Mendocino County Today: Saturday, Dec. 1, 2018

• Navarro Breaches
• George H.W. Bush
• Anchorage Quake
• Stonewall Edwards
• Tippett Concession
• Ukiah Bowling
• Little Dog
• Ed Notes
• Vivaldi
• Creepy Guy
• Probation Fail
• Yesterday's Catch
• Deep Doodoo
• 1.5 Warning
• Fence Flag
• Not Impressed
• Fruitcake
• Trimming Lifestyle
• Unfree Press
• Three-legged
• Community Chorus
• Library Amnesty
• Nutria Menace
• Toxic Smoke
• Depraved Society
• Immigration Bureau
• Holiday Cheer
• Fuel Break
• WIIN Brown
• Always Right
• Found Object

NAVARRO BREACHES

Caltrans (Saturday 11am): "Here is a photo from our crews, showing the mouth of the Navarro River after it breached during the night. Hopefully, the rains will continue to keep it open for the rest of the winter. The sandbar caused the river to flood over SR 128 last night, causing an eight hour closure of the highway."

GEORGE HERBERT WALKER BUSH died friday. He was 94.

yahoo.com/gma/former-president-george-h-w-bush-dead-94-045704081--abc-news-topstories.html

A 7.0 EARTHQUAKE struck Anchorage, Alaska, Friday morning. No casualties have been reported, but photos of structure damage are making the rounds.

MY MEETING WITH BOB

(The preposterously overpaid CEO at terminally ill Coast Hospital)

Dear Editor:

Stonewalled by Bob Edwards, MCDH CEO

I had a prearranged meeting with Bob Edwards, Mendocino Coast District Hospital CEO, at 10:30 Friday morning. Prior to the meeting, Gayl Moon, Edwards’ Administrative Assistant, told me the meeting could not exceed 15 minutes. When I arrived, Edwards introduced me to his newly hired PR man (the third in as many months). I asked if he needed to be at the meeting and Edwards replied it was part of his PR training. A minute later, Ann Rennacher arrived and Edwards told her she wasn’t supposed to be there, to which I quickly replied that if he had his PR man, I could have my community support person. She stayed and served as a witness to what transpired.

My first question was why the Emergency Physicians Medical Group in Walnut Creek used the MCDH’s EIN# with the Franchise Tax Board. His reply was that it did not happen. I shared that a couple months ago, Mike Ellis, the CFO, told me he was trying to get to the bottom of it and that he was aware that the SF based for-profit medical group had, indeed, used MCDH’s EIN#. My direct communication with the CA State Franchise Tax Board was the source of my information about this in the first place.

Who to believe? Ellis or Edwards? They can’t both be right.

My second question was about the HCAHPS Survey Report and why he, Edwards, sent an email out to recipients of the Planning Committee Meeting Agenda were told by him to remove and destroy the document from the packet. He said it was not public information and was accidentally put in the agenda packet. The only thing in the way of the public knowing about the survey was Edwards. Since no patients’ names were included, there was no violation of the HIPAA Act. I asked what was being done to improve the hospital’s significantly below average performance scores on this survey. His reply was basically it would go to this committee then that committee then to a board closed session to figure out what to do. I can’t remember all the names of the committees rattled off. Edwards tried to get me to commit to destroying my copy of the document and I refused.

My third question was about the extremely low morale among the rank and file at the hospital. Edwards immediately stated that the morale was excellent. When I mentioned a meeting with the rank and file hospital workers with the four now newly elected board members, it was clear that there was enormous employee dissatisfaction….fear of being fired was right at the top, followed by low wages with no raises in years, etc. The only happy campers at MCDH seem to be the administrators, whose salaries are off the charts. No complaints from them. Edwards wanted the names of dissatisfied employees to which I replied, “Never.” He has gained a reputation for firing people if they disagree with him.

After about eight minutes of denials by Edwards, Ann and I walked out of the meeting. So much for attempting to lift the veil of secrecy.

Margaret Paul

A Healthy Hospital Supporter

Mendocino

* * *

A READER COMMENTS

Jeebus Creepus,

Sounds like pulling molars to get answers to a few simple questions. Good thing you brought pliers with good grips.

Suggestion: next time, wear a microphone and recording device on your lapel. Disguise it with a big clown flower. If he stalls too long during the interview, or if he inquires about the flower, you can ask him if he wants to sniff it. Then, right when he brings his face close to snortle it — SPLORCH! Squirt him right in the schnoz. If the squirter malfunctions, probably because it's entangled with the recording device, you can ask while you fiddle with it, "So, can you smell that rotten stench?" He'll probably shake his head no, after which you can say, "Oh, it's probably just you, actually." Then look him meaningfully in the eye with your laser stare.

