MCT: Monday, February 4, 2019

• Cold Storm
• Old Boonville
• PV Project
• Lodarski Lair
• Azbill Held
• Housing Issues
• Abreu Reconsidered
• Ten Quakes
• Aspironal
• Goodbye Puff
• Costco Revenue
• Ed Note
• Our Neighbors
• Yesterday's Catch
• Younger President
• Forest Talk
• Joan Crawford
• Hope
• Tough Jobs
• Shared Wealth
• Neal Cassady
• Oversight Bill
• SF Demographics
• Public Nuisance
• Halfwit Halftime

A COLD STORM SYSTEM will drop south along the coast today, bringing much lower snow levels, continued showers, and the potential for small hail. Drier weather will return by Tuesday, with more rain and snow expected by the end of the week. (National Weather Service)

BOONVILLE OLD TIMER JOAN BURROUGHS WRITES:

Re: Live Oak Garage

Now that the Live Oak Garage is in the mighty news, I thought you might enjoy seeing this great old photo. The Packard car is fondly remembered because Ed Singley would occasionally haul his wayward sheep around in it. He said it was their car, they earned it.

OUR WATER SUPPLY IS ‘DAM’ IMPORTANT

Editor,

The Mendocino County Farm Bureau appreciates the more than 150 people that took the time last week to attend the showing of the movie, A River’s Last Chance, and for the assistance in the promotion of the event from the Ukiah Daily Journal. It was gratifying to see so many individuals willing to learn more about the Eel River, the Potter Valley Project and their water supply.

Increasing the awareness of the inter-basin water transfer and the Potter Valley Project for residents in the Russian River watershed has been a mission of the Farm Bureau for the last few decades. This issue is even more critical now that PG&E made the announcement last Friday that they, “will expeditiously cease all activities related to the relicensing of the Project. Our decision to cease Project relicensing will also result in the stoppage of our efforts to sell the Project via the Request for Offers (RFO) process.”

The sudden and unexpected halt to the relicensing and sales process related to the Project that a number of local residents, agencies and elected officials have participated in over the last year is like a slap in the face from PG&E. Is the Potter Valley Project, which provides the water supply for 600,000 people, our agricultural economy and environmental benefits for listed species in the Russian River going to be allowed to become a casualty of a bankruptcy filing?

This is a good question, but it isn’t the question. The real question is, are those communities that have become dependent upon the water supply provided by the Potter Valley Project since 1908 prepared to stand up to protect that water? There are plenty of vocal individuals who are not shy about supporting the decommissioning and removal of the Potter Valley Project. Now is the time for those who support the Project to raise their voices and tell their story as this new chapter in the relicensing process begins.

If you live or do business in Potter Valley, Redwood Valley, Calpella, Talmage, Ukiah, Hopland, Cloverdale, Geyserville, Alexander Valley and Healdsburg, you especially need to pay attention to this issue. Your water supply is in serious jeopardy! If you recreate at Lake Pillsbury or Lake Mendocino, you need to pay attention. If you recognize the indisputable value of the water supply provided from these lakes for fire suppression efforts in 2017 and 2018, you need to pay attention. If you understand the value of this water supply as it is used to enhance conditions in the Russian River to support listed species of fish and all aquatic species, you need to pay attention. We need to assure that our irreplaceable water supply is protected and locally controlled.

Mendocino County Farm Bureau will continue to support the pursuit of local control of the Potter Valley Project and we hope that all of those who appreciate the numerous beneficial uses of this water will also step to the plate to offer support as well. As long as the tap turns on, there isn’t a thought given to the water source. What happens if you open the tap and no water comes out?

Devon Jones,

Executive Director Mendocino County Farm Bureau

Ukiah

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ED NOTE: Coupla things here: We've been watching diversion-related matters for years, and still regret not having been able to walk the tunnel when it was briefly closed for some repairs, but a fair settlement has to begin with much higher water rates for farmers; the present rates are low at the expense of most users, i.e., households. And Mendo absolutely must re-negotiate the 1955 deal with Sonoma County whereby the SoCo Water Agency gets most of the water stored in Lake Mendocino because SoCo paid for Coyote dam way prior to the downstream population explosion. Supervisor Pinches couldn't even get a second to discuss re-negotiation! Assuming the Farm Bureau and wine bloc water hog cry babies are willing to be reasonable — they act like their virtually free water is heavenly ordained — there's Humboldt County agitating to shut down the whole diversion show to bring back the fishery. What we have is basically an old world scheme to generate power to illuminate savage Ukiah, circa 1910, by damming the upper Eel and running part of the Eel through a mile-long tunnel dug by Chinese labor to power turbines to light up the county seat, not to provide water for 2019 booze grapes and for Sonoma County to make millions selling the diverted water as far downstream as Sausalito. The negotiations are sure to be a tough sucker.

KICKIN' BACK WITH STAN

On February 1, 2019 at approximately 3:30 p.m., Mendocino County Sheriff's Deputies arrived at a residence (32000 block of Boice Lane in Fort Bragg) to serve an active felony arrest warrant on Stanislaus Lodarski, 63, of Fort Bragg.

On arrival, Deputies made contact with Lodarski and provided him the reasoning behind their presence. After Lodarski was informed he was under arrest for the felony warrant, he attempted to barricade himself inside the residence to avoid arrest. Deputies forced entry into Lodarski's residence and subsequently arrested him without further incident. While at the location, Deputies also contacted and arrested Lindsay Murphy, Joshua Petersen, and Christol Chiles, all three of who had active misdemeanor arrest warrants. Murphy had a $5,000 bail arrest warrant for Possession of a controlled substance. Petersen had a $5,000 bail arrest warrant for failing to appear on a pending court matter. Chiles had a $5,000 bail arrest warrant for Violation of probation. Murphy, Petersen, and Chiles were all cited and released to appear in court at a later date.

Lodarski was transported to the Mendocino County Jail where he was booked on his $15,000 bail arrest warrant for Maintaining a place for selling/using drugs.

REG'S RIDE TO UKIAH

On February 1, 2019 at about 7:53 PM Mendocino County Sheriff's Deputies were patrolling the Covelo area. Deputies stopped a vehicle in the area of Perry and Howard Streets for expired vehicle registration. The Deputies contacted the occupants of the vehicle and explained the reason for the stop. The Deputies had dispatch run a DMV, Warrants, Probation and Parole check on the occupants of the vehicle. The front passenger was identified as Reginald Azbill and he was flagged by CDC Parole as a wanted person with a Parole Hold. After the parole hold was confirmed by CDC parole Azbill was arrested without incident. Azbill was booked into the Mendocino County Jail where he was to be held without bail.

