Mendocino County Today: Monday, Sep. 24, 2018

• Lemons Appreciate
• Harbor Scene
• Movie Madness
• Little Dog
• Garbage Rates
• Hill Found
• Retroactive Agreement
• Kemper Money
• FB Stories
• Rusty Dusty
• MCDH Candidates
• Rabies Vaccinations
• Ed Notes
• Yesterday's Catch
• SMART Money
• PG&E Bailout
• Incompetence
• Writing Workshops
• Coastal Commission
• Wet Hornets
• Anonymous Analysis
• Kavanaugh's Response
• Caltrans Dump
• Jesus Truck
• Liberal Beehives
• Abbott & Costello
• Astronautical Congress
• Ford Allegations
• Boonville Rodeo

THANK YOU FROM THE LEMONS FAMILY

Editor,

The Lemons Family would like to thank everyone who joined us in celebrating the life of June Lemons. We very much appreciated getting to spend time with friends and family as we remembered all of things we will miss about her. We are extremely grateful to Marti, Marsha, Terri, and Tammy for their seemless handling of the kitchen and overall kindness. Special thanks to the Potlickers BBQ Crew for providing their expertise at the grill. The generosity of all those who attended and the many people who have offered their condolences since June’s passing have helped bring comfort to our family.

Sincerely,

The Lemons Family

Philo

‘LOTS OF STORIES,’ watercolor on gessoed board, varnish, by Susan P. Perin, 2018 winner of the Mendocino Art Center’s “Best Harbor Scene” award. Sponsored by Silver’s at the Wharf.

(More very fine works of art at Mendocino Art Center’s Facebook page.)

MISGUIDED MOVIE MADNESS

Has Ukiah thought through its policy of showing free movies Friday nights during the summer months? I’m sure our well-paid city administrators decided Hey why not!?! People love free stuff and so we’ll provide a great service for the whole town! But again, has the city really thought it through?

I don’t think undercutting the Ukiah Movie Theater, which is trying to keep a valuable city asset running during what can only be described as difficult economic times, is an intelligent long-range decision. I don’t think any private business should have to face a rival government agency siphoning off customers.

A family that (maybe) can afford to go to the movies once a month might elect to spend that movie night out under the stars watching something for nothing, plus free popcorn. Does this serve Ukiah’s long-term interests? Have city officials contemplated the logical consequence of giving things away simply because it can?

Using taxpayer subsidies to underwrite programs and services that the private sector provides is a risky route to travel, although for shortsighted officials it may be a tempting one. Using the Movie Madness model as a blueprint, should Ukiah begin sponsoring weekly Grand Gourmet Feasts prepared by famous visiting French chefs? Extravagant free meals could be provided Saturday nights, dessert included, with valet parking thrown in. Bring the whole family.

Hey, why not!?! People love free stuff and so we’ll provide a great free service for the whole town!

If the Ukiah Theater goes out of business and the building is abandoned how does that mesh with our already empty and abandoned Palace Hotel? How does it fit in with the abandoned downtown Post Office? How about the County Courthouse that city officials say they hope will soon be emptied out so a new courthouse can be built a few blocks away?

Are the town’s economic interests best served by bankrupting a private business and putting people out of work?

The City of Ukiah should focus on doing a great job on the few things citizens actually demand and pay taxes for, and not venture off into silly giveaway programs it has no reason to provide.

— Tommy Wayne Kramer, Ukiah Daily Journal

LITTLE DOG SAYS, “My cousins, the coyotes, were going nuts last night soon as the moon came up, and even the foxes were yipping, a real furry full moon boogie. Solidarity forever, bros!”

HAS MIKE SWEENEY REALLY LEFT?

Former Mendocino County Solid Waste Management Director (and uninvestigated wife-bomber) Mike Sweeney’s highly contorted approach to solid waste systems seems to have infected his young replacement, Mr. Robert Carlson.

Carlson has proposed garbage rate increases based on a formula that is so convoluted, so beyond comprehension, that it is undecipherable. Rates apparently would go up to a variable degree depending on how much recycle value the waste stream has (which isn’t all that much lately, hence the new higher garbage rates — but hey! with Trump’s tariffs maybe American waste value will go up!). So your guess is better than mine about what it will mean for the average ratepayer.

Agenda Item 5b (on Tuesday, Supes Agenda): Discussion and Possible Action Including Approval of Third Amendment to Franchise Agreements 10-139, 10-140, 10-141 with Solid Waste of Willits, Inc., for Solid Waste Refuse Collection Franchise Areas Nos. 1, 3 and 4, (North County, Anderson Valley, South Coast) to Incorporate a Revised Rate Adjustment Mechanism effective September 25, 2018 (Sponsor: Solid Waste).