Seriously, Margaret, thank you so much for actively pursuing answers, and putting your care and time into the ordeal of interviewing people involved. And their mostest-recentest rotation of PR henchfolk in tow, of course, of course.

LOSING GRACIOUSLY, an exchange:

Back when I was running for the Mendocino Coast District Hospital Board, I told people that I was good with the results either way. If elected, my feeling would be, "Thank you for entrusting me with this responsibility." If not, my response would be, "Thank you for giving me my life back." Serving on the Hospital Board is a huge responsibility and a lot of work. Now that the final results are in, and it is clear I will not be serving on the Board, I do have to thank those who supported me for your trust, and those who didn't for giving me my life back. I want to congratulate Karen Arnold, John Redding, Jessica Grinberg and Amy McColley on your win. I look forward to working with you as a supporter of the Hospital from the community. Our community depends on this hospital. We have a lot of work ahead of us.

Jade Tippett, Fort Bragg

* * *

Lenny Noack replied:

I voted to end your life as you now know it. But you have such a great sense of humor, I'm glad you will be able to retain it.

SPARE THE BOWLING ALLEY

To the Editor:

A sad day for our community.

“They should not be closing the bowling alley! It’s the only one we’ve got! It’s wrong! That’s what it is!” my adult son with a disability exclaims with frustration from the couch at home. The bowling alley has been his “second home” for years. It has been an invaluable place to hone his social skills and bowling ability.

He even reached a perfect 300 score one year! He and hundreds of other people with disabilities in our small town are affected by the closing of the Bowling Alley.

They will loose a wonderful facility to practice a great sport and to socialize, due to this unfortunate closing. Where will people with disabilities, families with young children, teens and able adults congregate and practice healthy activities together in the near future? Our skating rink has closed.

Now, when we lose the bowling alley, where will families go on rainy days or on sweltering hot summer days to look for family fun?

We don’t need another place to shop or to eat, and plenty of dispensaries are already planned for. We have a movie theater, a theater, a college for entertainment but nothing that allows families to be active together without a membership.

Who will have the time and money to drive all the way to Windsor to bowl regularly? More to the point: it’s the community that this bowling alley has created through the 60 some years it has been here that will disappear.

Demonstrations, petitions, name collections to try and save the alley seem to have fallen on deaf ears.

In a few weeks one of Ukiah’s most vibrant and frequented establishments will be history. What a shame! Several attempts have been made to make a deal with the owners these past months to no avail. This is not Fjord, a dilapidated eye sore that sat untouched for decades before the parcel was sold and In/Out burgers took up residency.

This was built as a bowling alley and should remain a bowling alley! Closure of this establishment will affect a great part of our rural community and beyond.

How is it that the owners of this establishment can just decide to make the bowling alley pack it up, despite the value it has to Ukiah’s residents.

Owning property as valuable as this should reflect a certain responsibility toward the future of this community, not just be profit driven.

It will be a sad day when this community treasure is forced to close its’ doors.

Ulla Brunnberg Rand

Ukiah

LITTLE DOG SAYS, “Skrag says to me, ‘Pick up your game, Little Dog. You haven't said anything interesting in weeks, if ever.’ Like I'm supposed to entertain cats?”

ED NOTES

PHILO PEOPLE were amazed to see a cow flop-festooned crushed car at Starr Automotive’s lot last Wednesday morning. The unfortunate driver had run into a full-sized ruminant wandering free on 128 near the Grange. The beast went down hard, somehow managing to spray both the exterior and interior of the enemy vehicle with raw-form fertilizer. The driver miraculously emerged odiferous but otherwise unscathed. The cow is assumed deceased. Starr Automotive’s Bob Mackey, a man who could and should write a book at what he's seen on Mendo's highways and biways, was poised to hose down the wreck before hauling it to scrap iron heaven in Ukiah.

* * *

STAND BACK! Ukiah has been named as one the "best hippie towns" in Northern California by the editors of the SF Chronicle, right up there with Bolinas, Fairfax and Occidental, three little towns that haven't been affordable to any but the well-heeled since, I dunno, 1980. Mendocino hasn't been identified as a counter-culture bastion since like forever. These kinds of stories are a measure of newspaper desperation, the thinking apparently being they attract readers. Maybe they do. I read it and looked at all the pictures, too. Ukiah's hippie cred is established by a photo of a guy standing in a marijuana garden. Whatever "hippie" means to you, Ukiah is just about the last place I associate with "hippie." I can't remember the last time I even saw one, or encountered a person who self-identified as a hippie. "Aw hell. I'm just an old hippie. Hey, where'd everybody go?" Albion was a kind of last bastion, but so many children of Mendo's original hippies did a 180 from the, ah, undisciplined lives of their parents, hippie was pretty much a one generation phenomena. When's the last time you saw a bona fide young person togged out in tie-dye? With the pot business being taken over by the bullet heads of corporate land, another couple of years and trimmers will have to wear suits and ties to their interviews.