A READER WRITES: "I was thinking there might be a newsworthy story around vacant homes that I've seen in my neighborhood (Rancho Navarro) and near my work in Fort Bragg. Both homes have been vacant for over a year (one for at least 2-3 years). The home in my neighborhood is apparently going through a foreclosure process, but I'm not sure about the second. I think a little digging would show some shady characters involved, most likely in the cannabis industry, but I'm speculating there. In any case, I thought it might be of interest considering the housing crisis we have in this county."

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ONE BIG PROB is the large number of houses converted to transients of the AirBnB type, and at places like Rancho Navarro and all over northeast Mendocino County from Willits to Murder Mountain and beyond lots of properties have been rented to produce various kinds of dopes to reproduce product. In Anderson Valley, and up and down the Mendo coast, employed people, some with children, can't find rentals because of the wholesale conversion of rental properties to accommodations for high end transients. Why even my former home in Boonville, basically a collection of Class K shacks, now brings $750 a night as an Air B&B rental! That crowded half-acre with bad water and a problematical septic system used to be home to as many as a dozen people, all of them locally occupied.

TAI ABREU was booked into the County Jail last week on the stark charge of murder.

The true reason Abreu was returned from High Desert Prison in Susanville is to appear in Superior Court this Wednesday to have his sentencing reconsidered. Although he was convicted of murder in 2002, and was present when a murder was committed, there is no evidence Abreu committed the murder. The law has changed, fortunately, to sort out who did what when someone is killed during the commission of a crime. Before this year, if you were simply present during a murder committed by someone else you were considered as guilty as the actual killer. The letter that follows explains what happened to Abreu:

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LETTER TO THE EDITOR, UKIAH DAILY JOURNAL

Buried Alive (July 21, 2004)

by Bruce Anderson

Tai Abreu of Fort Bragg got life in state prison without the possibility of parole because he didn’t murder Donald Perez. What Mr. Abreu did do is this: He was co-participant in the September 14th, 2002, robbery of Mr. Perez, a gay man from Los Angeles, that ended with Mr. Perez duct-taped to a tree less than a mile from the Fort Bragg Police station. Mr. Perez’s throat may or may not have been cut. Duct tape mummification or slashed throat or both, Mr. Perez died a terrible death.

What was left of Donald Perez remained exactly 14 feet from the pavement for nearly a month as literally hundreds of people walked past him, drove past him, hiked past him, jogged past him, walked their dogs past him, and even paddled past him up the nearby Noyo River. All these passersby and not one of them saw what was left of Donald Perez in his upright, silver-gray sarcophagus just off the old A&W log road east of Fort Bragg. Donald Perez might still be there if one of Mr. Abreu’s pot pals hadn’t gone to the cops and, neatly exempting himself from the possible perp pool, told the cops that his friends had lured this Perez guy to Fort Bragg to rob him, but had also killed him, and had laughed about it one day when they were all sitting around in an abandoned car hot-boxing pot in the informant’s backyard.

Mr. Abreu, age 19 at the time of these awful events, functioned as look out man as Mr. Perez was murdered in the bushes. Mr. Abreu did not intervene nor, perhaps, even disapprove of Mr. Perez’s dispatch. For an undisputed fact Mr. Abreu had contributed to an ultimate evil, the murder of a 36-year-old man for a few dollars of his property. But Tai Abreu paid for his role in this shockingly casual crime out of all proportion to his participation. His co-conspirators, one of whom may or may not have cut Mr. Perez’s throat, each got less than 20 years; they can look forward to seeing Fort Bragg again. But Tai Abreu, the least involved in Perez’s murder was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Tai Abreu is as dead as the man he didn’t murder.

The law says a murder committed during a robbery gets you life without parole whether or not you did the murder part of the crime. By this unyielding standard a murder was indeed committed by all three young men, and Mr. Abreu certainly was all the way on board for the robbery part of the crime, as were his co-participants, one of whom, a very sick young man to have done it, probably walked up to the gray, writhing mummy Donald Perez had become and cut Donald Perez’s throat clear through to the top of his spine.

A month later, young Mr. Abreu, being young and naive, demanded a jury of his peers on the rational grounds that he was up on the road when Perez was murdered. He thought his crime partners were simply going to tape Perez to the tree and leave him there while they all drove off in Perez’s truck. The 19-year-old Abreu was sure his Ukiah attorney, a public defender named Linda Thompson, could explain to the jury that he was up on the road when whatever happened to Mr. Perez, happened. He didn’t kill the guy. He’d robbed him, but he didn’t kill him. Killing the guy was psycho stuff, and Tai Abreu wasn’t and isn’t a psycho.

But Mendocino County’s let’s-make-a-deal justice system gets all upset when 19-year-old defendants don’t do what it wants them to do. In Mr. Abreu’s case the system wanted him and his crime buddies to plead guilty to a jazzed-up manslaughter; this way the taxpayers would be spared the expense of a lot of legal fol de rol, and the DA, in triage mode anyway, what with crime and the pure numbers of criminals who commit them spiraling ever upwards, would be spared the time and trouble and expense of a Murder One prosecution. If the young fool played ball he’d get 10, maybe 15 years for his part in Perez’s killing, which was the sentence the justice system had planned for his two accomplices.

But Abreu didn’t go along, and the Mendocino County justice system killed him deader than he and his friends killed Donald Perez.

Linda Thompson, recently promoted to the boss chair at the Mendocino County Public Defender’s Office, functioned as Mr. Abreu’s attorney, but the kid might just as well have climbed straight onto the jail bus without stopping at the Mendocino County Courthouse for his trial.

Mr. Abreu’s one-day trial was held in Ukiah, not Fort Bragg where the crime had occurred and where many persons, including the families of the defendants, were prepared to testify for the defense. As the legal process ground them up, the defendants were vilified in the chain-owned local newspapers.

A cross-dressing lesbian defending a kid accused of murdering a gay man, among everything else she did not do for her “client,” Ms. Thompson did not dispute the venue change from Fort Bragg to Ukiah. Nor did she assign an investigator to determine the facts of the case independent of those discovered by the police. Nor did she defend Mr. Abreu. Mr. Abreu got one of the fastest murder trials in the history of the state — one full trial day. Ms. Thompson called no witnesses for Mr. Abreu and did not trouble herself to put his co-conspirators on the stand to demonstrate that Mr. Abreu had not been present when Mr. Perez was murdered.

What did Ms. Thompson present in the way of a defense for Mr. Abreu? How did she explain this kid to the jury, a ritalin kid from early elementary school on, a semi-abandoned kid whose mother is still cranking it up in Lake County, a kid whose father left him behind and went off to work in places beyond, even, the telephone?

Ms. Thompson told the jury that Mr. Abreu was indeed worse than a bad person but the cops hadn’t properly read him his rights. That was her defense of a very young man with no criminal history who was looking at life in prison.