Here’s a short (and by that we mean a small chunk of a much bigger discussion) excerpt of the Sweeney-ish bafflegab from one of the proposed rate adjustment mechanisms: “The gross market commodity value of Discarded Recyclable Materials collected by Grantee pursuant to this Agreement as mixed Recyclables shall be determined by the current average composite market value per ton for each category multiplied by the market value price including any California Redemption Value, FOB at the Designated Recycling Processing Facility. An increase in rates or a decrease in rates is determined by applying the current Composite Market Value to the Fee/Credit Schedule/Market Value Grid. With tons reported for Discarded Recyclable Materials (single-stream) collected from each area, a fee/credit per ton will be applied against the number of tons divided by revenue to calculate a percentage change in the rate. See Fee/Credit Schedule/Market Value Grid. Two to four months before the end of the Rate Period, beginning with the Rate Period ending December 31, 2017, Grantee shall calculate the average Composite Market Value per ton over the previous 12 months, and apply it to the Fee/Credit Schedule/Market Value Grid to determine a fee or credit. Rates will be adjusted by a fee or credit times the number of tons collected divided by revenue."

And here’s a couple of the (similar) Collection area proposals, plus the revised ordinance:

Collection Area No

Franchise Area Agt Changes in Strikethrough

SUFFICE IT TO SAY that the process is beyond the comprehension of anyone but Mr. Carlson-Sweeney and maybe Jerry Ward of Solid Waste of Willits who can arrange his back up materials for rate calculations as he likes. This kind of hyper-technical crap should not be allowed by the Supervisors because it effectively takes garbage rates out of public accountability. The public has a fundamental right to know how their garbage rates are calculated and argue about them when the garbage hauler is granted a monopoly like Solid Waste of Willits is. Better to leave the rate structure alone and let Ward apply for rate surcharges as he sees fit and let the County review, negotiate and agree on a case by case basis.

AS WE WERE still scratching our heads and looking for our sleuth hats, we shoulda known the Redheaded Blackbelt had solved the case.

Bruce McEwen: The John Hill in the booking log looks suspiciously like the missing person John Hill posted last week on Redheaded Blackbelt, who was last seen at the foot of Bell Springs Road. A dead ringer, if you imagine him without the beard and shorter hair — all or which could have grown in the time he’s been out of touch with his family.

Mike Kalantarian: Excellent point — notice the mole on the left cheek:

Kym Kemp: Yep, I am pretty sure that is where his family located him. They didn't say that. They just said he had been located. But I saw his booking photo and figured it must be.

Background: kymkemp.com/2018/09/19/missing-man-last-seen-at-the-bottom-of-bell-springs-road-three-weeks-ago/

THERE’S YET ANOTHER RETROACTIVE ITEM on Tuesday’s Board of Supervisors Consent Calendar. And, again, as all too common, no explanation for why the County couldn’t have put this $58k-plus item on the regular agenda in advance for possible discussion or approval. How much more of this are the Supes going to tolerate?

“Item 4g) Approval of Retroactive Agreement with North Coast Opportunities in the Amount of $58,433 to Provide Child Care Navigation and Trauma-Informed Care Training for the Period of July 1, 2018 through June 30, 2019 Recommended Action: Approve retroactive Agreement with North Coast Opportunities in the amount of $58,433 to provide child care navigation and trauma-informed care training for the period of July 1, 2018 through June 30, 2019; authorize the Health and Human Services Agency Director or designee to sign any future amendments to the Agreement, due to the State increased allocation, that do not cause the Agreement amount to exceed $88,433; and authorize Chair to sign same.”

WAIT A MINUTE! Didn’t Mendo just pay Kemper Consulting $40 grand for a mental health needs assessment?

Consent Calendar Item 4e) — “Approval of Amendment to Board of Supervisors Agreement 18-078 with Kemper Consulting Group Adding Additional Funding of $28,000 to Provide Mental Health Needs Assessment Consulting Services for the Period of May 1, 2018 through December 31, 2018, For a New Not to Exceed Agreement Amount of $68,000 (Sponsors: Executive Office and Sheriff-Coroner, on behalf of the Measure B Oversight Committee) Recommended Action: Approve Amendment to Board of Supervisors Agreement 18-078 with Kemper Consulting Group adding additional funding in the amount of $28,000 to provide mental health needs assessment consulting services for the period of May 1, 2018 through December 31, 2018 for a new not to exceed Agreement amount of $68,000; and authorize Chair to sign same.

SO STAFF proposes to hand over another $28k to Mr. Kemper for a “new not to exceed” agreement without even minimal explanation? Did Kemper over-run after he said he wouldn’t? (CEO Angelo told the Measure B committee that it was unlikely he’d even need the initial $40k.) The details of the contract amendment offer no explanation either, just that the contract value is proposed to go up to $68k. What gives? HHSA staff acts as if they don’t even need to bother to explain their handouts.

MY HOMETOWN

by Crawdad Nelson (AVA, July 1, 1987)

Fort Bragg -- where the streets are straight, the fish are biting and the bars stay open in all weather.

When I was a mallet-headed brat, we used to drive down to the ocean and toss our garbage off a little cliff. Sewage poured forth from great pipes at the same spot, and folks acted as if this was a good and reasonable plan. You can still find trash pile on the rocks there; engine blocks molded into the cracks between rocks, softening strips of rubber, rusted wheel rims, a great many boot soles and bits of plastic. Of course the greatest treasure is "Glass Beach" were decades worth of litter has been pushed by tidal action into a colorful mess of water worn glass chips.

