore Event Center, 2817 E. Hwy 20, Nice, Calif. 95464. There will be a Q&A with BAER team specialists following the presentation.  The Forest Service BAER team is evaluating the Ranch Fire in two phases, a south phase that represents approximately 191,000 acres, and a north phase to cover the remaining fire acres to the north (see map below). BAER team surveys are rapid assessments of the burned area that evaluate the watersheds and determine the potential for increased post-fire flooding, sediment flows, and rock slides.

GRASS FIRE CONTAINED, HOSPITAL TENANTS SAVED

On August 26, 2018 at approximately 2:15 p.m., officers of the Fort Bragg Police Department were advised that the fire department would be responding to the area of the field across from the hospital, for the report of a vegetation fire in the area. Upon arrival, FBPD officers were first on scene, and the fire was isolated to a small brushy/grassy area along the western end of the field near the end of South Street. As fire personnel arrived, and quickly began battling the blaze, the wind quickly whipped the flames across the field, and then began travelling east along the northern fence line nearest the hospital.

Officers quickly moved to the senior apartments at 520 Cypress Street, and began evacuating the tenants to a safe location north of the location. Fort Bragg Fire Department Volunteers and CalFire firefighters quickly doused the flames and kept the damage minimized to the grassland only. Once the smoke lessened in the area, the tenants at the Cypress Ridge Apartments were allowed back into their homes.

The fire burned approximately 3 acres of grassland, and some small trees and bushes. There was no significant damage or loss of property noted.

The Fort Bragg Police Department would like to thank the Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office Deputies for their quick response and assistance with traffic control, and initial fire suppression.

(Fort Bragg Police press release)

‘SUICIDE BY COP’

District Attorney Determines Fatal Officers-Involved Shooting Of Armed Automobile Dealership Robber Was Legally Justified

The Mendocino County District Attorney has completed his full review of the officers-involved fatal shooting of Dawn Elika Center, age 48, formerly of Redwood Valley. Senior members of the District Attorney’s Office, particularly the District Attorney himself, have carefully reviewed the entire investigation relating to allegations of Center’s criminal misconduct, law enforcement’s response, and Center’s demise on February 13, 2018 in the immediate presence of members of the Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office and the Willits Police Department. As mandated by the United States Supreme Court, the standard for an after-the-fact review of law enforcement use of deadly force is that of objective reasonableness.

Full report: Center Shooting Investigation

BENDY ON PUBLIC SAFETY

by Rex Gressett

George Orwell returned from the grave to help Fort Bragg Mayor Lindy Peters with the Aug 15th agenda of the Public Works Committee. Mr. Orwell in his matchless mastery of the sinister thought it would be best to call item 3-B. “Crimes Against The Public Peace.” They went with it. Like naughty children playing with matches, Bernie Norvell and the ever-vigilant enemy of public disruption Mayor Peters marched furtively down the slippery slope of tyranny and official persecution with many a mincing disclaimer but leaving no doubt of their perhaps ignorant but vivid contempt for American constitutional freedoms. The Mayor stole the show. Norvell said very little.

Two items were discussed: the aforementioned Crimes Against The Public Peace and the theft of shopping carts by the most indigent and desperate citizens of the city.

Carol White was present to contribute confusion and help muddy the waters. Everyone excelled. Both items sort of got mixed together.

Mayor Peters is, of course, running once more for office. During his tenure as Mayor, the politically astute Mr. Peters has distinguished himself as an outspoken hardass on homeless issues. Bendy, as Mr. Peters is widely known, is concerned to be as many things to as many people as possible. It is his philosophy of governance. That usually entails telling different things to different people and occasionally degrades into telling different things to the same people. On issues affecting the homeless, he has calculated shrewdly that most people in Fort Bragg don’t like homeless people so on this he has been consistent.

Mayor Peters was the driving force behind the removal of public benches from the central business district on the inarguable premise that homeless people incorrigibly sit on them. Now the Mayor has given direction to the City Manager to bring before the full Council a resolution that homeless people sitting anywhere at all, sidewalks or the park or anywhere — will no longer be tolerated. Not only sitting but lying down or congregating in small groups will be subject to police enforcement.

Expanding on the suppression of the homeless Mayor Peters used this occasion to remind the city that the council has been diligent in the suppression of hate speech and vile disruptive behavior at City Council meetings.