Is Ms. Thompson crazy? Is she even within shouting distance of reality? Did she think the jury, distracted by her odd appearance and persona, would see her as some kind of gay Clarence Darrow? Did she really think an obscure delineation of the Miranda Law would convince anybody, let alone a jury of conventional Ukiah people, that Mr. Abreu ought to go free? This was a defense? This guy got a trial?

Tai Abreu was lynched, and that was the end of him.

Having noted Mr. Abreu’s swift dispatch by Ms. Thompson and her co-prosecutor from the DA’s office, Kevin Davenport, Mr. Abreu’s co-defendants wasted no time pleading out to lesser charges.

Do I think the three perps should have gotten off? Of course not, but I do think when three people commit a crime that kills somebody they should pay equivalently, not pay with one guy getting put away forever and the other two doing a decade and then going home to the Mendocino coast.

The whole show was so lethally absurd, so purely nutso, so uniquely Only In Mendocino County, so far from even a semblance of a defense in a case with a young man’s life on the line that even the cops thought “it was a goddam disgrace, a travesty,” as one put it. When the cops denounce a trial as “a goddam disgrace” you can be sure it’s a double goddam disgrace.

We’ve experienced other high profile murder cases in this bizarre county; Bear Lincoln’s, to name one. But Lincoln had the national PC brigades piling in the windows to support him. He got publicity on top of publicity, so much publicity that Tony Serra himself rode into town and defended him for nothing, intimidating the DA into dumping the case on an untried assistant and big time intimidating the wimp-twits sitting as Mendocino County Superior Court judges before the wimp-twits went to their bullpen for Judge Golden, a real judge beyond being intimidated by a blustery showboat out of Frisco. Judge Golden took zero crapola from Serra and the PC Brigade, and Bear Lincoln got a fair trial.)

A decade later, with almost no one watching, Tai Abreu, fresh off his one day murder trial, was buried alive in the state prison system.

At this point in his probably doomed life, Mr. Abreu’s got a tired old grandmother and me, meaning he’s the ultimate longshot. I’m trying to raise money for his federal appeal. We’re hoping for either a new trial or a proportionate sentence modification based on the known facts of the case. Rod Jones, the patron saint of lost causes, has agreed to write Tai Abreu’s appeal. If you agree that Tai Abreu deserves a fair shot at justice equal to what his partners in crime got, please send money to Mr. Jones at 4500 Main Street, Mendocino, Ca. 95460.

Sincerely,

Bruce Anderson,

Boonville

TEN EARTHQUAKES of preliminary magnitudes between 3.0 and 4.5 struck off the coast of Northern California between Saturday and Sunday, the United States Geological Survey reports. The series of earthquakes rumbled beneath the Pacific Ocean, between 3 miles and 27 miles west of Petrolia in Humboldt County.

GOOD-BYE PUFF; HELLO CAMILLE.

by Mark Scaramella

(Repost, with revisions and comments)

On Tuesday, a representative from the Measure B Oversight Committee will present a summary of the Measure B committee’s recommendations from their most recent meeting. That rep will perhaps be Sheriff Allman, the man who got the measure passed, perhaps it will be newly appointed Measure B Committee Chair Dr. Ace Barash of Willits.

If you came in late, real late, the purpose of Measure B was to establish an in-county, lock-up psychiatric facility. County voters agreed by the necessary two-thirds majority, to fund it. That vote occurred in November of 2017. Much obfuscation, some of it deliberate, has stymied realization of voter approval of Mendocino County’s very own psychiatric responsibility for our very own psychiatric casualties.

The latest recommendations from the Measure B advisory committee are, essentially, to follow the advice of the Kemper report, which prioritizes “crisis” services over a “Psychiatric Health Facility.” These crisis services now being provided by Camille Schraeder and her team via her public/private Redwood Community Services (RCS) which was expected to be headquartered at the Orchard Avenue parcel where RCS got $380,000 in grant money from the County to build a crisis support/residential treatment center, with another, larger grant that the County was applying for to get it all done. But that second, larger, grant never came through, and the Orchard Avenue Crisis Center has been on hold pending money to build it.

Enter Measure B and its accumulating sales tax millions. Add Kemper with his priority on Crisis Services and mix in the Measure B committee and its majority support for Crisis Services, only available via Camille Schraeder's Redwood Community Services (RCS). What do you get? Confusion.

Voters wanted a lock-up psychiatric facility. But now it all seems headed for crisis intervention, services theoretically already offered by Mr. and Mrs. Schraeder.

But how to proceed with the design and construction of the crisis facility on the empty Orchard Avenue parcel that is a long way from getting built?

Enter local industrialist Ross Liberty, former Supervisor Dan Hamburg’s libertarian appointee to the Measure B committee. (Liberty is also being spoken of as a candidate to replace 1st District Supervisor Carre Brown when she retires at the end of 2020.) Liberty owns an exhaust pipe manufacturing business on a corner of the old Masonite property north of Ukiah. Liberty and some investors bought much of the Masonite property at a garage sale price a few years ago in hopes of developing it, which they are in fact doing, albeit slowly.

Liberty: "Probably the odds-on favorite for being the operator [of the proposed Mental Health Crisis Facility in Ukiah] is RCS (Redwood Community Services) and RCS owns the design… And, full disclosure, we talked a little bit about this. They own the design. I think that the kind of odds-on favorite for being the operator [RCS] has a recommended design and that should probably be something we want to look at. But they own the actual property and so we would have to ask that that be available and as part of using that to go out for a biddable design. If we're going to use that [RCS property] we can't do that without their blessing, so we understand that. I am not an intellectual property attorney but I'm pretty sure that you guys [RCS] own the intellectual property and actually, Mark [Mertle, another Measure B committee member], you have an understanding of that, right? They have a design, they have a rough design and that could not be available —"

Mark Mertle (Owner of Fort Bragg Electrical): “It's not ours it’s theirs.”

Liberty: “Right. So if we were to advertise with that design we would probably have to get your [RCS’s] permission to use it.”

Mertle: “I don't think we need the design. We can say we want this many square feet with this type of rooms and this type of — and they can detail that out that this is what we want, how much to design and build it? I don't know who's going to do that, but – [laughs].”

Liberty: “That's the problem, based on the starter design. We are going to go out for a biddable design and also beware that if we ask for a biddable design it is going to cost close to $1 million for the design itself for them, the paperwork.”

Says who?

RCS doesn’t seem as interested in their “intellectual property” as Mr. Liberty does.