* * *

KATY TAHJA'S History of Mendocino County, covering the past 150 years is finished, the Comptche scholar has announced. In any formal sense there aren't any County histories. There's Genocide and Vendetta, if you can find a copy — they go used for upwards of $400 — is a pretty good history of the original White-Indian interface, the gist of which is accurately expressed in the book's title. There's a commercial history circa 1880 sold by subscription at the time by a company which drily listed an area's lead citizens and businesses if enough people bought one beforehand. There are lots of individual memoir-like accounts by old timers, some collections of interviews and, at the crucial Held-Poage Library in Ukiah, a large, random collection of letters, newspapers, artifacts and books pertaining to Mendocino County. But Katy Tahja's the first person I know of who has tried to put the whole show between two covers.

* * *

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED: Bodywork office open in Boxcar Boardwalk across from Redwood Drive-in. Take Boardwalk to the "end of the line." AbraKaDebra Bodywork is in the rear car, office #6. Text 707/357-3068 for appt. See website for details about her work: abrakadebra.vistaprintdigital.com

* * *

MAYBE one of you mystics out there can tell me the significance of the albino squirrel I saw early this morning in a ridgetop neighborhood above San Anselmo.

Quite a startling sight, it was. I've occasionally seen black squirrels, assuming they're in their winter coats. But this one was a deep blonde, and mos def a one off animal.

* * *

UKIAH is going ahead with the installation of parking meters in its already economically staggering downtown area. The last time Ukiah installed meters citizens justly complained so long and loud the city took them out. Why bring them back to ding downtown shoppers to shop and $65 for failing to feed the meter in time? Given the preposterously huge salaries Ukiah pays its management one would think an occasionally sensible civic decision would emerge from city hall.

* * *

HMMM. Maybe if we bury our power lines trees wouldn't knock them down and start fires. PG&E, is "testing" an underground line along a half-mile of rural road near Monte Rio. The power monopoly says a mile of buried line will cost its exploited rate payers a million-five. Some of the more coherent, aesthetically sensitive Mendo communities — Elk and Hopland for two — have buried their power lines via an existing PG&E beautification program.

* * *

AV FIRE’S 2019 CALENDAR!

Hi all you Fire and Ambulance Supporters.

The 2019 calendar, a cooperation between Tina Walter and me, is up for sale, only $12, all of the profits go directly to the Fire Department. We printed 75, so there is only a limited supply.

You can go directly to the Boonville Fire Station Tuesdays, Wed. and Fridays between 10:30am and 4pm. The calendar will also be available at Mosswood when my ambulance photo show goes up on Dec 1st. See a few teasers of the calendar below and be sure to visit Mosswood in December.

Next year naked firefighters? You wish!

Antoinette von Grone

Boonville

* * *

A READER WRITES: "You know, Bruce, I've always thought there's only four people on the Northcoast who over the years have written about, talked about, and analyzed what actually goes on and why in politics and governing (local, state, and federal): Bruce Anderson, Mark Scaramella, K.C. Meadows, and Jim Shields. I know a lot of folks know that and truly appreciate it because they tell me that all the time."

* * *

FAIR PLAY for Reuben Foster.

Sports fans will recall that the Forty Niner linebacker was hauled into court last year on domestic violence charges. The alleged victim recanted on the stand, but in the meantime the Niners suspended Foster, depriving him of making a living from what he does best — tackling opposing ball carriers for several million dollars a season. Three weeks ago, the same woman, described as Foster's fiance, again accused Foster of hitting her. This time, the Niners booted Foster clear off the team, not even waiting to see if these second charges were true. Then, when Foster was immediately claimed off waivers by Washington, a deluge of criticism was aimed at the DC football team. All this, and Foster hasn't even entered a plea.