Tabatha Miller, Fort Bragg’s superb new City Manager, sort of balked when he said it, expressing her view that never in her experience at City Council meetings has any comment or behavior risen to the level that would require police intervention. It has happened — said the Mayor reflectively. There are one or two individuals.

I wonder who he meant?

There are people in the audience, he continued (only one person was present, Carol White, so I guess he meant her) who have been frightened by remarks from the podium. But we stopped that dead, said the Mayor. Free speech is one thing but when the miscreants among us resort to personal attacks we won't tolerate it. The Code of Civility has secured us against terror.

The Mayor was speaking in code. Personal attacks might in a general context mean digression and random raving but over his term the Mayor has clarified the meaning of “personal attacks,” and stood by his clarification. Personal attacks, as the Mayor has been careful to define them, mean any reference to any employee of the City Administration. Councilman Will Lee backed him up loyally. You can pick on me, said Lee, but when you talk about city employees that’s just too much.

In actual practice personal attacks are defined as any reference to the Development Director Marie Jones. Ms. Jones, as everyone knows, was second in command to the now terminated Linda Ruffing. The City Council in its reconstituted majority was explicitly tasked by the electorate with getting rid of the long-serving, self-serving, anti-transparency Ms. Ruffing. They did it. Mayor Bendy has emphasized with irrational eloquence that Ms. Ruffing was not fired, she only left voluntarily in the midst of her advocacy for a fat pay raise two years before her retirement after almost 20 years of unfettered command.

When the new City Council accomplished their promise to the electorate over the opposition of Mayor Bendy and brought on a new City Manager the new City Council felt that they had done all that anyone could ask of them and stopped thinking. After an uncertain couple of months the Development Director stepped boldly into the power vacuum at City Hall and started attending Planning Commission meetings in the role of general director of decision making, and directing the City Council meetings in a more subdued but equally manipulative originator of policy. The Council thought that was useful.

Since Ms. Jones was the author and originator of policy I thought she was fair game for reasoned criticism. I still think so. The Mayor thought not. Right along with the Code of Civility, personal attacks, i.e., criticism of city employees, was deemed hate speech. I kid you not. The mayor put it boldly at the Public Safety Committee meeting.  Anyone who engages in hate speech with their mouth, their pen, or their tweets (the last being a little tip of the hat to the many never-Trumpers in town), will not be tolerated by the City Council.

I have not ceased my criticism of the Development Director who sold out to GP, and I look forward to being arrested when I do it again. I certainly will. Mayor Lindy can have me arrested for my presumption at council meetings until the issue is tested in court. But I promise you, Mr. Mayor, however much you may wish for it my pen is out of your reach.

REMINDER: MEASURE B MEETING TODAY, WEDNESDAY

Just a reminder that there is a MH Treatment Act Citizen's Oversight Committee meeting Wednesday, August 29, 1-3pm, Conference Room C at the County Admin Center, 501 Low Gap Rd. in Ukiah. Lee Kemper from the Kemper Consulting Group will be in attendance to present the Needs Assessment Report.

Dora Briley, MCSO - Measure B Committee Clerk, 707-463-4408

BARN SALE IN PHILO!

12751 AV Way

Saturday and Sunday, September 1 & 2

10 AM to 3 PM

Electronics, toys, clothing, lamps housewares, furniture and much more.

Look for signs and banners

Proceeds benefit St. Elizabeth Seton Church

Stephanie A Britton‎ to Help Find Khadijah Britton

#BringHomeDij #BreakTheSilence #STOPDomesticViolence

POT RULES ENFORCEMENT, an exchange

Kirk Vodopals: Couldn’t agree more with Jim Shields regarding the Mendo County Dope program. Seems like the County has given up and is simply waiting for their program to completely implode. But I tend to disagree with Scaramella that the program was too onerous to implement and enforce. Many people made it through the program with relative ease.