This product of blindness remains to remind us of how our actions -- our cycle of consumption and "disposal" -- stay with us. It must have seemed just too easy then, and it was.

Nowadays we haul our garbage to the landfill out behind Caspar where the gulls and ravens feed, and bulldozers push soil and garbage into ever higher mountains. As the population of Fort Bragg increases, the days of the Caspar landfill’s usefulness dwindle. Somewhere we trust mighty intellects are devising new schemes for ridding us of our waste.

The ocean, as if motivated by revenge, pushes its breeze through the sewage aeration pond system on the point beyond the Georgia-Pacific mill. The smell of shit rides this breeze through the mill and into town.

* * *

Wasted Lives — I'll call him Bob. He’s long and slim, somehow stays alive. He has a girlfriend, Cindy. They walk around, mope around.

In the fall of 1986 they camped down on Pudding Creek in a nest beside the water just upstream of the railroad tunnel. I went in there and poked around after rain evicted them. They had built a kind of hut in a burned-out stump, using scraps of wood they had dragged from the pile of wreckage left over from when the tunnel caved in in 1976.

In fact, it looked like they had spent a few nights in the broken boxcar which still lies on its side at that end of the tunnel. They left a lot of clothes. Worn-out jeans, torn brown corduroy jackets, socks, a few ratty sleeping bags were there, half buried in silt. I suppose they just couldn't take much of their shit or maybe it was wet and they knew where they could get more.

Potatoes were sprouting inside plastic produce bags.

I found a deck of cards, dog-eared, moldy, marked with red and white wax which had dripped from candles mounted in candle notches built into the stump. Lumps of wax, bristling with grizzled old matchsticks, sat on crates they’d used as tables and old railroad ties they sat on.

A least three and sometimes four people lived in the damp little camp. These days I see them frequently wandering the streets. Sometimes I see them camping down on the beach at Noyo Harbor. I guess the cops root them out wherever they stay before too long.

This fellow Bob once told me he spent time in Boonville, playing a kind of sport involving men running full speed at each other on the street in front of a bar and butting heads. Does anyone know if this still goes on?

* * *

God damn hippie — when I ride my bike downtown with the baby in her little seat, people point at her and say, "Look, how cute." And then they look up at me, grinning the grin of simple happiness. The fatter, stupider ones let their faces express confoundment. You can easily see their thinking, "That happy little baby is being hauled around by some kind of long haired god damned hippie." There is much more ironic conversation in my life now. It used to be easy to clam up and sink down, but when you pack a baby you find yourself talking to all kinds of different people.

When you live in Fort Bragg you live with contradiction.

(AVA, July 1, 1987)

AVA READERS ARE SMARTER THAN THEY LOOK, WANDA

Dear Mr. Johnson:

Regarding Crime & Punishment, Court Calendar 6/24/87, traffic/criminal Wanda Jo Hale aka Blake aka Wanda Watson as listed in your issue of June 24: this shadow impersonation of me has got to stop!

Wanda Joe ("William Blake") Tinasky

Fort Bragg

PS: I was surprised that your dumb readers seem to catch on that "Tina Wandasky" is a metathesis of my name. Maybe you are having an effect. Who knows? In contrast, nobody seemed to dig that the "Polly Morphose" in a recent edition of the Fart Bragg Advocate News (a periodical which does not publish pseudonymous letters except when it damn well pleases) denotes the brand name of a word processor, in the style of the 1930s sci-fi writer who published under the name of "Underwood," because that was what it said on his typewriter. (& don't check it out, because believe me Mr. Johnson it isn't worthwhile. "Underwood" seemed to have the same sort of mental deformity as another lousy sci-fi writer of that period, L. Ron (later Elron) Hubbard.)

PPS: & speaking of writers, I thought the piece by Clay Geerdes (clay of the earth, a pretty obvious pseudonym to anyone who remembers the name of G. Legman's home in the Alpes maritime) was the best thing on the subject that I remember seeing, and I'm not saying this because Rusty Norvell is really rusty. (Old song: "Get up, get up, woman… Get up offa yo big fat rusty dusty!") No, certainly not, I just thought Mr. Geerdes told that pretty much like it was. (Cf.. The recent KQED program on Ken Kesey with Kesey telling (1/4 century after the fact) how he got started in LSD by being paid $75 a day to take it in federal funded experiments at Stanford: "I thought they were working on cures for psychotics; I found out they were developing weapons of warfare." (But you're still not saying that people in the federal government were intending to use drugs on the American people in much the same way that the British used opium against China in the 19th century, are you, Ken baby?) Well, it's a spectrum, Mr. J., & the word is tourjoures gai, but the AVA is not as Mr. Geerdes says, "one of the only," as that is grammatically incorrect or illogical, whichever, as Miss Marels could probably make clear to anybody.