Earlier recantation: ktvu.com/news/334387418-video#/

A FRIEND TOLD ME THIS STORY: "We went to Patrona for lunch. Patrona is that restaurant on the corner near the Court House in Ukiah. Unusually good food. My niece and I have been there once before. Almost no one there as it was Saturday after Thanksgiving. I noticed as we walked in a round, high table near the bar with a group of three 30-40 year old somethings and one old guy. He gave me a look when we walked by. I wondered what he was looking at. Now I know. It was my young niece. As we were getting up to leave, my niece went to the bar area, right next to that table, to get two dessert boxes. When she came back, she whispered, 'Auntie. I feel creepy. A man came up to me at the bar and said, "Oh getting seconds?" Then he said, "You sure are a pretty girl".' She told me it felt really creepy the way he looked at her. And she seemed really disturbed. I was feeling really red hot mad. When I came out of the restaurant's bathroom, he was back at his table and I took a look. Dirty ol man? Yes sireee. I’ve been approached all my life by those kind. Not a bum on the street. Just one of those dirty old men lusting after teenage girls. I had a moment of wanting to go to his table and say, 'Hello. Just wanted you to know that if you had touched my niece, you would not like what would happen.' But I didn’t. Just a passing urge. But when we were outside near the car there he was, outside looking our direction on his phone. He looked at us for a long time. It made me sick. He didn’t DO anything. But if my niece, age 13, felt “creepy” he gave he a dose of predator energy. This has never happened to her before. It was good actually because we had a long talk that night about what to do with leering, stalking or creepy guys. And I spoke to her father and said, 'Time for her to have a phone.' That’s my little story. She’s exactly the kind of girl they go after; sweet, open, sexy little body and oh so innocent. That innocence has been changed."

SORRY, NO GUNS, NO AMMO, KEN

ON THURSDAY, November 29, at approximately ‪4:10 p.m., Mendocino County Sheriff’s Deputies arrived at a residence in the ‪100 block of Port Road in Point Arena to perform a probation search on Kenneth Morris (age 63).

Deputies had knowledge Morris resided at the location and was on active felony probation. Deputies also knew Morris was a convicted felon and prohibited from possessing any firearms and/or ammunition. Deputies contacted Morris on their arrival and performed a search of his person and residence incident to the terms of his probation, which included a fourth amendment waiver. During a search of Morris’s bedroom, deputies located a loaded rifle and boxes of ammunition in Morris’s possession. Deputies arrested Morris on the charges listed below. Morris was transported to the Mendocino County Jail where he was booked for Possession of Firearm by Prohibited Person, Possession of Ammunition by Prohibited Person and Violation of Felony Probation and is being held in lieu of $25,000 bail.”

CATCH OF THE DAY, November 30, 2018

PARIS BEACHAM-VANDERPOOL, Ukiah. Failure to appear, probation revocation.

THOMAS COOK, Ukiah. Failure to appear.

JONATHAN DELBELLO, Willits. Domestic battery, protective order violation, probation revocation.

ESDRAZ GARCIA-ALVARADO, Tijuana, Mexico/Ukiah. DUI, no license.

KENNETH MORRIS, Point Arena. Felon with firearm, ammo possession by prohibited person, probation revocation.

HAZZAR NAVARRO-TORRES, Willits. Disorderly conduct-alcohol.

GREGORY THOMPKINS, Anchor Bay. Disobeying court order, failure to appear, probation revocation.

CODY WILLIAMS, Covelo. Evasion, probation revocation.

DEEP QUANDARIES OF THE DEEP STATE

by James Kunstler

Watergate had tragic Shakespearean overtones, with Nixon as King Lear, but Russia-Gate — perhaps the last gate America goes through on its giant slalom run to collapse — is but a Chinese Fire Drill writ large. The reason? In 1973, we were still a serious people. Today, the most lavishly credentialed elite in history believe the most preposterous “stories,” or, surely even worse, pretend to believe them for political advantage.

Now, an epic battle of wills is setting up as Robert Mueller’s investigation concludes its business and its primary target, the Golden Golem of Greatness, girds his loins to push back.

Behind the flimsy scrim of Russia collusion accusations stands a bewildering maze of criminal mischief by a matrix of federal agencies that lost control of their own dark operation to meddle in the 2016 election. The US intel community (CIA, NSA, FBI, etc), with the Department of Justice, all colluded with the Hillary Clinton campaign and the intel agencies of the UK and Australia, to derail Mr. Trump as a stooge of Russia and, when he shocked them by getting elected, mounted a desperate campaign to cover their asses knowing he had become their boss. The Obama White House was involved in all this, attempting to cloak itself in plausible deniability, which may be unwinding now, too. How might all this play out from here?

One big mystery is how long will Mr. Trump wait to declassify any number of secret files, memoranda, and communications that he’s been sitting on for months. My guess is that this stuff amounts to a potent weapon against his adversaries and he will wait until Mr. Mueller releases a final report before declassifying it. Then, we’ll have a fine constitutional crisis as the two sides vie for some sort of adjudication.

Who, for instance, will adjudicate the monkey business that is already on-the-record involving misdeeds in the Department of Justice itself? Will the DOJ split into two contesting camps, each charging the other? How might that work? Does the Acting Attorney General Mr. Whitaker seek indictments against figures such as Bruce Ohr, Andrew McCabe, Peter Strzok, et al. Will he also rope in intel cowboys John Brennan and James Clapper? Might Hillary find herself in jeopardy — all the while on the other side Mr. Mueller pursues his targets, characters like Mr. Manafort, Michael Cohen, and the hapless Carter Page?

