MCT: Monday, March 4, 2019

• Dry & Wet
• Girls Found
• Storm Damage
• Pets
• Wild Fox
• Shelter Volunteers
• Rummage Sale
• Flintstones
• Millview Questions
• Musical Review
• Massage Parlors
• Emergency Planning
• State Street
• Affordable Housing
• Variety Show
• Yesterday's Catch
• Climate Strikes
• Adachi's Death
• Corporate Media
• Help Mary
• Newsom Guard
• Inhalations
• Organ Damage
• Best Chefs
• Flood Heroes
• Romeo & Juliet
• Boomtown
• Homeless
• Carey McWilliams
• Political Corruption

DRY CONDITIONS are expected today, although clouds may linger in the area for a portion of the day. Another period of rain is expected Tuesday afternoon through Thursday. Mainly dry conditions with a few light showers are possible for Friday and into weekend. (National Weather Service)

THE TWO YOUNG CARRICO SISTERS missing since Friday afternoon in the woods near Benbow have been found alive after more than 44 hours alone in the forest, according to a text message from their mother to local reporter Kym Kemp.

UPDATE: Local police reported Sunday afternoon that Leia and Caroline Carrico were found “alive and well” by local volunteer fire search team about 1.5 miles south of their home.

Search and rescue teams have located Caroline and Leia Carrico alive and well, more than 44 hours after they were last seen in Southern Humboldt County.

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On March 3, 2019, around 10:30 a.m., searchers Delbert Chumley and Abram Hill from the Piercy Volunteer Fire Department located the two girls approximately 1.4 miles away from their home in Benbow.

Chumley and Hill located boot prints believed to belong to the girls around 8:30 a.m. today, March 3. Those tracks led the team southeast to an area near Richardson Grove State Park. Caroline and Leia responded when crew members called out to them. The girls were located huddled together under a bush. The sisters were evaluated by medical personnel for dehydration and given water and warm, dry clothing. They were reunited with family shortly after being located. The girls told first responders that they were following a deer trail when they had become lost. The two decided to stay put, drinking fresh water from Huckleberry leaves.

More than 250 personnel from across the state responded to assist in this operation. The Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office would like to thank all of the agencies and jurisdictions involved in bringing Caroline and Leia home safe. We would like to especially thank the Governor’s Office of Emergency Services (Cal OES) for their assistance in coordinating agency response from across the state, the California National Guard for their ground and air support provided, and Mendocino, Napa and Marin counties for helping organize the search and rescue operation.

(Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office)

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FROM LOSTCOASTOUTPOST:

Sheriff’s Office Names Men Who Found Missing SoHum Sisters

Here’s a look at the two HEROES who located Leia and Caroline. We are so thankful for Delbert Chumley and Abram Hill from Piercy Volunteer Fire for assisting in this 44-hour search. We are so grateful for the support provided by all of our assisting agencies and over 210 searchers!

We received several requests from community members to help in the ground search this weekend. For those of you who asked, please consider joining our Sheriff’s Search and Rescue Posse so that you too can help on our next search. This is a volunteer posse that is deployed to all of our local (and many out of the area) search and rescue operations. Find out how to join here: http://www.humboldtsar.com

Full story and photos: lostcoastoutpost.com/2019/mar/3/photos-sheriffs-office-names-men-who-found-missing/

BOONVILLE took some expensive weather hits with the recent storm. Lambert Lane Bridge is dangerously slipping, as is the roadbed on its east end.

Lambert Lane Sunday:

(Photo by Ray Langevin)

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At the foot of the Ukiah-Boonville Road a major re-construct of the road is underway. Caltrans has installed one-way stop lights while the work continues.

All this damage has been the work of rampaging Anderson Creek, normally the most placid of streams as it flows out of the east hills.

UKIAH SHELTER PETS OF THE WEEK

This lovely, brindle girl will be your Treasure. She’s a 2 year old, spayed, female, mixed breed dog who currently weighs a svelte 40 pounds. Lucky Treasure has been staying at Casa de Laura, on a respite from shelter life, and here's what Laura told us: Treasure's been in foster care since February 16, and lives with 5 other dogs with whom she gets along. She’s a bit timid initially, but warms up quickly, and once she starts trusting, is very sweet and seeks out attention. She’s perfecting her sit and down. Treasure is ready to rumble out the shelter door and into your heart. There’s lots more about Treasure on her webpage:

http://www.mendoanimalshelter.com/dogblog/treasure

This snuggly attention-lover is Quincy. He’s a 7 year old, neutered, male, short hair, orange tabby. Quincy is a mellow cat with a very sweet personality. We think he will be a fine companion for children, adults and seniors. Come down to spend some time with this handsome cat today!