Dan Anderson, Chief Operations Officer, Redwood Community Services: “I appreciate the complexity and difficulty of this. I empathize and I am grateful for you guys trying to figure this out. I just want to respond to a comment that Ross said about intellectual property and the work that RCS has put into this. Our priority is to get the service out to our community and our clients. We have invested a lot of money in this. (RCS money is public money, a fact that can't be repeated often or emphatically enough.) It's what we do. And I don't think we have a problem in supporting or sharing the work that we've done on the design and integrating that. I just want the commission [Measure B committee] to know that. And as far as the Orchard Avenue property goes, we put the grant together with the county. So we would not have a problem with saying, Take the property back and let's do this together. One of the good things that happened in the last few years is the level of partnering and the level of public and private involved in RCS. We will work it out. We will work together and do whatever needs to be done here to bring this service to our community. That's what's important, not who gets what.”

I am not an intellectual property attorney either. But I’m pretty sure that if somebody buys something with government money for a government purpose and then spends other government money to develop it, then the government owns the rights to that “property.”

But that doesn’t matter to “odds-on favorite” RCS since it’s starting to look more and more like the Measure B money is going to go to Mendo’s cozy Mental Health partner, RCS, to build and operate a crisis facility in Ukiah. Sheriff Allman’s dream of converting the Old Howard Hospital in Willits in a newer version of the County’s old PHF on Bush Street, Ukiah, will have to take a back seat to RCS and its well-oiled, growing list of supporters on the Measure B committee. (Not to mention County CEO Angelo and a rubber stamp board of supervisors.)

Nobody knows how much converting the old Howard Hospital into a PHF will cost (nobody has asked for an independent estimate), but by the time RCS and the crisis facility is up and running, there probably won’t be much left for a PHF, the in-county psych unit that Mendocino County voters thought they would get when they passed Measure B. It's all headed to some kind of multi-purpose service facility overseen by the public/private enterprise owned by Mr. and Mrs. Schraeder.

Mr. and Mrs. Schraeder were handing $20 million annual dollars to privately assume mental health responsibilities for Mendocino County, either a very large gift of public funds or a large local experiment in publicly-funded free enterprise.

All the irrelevant chatter about the design of the Orchard Street property being the "intellectual property" of the Schraeders, aka RCS, is wacky in the extreme. As Mr. Mertle of the Measure B oversight committee pointed out, the basic industrial box design characteristic of government buildings is hardly an "intellectual property" but more like a child's Lego project — add however many rooms on to the basic box as needed. And there's no reason that a half-dozen to a dozen little boxes — cells to house the deranged — while these doomed souls wait for the quack, er, psychiatrist/pill dispenser, to adjust their meds, typically a zombo-izing process to make the difficult "manageable." (Please see the writing of Dr. Peter Breggin and maybe have another look at One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest.)

Cutting through the usual Mendo blah-blah, when Sheriff Allman was beating the drums for Measure B he made it clear what many of us already knew — there is an increasing number of crazy people — from illness or drugs or both — on the street and in their homes, whatever those might be.

Currently, Mendocino County ships its insane needing urgent lockup to out of county facilities that charge upwards of $800 a day to make them docile enough to return to Mendocino County. We can do that here, closer to everyone’s home, hence Measure B.

In the present Mendo context of a secretive, privatized, unaccountable mental health apparatus that we find in RCS, we think it is crucial that the Sheriff and the Measure B committee not cede authority for an in-county mental health facility to Mr. and Mrs. Schraeder.

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ON-LINE COMMENTS:

MICHAEL TURNER:

Interesting to see how much money was spent on telepsychiatry. Why? I’m a couple of years past retirement, but in my time the few psychiatrists in the area only saw patients with great insurance or cash. This excluded the bulk of the patients in this area, obviously, who were in crisis. Emergency room doctors as you know became de facto psychiatrists. Patients discharged from the ER needed follow up and that’s where this telepsychiatry thing comes in. In my experience it was pretty tough to get a psyche patient to schedule an appointment with… nobody there. But I guess enough did that these telepsychiatrists had a lot of billable hours. Doubt there are any studies showing efficacy yay or nay for telepsychatry. The real problem for me was the cherry-picking done by the practicing psychiatrists in the area, they weren’t really part of the local medical community, nor, in my mind, part of the larger community at all. (Other than those who came and went from MCHC). I could name names but you can just look up the psychiatrists in private practice in the yellow pages. Happy to admit I’m wrong but I doubt we haven’t heard much from them in all the public discussions about the community’s mental health crisis.

ED REPLY: The entire Team Schraeder enterprise should be carefully audited by the feds. Off the top, it seems to me that Mendo is not getting the services $20-plus annual million theoretically pays for. The telepsychiatry, or “doc in a box,” is a total rip and should be separately investigated as the obvious scam it is.

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HARVEY READING:

“Emergency room doctors as you know became de facto psychiatrists.”

In my opinion, people are better served by GPs than by psychiatrists; the latter spend their time dreaming up new “mental” ailments that can be “treated” with the latest, most expensive drugs produced by kaputalist medicine (with the tab for basic research leading to the drugs having been picked up by taxpayers). Organized Medicine is out of control under kaputalism, and it’s getting worse by the second. It’s nothing new. Old Sinclair Lewis described it well in Arrowsmith, back in the 1920s.

I often wonder just how much better things would be today if, in the 1980s, people had revolted rather than chickening out and turning to prescription drugs to “treat”– actually cover up–their hard-earned depression. Depression is a symptom of something being wrong in a person’s environment; it is not a sign that something is wrong with the individual. Now we’re a nation of fools who think all is well, thanks to trash drugs, like Paxil. It’s something to be expected of people who consider themselves to be “exceptional” and are just unwilling to face reality. Just keep wavin’ that flag, boys and girls. Everything’s gonna be all right … and don’t forget to take your daily dose of Soma.

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JUDY VALADAO:

Scott Taubold a Clinical Psychologist Specialist in Fort Bragg posted on social media:

Is it going to be a locked facility of not? I can’t believe Allman would agree to this. I’ve worked in half/assed CSUs etc. It has got to be a locked PHF unit or nothing at all!

There is a need for a locked facility and now the county or whoever, has watered down the original Measure B into a Crisis Stabilization Unit or Crisis resolution unit. We have had all three in this County. CSU and CRU folded in favor of the locked unit. If someone is critical and DTS or DTO [Danger to Self/Danger to Others], they need to be in a locked unit and that is what we voted for in Measure B, not any watered down version of a crisis unit!

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JAMES MARMON:

Judy, did you read what you voted for, No where in the Measure B text is a locked facility mentioned, You and a lot of other sheep were led astray by your charismatic Sheriff Allman and local news media. Not everybody reads the AVA are attends Allman’s pep rallies, a lot of voters voted on the measure as it was written.