Or might Mr. Mueller, and others, possibly find themselves in trouble, as spearheads of a bad-faith campaign to weaponize government agencies against a sitting president? That might sound outlandish, but the evidence is adding up. In fact, the evidence of a Deep State gone rogue is far more compelling than any charges Mr. Mueller has so far produced on Trump-Russia “collusion.”

An example of bad faith is former FBI Director James Comey’s current campaign to avoid testifying in closed session before the House Judiciary and Oversight committees — he filed a motion just before Thanksgiving. Mr. Comey is pretending that an open session would be “transparent.” His claim is mendacious. If he were questioned about classified matters in an open session, he would do exactly what he did before in open session: decline to answer about “sensitive” matters on the basis of national security. He could make no such claims in a closed session. The truth is, his attorneys are trying to run out the clock on the current composition of the House committees, which will come under a Democrat majority in January, so that Mr. Comey can avoid testifying altogether.

There are other dicey matters awaiting some kind of adjudication elsewhere. For instance, who is going to review the chain of decisions among the FISA judges who approved of warrants made in bad faith to spy on US citizens? Perhaps the shrinking violet, Mr. Huber, out in the Utah Prosecutor’s Office of the DOJ, is looking into all that. He’s been at something for most of the year (nobody knows what). He has to answer to Mr. Whitaker now, or the permanent AG who replaces him. And why is Mr. Trump dragging his heels on nominating a permanent AG? I suppose the FISA court matter will fall to the Supreme Court, but how does that process work, and how long might it take?

The potential for a stand-off exists that will confound any effort to untangle these things, and I can see how that might lead to an extraordinary crisis in which Mr. Trump has to declare some form of emergency or perhaps martial law to clean out this suppurating abscess of illegality and sedition. That can only be the last and worst resort, but what if the US judicial system just can’t manage to clean up the mess it has made?

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

A VERY GRIM FORECAST

nybooks.com/articles/2018/11/22/global-warming-very-grim-forecast/

NEW US FLAG?

Editor:

Here’s why I don’t take climate change warnings seriously. For more than 20 years I have read news reports of dire consequences if the world doesn’t do something to stop global warming. I have heard convincing science on radio and television. But it apparently isn’t believed by our mayors, city councils, governors, legislators, etc.

I cannot recall a single significant act by any of these people to slow air pollution. Spare me the references to car emissions in California. The state and cities were working on that in the early 1970s. If the leaders who say they “believe” don’t act like they “believe,” what are we to think?

My sister and brother-in-law have a sign in their front yard that proclaims, “In this house we believe in Science.” However, they haven’t reduced their environmental footprint one bit. They still fly to Alaska three or four times per year to fish (trolling eight hours per day). If the smartest people I know — liberal neighbors, friends and family — don’t act like climate change is serious, what am I to think?

It’s not what people say, it’s what they do that demonstrates their true beliefs.

Undecided in Santa Rosa.

Doug Griffin

Santa Rosa

TRIMMIGRANTS IN COVELO

The legalization of recreational marijuana in California has opened up all kinds of moneymaking opportunities, from cannabis beer to massive real estate plays. But it’s also led to a narrowing of the way for seasonal “trimmigrants” — the mostly young workers who head to Northern California every autumn to make some quick cash trimming weed. New York Times reporter Dan Levin reports that it can be pretty brutal manual labor. You sit for long periods of time, and you’re paid by weight, so every morning, trimmers race for the biggest buds. It has previously also been a lucrative short-term gig. But now that more people are growing marijuana, one trimmer, A.J. Cook, 27, said he’s seen his rates drop to $125 per pound from $250 seven years ago. “It’s got me thinking,” he said, “Am I trimming anymore for the money or for the lifestyle?”

nytimes.com/2018/11/29/us/marijuana-trimmers-emerald-triangle.html

COMING SOON TO THE SANTA ROSA PRESS DEMOCRAT, AND ALREADY HERE IN MENDO

Banned From Newspapers for Criticizing...Newspapers!

Jim Hightower Up Against the Corporate Wall

“They know nothing about journalism and care less, for they’re ruthless Wall Street profiteers out to grab big bucks fast by slashing the journalistic and production staffs of each paper, voiding all employee benefits (from pensions to free coffee in the breakroom), shriveling the paper’s size and news content, selling the presses and other assets, tripling the price of their inferior product – then declaring bankruptcy, shutting down the paper, and auctioning off the bones before moving on to plunder another town’s paper.”

commondreams.org/views/2018/11/30/banned-newspapers-criticizing-newspapers-jim-hightower-against-corporate-wall

FRANK LENTINI

Francesco A. "Frank" Lentini, in his youth, used his extraordinary third leg to kick a soccer ball across the stage, hence his show name, the Three-Legged Football Player. Mr. Lentini actually had double sex organs and a rudimentary foot growing from the knee of his third leg. While his extra leg was several inches shorter than the others, his primary legs were also two different lengths. Mr. Lentini was heard to complain that even with three legs, he still didn't have a pair.