Mark Scaramella: Perhaps I wasn’t clear enough. I did not say that Mendo’s pot regs were “onerous,” but that they tried to micro-manage too much with too many detailed rules making consistent enforcement of all of them more difficult. I was not talking about the difficulty of getting through to a permit, but post-permit enforcement. I gather you’re talking about enforcement of unpermitted grows. And then there’s the problem of revisions to permits after the permit is issued…

KV: Yes, as far as enforcement, it does seem to me that Mendo County has made little effort this year dealing with unpermitted grows. They keep giving everyone a pass “until next year”. As far as permitted grows, my understanding was that Mendo County was trying to align with all of the regs from the State that growers will eventually face anyways. What specifics are you referring to when you refer to micro-managing? Legal buildings, good roads, fire safety, labor regs, distribution..?? At a minimum, I was hoping that the County would first make sure that commercial grows had sufficient water. But the County only recently required applicants to disclose water sources. What a novel idea!

MS: You may be sorry you asked…

Imagine you’re a code enforcement officer trying to enforce these (chosen more or less at random) — not to mention a well-meaning pot grower trying to comply. (PS. I’m not saying these are, necessarily bad requirements, but they seem overly specific and nearly impossible to enforce at this level of detail when an alleged violator can drive semis through the obvious loopholes). PS. Imagine any other ag operation being required to comply with this level of detail:

“The cultivation of cannabis within an accessory structure shall be allowed subject to the development requirements of the zoning district in which it is located and to requirements of Chapter 20.164 — Accessory Use Regulations except, notwithstanding Section 20.164.010: (a) the cultivation of cannabis in an accessory structure is not permitted prior to the construction of the legal dwelling unit on the parcel, if a legal dwelling unit is required by this Chapter, and (b) cultivation of cannabis shall only be allowed on the same parcel as the dwelling unit, if required.

“The distance between the listed uses in the above paragraph (A)(1) and cannabis that is being cultivated shall be measured in a straight line from the nearest point of the fence required in section 10A.17.040(H), or if the cannabis is cultivated indoors, from the nearest exterior wall of the building in which the cannabis is cultivated to the nearest point of the exterior wall of the facility, building, or structure, or portion of the facility, building, or structure in which the above-listed use occurs or to the nearest point of any fenced, maintained or improved area where the users of the facility are typically present during normal hours of operation, whichever is closest. The distance in paragraphs (A)(2) and (A)(3) to any residential structure shall be measured from the fence required in section 10A.17.040(H) to the nearest exterior wall of the residential structure. The distance in paragraph (A)(5) shall be measured from the fence required in section 10A.17.040(H) to the boundary line of a legal parcel or access easement.

“All lights used for the indoor or mixed light cultivation of cannabis shall be fully contained within structures or otherwise shielded to fully contain any light or glare involved in the cultivation process. Security lighting shall be motion activated and all outdoor lighting shall be shielded and downcast or otherwise positioned in a manner that will not shine light or allow light glare to exceed the boundaries of the legal parcel upon which they are placed.

“Prohibition on Tree Removal. Removal of any commercial tree species as defined by Title 14 California Code of Regulations section 895.1, Commercial Species for the Coast Forest District and Northern Forest District, and the removal of any true oak species (Quercus sp.) or Tan Oak (Notholithocarpus sp.) for the purpose of developing a cannabis cultivation site is prohibited. This prohibition shall not include the pruning of any such trees for maintenance, or the removal of such trees if necessary to address safety or disease concerns.

“A Person may obtain two (2) separate Permits of different Permit types on a single legal parcel if the total square footage of the two (2) Permits does not exceed the largest maximum square footage permitted on a parcel for the relevant zoning district. A Person who applies for and obtains a Type 4 Permit in combination with any other Permit, shall not exceed a total square footage of twenty-two thousand (22,000) square feet per legal parcel, of which not more than ten thousand (10,000) square feet may be grown to maturity and entered into the Track and Trace system for commercial use. Plants may be grown to maturity by a Type 4 Permit holder for seed production or genetic expression, where the mature flowers are destroyed, and not used for commercial purposes, shall not require a separate cultivation permit.

“Generators. The indoor or mixed-light cultivation of cannabis shall not rely on a generator as a primary source of power. If no grid power source is available and there is not an alternative power source supporting both any required legal dwelling unit and the indoor or mixed-light permit operations, a generator may be used only under the following conditions: (1) the permittee shall install an alternative power source that will meet at least one-half (½) of the combined power requirements by the expiration of twelve (12) months from the date of initial application for a permit pursuant to this Chapter and (2) it will be a condition of the re-issuance of a permit that the cultivator commit, in writing, to expand their alternative power source to fully meet the combined needs of the cultivation operations and any required legal dwelling unit by the end of the second permitted year. See also section 10A.17.090 regarding application requirements related to generators.”