MEET THE CANDIDATES AT ST. ANTHONY'S

Event: Meet John Redding, Jessica Grinberg and Karen Arnold

Where: St. Anthony's Hall, 10700 Lansing, Mendocino

When: October 9, from 7-8:30

The upcoming election will give the community a chance to vote on candidates for the MCDH Board of Directors. Community members are invited to meet MCDH Board candidates John Redding, Jessica Grinberg and Karen Arnold. Each will share his/her qualifications and why they are running, followed by a Q&A.

WORLD RABIES [prevention] DAY?

ED NOTES

A READER sends along a screed from the black conservative, Shelby Steele, from which I excerpted this: "For other leftists, hate is a license. Conservative speakers can be shouted down, even assaulted, on university campuses. Republican officials can be harassed in restaurants, in the street, in front of their homes. Certain leaders of the left—Rep. Maxine Waters comes to mind—are self-appointed practitioners of hate, urging their followers to think of hatred as power itself."

I DON'T KNOW ABOUT Maxine Waters except that she's at the top of the Trumpian's hit list. Speaking for myself as a leftist all my days the only people who have ever tried to shout me down and otherwise interfere with my speech have been self-identified leftists, progressives, liberals, whatever the jive-o's are calling themselves these days. And they've done it a lot over the years for one bogus reason or another, and the males of this craven species have always hidden behind the most awful women in all the goddess's creation. But the left generally isn't any more hateful than any other group of bereft consumers trapped in a doomed country on a dying planet. Steele himself has become a multi-millionaire as a rightwing black man fronting for our white ruling circles.

SPEAKING of the fascist left, not a peep out of the cash and carry Bari Cult on the case's latest developments, namely the Press Democrat's claim that they've "lost" the confession letter from the man (presumably) who placed the car bomb in Bari's car that nearly killed her — did kill her seven years later in slow, suffering motion. That letter provides the dna link to the bomber, the link that a Benecia policeman rightly described as "the silent witness to the truth." But then the small group of people who've lived off the "mystery" of that event, psychically and fiscally, have gone out of their way to conceal the truth and, natch, they don't dare debate it in any public forum. The great speakers of truth to power stick to their echo chambers at places like KPFA and KZYX. And the Press Democrat.

* * *

THE SOUTHCOAST has taken a big hit with the closing of the Sea Ranch Lodge the morning of November 4th, which means 65 people will be out of work. According to the ICO, the business is owned by an anon something called Fillmore Capital Partners which, in an unsigned letter, wrote: "Our plan, which is subject to change based on conditions, is to re-open for business on Friday, March 15, 2019."

* * *

IN OTHER NEWS from the Southcoast, hysterics seated on the perennially wobbly Point Arena School Board broached the idea of fencing in the high school, complete with security cameras, the idea being to prevent a school shooting. The larger community shot down (sic) the cockamamie proposal.

CATCH OF THE DAY, September 23, 2018

ANDREW BARR, Fremont/Ukiah. Under influence.

ERIC CROUCH, Ukiah. Forgery, parole violation.

RICKIE CURTIS, Willits. Disorderly conduct-alcohol.

JOHN DANLEY, Redwood Valley. DUI.

ROBERT GARDNER SR., Calpella. Felon/addict with gun.

QUINN GREENE, Comptche. Fighting, public nuisance, disorderly conduct-alcohol, probation revocation.

JOSHUA JOAQUIN, Kelseyville/Ukiah. Parole violation.

ADAM LAWSON, Ukiah. DUI.

JESUS MACIAS, Ukiah. Disorderly conduct-alcohol, probation revocation.

VIOLET MCALISTER, Ukiah. Grand theft, controlled substance, failure to appear, probation revocation.

MOLLY MCCLOUD, Fort Bragg. Grand theft, Disorderly conduct-alcohol.

ROBERT MINNIHAN, Ukiah. Disorderly conduct-alcohol, probation revocation.

THOMMY NACE, Ukiah. “Procedings.”

ERIC SILK-HOAGLIN, Hayward/Ukiah. Failure to appear, probation revocation.

MARK SONNIER, Marysville/Ukiah. Disorderly conduct-alcohol.

ELEA VANWORMER, Fort Bragg. Protective order violation, probation revocation.

TIFFANY WASHBURN, Fort Bragg. Controlled substance, evidence tampering, under influence, resisting.

SMART TAXES

Editor,

Great news to read that SMART is moving forward with the extension to Windsor. That will bring in more riders in the northern part of Sonoma County. The dark side is the gas tax repeal vote and the lawsuit targeting tolls.

Let’s face it. Our elected leaders have violated their fiduciary responsibility to the voters on pensions. So money for roads and infrastructure improvements is lacking unless there is a dedicated source of tax money, approved by a two-thirds vote. And our federal lawmakers haven’t increased the gas tax since the 20th century, as Republicans in Congress are against increasing taxes but are OK with give-away tax cuts that increase the deficit.

There is a huge source of existing tax money available for SMART to finish the line to Cloverdale — and then extend it to Ukiah and Willits. That’s the cap-and-trade money Gov. Jerry Brown siphons off for a high-speed rail system that won’t get built in our lifetime.