Born in 1889 in Siracusa, Sicily into a family with eleven children, Lentini was raised by his aunt after his parents refused to acknowledge their deformed child. At age nine, after leaving the disabled children's home in which his aunt had placed him, Frank came to the United States to join showbusiness, eventually becoming a US citizen at the age of 30. He married a woman named Theresa Murray and had four children - Natale, Frank, James and Jennie. Frank loved children and was said to be very patient with children who came to view his act and ask him questions. He died in his home in Florida in 1966.

REDWOOD COMMUNITY CHORUS -- Winter Concert (free admission)

The Redwood Community Chorus warmly invites you to begin the season with their annual Winter Concert next weekend. Friday evening, December 7, 7:00 pm - and Saturday afternoon, December 8, 2:00 pm. Mendocino Presbyterian Church, Main St., Mendocino. Admission is free; donations to help cover costs are appreciated.

The all-local forty-member chorus will sing a variety of songs, featuring the dynamic “Gloria,” which offers a rich complex of modern harmonies. Jenni Windsor, chorus director, says, “Our chorus has enjoyed learning the concert's nine wonderful songs. Several offer expressions of peace and hope“ helpful for our world at this time. One, “Sussex Carol,” is a really beautiful English Christmas carol which we’ll enjoy bringing into America’s Christmas carol repertoire.” Trebl’d Women, another favorite local singing group, will offer a set of four pieces that reflect the holiday spirit before the Community Chorus takes the stage. Please come enjoy an evening of delightful holiday music and community warmth with us.

For further information, please call 964-1722 or 937-4084.

FINE AMNESTY, FOOD FOR FINES, AND HOLIDAY CLOSURE

Did you find an overdue library book, DVD, or CD? Do you have late charges on your library account that are discouraging you from visiting? This December Mendocino County Library is offering two fine-forgiveness programs to our patrons. Mendocino County Library branches and the Bookmobile will be closed December 24^th through January 1^st, and from December 23^rd through January 3^rd the library will be offering a Fine Amnesty Period. All items checked in through the book drop will be exempt from fines. This will offer an opportunity to all of our patrons to return overdue items without incurring late charges.

Additionally, from December 4^th through December 21^st all library branches will be offering a Food for Fines period giving patrons the opportunity to clear library fines while providing non-perishable food to community members in need. The library will accept up to five unexpired cans of food to go towards previously incurred late fines (not valid for damaged or lost items). Each can of food counts as $2 towards a maximum of $10 for waiving fines during this period.

Both the Fine Amnesty and the Food for Fines programs can only be used toward late charges and not for other fees. All food donated as part of this program is passed on to our local foodbanks. Start the New Year fresh with cleared library accounts, and check out a new book, DVD, or CD!

20-POUND RODENTS COULD WREAK HAVOC ON CALIFORNIA AGRICULTURE. One Farming Family's Joined The Fight Against Them.

They weigh 20 pounds and look like a cross between a rat and a beaver, with scaly tails, webbed feet, and big orange bucked teeth. They're nutria -- rodents not native to the US -- and they're multiplying in big numbers in the Central Valley and making their way to the Delta. An unexpected weapon in the fight against nutria? Sweet potatoes, donated by Merced County farmers.

kqed.org/news/11708677/these-invasive-20-pound-rodents-could-wreak-havoc-on-california-agriculture

IN CALIFORNIA, HOUSES BURNED. SO DID THE TOXIC CHEMICALS THEY CONTAINED.

nytimes.com/2018/11/29/us/california-fire-chemicals.html

ON LINE COMMENT OF THE DAY

Real gender dysphoria is extraordinarily rare and yet somehow it is all of the sudden the rage, as if it is fashion or just dress up. How could someone do this to their child? Life is hard enough, let alone add another layer of complexity to a poor child’s mind when they are not even fully developed. It just shows how depraved and sick our society is. Children are not even allowed to just be children any more. Their innocence is purposefully being destroyed by people who if we are honest are basically pedophiles and perverts.

THE EARLY NORTHERN AMERICAN INDIAN made a great mistake by not having an immigration bureau.

— G.W. Curtis

COMMUNITY MEETING REGARDING THE IMPLEMENTATION OF A SHADED FUEL BREAK TO IMPROVE FIRE SAFETY FOR THE UKIAH VALLEY

Ukiah, CA. November 30, 2018.