FULL TEXT OF MEASURE B

“Ordinance of the County of Mendocno, State of California, adding Chapter 5.180 to the Mendocino County Code entitled the “Mental Health Treatment Act” adopting a county transactions (sales) and use tax for the specific purpose of funding improved services, treatment and facilities for persons with mental health conditions”

E. “For a period of five (5) years a maximum of 75% of the revenue deposited into the Mental Health Treatment Fund may be used for facilities, with not less than 25% dedicated to services and treatment; thereafter 100% of all revenue deposited into the Mental Health Treatment Fund shall be used for ongoing operations, services and treatment.”

On numerous occasions Camille Schraeder has stated that she is willing to sign the deed back over to the County. She doesn’t want to get stuck with having to return the 380 thousand grant money and left with the 1.5 million still owed on the vacant lot, yes she only made a down payment. Right now she would happily give it to the County to use Measure B funds as long as she gets the Operations Contract. Jan McGourty is already pushing that if Measure B folks approve the Orchard Project that a RFP should go out to bid as to who the operator will be and for how much. Staffing the Orchard Project is not going to be easy. More will be revealed.

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“LAZARUS” (Willits resident):

The Schraeder’s are putting out an impressive proposal. Several M.D.s giving them props, buddies with several Measure B members and others. Sitting on a doable plan in the heart of the county. Many years of experience, bailed the BoS out of Ortner Group and Tommy P mess…

And then there’s ole Howard, a 90 plus-year-old money pit, with less than convincing promoters, with the exception of Sheriff Allman, and of late many wonder about that and him. The slam dunk for ole Howard last spring has dissolved into WTF happened? Some of the locals are convinced the Howard bunch and the Sheriff figured they’d be building by now, but “up jumped the devil”, and the money? Well, it didn’t talk, it swore, to garble the great Bob Dylan.

For the first time, the old hospital on Dora St. was put in the mix, not a terrible idea. Who knows, Adventist Health in Ukiah may play eventually.

The Coast wanting a piece too, poor Covelo gone begg’n, they say folks killing themselves for lack of local mental health care.

Meanwhile, nothing is said about that grant money building that’s coming for the Sheriff, it’s like it’s non-existent, no bragging bull shit about it, no nothing.

One thing is for sure though, The Schraeder’s operation in some way will end up with a goodly chunk of that money, write it down… They’re smart, prepared, and know how to play the game, whether the “Street” likes it or not…

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MARMON:

If you’re interested in team RCS’s Assets and Liabilities you should take a look at their 2017 Audit Report. Makes me wonder what Camille’s for-profit agency (RQMC) is doing with the other $11 million plus the county gifted her.

RCS brought down $25 million alone in 2017, nearly $9 million from RQMC alone.

Fees from government agencies for the year ended December 31, 2017

$16,790,194

Related Party Transactions

RCS subcontracts its Mendocino County Mental Health contracts from Redwood Quality Management Company, Inc. (“RQM”), an independent for-profit company. RCS’ Chief Executive Officer is one of the three shareholders of RQM, which was incorporated to bid for and administer Mendocino County Mental Health contracts for all Behavioral Health Organizational Providers. RCS earned $7,848,014 in mental health and other contract revenues administered by RQM. Outstanding contract amounts due from RQM at December 31, 2017 was $1,042,007.

http://govwiki.info/pdfs/Special%20District/CA%20Redwood%20Community%20Services%20Inc.%202017.pdf

Read the entire document. I don’t have any idea as to why they call RQMC an independent for-profit agency when the Shraeders run both of them.

The 2018 audit is not available yet.

UKIAH REPORTS 10% REVENUE INCREASE

City of Ukiah Budget Review: Revenues up nearly 10 percent

ED NOTE

SUPER BOWL: First half: nothing. Half time: tattooed moron hops around shouting unintelligibly into the mike, along with explosions, strobe lights. Second half: The master, Tom Brady, The Gronk, Edelman, take over. Bob Dylan sings Blowing in the Wind to advertise Budweiser. A cryonic Andy Warhol eats a hamburger. Post game: hugs, jocks milling around saying, "I love you, bro."

MENDOCINO COUNTY: To the north we have Humboldt County, an untamed wilderness of outlaws, addicts, thieves, fortune tellers and vigilantes in squalid little towns full of filthy transients squatting on sidewalks.

To our south we have Sonoma County, a precious land of sommeliers, celebrity chefs, gentleman ranchers, Lexus dealerships and dog massage parlors in cutesied up towns full of LA tourists sashaying about the sidewalks.

And right over there is Lake County.

— Tommy Wayne Kramer

CATCH OF THE DAY, February 3, 2019

REGINALD AZBILL, Covelo. Parole violation.

FREDERICK FITCH, Ukiah. Under influence, controlled substance, probation revocation.

GERRED LARSEN, Ukiah. DUI.

MICHAEL LAYNE, Upper Lake/Hopland. DUI.

MARK LEDBETTER, Ukiah. Disorderly conduct-alcohol.

STANISLAUS LODARSKI, Fort Bragg. Maintenance of drug giving, selling, using place.

JORDAN LUNA, Lakeport/Redwood Valley. Criminal threats, assault on peace officer.

SHARON SPIERS, Eureka/Ukiah. DUI-drugs, failure to appear.

EDWARD STEELE JR., Ukiah. Controlled substance, contempt of court. (Frequent Flyer)

LAWRENCE TEXEIRA, Albion. Grand thet.

WILLIAM TURNER, Clearlake/Ukiah. Failure to appear.

RUSSELL VILLALPANDO, Fort Bragg. Paraphernalia, probation revocation.

MIKE'S RIGHT!

The documentary filmmaker noted for his liberal political stance made it clear that he wished the constitutional age restriction for those who could serve as president could be rescinded for Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez in time for 2020.

Michael Moore stated that the most important factor for Democratic voters should be 'who can crush Trump' after he was prompted by Ali Velshi on MSNBC's The Last Word regarding the declared field of candidates.

'It's too bad you have to be 35 to be president,' Moore said. 'We put that in the constitution, the Founding Fathers, because people died at 38 or 40 back then. Y'know, we need to lower that. If that was lowered to 30 …'

After Moore left that hanging, Velshi asks him if Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is where he was going with that train of thought. Moore points out that if the restriction was lower now, she could be running for 2020.

(Courtesy Daily Mail)

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Here's how she's spent her first month in Congress.

Sworn in on at the age of 29 on January 3, becomes the youngest member of the 116th Congress.

Surpassed House Speaker Nancy Pelosi in Twitter followers (@aoc vs. @SpeakerPelosi) her second day in office.

Posted her most retweeted tweet on January 4, a video of her dancing in front of her office, to poke fun at the video of her dancing in college that surfaced and was mocked following her swearing in. The new Twitter video received more than 20.7 million views and more than 160,000 retweets.

Co-sponsored her first piece of legislation, H.R. 242, repealing the PAYGO Act on January 4.