Stop construction of the high-speed rail system, and use the money for SMART and other public transportation projects in California. All it takes is our state legislators showing the political spine to say “enough” and vote to allocate the money where it can be used immediately.

Andrew Smith

Santa Rosa

BAILOUT AFTERWORDS

by Jim Shields

Last week’s discussion on the state legislature’s PG&E bailout bill that will allow the utility to recover an unknown amount of liability costs from last fall’s Northcoast wildfires, generated quite a bit of feedback from readers. I’ll share some the input with you.

If Gov. Jerry Brown signs the bill as expected before month’s end, PG&E could weather a potential $17 billion in liability costs by issuing so-called “rate recovery bonds” that PG&E’s customers would be responsible for repaying through a “wildfire surcharge” on their monthly bills.

One caller wanted to know how much the surcharge would be and also what exactly is a rate recovery bond.

The answer to her first question is nobody will know how much the surcharge is until the California Public Utilities Commission (PUC) determines just how much liability will be charged to the state’s largest electrical utility. There’s a complex process that includes something called a “bankruptcy stress test,” to determine if a utility’s liability crosses the bankruptcy threshhold, if so, any costs beyond that theoretical point would be passed on to ratepayers. Also the term length of the bonds will affect the amount of the surcharge.

A state Senate analysis of the bill provides this explanation of rate recovery bonds:

“This bill authorizes the use of financing to reduce the bill shock associated with damages paid by utilities for wildfires. The financing would be available for the amounts borne by ratepayers of the 2017 wildfires or of future fires. The use of a rate recovery bond is the securitization of a cash flow stream generated by a fee charged to utility customers. Rate recovery bonds are financing mechanisms that are asset-backed securities (collection of dedicated fees on ratepayers utility bills) structured to minimize borrowing costs in order to qualify for better credit ratings well below the rate available in the marketplace which would otherwise apply to other long-term debt. Ratepayers pay off the bonds through a special surcharge (dedicated rate component). Rate recovery bonds are a financing mechanism used during the energy crisis to finance the settlement terms between Pacific Gas and Electric Company and the CPUC. The rate recovery bonds provide a utility the opportunity to begin recovering from ratepayers dedicated fees to finance bonds that would be issued to fund expenses related to damages stemming from wildfires that were caused by electrical infrastructure.”

Clear as mud, right?

A PG&E employee I know said he felt it was “unfair that PG&E is being blamed for all of the fires up here as if we purposely caused them. People need to know there are lots of property owners who do not maintain their lands as they should. They don’t cut underbrush, they let their trees grow without ever thinning them out. A lot of them don’t even mow and weed-whack around their homes and outbuildings. Why doesn’t the state go after them? They should be on the carpet for some of those costs too, not just PG&E.”

At least a dozen people all raised the same inquiry: “Why doesn’t PG&E bury their electrical lines underground instead of above-ground on poles? Electrical lines can’t be knocked down if they’re in a trench.”

The answer to that question is one of costs. I know from various water district construction projects that undergrounding electrical lines costs approximately twice as much as hanging wire from utility poles.

Mark Scaramella, long-time political writer for the Anderson Valley Advertiser, commented, “The biggest beneficiary of this bailout will be PG&E’s insurance companies whose liability has now been capped and who have announced that they will jack PG&E’s rates way up to recoup their stingy payouts. PG&E will then pass those hiked up rates along to the PUC as a [very large] cost line item in their budget to help justify their next rate hike. You might think that the insurance companies would be pressuring PG&E to take more preventive steps to limit their insurance liability (like they do on everybody else), but you’d be wrong. Why should insurance companies require more safety investment if ratepayers are going to bail everybody out anyway? There are also banks, bondsmen, and lawyers who will make out very nicely in this bailout. After all, banks and insurance companies and stockholders would have a lot more trouble recouping their loans and insurance paybacks if PG&E was forced to declare bankruptcy and go into receivership.”

“PS. Have you ever noticed that nobody talks about nationalizing or “state-izing” the three big utility companies? Better just to let them do whatever they please and charge the ratepayers for their negligence under the guise of (non-existent) “regulation” than to even suggest government owned and operated utilities which would be denounced as “socialism” or something. (Never mind that roads and fire departments are “socialized” or “nationalized” and nobody complains about mismanagement or excess liability. Even then, “nationalized” utilities would still translate to most of the actual work being contracted out to private companies. But nationalization would mean no stock market involvement, no insurance companies, no banks and high-interest loans, and — OMG! — maybe higher taxes — but with much lower rates — which we just can’t consider.) And yes, I know that doesn’t apply to our under-performing, overpriced schools — which could easily be run a lot better and cheaper but still should not be privatized.”

In closing, something to keep in mind about this whole bailout issue is that for almost a hundred years, California’s electrical utility policy was pretty straight-forward. In return for allowing PG&E and Southern California Edison and San Diego Gas & Electric.to continue to do business as legal monopolies, their rates and services would be subject to control through the Public Utilities Commission. That was the basic trade-off. Theoretically, and most of the time in practice, the PUC set rates charged to the public on a standard of cost-based (“cost-plus”) pricing. Whatever it cost the utilities to actually produce energy was factored into the basic rate, plus a reasonable margin for profit.