The County of Mendocino and the City of Ukiah have been actively engaging with CAL FIRE, the Ukiah Valley Fire Authority, and other stakeholder groups, to review and develop fire prevention and mitigation measures for the Ukiah Valley. On December 13 at 5:30, the County and City will host a community meeting to discuss the restoration and expansion of a shaded fuel break at the base of the hills on the west side of the Ukiah Valley, first created in 2004.

A shaded fuel break is a forest management strategy used for mitigating the threat of wildfire leading to a dangerous buildup of combustible vegetation. The goal of a shaded fuel break is to thin the surface vegetation, remove dead and down woody material, remove ladder fuels to prevent a catastrophic fire, and prevent the loss of structures. The project involves the use of hand tools and power equipment to re-establish a 100-200 foot wide space, shaded by the mature tree canopy. Width of the break will vary due to slope of terrain and fuel loading.

Attached to this notice is a map illustrating the location of the project. It is planned to run along the base of the western hills from Highway 253 to Hensley Creek. If your property is included and/or adjacent to the project, it is recommended you attend this meeting. Representatives from the Ukiah Valley Fire Authority and CAL FIRE will lead a short presentation on the project, and will be available for questions and answers.

The County and City view this collaborative effort as a demonstration project to improve fire safety for the community. Sage Sangiacomo, City Manager, commented, “Thanks to these proactive measures and the active collaboration between stakeholders, major progress is rapidly occurring.” Carmel J. Angelo, Chief Executive Officer for the County of Mendocino stated, “Showing home owners how to create defensible space is critical for fire damage mitigation strategies. We are excited to witness this guiding step in enhancing fire protection measures for the community.”

December 13, 2018 at 5:30 p.m.

 Ukiah City Council Chambers, 300 Seminary Ave, Ukiah CA 95482

For more information regarding this project please contact Fire Marshall Kevin Jennings (707) 462-7921.

Carmel J. Angelo, Chief Executive Officer of Mendocino County

Sage Sangiacomo, City Manager, City of Ukiah

JERRY BROWN BACKS DEAL TO INCREASE PUMPING DELTA WATER TO BIG AG

by Dan Bacher

In a move that drew harsh criticism from fishing and environmental groups, California Governor Jerry Brown today announced that he supports the controversial Water Infrastructure Improvements for the Nation (WIIN) Act provisions proposed today by House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy and U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein.

“I support the 7-year extension of the Water Infrastructure Improvements for the Nation Act, including important provisions that House Majority Leader McCarthy and Senator Feinstein have proposed that enable California water users to participate in voluntary agreements and help improve river flows to restore fish populations,” said Brown in a statement.

Fish and Delta advocates say Brown has apparently traded state support for the federal “salmon-killing WIIN Act” for Trump administration support for his widely-opposed Delta Tunnels.

Kevin McCarthy is one of the strongest Congressional supporters of President Donald Trump. According to the Washington Post, Kevin McCarthy “relishes” his role as “Trump’s fixer, friend and candy man.” (www.washingtonpost.com/...)

The legislation has been opposed by fishing groups, Tribal leaders, conservation organizations, environmental justice groups and public trust advocates because the legislation would renew and potentially expand increased pumping of water from the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta.

Lois Kazanoff, Deputy Editorial Page Editor for the San Francisco Chronicle, commented in a tweet after Brown issued his statement: “To save his delta tunnels, Gov. Jerry Brown just cut a deal with the Trump administration to build more dams in California.”

Fishing organization leaders are particularly angry with the state-federal deal because both the Delta Tunnels and the WINN Act will further imperil populations of salmon and other fish species that have declined over the past decade, causing enormous economic losses to commercial, tribal and recreational fishermen and coastal and inland economies.

Calling Brown’s action today a “shady water move,” Noah Oppenheim, Executive Director of the Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen’s Associations (PCFFA), stated, "This irresponsible lame duck deal making will destroy West Coast commercial salmon jobs.”

“The WIIN Act was a loser of a bill two years ago, and extending it for seven more years is ludicrous. If a bad water rider is the price our Governor and state agencies are willing to pay to get the water users to sit down at the table, then shame on them. This move will be a stain on his greenwash legacy," said Oppenheim, whose organization is a coastwide federation of 15 different local and regional commercial fishermen’s organizations with fishermen members from most of the ports on the West Coast.

Likewise, John McManus, President of the Golden Gate Salmon Association bluntly assessed the impact of Brown’s support of the WINN Act.

”There's no way to sugar coat this,” said McManus. “Today Governor Brown took a big step towards selling out California's biggest salmon runs in order to keep the Trump administration from killing the governor's Delta tunnels. Brown is now backing the WIIN Act which allows damaging additional diversion of northern California salmon rivers to almond growers in the western San Joaquin Valley.