(I could go on…)

KV: First off, indoor cultivation is an oxymoron, so I have no sympathy for those who complain about indoor regs. Plus, it’s probably not even profitable anymore. Secondly, you just sent me excerpts of the regs. What’s the complaint? That people have to figure them out and follow the law. Ever tried to file a Timber Harvest Plan? It’s pretty complicated, too, but the timber industry has been dealing with the regs for decades. Many folks in the weed industry might be facing the simple fact that their land, or business sense, or their temperament is not suited for legalization. In some cases I agree that the regs are insane, but in the big picture the State doesn’t want to regulate a bunch of little operations. It’s easier to regulate a small bunch of big operations. But Mendo County growers are seeming to get to choose what they want to do: oh, legalization is pain in the ass so I’ll just stick with black market like always.

MS: THPs. Of course. I do not need to be lectured on how tedious and costly they are. Oregon’s timber rules are much simpler and better. Or take water board’s ridiculously complicated paperwork applications. Ho-hum. You asked for examples of overly detailed rules that are hard to enforce. I provided them. The complaint, as I said the first time, is they are too much work to enforce and they are too open to interpretation. The point I was trying to make isn’t about complicated rules per se, it’s how difficult they are to enforce when they are micro-managed. When was the last time an LTO or RPF was cited or fined for violating a THP requirement? When has the water board ever cited or fined a grape grower for making a stream alteration for his illegal pipe? Very seldom. Too many rules that are too detailed are too hard to enforce — IF the authorities even want to enforce anything in the first place. Or take the detailed health rules imposed on dairies and creameries and restaurants (which can cause serious health problems if violated)… ? I don’t even understand what we’re debating anymore.

George Hollister: “When was the last time an LTO or RPF was cited or fined for violating a THP requirement? When has the water board ever cited or fined a grape grower for making a stream alteration for his illegal pipe?” It does happen, but to your point. It would be better to have a regulatory system that required accountability, and not rules. That would mean the regulatory agency would own the river, know it, and do the monitoring. I believe this would work best on a watershed level. Let’s say there was a Navarro Watershed Council that oversaw everything on the Navarro, one professional, and one office staff. There would be more opportunity to deal with real problems, and have real understanding of what is going on. Get rid of all the rules. If there is a problem, deal with it in the best way possible. If there are ways to prevent problems, make these methods based on real situations, with real results. Right now everything is done from 30,000 feet overhead, and driven by politics, and a regulator’s and the public’s imagination.

MS: In the next few days I will post a story I wrote a few years ago about a licensed timber operator named Curtis Johnson, the only case I know of in recent memory when an LTO was cited for a timber rules violation. It’s a very straight story, albeit long, about a very unfair bit of enforcement. But very illustrative of how rhetoric from various sides doesn’t match with what happens on the ground. It actually had very little to do with “enforcement.” Let’s just say now that other “factors” come into play. And it certainly was not “politics.”

LITTLE DOG SAYS, “Skrag asked me today if I wanted to score some dope. ‘If I want dope,’ I told him, ‘I'd smoke you.’ If he asks me again, I'm turning him in. I try to keep this neighborhood crime free, but it's not easy with cats all over the place.”

IS COAST HOSPITAL TAX EXEMPT?

Listserve commentary

(#1) Something's rotten in the state of Denmark
In an effort to learn more about the MCDH's tax-exempt status, I contacted the IRS and the Franchise Tax Board. The IRS representative stated that if a 501(c)(3) fails to file a Form 990 for three consecutive years, they revoke their tax-exempt status. When I asked if Mendocino Coast Healthcare District was in good standing, they refused to answer, saying I needed to be an administrator or board member to get that information.  When I asked to speak with a supervisor, the call disconnected. The Franchise Tax Board representative stated that the EIN provided me by the hospital was for Mendocino Physicians Emergency Medical Group, which is registered in CA as a for-profit corporation; not a 501(c)(3). In a further effort to make sense of this, I filed a MCDH Public Record Request for a copy of Form 1023 which MCDH filed in 2010 with the IRS for tax-exempt status. At a Candidate Forum on August 8, Clare McCallister stated that MCDH applied for tax-exempt status in 2010 in answer to my question about the hospital's 501(c)(3)'s history. What I fail to comprehend is this:  EIN 95-2627981 lines up with a non-profit called the Mendocino Coast Healthcare District with the IRS. That same EIN 95-2627981 lines up with a for-profit corporation called Mendocino Physicians Emergency Medical Group with the State Franchise Tax Board. Is there anyone out there who can make any sense of this? Please attend the Finance Committee meeting at 4pm today. Maybe we can get some answers.