A century ago, our political leaders understood that the electric industry was the type of economic endeavor that just didn’t work in the free marketplace. Besides, given the evolving public investment in critical utility infrastructure, such as dams and related activities for hydroelectric power, it was good public policy to maintain these kinds of private-public partnerships growing out of a regulated environment.

The system was not perfect, but it sure beat the alternative — as we are now learning to our great detriment. As any country boy or girl will tell you, if it ain’t broke don’t fix it. But that’s exactly what happened back in 1996 when this state deregulated the electrical giants. We’ve been living with that blunder ever since.

(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 noon on KPFN 105.1 FM, also streamed live: http://www.kpfn.org.)

ON LINE COMMENT OF THE DAY

It is really amazing, yet pathetic how little it takes anymore to derail the US government every time it tries to accomplish even the simplest functions. The incompetence and impotence of the American government and the American people has to make you wonder why we have not already crumbled into dust. There is nothing holding them together and everything tearing them apart. It is almost a shame that the movie “The Kingsmen” was fantasy and that there is no real way that some mega bad guy (good guy maybe) could just transmit a signal to every human’s cellphone that would drive them into a murderous rage. That might be a way to get something done.

FREE MONTHLY WRITING WORKSHOPS FOR TEENS & ADULTS

(JUNE – OCTOBER 2018)

THE ART And CRAFT Of WRITING For YOUNG READERS

The Ukiah Public Library and the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators are delighted to offer a series of presentations on the art and craft of writing for young readers by Mendocino County authors. The series features Rena Rockford, David Weitzman, Natasha Yim, and Jody Gehrman. Each presentation in the series will be held on the last Thursday of the month from July through October from 5:30-7:30 in the Ukiah Public Library.

* * *

Ten Tips To Make Your Dialogue Sing

Jody Gehrman: Thursday, September 27, 2018 5:30-7:30

Ukiah Public Library

Many writers struggle with dialogue, from the technical rules that govern its execution to the bigger questions of authenticity and voice. Join playwright, screenwriter and novelist Jody Gehrman as she shares her love of dialogue and her top ten tips for making yours come alive.

About Jody

Jody Gehrman has authored eleven published novels and numerous plays for stage and screen. Her first suspense novel, Watch Me, was published by St. Martin’s Press in 2018. Jody’s plays have been produced or had staged readings in Ashland, New York, San Francisco, Chicago and L.A. Her newest full-length, Tribal Life in America, won the Ebell Playwrights Prize. She is a professor of Communications at Mendocino College.

If you are interested in the program or want to find out more, please contact Melissa at the Ukiah Library: 467-6434 or carrm@mendocinocounty.org

* * *

Being With Wolves

On Saturday, September 29^th from 3 pm - 4:30 pm, Mendocino County Library, Ukiah Branch is hosting Being With Wolves.

Learn about wolves in North America, with a presentation by Jeanne Wetzel Chinn, MS, founder of the education project, Being With Wolves.

Drawing from history, scientific research and current events, this presentation will debunk fear-based mythologies and present a clear picture of wolves and other apex predators at play in healthy ecosystems. It will talk about reintroduction, natural wolf migration, projection of domestic animals, and strategic alternatives to wolf depredation. Being With Wolves is a project bridging healthy wolf populations with the complexities of human-caused interactions, leading to tolerance and co-existence for wolves to return to their remaining historic habitat.

This program series is dedicated to learning about the citizen scientist movement in Northern California, it is for all ages, and is sponsored by the Ukiah Valley Friends of the Library and Mendocino County Library.

TARGET THE COASTAL COMMISSION

Editor,

I was shocked and extremely disappointed to read that the California Coastal Commission is apparently going to pay the fines and legal costs for Steve Kinsey and the other convicted Coastal Commission members.

In Kinsey’s case, he was convicted of 140 violations. Yes, you read that right: 140 violations.

The Coastal Commission’s decision to pay these costs is a blatant future protection and precedent should any future members decide to ignore rules and fail to properly carry out their responsibilities. This is a gross abuse of taxpayers’ funds and a betrayal of the public trust and the future integrity of the Coastal Commission.

The individual actions of California Coastal Commission members should be completely and fully their personal responsibilities. They failed, probably purposefully, to handle important communications with developers in the proper manner.

A lawsuit should be filed against the California Coastal Commission to send the proper message: if you fail to maintain your trust to the public you should personally pay for this breach and failure to follow the rules. If you are not going to faithfully execute your duties as a California Coastal commissioner, you should not take the job.

Al Dugan, Novato

FROM THE CULT RIGHT:

"They don't like what America is and what it represents, and they want to change us to another system. In order to do that, there are three things they must control: the education system, the media, and the courts. The first two of those they have," Carson said. "The other they thought they had, but it was snatched out from under their noses in November of 2016."

Now, Carson continued, these forces "are like wet hornets, just completely lost control off the deep end, and the further they get away from being able to control the courts the more desperate they become," he said. "They don't see themselves as being able to control the courts for another generation, so what is left? Chaos and destruction."