The Ukiah Animal Shelter is located at 298 Plant Road in Ukiah; adoption hours are Tuesday, Thursday, Friday & Saturday from 10 am to 4:30 pm and Wednesday from 10 am to 6:30 pm. To see photos and bios of the shelter's adoptable animals, please visit us online at: www.mendoanimalshelter.com For more information about adoptions please call 707-467-6453.

VOLUNTEER AT THE COAST ANIMAL SHELTER

Volunteer Orientation March 9

Hello Folks,

Now that we have our coast shelter back it’s time to sign up and volunteer. You can make a big difference in an orphaned or abandoned animals life by giving a few hours of your time. Walk a dog, it’s great for both you and the dog. Win the trust of a shy cat; it’ll lower your blood pressure and help the kitty find a home.

Fort Bragg Animal Shelter

Hello Fans! We will be having our FIRST volunteer orientation on 3/9! Here is some more info. Please note that future sign-ups for orientation will be online.

If you wish to become a volunteer at the Fort Bragg Animal Shelter you must attend the required Volunteer Orientation Class. Currently volunteer orientation classes will be held on Saturday mornings from 09:30 to 10:00. Staff can accommodate up to 8 attendees. Please contact the Animal Shelter at 961-2491 to sign up. One on one volunteer orientation classes can be scheduled / arranged by staff if you are not able to attend a Saturday volunteer orientation class. We have limited spaces available so please make sure to give us a call soon!

Go to our ‘Fort Bragg Animal Shelter’ facebook page.

From: Carol Lillis, crsheff@mcn.org

ELK'S 32ND ANNUAL RUMMAGE SALE

The Greenwood Civic Club invites you to take part in the 32nd Annual Elk Rummage Sale to be held Saturday and Sunday, April 6th and 7th from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. at the Greenwood Community Center in downtown Elk. Discover antiques, collectibles, clothes, books, toys, housewares, furniture, tools, and more at bargain prices. Join the ‘Great Race’ Sunday afternoon - all you can stuff in a bag for $3.00. While shopping, feast on baked goods, drinks and home-made tempting lunch items. Credit cards now accepted! Donations in good condition are welcome before the sale and may be dropped off at the Greenwood Community Center on Wednesday, April 3rd and Thursday, April 4th between 10 a.m. and 3 p.m. For information or pickup assistance, call Angela or John at 877-1130 or visit www.elkweb.org. The Greenwood Civic Club is a non-profit organization and all donations are tax deductible. Proceeds from the annual event benefit community projects, the summer children’s program and student scholarships.

A READER ASKS a question no one wants to answer: "When you have a sec please read this carefully! Who is at fault for the loss? How many $$$ have the ratepayers of Millview paid the Attorney? Will they pay him to take it to Supreme Court of California? As you can see it does take time! I would hope Millview's attorney has E&O? Do you think the ratepayers of Millview County Water Dist have any idea how much they have paid?

MARK SCARAMELLA NOTES: We assume the reader is referring to a recent appellate court ruling that the Millview Water District’s lawsuit against the State Water Board and the Sonoma County Water Agency which had won in local Mendo Courts was recently reversed on what appears to be a technicality.

According to an on-line “Justia Opinion Summary”: In 2006, Millview acquired License 5763, which authorized the diversion of water from the Russian River for industrial use. In 2008, the Water Resources Control Board issued a notice of proposed revocation. At a 2013 hearing, Millview appeared through counsel, presented evidence, examined witnesses, and filed a brief. The Board issued a draft order revoking License 5763. After receiving written comments on the draft order, including Millview’s comments, the Board conducted a May 20, 2014, public meeting at which Millview gave an oral statement. The Board found the water at issue had not been put to beneficial use for a period of five years and formally adopted the draft order. Days later, Mona, a Board employee, e-mailed the order to participants, including Millview. The cover letter stated the statute of limitations for seeking reconsideration began to run from May 20. On June 2, Mona e-mailed a “Corrected Version” to the participants, including Millview, to reflect that the Chair was absent during the adoption of the order. The cover letter stated: “No later than 30 days after adoption of the corrected order, any interested person may petition … for reconsideration.” On June 30, Millview filed a petition for writ of administrative mandamus, challenging the adequacy of the public hearing and the corrected order. The court of appeal concluded that the petition was time-barred under Water Code section 1126(b), rejecting an argument that the June 2 decision was the ‘final’ decision.