* * *

(#2) The Mendocino Coast District Hospital is an entity created by the Health Care District, which is a State entity, and therefore NOT a corporation, etc. It is likely that the Mendocino Physicians Emergency Medical Group operates by contract with the Hospital. Thus, they are only affiliated via such a contract and NOT via a legal/taxable/nonprofit linkage per se. Tax exemption can be granted via the District which operates as a  State-sanctioned special district, i. e., a limited governance body - not a town, city or county, but with the same standing per taxation.

* * *

(#3) It's interesting anyway. I just did a search on the SOS site here  https://businesssearch.sos.ca.gov/ and the Mendocino Coast District Hospital doesn't show up in the search results as a corporation or non profit corporation. The logical explanation is that MCDH is a DBA (doing business as) under a different corporate name. Anyone know what that name is?

FIRE AND FARMERS: CANNABIS GROWERS TELL THEIR STORIES

On July 27, cannabis farmer Daniel Morford of Heartrock Mountain Farms in Potter Valley nearly lost his home and farm in the Mendocino Complex Fire. And one year ago, farmer Ashley Oldham lost her home and nearly lost her life in the Redwood Valley fire. Both farmers will join host Jane Futcher on the next Cannabis Hour to share how the fires have affected the lives, and they'll offer some tips on how property owners can prepare for fire if and when it comes. That’s at the new time of 11 a.m. on Thursday, Sept. 6, on The Cannabis Hour, on KZYX.

PUBLIC INTEREST IN COAST HOSPITAL SHOULD NOT WANE

Today, the Finance Committee of MCDH meets at 4pm in the Redwood Room at the hospital. Thursday, Aug 30, is the regularly scheduled MCDH Board of Directors meeting at 6pm. A two hour closed session will precede the meeting. The results, including the status of the Hardin v. MCDH case, will be shared at the public meeting. If you would like to receive a packet for the noticed board meetings, contact Gayl Moon at gmoon@mcdh.net or call 961-1234 and ask to be connected to Gayl Moon (her ext. doesn't work if you dial it yourself). I've been disappointed with the generally small turnout of community members at these meetings. The hospital is still in peril and there are many decisions for the board and CEO to make BEFORE the new board is in place in November. Let's go to the meetings and, by so doing, hold the current administration and board accountable. Surprisingly, I have seen not one scintilla of change in the board's attitude since the passage of Measure C. If anything, things have gotten worse.

Margaret Paul, Hospital Supporter

CATCH OF THE DAY, August 28, 2018

LAURA ADAMS, Ukiah. Controlled substance, suspended license, probation revocation.

MARK BEARDSLEE, Santa Rosa/Ukiah. Failure to appear, probation revocation.

JOHN BELOTTI JR., Cloverdale/Ukiah. Carjacking, robbery, evasion.

JONATHON DELBELLO, Willits. Failure to appear, probation revocation.

MICHAEL DONAHE SR., Ukiah. Disorderly conduct-alcohol. (Frequent flyer.)

ERIC PATINO, Ukiah. County parole violation.

SILVESTRE RIVERA-NIETO, Fort Bragg. Attempted murder, mayhem, protection order violation, probation revocation.

JOHNNY SHIELDS, Ukiah. DUI-alcohol&drugs.

RODNEY TUCKER, Fort Bragg. Trespassing, probation revocation. (Frequent flyer.)

FLOYD VOISELLE, Laytonville. Pot cultivation, pot possession for sale, ammo possession by prohibited person, felon with firearm.

ARNOLD WILLIAMS, Fort Bragg. Domestic battery.

FIRENADOES

Editor:

My first atmospheric nightmare was the tornado in “Wizard of Oz.” During the Cuban missile crisis, it was the Soviet atomic fireball over San Francisco. Since those days, our climate pollution has quietly raised atmospheric carbon dioxide from 315 parts per million to 408 ppm. This global layer of greenhouse gas is trapping four Hiroshimas of heat every second, bringing us a new normal nightmare: the fire tornado, like the one that roared through Redding last month.