Her proposal to raise taxes on the rich to pay for the so-called "Green New Deal" proposal ended up on the cover of the January 5 issue of New York Daily News with the headline "Radical Solution."

She got a shoutout from Cher on Twitter.

Sat for an interview with CBS' "60 Minutes" that aired January 6 in which she said the super rich should be taxed more heavily after making $10 million, and that there's "no question" Trump is racist.

Search interest in "Green New Deal" reached its highest ever point on Google Trends the day after her "60 Minutes" interview.

Said Trump saying "Who cares?" when asked about her calling him racist proves she got under his skin, in a January 14 tweet.

Got in an argument with former Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker over taxes on Twitter on January 15.

Named to the House Financial Services Committee, which oversees things like banking and lending, which she announced on January 15. It's led by Chairwoman Maxine Waters of California.

Gave her first speech from the House floor on January 16, where she spoke about a constituent who missed a paycheck from the shutdown, and said the shutdown isn't about a wall or the border, but "the erosion of American democracy and the subversion of our most basic governmental norms."

Her speech became C-SPAN's most-viewed Twitter video ever, with more than 3.34 million views.

She and other freshmen Democrats delivered a letter to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell on January 16 calling for an end to the shutdown a start a #WheresMitch social media campaign.

She and Democratic Rep. Jim Himes of Connecticut taught a class to fellow lawmakers on how to use social media on January 17 where she counseled them to not use memes if they don't know what memes are, and not to talk like the Founding Fathers on Twitter.

Spoke at a Women's March event in New York City on January 19.

Spoke at the MLK Now event in New York City on January 21 where Ta-Nehisi Coates said he thinks she is the person in politics today who represents King's radical vision.

Named to the House Oversight Committee, which can investigate the Trump administration, on January 22.

The Washington Post Fact Checker gave some of her claims about living and minimum wage at the King event three Pinnochios on January 24. Ocasio-Cortez responded on Twitter criticizing the fact check's citation of "a Walmart-funded think tank as reference material for wage fairness" and responded with her own "4 Geppettos." (Click here for CNN's fact-check of AOC and several other politicians' comments on climate change)

When asked by Stephen Colbert on the January 21 episode of "The Late Show" how many "f****" she gives about Democrats who've criticized her, she said, "zero."

Shared her skincare routine on Instagram Stories on January 28 after being asked about it from a follower.

Co-wrote a letter along with other freshmen Democrats asking for a reduction in Department of Homeland Security funding because of spending on things including detention facilities.

(CNN)

TIME CORRECTION

Forest Reciprocity Group to Present to Redwood Valley MAC

The public is invited to attend the monthly Redwood Valley Municipal Advisory Committee meeting on Wednesday, February 13, 5-7 pm at the Redwood Valley Grange, 8650 East Rd. Members of the Forest Reciprocity Group (FRG) will give a power point presentation about revitalizing our forests to revitalize our communities. FRG seeks to collaborate with individual land owners; county, state and federal organizations and agencies; and local tribes to unburden forest lands of overcapacity fire fuel load small diameter poles. When we tend our forests for regenerative health, we are reciprocated with an abundance of valuable raw material to use for a variety of purposes including architectural components of beautiful, fire safe, affordable dwellings. FRG is an initiative of Cloud Forest Institute with funding from the Just and Resilient Future Fund of the Another World is Possible Coalition and the Rose Foundation for Communities and the Environment. For more information contact jen@cloudforest.org.

OUR INCONSOLABLE LANDSCAPE

Like spores cast out on the wind to continue their lives on a different plane, we may be life's way of pushing the edge, of making hope palpable. When we start to fear what is coming, life itself, it seems evident, begins to lose hope. When this happens, they win, those whose interest is in pushing our felt helplessness in the face of harpy-like demands for more, more, and more. Because if they can convince us is just not to care…

The land will feel the loss. It has lived through our living. As we have lived our lives and filled it full of ourselves and our endless wants and needs, we have stripmined the land, scraped it and piled it, logged it and sometimes even left it to reflect on what's left. And oddly, when we have vanished, the land will probably miss us. We have been the land's way to look at itself.

Happily enough, it is likely that the land will survive without us. Eventually, we will leave only traces. A layer roughly as thick as a cigarette paper will be our monument. It is an apt sign.

We must -- especially those of us nearing our own special end -- keep it alive. Keep hope alive. Show our reasons for care. Give our kids reason to hope that the bleak and endless despair that they see on the news is not all there is. That hope finally died not with the usual gurgle, but with the blood while and strong and likely to last. And somewhere, the rich man will draw nervous breath, and the land, at the end of it all, at the final curtain, will smile. As it does.

(Bruce Brady)

ON LINE COMMENT OF THE DAY

Elizabeth Warren said it best “I’m tired of billionaires freeloading.” Amen to that baby. Trump brags about paying no taxes as “smart.” Freeloader extraordinaire. When income inequality reaches the levels it has, the government has to step in and redistribute. Yes I know you righties seem to think the mere mention of that word makes your eardrums melt into little pools of goo. Take heart. It won’t. All that will happen is that Gates, Bezos and company will have a smaller number next to their name in Forbes. That’s it. That’s the extent of the damage. Hold back your crocodile tears and cry not for Argentina. Taking money from the rich and giving it to the poor is a good thing when income inequality has surpassed the days of kings and queens.

NEAL CASSADY

8 February 1926 - 4 February 1968

On February 3, 1968, Cassady attended a wedding party in San Miguel de Allende, Guanajuato, Mexico. After the party, he went walking along a railroad track to reach the next town, but passed out in the cold and rainy night wearing nothing but a T-shirt and jeans. In the morning, he was found in a coma by the tracks, reportedly by Anton Black, later a professor at El Paso Community College, who carried Cassady over his shoulders to the local post office building. Cassady was then transported to the closest hospital where he died a few hours later on February 4, four days short of his 42nd birthday.

Forever on the bus to never ever land. We'll never forget you Cowboy Neal.

ICYMI: STATE SENATOR BILL DODD INTRODUCES CALIFORNIA WATERFIX OVERSIGHT BILL

by Dan Bacher

On February 1, Senator Bill Dodd (D-Napa) introduced legislation that will require more legislative oversight and public scrutiny of former Governor Jerry Brown’s controversial Delta Tunnels/California Water Fix Project.

The bill was introduced as Delta advocates are criticizing the Department of Water Resources (DWR) and the Delta Conveyance Design and Construction Authority (DCA), a Joint Powers Authority (JPA), for approving contracts to move forward with project even though the required permits haven’t been obtained yet.

Senate Bill 204 would establish requirements for both DWR and the DCA to submit information about pending State Water Project contracts to the Legislature for public review, prior to those agencies moving forward with Delta Tunnels work, according to a statement from Senator Dodd’s Office.