There is no basis for Carson's claim that socialists are plotting to take over American civic institutions. A spokesman for the Department of Housing and Urban Development did not immediately return a call from CNBC Friday seeking clarification of Carson's remarks.

FROM THE MAN who outted Tom Hawkins as Wanda Tinasky, Joe Klein as the author of Primary Colors, Mike Sweeney as the author of the Lord's Avenger Letter.....

salon.com/2018/09/20/right-to-remain-anonymous-who-is-the-senior-official-who-wrote-the-times-op-ed/

MISSED OPPORTUNITY

Editor,

In all the discussion of accusations and denials, perhaps there could have been a different way of dealing with the suitability of Kavanaugh for the Supreme Court. If he had simply said: "I don't remember this incident, I don't know if it happened. It is possible, because we did drink a lot in high school. If it is true, and I did this, then I sincerely apologize to Dr. Ford for the distress it caused her. I would not in any way as an adult condone such behavior by anyone, even my teenage self."

Had Kavanaugh made any such statement he would have established his own honesty, decency and maturity, and this whole thing would be over. He did not choose that route, but has persisted in an unequivocal denial of any of it being true. So he is now in the position of the cover up being worse than the act. Now he has to convince us all that his denial is not just a knee-jerk, disdainful, smug response to some woman giving him a hard time, but has been made with utmost truth and sincerity and the event could not possibly have happened. Sad.

Julie Rufo

Oakland

JIM HEID WRITES: SAVE THE ALBION BRIDGE — AND BOONVILLE -- AN UPDATE --

From Bad to Worse: Caltrans and the Coastal Commission Dump on Boonville

Earlier this month, Caltrans and the California Coastal Commission conspired to begin destroying the historic Albion River Bridge. Now they’re gunning for Mendocino County’s Anderson Valley, too.

At its September 11 meeting in Fort Bragg, the Coastal Commission approved Caltrans’ illegal and incomplete application to begin a “geotechnical investigation” development adjacent to the last remaining timber trestle bridge on California’s Highway 1. The development involves the destruction of between 90 and 227 eucalyptus trees as well as significant grading and drilling of a steep, fragile coastal bluff. The trees serve as Coastal Commission-certified environmentally sensitive habitat for the great blue heron.

All that debris – trees, leaves, roots, soil, and rock – has to go somewhere. On Friday, we learned where: Boonville.

Caltrans plans to haul tons of material inland—out of the coastal zone, conveniently for the Coastal Commission—and dump it at a “Caltrans disposal facility” in Boonville. The location is at mile post 31 on Highway 128, just south of the intersection of Highways 128 and 253.

That’s right: Caltrans wants to cut down eucalyptus trees located in a moist marine environment, and then dump their flammable remains in the heart of the dry Anderson Valley – at the height of fire season, within a tossed cigarette butts’ distance of the state highway.

And the staff of the Coastal Commission, which receives a million dollars a year from Caltrans to expedite its schemes, bought into this crazy plan.

Now that the Coastal Commission has rubber-stamped Caltrans’ plans, the countdown to the destructive geotechnical investigation begins. Caltrans could start cutting and grading as early as October 5. Litigation to stop the development is pending in San Francisco Superior Court.

The Coastal Commission next meets in San Diego on October 10, 11, and 12. The public should make itself heard by writing to the Coastal Commission at ExecutiveStaff@coastal.ca.gov, referencing “Stop Abusing Mendocino County”.

By expanding their proposed radius of destruction into the Anderson Valley, Caltrans and the Coastal Commission have proved that their mutual interests far outweigh the concerns expressed by the public and by the courts.

It’s time for inland Mendocino County residents to join the Albion Bridge Stewards in the fight to prevent this environmental damage and pointless waste of taxpayer dollars.

LISTEN TO LYNDON

Editor,

Eric Holder, Joe Biden, Hillary Clinton, Maxine Waters, Dianne Feinstein, Nancy Pelosi, Chuck Schumer, and many others are dirty rotten corrupt anti-American liberal liars and no good so-and-so's. At the least. Hillary and Obama make me sick. They are rotten. Obama is an anti-American radical Muslim to begin with. Hillary Clinton should be deported. She is crazy. And stinking Obama? Look at who he associated with before he was president. All of them are anti-American, anti-whatever anything. Those are all your buddies, Robert Mahon. I'm sorry I insulted you but you deserve it.

Why is Dianne Feinstein screwing around trying to disrupt Judge Kavanaugh's appointment to the Supreme Court? She's queen of the stinking Democrats, that's why. How low can they stoop? It's almost embarrassing to think that they are human beings like the rest of us.

Even ESPN on Monday night football has become part of the no good liberals. They ran a commercial with three soldiers standing there and guess who was standing with them? And he's not even in office anymore! Barack Obama! That's how liberal ESPN is, showing Obama commercials three years after he's out of office.

The mayor of Oakland is trying to get rid of ICE. They should triple ICE! Al Gore, John Kerry, Obama, Bill Clinton, Hillary Clinton, George Soros and many others have been trying to undermine the United States for quite awhile.