Don’t despair. Fight the firenado. Join Citizens’ Climate Lobby in asking congressional Democrats and Republicans to cooperate in passing carbon fee and dividend legislation. With this mechanism, fossil fuel companies would pay a steadily increasing fee on climate pollution. All the fee revenues would go to families in per-capita monthly dividends. The fee plus the dividend would help ease and speed the conversion to safe-energy sources, and end the nightmares.

Bruce Hagen

Petaluma

'APOCALYPTIC THREAT': Dire Climate Report Raises Fears For California's Future

California’s summer of deadly wildfires and dangerous heatwaves will soon be the new normal if nothing is done to stop climate change, a report released on Monday warns.

theguardian.com/environment/2018/aug/27/california-climate-change-report-wildfires-jerry-brown

THE LITTLE ENGINE THAT COULD

Senator Mike McGuire’s critical environmental legislation that cracks down on illegal forest conversions to cannabis or other agricultural operations has passed both houses of the legislature with bi-partisan support and is being sent to Governor Brown for his signature.

SB 1453 is critically important to protect pristine California forestland from illegal clearing to cannabis conversions which decimates  watersheds and pollutes drinking water supplies and kills wildlife. The bear-like mammal, the Fisher, is close to extinction due to the practices of rogue cannabis growers.

Illegal timberland conversion to cannabis violations have jumped over 200 percent since the passage of the Medical Marijuana Regulation and Safety Act (MMRSA) in 2015, rising from 30 in 2015 to 99 in 2017 and over the last 20 years, thousands of acres of California forestland have been illegally converted.

This sharp increase in Forest Practice Act violations from illegal conversions of timberland for cannabis cultivation operations has restricted the ability of CalFire investigators to pursue rogue cannabis grows. To make matters worse, the current statute of limitations makes it extremely difficult for CalFire investigators to become aware of a potential violation, investigate it, prepare a report, and then refer the matter to a District Attorney or the Attorney General’s Office so that a civil action can be filed in time.

Senator McGuire’s SB 1453 extends the statute of limitations for illegal conversions of timberland to agricultural uses from one year to three years, upon the discovery of the illegal clearing which is a critical change that will assist in prosecuting these offenses.

“Many in the industry are doing the right thing and becoming licensed. Illegal conversions are still a massive problem and they pollute our watersheds, threaten drinking water supplies, kill wildlife and usher in near irreversible harm to California’s beloved forests,” Senator Mike McGuire said. “SB 1453 will give CalFire investigators and prosecutors the time they need to successfully throw the book at these rogue growers who are destroying our forests and it provides authorities time to address these terrible acts.”

SB 1453 is modeled after previous action by the legislature, which has already created a three-year statute of limitations for other similar violations, such as violations of a Fish and Wildlife streambed alteration permit, which often occur in conjunction with violations of the Forest Practice Act & Rules.

The bill is supported by a broad coalition including California District Attorneys Association, Sierra Club, Save the Redwoods, The Nature Conservancy, and many others. SB 1453 passed in the legislature and is being sent to Governor Brown, who has until September 30 to sign this year’s legislation.

ON LINE COMMENT OF THE DAY

Harvest/Home Invasion season again? like moths to a light, These illegal unpermitted large grows attract their predators, they go hand in hand, remember last summer’s crime spree around Labor Day? Armed robberies and invasions? There will probably be more until it slowly fades. If you are old enough and have seen the before and now the evolving after of what is happening with the Green Rush, you can only hope the north coast can somehow return to tourism, small businesses, and safer family friendly communities. The problem is the area has become a magnet for those that are the unemployable zombie masses all in the last couple of decades and they are now trying to figure out what to do and where to go and what to steal. This is what happens when anarchy arrives and the criminal laws have been unenforced for so long and now the criminal laws were changed to the point of being a joke so the best way for the county is to use administrative law and liens and foreclosure which makes sense, should of started about 20 years ago, but it’s a start at least. Most law abiding legit people support the crackdown and whatever it takes to get the bad element out. The law is now 6 plants for personal use and this seems reasonable and armed thieves probably aren’t interested in a home invasion for it. Way past time for a clean up and return to some level of sanity and small town life the area used to have.