THE ENTIRE APPELLATE RULING can be found at:

https://law.justia.com/cases/california/court-of-appeal/2019/a146605.html

IF WE READ IT CORRECTLY, the appellate court ruled that Millview was tardy in filing an objection to the loss of their “industrial” water right at the old Masonite site. So the complaint appears to be that the Millview Water District paid a lot of money to an attorney who ended up losing the case and the water right — so far, anyway. How this will affect the Masonite property (now owned by Ross Liberty and some investors) remains to be seen. If the Masonite property has really lost its valuable old Masonite water right (via Millview) then the “industrial” designation of the site is seriously jeopardized.

COAST MUSICIAN ERIN BRAZILL and his band will present a musical review of Vintage Swing, Latin and Americana music at the Abalone Room in the Little River Inn on Friday, March 8, at 7:30. Beverages and dancing. A benefit for the Mendocino Parks and Mendocino Whale Festival. Tickets are $20 in advance, $30 at the door. Tickets available www.mendoparks.org/whale-festival.

Special guests include Chad Swimmer, Sarah Flaim, Marcel Gaurachi, Riley Connolly, Derek DiOro, and the oh-so danceable rhythms of a K-Onda.

THE ESSENTIAL TOMMY WAYNE KRAMER ASKS: WHERE WILL IT END?

One of the biggest advantages of living in Ukiah is that none of us ever have to stand in line to get into an Asian Massage Parlor. You may think this is because no one ever goes to an Asian Massage parlor but that just means both of us are right; Read on.

There are now six such establishments within the city perimeters, each as empty as all the others, and a lack of customers has not prevented major growth in the saturated market. There is a cluster of three such businesses within spitting distance of the courthouse, more down State Street and now a new one on Orchard Avenue.

My guess is that there are more of these parlors than there are yoga centers, therapy outlets and pilates studios all put together. That’s good.

If mere mystery was all that these odd little shops provoked I’d be content to be mystified. Because whenever we think about massage joints in Ukiah, or talk about them with friends and neighbors, there’s always this pause, a sigh, some head-scratching and some wincing.

Six Asian Massage Parlors?

No one knows. No one asks.

EMERGENCY PLANNING

Hello Everyone:

Sheriff Allman and Fire Chief Avila will be here on Sunday March 10th, to provide us with information on how to organize our neighborhoods for emergencies. I'm sure this will be valuable to all of us.

It is not necessary to be an AV Village member to participate in this event, so please join us at Lauren's at 4:00.

Best, Gwyn Smith

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AV VILLAGE MONTHLY SUNDAYS

Planning Tomorrow, Enjoying Today!

Sunday, March 10th at Lauren’s

4:00-5:30pm

Refreshments provided!

Emergency Response Planning in Anderson Valley Neighborhoods

Fire Chief Andres Avila, Sheriff Tom Allman and other speakers will discuss how to organize your neighborhood to be ready for an EMERGENCY.

ROAD DIET JUST MAY WORK

We know that change can be disruptive and construction is almost always maddening, but we are willing to say ‘go ahead’ to the city’s “State Street Road Diet.”

We think there are good reasons for the city to move forward and get this redesign of our major thoroughfare done.

First, it will be safer for drivers and pedestrians. Right now, people use State Street almost like a kind of highway. They go from Talmage to Low Gap, barreling through town at high speeds. They rarely stop for pedestrians, and often make it a game to see how many lane changes they can achieve and how many lights they can squeak through.

The vast majority of pedestrians who get run over in our town are trying to cross State Street. Not only is it hard to get all the way across when you have started, drivers often ignore the stopped cars in the left lane and sweep around them, only to find that the left lane car is stopped because someone is crossing the road. Ooops. Then they slam on the brakes and the cars behind them barely avoid collision.