The California WaterFix calls for the construction of two 30-mile long tunnels that would divert water from the Sacramento River, around the Delta, to the state and federal pumps in the South Delta for export to San Joaquin Valley agribusiness and Southern California water agencies.

“In years past, there has been too little opportunity for impacted communities to influence this flawed project, which will have a massive impact on the Delta’s environment, the local economy and drinking water quality,” said Senator Dodd, co-chair of the Legislative Delta Caucus. “This bill will gives the Legislature and Delta residents a place at the table to learn about what’s going on, express concerns and offer solutions that will serve Californians. We’re eager to begin a new chapter, where the voices of those who live in our Delta communities are adequately considered.”

The bill is supported by Delta advocates such as Restore the Delta and is co-authored by members of the Legislative Delta Caucus, including co-chair Assemblymember Jim Frazier, Assemblymembers Susan Eggman, Jim Cooper, Tim Grayson, Kevin McCarty, and Senators Cathleen Galgiani, Richard Pan, and Steve Glazer.

“Californians deserve to know the true financial and environmental impacts of WaterFix, the largest public works project in state history,” said Barbara Barrigan-Parrilla, executive director of Restore the Delta. “SB 204 will help make the planning process more transparent so members of the public can evaluate WaterFix for themselves.”

“This is a commonsense, good-government bill that increases accountability,” said Assemblymember Frazier, D-Discovery Bay. “Any large infrastructure project or major decision by a state agency should have legislative oversight. This is why people elect us. To protect their interests. Hopefully, the foolish WaterFix proposal will never be allowed to move forward. It would be the most expensive project in the state’s history and we are still totally in the dark about what the true costs will be. But if it does move forward, this bill will provide another level of scrutiny by the Legislature.”

This bill was introduced as a critical time for the future of the Delta and West Coast fisheries. Following the news that the Delta Conveyance Design and Construction Authority had selected the Jacobs company to be the engineering design manager for the Delta Tunnels, the DCA last week awarded Fugro a contract for a major geotechnical investigation to support the California WaterFix project.

The DCA awarded the geotechnical investigation to Fugro and selected Jacobs as engineering design manager even though the State Water Resources Control Board has not yet approved the petitions by the Department of Water of Resources and U.S. Bureau of Reclamation to change the point of diversion, a requirement for the project to be constructed. The project needs over a dozen permits in order for construction to begin. For more information, go here: www.dailykos.com/…

The awarding of contracts to Fugro and Jacobs by the DCA also takes place despite an avalanche of lawsuits by cities, counties, water districts, Tribes, fishing groups, environmental NGOs and other organizations against a project opponents consider to be the most environmentally destructive public works project in California history.

Yesterday, Barrigan-Parrilla spoke at the DCA Board of Directors meeting in Sacramento to remind them that the joint powers authority may not initiate construction of a new Delta conveyance facility under certain conditions are met under state law:

“Today, I would like to remind the DCDCA of Water Code 850589 -- provision b Construction of a new Delta conveyance facility shall not be initiated until the joint powers authority representing those entities have made arrangements or entered into contracts to pay for both of the following: (b) Full mitigation of property tax or assessments levied by local governments or special districts for land used in the construction, location, mitigation, or operation of new Delta conveyance facilities.

This has not been completed, and speaks to a broader issue -- dozens of permits and processes legally required remain incomplete -- yet this body is approving contracts in the tens of millions of dollars to move forward with the project. And we still do not have a fully flesched financial plan for the tunnels.”

She also brought to light reports about meetings between JPA members and “select” members of the Delta community regarding the California WaterFix that weren’t publicly noticed:

“I also want to remind the DCDCA that Delta County supervisors, assemblymembers, state senators, local district officials and mayors represent the people of the Delta. We are very concerned hearing about meeetings betweeen JPA members and "select" members of the Delta community to work through issues regarding WaterFix.

Elected officials represent the people of the Delta. Period. Even our organization with 60,000 followers does not represent the local government interests of the Delta. We understand that past meetings have ocurred -- a dinner here, a meeting there. We expect to see minutes from community meetings and for proper public notice of such meetings before they are held.”

Finally, she pointed out that the video for the JPA meetings is “regularly intermittent.” She urged the board to provide video services for all meetings and create a video archive:

“Last, video for this meeting is regularly intermittent -- there is no video archive. There are no video services for the DCFA meetings. WaterFix it the second largest public works project in CA. There are good government groups from throughout the state that want to understand what it is you are doing. If WaterFix is as good as all of you claim it is, then you should want meetings to be transparent.

It's time for you to take a page out of the High-Speed Rail playbook and to provide video services for all meetings and create a video archive. The people of California have a right to know what it is you are planning, the impacts on water supplies, the environment, and finances.”

MORE DRUG ADDICTS ON FRISCO'S STREETS THAN THERE ARE HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS IN THE CITY

San Francisco has more drug addicts than it has students enrolled in its public high schools, the city Health Department’s latest estimates conclude.

sfchronicle.com/bayarea/philmatier/article/San-Francisco-where-street-addicts-outnumber-13571702.php

BHAKTI JNANA DILLENBECK is now living in Fort Bragg where the Fort Bragg Police have to deal with him daily. Residents say he threatens people (including old women), yells and screams in front of downtown businesses, and is an all-around public nuisance.

Collected on line background info.

Dec. 10, 2008

Bhakti Dillenbeck (age 25 in 2008) was arrested at a motel in the 1900 block of Broadway, Eureka for possession of methamphetamine, probation violation, and 5 misdemeanor warrants alleging offenses including resisting/obstructing a peace officer, providing false evidence of identity to a peace officer, vandalism, public intoxication, probation violation, trespassing/interfering on a school campus, and municipal code violations.

On 02/02/2015 at about 7:30 PM, The Arcata Police Department received a report of an altercation occurring in the 700 block of 9th St. Upon the officer’s arrival, they found a 21 year old male bleeding from a laceration on his head. The victim stated that he had been in a verbal argument with a male subject near the intersection of 9th St and G St. The victim said that he attempted to walk away from the subject and as he did he was struck on the head with a bottle. The victim and witnesses identified the suspect as Bhakti J. Dillenbeck (31) of Arcata. The victim refused medical assistance, other than first-aid provided on-scene. At about 9:08 PM, officers located Dillenbeck at the corner of 7th St and G St. Dillenbeck was arrested without incident. Dillenbeck was booked and lodged in the Humboldt County Correctional Facility for Assault with a deadly weapon.

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Tuesday, May 17, 3:25 p.m. At the bus stop near the McKinleyville Shopping Center, Bhakti Dillenbeck was yelling and screaming and jumping in and out of traffic. When deputies responded, Dillenbeck yelled at them and other people waiting for the bus. His behavior was erratic. Dillenbeck refused to talk to deputies, started to walk away, then turned around and acted like he was going to charge at the officers. Dillenbeck was detained. A records check showed that he was on probation for assault with a deadly weapon. He was booked into the county jail on a probation violation.