INTERNATIONAL DAY OF PEACE IN WILLITS

On September 21, 2018, peace lovers all over the world will celebrate International Day of Peace. (http://www.interntionaldayofpeace.org). This year's theme is "The Right to Peace - The Universal Declaration of Human Rights at 70."

Peace-lovers in Willits will gather at Recreation Grove Park (E. Commercial and S.Lenore), from at 4 pm to 6 pm on September 21, 2018, to celebrate peace in our community with dance, music and refreshments.  Bring your own chair or blanket.

Willits native, Wallace Clark, Elder of the Konkow band of Maidu, will open the program with a ceremonial song from his tradition.  The Konkow band of Maidu were involuntarily relocated to Willits from the Butte County area about 150 years ago.

The program includes people of all ages and social sectors and will feature Nuestra Alianza’s Baile Folklórico presenting traditional dances of Mexico performed by children from our community.

Also featured is the renowned Emandal Chorale, “More than a thousand choirs from around the world, from every continent, will be singing for peace on Sept. 21st, as part of the onedayonechoir.org global outreach. Emandal Chorale will be one of them!  We sing for peace because peace touches our hearts, and singing is the way to access that.”  Says Emandal Director Donald Willis.

Presented by the City of Willits, Nuestra Alianza de Willits, WHS Art & Travel Club, Willits Interfaith Council, Willits Rotary Club and other peace-loving groups and individuals. Join us in the spirit of Peace!

MARTHA STEWART & COW (1964)

AN ENEMY OF THE PEOPLE...The Mendocino Theatre Company's 2018 Reading Series continues with a reading of a modern translation of Ibsen's AN ENEMY OF THE PEOPLE. This classic and timely political drama tells the story of a scientist who tries to save his town from water pollution, only to wind up as a scapegoat. The reading is directed by Lynn Sotos. Wednesday, August 29th, 7:00 pm at the Mendocino Theatre Company, 45200 Little Lake St., Mendocino. General seating. Please arrive on time, as there is no late seating. $10 suggested donation.

WHAT’S YOUR SCORE?

I'm a 7. What's YOUR score?

Thanks to Americans Against the Tea Party for this photo.

SYMPHONY OF THE REDWOODS: 2018-2019 Season

GOVERNOR BROWN SIGNS BILL ELIMINATING CALIFORNIA’S CASH BAIL SYSTEM

Californians arrested for minor crimes will no longer be required to post bail to be released from jail while awaiting their day in court.

by Melody Gutierrez

SACRAMENTO — Californians arrested for crimes will no longer be required to post bail to be released from jail while awaiting their day in court beginning next year, under a bill Gov. Jerry Brown signed Tuesday.

Criminal justice groups have long sought an upheaval of the state’s pretrial system that relies on money bail, arguing that it unfairly leaves poor people in jail because they are unable to pay their way out.

In its place, SB10 by Sen. Bob Hertzberg, D-Van Nuys, will require county courts to create risk assessments to determine who should be released while awaiting trial. Ankle monitors could be required for a person’s release, as long as the defendant is not required to pay for it.

“Today, California reforms its bail system so that rich and poor alike are treated fairly,” Brown said after signing the bill.

The bill passed the Senate 26-12 and earned the bare minimum in the Assembly with a 41-27 vote. Some lawmakers complained that the bill lacked safeguards to ensure biases in the court system don’t permeate newly created pretrial assessments.

“Our path to a more just criminal justice system is not complete, but today it made a transformational shift away from valuing private wealth and toward protecting public safety,” Hertzberg said in a statement. “Thanks to the collaboration of the governor, chief justice and the Legislature, we are creating a system that is fairer for all Californians.”

Some of the most vocal supporters of the bill reversed their position after amendments gave much of the decision-making power on who should be released to county courts. The American Civil Liberties Union of California said that would only exacerbate “racial biases and disparities that permeate our justice system.”

Under SB10, starting in October 2019, a person accused of a nonviolent misdemeanor would be released from jail within 12 hours after being booked, with some exceptions. People with recent serious or violent felony convictions, multiple failures to appear or allegations involving domestic violence would not qualify.

For all other cases, local courts would decide how to assess who is at a low, moderate or high risk of committing another crime or fleeing when determining whether someone should be released after an arrest.