The White House, where all the lawmakers are, is a beehive. The Liberals are doing their dirty work. All major cities are beehives for drugs and crime and corruption and anti-Americanism and much more. All colleges are beehives for defaming the Constitution, free speech, anti-Americanism and anti-religion, anti-everything thanks to liberal professors trying to take over and we don't need it.

President Trump should put together a task force of the toughest best trained Marines and go to every crime ridden city and clean them up so decent people can live in peace. 1000 should do the job divided up into platoons of 100. The mayors of these cities should be ashamed to show their faces. The corruption is unbelievable. The homelessness, the poverty, the slums, the drug dealing, gangs, MS-13 and the rotten antifa cowards. In 1969, Lyndon Baines Johnson gave a speech that was the way it should be. In every sense of the word. In that speech he hit the nail on the head. If you want to hear that speech go online and listen to it. It might do all you liberals some good, but I doubt it.

God bless Donald Trump.

Jerry Philbrick

Comptche

SAVE OUTER SPACE!

T minus one week till the International Astronautical Congress in Bremen, Germany. I will be addressing the Congress on Wednesday, Oct. 3, at 4:00pm local time. I have attached the abstract of my paper, the slides from the presentation, and the call to action at the end of my speech. The organizers have asked me not to "publish" the paper itself at this time as it may be published in the scientific journal that is produced at the end of the gathering.

The paper calls for the adoption of the Moon Treaty as an alternative to the calls for the militarization of outer space. The recent statement by Mike Pence, that outer space is "a warfighting domain", has left no doubt about the current administration's plans. The Moon Treaty calls for an international framework of laws for the peaceful development of space resources. "One Nation or All Nations: Who Should Make the Laws of Outer Space?" says the online petition. Since Pence's speech, support has more than doubled to 352 signatures. But many more are needed.

You can sign the petition at the following link:

https://www.change.org/p/one-nation-or-all-nations-who-should-make-the-laws-of-outer-space

Please consider doing so and forwarding to others. The more support, the more likely that policy-makers will pay attention. As you probably know from news reports, space commerce is about to take off, both literally and figuratively. We have a unique opportunity to provide an alternative to the wars, violence, and neglect that have dominated human history. But we must act now.

You can get more information about the Moon Treaty and related activities at:

http://www.spacetreaty.org/home

There you will also find a link to the book Major Tom, a novel about the race back to the Moon, along with a link to the Cloud Forest Institute.

They are accepting donations on my behalf to cover the cost of attending the conference. So far about $25% has been covered. If you are someone who donates to causes, please consider donating to this one. If not, please consider buying the book (all proceeds go to the Project) or signing the petition. There are many ways to show your support.

I will probably post updates during the Congress on my facebook page (Dennis O'Brien), then send out a summary after I return. If you do not want any more updates, reply with the word "unsubscribe" in the Topic field.

Thank you all again for your interest and support.

Dennis O'Brien
The Space Treaty Project
1201 Parducci Road
Ukiah CA 95482

Attached:

DOIAC Presentation - Call to Action

DOUNISPACE +50 - Time for the Moon Treaty - Abstract

DOUNISPACE +50 Time for the Moon Treaty presentation submitted Sep 20 2018 handout

ON LINE COMMENT OF THE DAY #2

The presumption of innocence is what makes our legal system better than most. Ms. Ford has the opportunity, if she takes it, to establish Kavanaugh’s guilt of a 36 year old alleged crime that was committed on a date she can’t remember, at a place she can’t remember during a drinking party with friends who, for the most part, she can’t remember. No one has come forward who remembers the party, the attack or other predatory attacks of Kavanaugh. Three people Ford believes might have been or were at the party (Judge, Keyser and Smyth) have all come forward to say they have no recollection of such a party — much Less an assault by Kavanaugh. As of now, Mr. Kavanaugh looks more innocent than guilty.

So why is he being treated as guilty until proven as innocent? Partly because the #metoo movement has a lot of momentum fresh off some some legitimate outings of predatory scumbags and, as a result, the pendulum has frighteningly swung from never believe the accuser to never believe the accused. Having said that, it’s mostly because Kavanaugh is caught up in the “resistance movement” that requires that everything President Trump does be targeted for obstruction and destruction. Were this really about Ford and her charges, Keith Ellison, who has been charged of very recent abuse by his girlfriend with much greater evidence and an emerging pattern of bad conduct, would not be a heartbeat away from running the Democratic National Committee. As of now, it appears that Ford is being used to weaponize the #metoo movement as part of waging the war of resistance.

Only a small group of resistance leaders know what is in the Ford letter that Senator Feinstein has refused to share with Chairman Grassley to this very day. No one knows what Ford will say. Unless there is a smoking gun, we already know that there will be collateral damage now that this weapon has been deployed by Trump’s detractors — damage to the presumption of innocence, damage to the #metoo movement and, most of all, damage to the nomination and confirmation process.

AT THE 2018 BOONVILLE COUNTY FAIR: The Rodeo

(Photos by Bonnie Clarke Johnson)