* * *

Jan. 2, 2018

Arcata Man With ‘Mental Health Issues’ Pleads Guilty to Felony Assault; In Exchange,

Prosecutors Drop Over 150 Other Charges

An Arcata man who has irritated police officers for a number of years will admit to felony assault in exchange for the dismissal of a robbery charge, several misdemeanor criminal cases and 154 infractions.

Attorneys, including Arcata City Attorney Nancy Diamond, agreed this morning to the tentative deal for Bhakti Jnana Dillenbeck, who racked up the numerous violations mainly for smoking (cigarettes) on the Plaza, sitting or lying on a public sidewalk and failure to appear in court. As part of the agreement Dillenbeck, 34, must stay at least one block away from the Plaza, except if he has business at the Arcata Post Office or the APD.

Dillenbeck’s attorney, Deputy Conflict Counsel Marek Reavis, has said Dillenbeck has “serious mental health issues.” That was evidenced in court this morning by what he wore over his head: a white transparent veil called a “spit mask.”

He was in a red jumpsuit, indicating he is segregated from the jail’s general population.

Dillenbeck paced back and forth during the hearing, asking the judge several times whether he was going to get a plea bargain and if he would be released from jail at the next court hearing.

“I can’t promise that,” Judge John Feeney told him.

Dillenbeck was arrested in November after a skirmish on the Plaza, during which he reportedly assaulted and robbed homeless man Earl Gordon. Dillenbeck’s sister, Heidi Winter, said outside court that according to her brother, he gave the man $4 and some medical marijuana to buy a pack of cigarettes they agreed to divide.

Winter said Dillenbeck guarded the man’s shopping cart while he bought the cigarettes, but when he came out of the store he refused to share the smokes. A wrestling match ensued, Winter said, and her brother ended up with the cigarettes. She said her brother insisted he didn’t hit the other man and the other man didn’t hit him.

Dillenbeck was initially accused of robbery, a charge that will be dismissed when he pleads guilty to assault with force likely to cause great bodily injury. Feeney referred the case to the Probation Department for a pre-sentence report, but said his tentative decision is to sentence Dillenbeck to three years but suspend the sentence.

Winter said her brother, a Humboldt County native, started showing signs of mental illness at age 17 and has been in trouble off and on since then.

She would like to get him out of Humboldt County because “he’s driving the police crazy.”

“It’s something every day,” Winter said. “It’s like watching a little kid.”

Whether Dillenbeck would be allowed to leave Humboldt County while on probation is in question. But if he gets in more trouble, he faces a prison term.

Under the tentative plea bargain, Dillenbeck will also admit to probation violation, two charges of resisting or obstructing an officer and one count of petty theft. Several misdemeanor charges included in his six pending criminal cases will be dismissed.

The prosecution was represented this morning by newly hired Deputy District Attorney Joel Buckingham.

(Rhonda Parker, Courtesy LostCoastOutpost.com)

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Judge Feeney Declines to Condemn Mentally Ill Arcata Man to Three Years in Prison

With grant funding dried up for court mental health programs, Judge John Feeney had no good choices this morning in sentencing a mentally ill man who has been the bane of Arcata police for many a year.

Feeney could have sent Bhakti Jnana Dillenbeck to prison for three years, as the prosecutor argued was the appropriate and long-overdue penalty. Instead Feeney placed him on three years of supervised probation and ordered him released from jail today. Now it’s up to Dillenbeck’s stressed-out family to decide who’s going to care for him and keep him on the right side of the law.

Dillenbeck, 34, has been arrested many times over the years, the last time for assaulting a homeless man during an argument over a pack of cigarettes. He also was jailed once after smashing a bottle over a man’s head. He has racked up 154 infractions in Arcata, with the bulk of them for smoking cigarettes on the Plaza, lying or sitting on a public sidewalk and failure to appear in court. He has spent the last two months behind bars.

Deputy Conflict Counsel Marek Reavis, who has represented Dillenbeck many times over the years, told Feeney this morning that Dillenbeck bears “a tremendous burden, every day of his life,” because of his mental problems. He has spent “many, many months” in state hospitals, Reavis said.

But Deputy District Attorney Joel Buckingham said Dillenbeck has never taken probation seriously and has continually been arrested, sentenced to time already served and then released on probation. He never succeeds.

“At some point it has to stop,” Buckingham told the judge.

Feeney, while not addressing Dillenbeck’s case in particular, said that in the past there have been two successful court mental health programs. They ended when the grant money stopped. He said he’s heard a third program might be in the works, and he hopes to be around to participate in that.

Dillenbeck, a Humboldt County native, has a hard time standing still and staying silent during court appearances. He wears a mesh veil over his head to stop him from spitting at people. He is segregated from the jail’s general population.

At one point this morning, while pacing and fidgeting, he blurted out that he’s going to be moving away from Humboldt. He’s going to “my mom’s in Mendocino or my sister’s in Oregon,” and he hopes to stay out of trouble.

In fact, his sister Heidi Winter, who has attended his last two court appearances, said outside the courtroom that her mother’s husband doesn’t want him around and her own roommate and long-time best friend doesn’t want him around. An uncle in Utah says he will take him, so Winter is going to contact the uncle.

As long as he’s around Arcata, Dillenbeck must stay 100 yards from Valley West Shopping Center and can’t go near the Plaza unless he has business at the post office or the Arcata Police Department.

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Bhakti’s father is Winchell Dillenbeck of Eureka.

https://www.facebook.com/winchell.dillenbeck

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“Back in 1985, there was a small group called the Everyman’s Center (which later became the more politically correct EveryONE’s Center), which was mainly a crisis call-in center which provided health information, services and workshops. The name was changed to Community Services of the North Coast in 1988. The idea was always a simple one—to help people in the community through counseling and education. That year, the founders, Winchell Dillenbeck and Charles Riche, drove their quintessential hippie-mobile, (a beat-up, old VW van) from Humboldt to San Francisco (or bust!) to attend a regional conference for agencies that were specifically helping folks with their debt. Thus began the time where credit counseling began to take over all other types of counseling within the agency.”

— Kerri Cook

https://madriverunion.com/todays-frc-here-for-the-community-then-and-now/

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Bhakti Dillenbeck was born in 1983.

HALFWIT HALFTIME

The other guest star, Travis Scott, provided the halftime show's only moments of genuine weirdness, as he emerged to a SpongeBob SquarePants intro, came onstage surrounded by flames, performed an approximated version of his "Sicko Mode" hit and then crowdsurfed from view, never to be seen again.

—Maeve McDermott