ECONOMIC ANALYSIS OF THE SMART TRAIN

A few excerpts from An Economic Analysis of the SMART Train, by Mike Arnold, Ph.D. in The Marin Post.

Chair and Commission Members:

I am writing to provide a broader context to SMART General Manager Farhad Mansourian’s August 2 presentation in Watsonville. This memo is about what he didn’t tell you and about the many questions a public body should consider before deciding to employ tax dollars to provide passenger rail services.

I have reviewed the video and the PowerPoint that was presented to the RTC [Regional Transportation Commission]. Much of what he said was incomplete. Some information was inconsistent with data on SMART in the National Transit Database or in its own financial reports. My goal is to provide the RTC with this information so that it will understand that SMART is not the success touted by SMART’s Chairperson and General Manager.

Hopefully, after reading this memo, the Commission will learn that implementation of passenger rail service “within suburbia” (in that passenger rail wouldn’t serve a major employment center) comes at great cost to the taxpayers and carries relatively few transit passengers.

As I demonstrate below, SMART’s ridership is paltry compared with rail transit systems that do serve major metropolitan areas. Indeed, to the extent the Commission views SMART as a “model,” I urge the Commission to careful study what has actually transpired in the past 10 years in Marin and Sonoma counties, as opposed to what the General Manager claims has transpired...

Table 2

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STANLEY ROBERTS’ CHANNEL BOOTED FROM YOUTUBE

YouTube terminates the entire People Behaving Badly archive over copyright infringement complaints, and Stanley thinks he knows who’s behind the move.

by Joe Kukura

The Bay Area’s fond farewell to Stanley Roberts just got a lot less fond. Early Monday morning, YouTube terminated more than 2,000 People Behaving Badly videos on the segment’s official TVman1981 channel. The defunct channel now just shows the words “This account has been terminated because we received multiple third-party claims of copyright infringement,” and Roberts thinks the complaints stem from his recent trademark dispute with KRON-4 over the name of the segment.

“I strongly believe that it was KRON,” Roberts tells SF Weekly of the source of the copyright claims, just hours after the official People Behaving Badly YouTube account was terminated. “I think they’re upset because when I said [on the air] that I probably would have stayed in the Bay Area, but they took my trademark.”

(At the end of Roberts’ final segment on Monday, Aug. 20, he said live on the air that “I probably would have stayed in the Bay Area if Nextstar and KRON hadn’t stolen my trademark.” Nextstar Media Group is the owner of KRON-4.)

Update: We’ve confirmed that at least some of the YouTube take down requests do originate from KRON-4’s parent company Nextstar Media Group.

The removal of the entire People Behaving Badly archive, with endless bits on people peeing on the streets at Bay to Breakers and parking illegally, was sudden and came without warning. “I got zero notification that anything was going on,” Roberts says. “I woke up, logged on to Twitter, and saw a tweet from someone saying they were all taken down. Which is weird, because I own the copyright,” he claims.

Indeed, the Library of Congress lists Stanley Roberts as the owner of the People Behaving Badly copyright going back to when the segment started airing in 2006. KRON recently trademarked the “People Behaving Badly” name, which could set up a trademark vs. copyright legal battle, but Roberts insists he’s not going to fight it.

According to Roberts, KRON-4 had initially asked him to transfer the People Behaving Badly account to them, which he was unwilling to do because he’d lose his community of more than 87,000 subscribers. He says he did agree to delete the videos, but YouTube terminated the account over copyright infringement claims before he got a chance.

“I was going to delete the videos at some point anyway,” he says, noting that he never monetized or profited from the videos and simply posted them as a public service. “Lots of law enforcement departments around the country have been linking to those videos for training.”

There is a Stanley Roberts GoFundMe page intended to cover the cost of Roberts’ attorney fees he’s incurred thus far in the copyright dispute. But Stanley says he’s not taking this fight any further.

“I’m not mad, I don’t have time to be mad,” he says. “I got a new job [in Phoenix], I’m happy, I’m going to go there with bells on my feet and do what I do best. I’m just disappointed that now the community has a loss, a huge loss.”

“For the last 12 years, viewers in the Bay Area and around the world have let me into their home, either by YouTube or any other kind of social media,” Roberts tells SF Weekly. “I am humbled by that.”

(SF Weekly)