“Only the state's refusal to play along has held back catastrophe to date. Brown just capitulated to Trump and his crony, David Bernhardt. Heck of a way to end eight years as governor. Governor Brown, are you planning to follow Governors Deukmejian and Wilson by stopping the State Water Board from doing its job when it meets December 12?” asked McManus.

Barbara Barrigan-Parrilla, Executive Director of Restore the Delta, also slammed Brown’s support of the WINN Act in a statement, calling it a “betrayal” of the San Francisco Bay-Delta estuary and its people and urging Feinstein to withdraw her support of the WINN Act:

 “In the final days of his term, Governor Brown has once again betrayed the San Francisco Bay-Delta estuary and its people. The WIIN Act was supposed to be a two-year emergency measure during extreme drought. That was what we were promised by Senator Feinstein.

“Governor Brown supports a renewal of the WIIN ACT that includes backroom deals for how water will be managed in California and continuing to make Delta communities and fisheries the losers.

“We call on Senator Feinstein to drop her support of WIIN ACT renewal and to abandon partnering with San Joaquin Valley House Republicans to deplete the San Francisco Bay-Delta watershed.

“To Governor Brown, we say enough. For eight years, your policies have been about wrecking our region and our home.”

 As I receive more responses to Brown’s statement, I will post them here.

This report of a deal between the Trump and Brown administrations shouldn’t be surprising, since Governor Brown, while often portrayed by many mainstream media sources as a “climate leader” and “the Resistance to Trump,” has collaborated with Trump on both the construction of the Delta Tunnels and the exemption of California oil fields from the Safe Drinking Water Act.

After negotiations between the two administrations on the tunnels reached an impasse in recent months, they began negotiating again to produce the latest deal before Brown leaves office in January.

And while claiming to “oppose” Trump’s plan to open new federal leases to offshore drilling on the Pacific Coast, Brown controls 4 times the number of offshore wells that Trump controls — and has overseen the approval of 238 offshore wells in state waters between 2012 and 2016.

Offshore wells in state waters controlled by the Brown Administration total 5460, versus 1429 offshore wells in federal waters, those three nautical miles or more off California’s coast controlled by the Trump administration, according to Consumer Watchdog. For more information, go to: http://www.BrownvTrumpOilMap.com

Unless Brown suddenly changes course before he leaves office, it appears that his “environmental legacy” will include increased water exports out of the Delta, the continued destruction of West Coast fisheries and imperiled salmon and steelhead populations and the approval of over 21,000 new oil and gas permits in California. That’s why it is so important that public trust and environmental justice advocates pressure Governor Elect Gavin Newson to break with Brown’s environmental policies and halt the Delta Tunnels and new oil and gas drilling in California.

WHEN THE DAM BREAKS…

Editor:

If that earthquake in Alaska had happened in the Sacramento Valley area everything from Redding down would be washed to the Bay Area among all the other carnage and damage. I'm right about this, just like I am about everything else. Not if but when. The Oroville dam, the Shasta dam, the Whiskeytown dam, all the levees that are 90 years old and some of the lakes and ponds — all of it will flushed down to the Central Valley. That's when the shit will hit the fan. The dams and levees will break. The water will come down I-5 about 20 feet deep. And the Capitol building in Sacramento will be washed off its foundation and it will float down the valley and Jerry Brown and Gavin Newsom will be on the roof praying, Dear Lord, please forgive us for being such a bunch of assholes! Glub, glub, glub.

Gavin Newsom is eight more years of Jerry Moonbeam Brown: more regulation, more legislation on our backs, more stupid gun laws, more protection for criminals, more disrespect for law enforcement. Sheriffs in every county in California should revolt against Gavin Newsom. More like Gavin Gruesome.

There's so much civil unrest in California it makes me laugh. Fort Bragg, Ukiah, Eureka, Boonville, Hopland, Cloverdale — every town people have the same feeling. They have had enough. It's going to happen. Believe me conservatives against liberals.

Mr. Arnold in Ukiah, you stupid frothing at the mouth liberal, maybe we will get a chance to shoot at each other. That would be nice, wouldn't it? Maybe you will win. Maybe I will. Who knows? I believe I will.

God bless Donald Trump

Jerry Philbrick

Comptche

PS. Our governor Jerry Moonbeam Brown is turning a bunch of criminals loose early because he said they had reconstructed themselves and they were fine. I would like to see one of those reconstructed criminals pay him a visit, or somebody he loves. I would like to see somebody he cares for mutilated, or shot or knifed or raped or whatever. How would you like that? Huh? He is turning these people loose on our society to feed on other people because he doesn't have to worry about it, that rotten SOB. He doesn't care about the people in California or anybody else but himself and his liberal Democrats.

FOUND OBJECT (you provide the caption]