If State Street is one lane each way, with a turn lane in the middle, and very obvious crosswalks at bulb-outs at regular intervals, we’ll find that pedestrians are safer and traffic actually flows more smoothly. You may no longer be able to go 35 miles per hour down State Street, but you will likely get to your destination in the same amount of time.

We’ve heard arguments that the narrower street is a hazard during an emergency and that big fire trucks will not be able to get through town. We don’t think that’s going to be a problem. Plus lots of first responders say they’ll look forward to not having to spend so much time dealing with people who have been run over in the street.

We also think the redesigned State Street means a much more attractive shopping area. The street will be shady and have nice places to sit and relax, and restaurants will have wide sidewalks on which to put sidewalk cafes, something that has turned out to be very popular in the School Street neighborhood.

The more people who walk and hang out along State Street, the more chance those merchants have to attract businesss. You don’t often see the variety of businesses available when you are speeding by in your car.

The only part of this project we want to make very sure about, is the funding. Under no circumstances should the city use it’s Measure Y street repair funding for this project. The voters said yes to that additional sales tax so that their local neighborhood streets can be improved and maintained. To say this project is a “street repair” would be a gross miscarriage of the voters intent and so far the city seems to know that.

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

WHEN IT COMES TO AFFORDABLE HOUSING, FAILING TO PLAN, IS PLANNING TO FAIL

by Jim Shields

Seems like everybody is talking about housing in California nowadays.

Everybody from Governor Gavin Newsom to the Board of Supervisors in Mendocino County have housing, as in affordable housing, i.e., moderate and low-income housing, on their minds. Although it must be said Newsom is pretty serious, as in serious as putting together a hit list of 47 California cities who are under scrutiny by the new governor for not complying with a state law that requires them to plan for the construction of affordable housing.

Newsom is so serious about affordable housing, he recently sued the wealthy conclave of Huntington Beach for being out of compliance with state mandates calling for affordable housing planning and then eventually building it. And on top of that, he told the city fathers and mothers of Huntington Beach he would yank their gas taxes to teach them a lesson to boot.

For years cities and counties have failed to build affordable housing in accordance with their general plan’s housing element. In fact, Mendocino County is one of the many recalcitrant local governments that for many years — at least a couple of decades — was in violation of state planning laws regarding affordable housing. In fact, as I recall the county was sued successfully by a group of county residents back in the 1980s who argued the housing element in its general plan was woefully inadequate.

Anyway, at last week’s Supes’ meeting, the whole subject of affordable housing was back once again on the table, I’m assuming because of the governor’s hit list and his threat to withhold gas tax funds from out-of-compliance local governments. Although Mendocino County for some reason is not on Newsom’s rogue’s roster, county officials are acting as if they soon could be because their housing plan has not produced any new housing. Imagine that.

So what’s the county’s strategy to start producing new affordable housing? According to Mark Scaramella’s report in the Anderson Valley Advertiser:

Because Mendo has a track record of doing nothing and now they’re turning over the important subject of housing to yet another overpaid, out-of-county consultant. And when staffers say there will be “challenges,” that means: “never happen.”

Not in Mendo anyway.

Mendo’s “Inclusionary Housing/Housing Element” (of the General Plan) is supposed to identify “impediments to affordable housing,” because, according to the County’s new (and very expensive) Planning Director, Brent Schultz, the existing one “has resulted in no new housing in our county.”

Please don’t even think about asking why the Supes OK’d spending your tax dollars on retaining a consulting firm to do the job of the staff in the county Planning and Building Department. It’s just the way they do things around here.

The last time I remember county officials tackling the historic problem of inadequate affordable housing was about 10 years ago. The plan then was an experiment where the five Supervisors would each select two affordable housing projects for their respective districts that would be expedited through the local planning process. Those 10 projects essentially would be fast-tracked and green-lighted over, under, around, and through the red tape in the Planning and Building process. I don’t recall what the outcome was for eight of those housing projects, but I do know what resulted with the two here in the 3rd District because the Laytonville County Water District that I manage was involved to some degree with both ventures.

One project was to develop a pasture that cows grazed on next to the Laytonville Fire Department. The Water District agreed to provide water service to the parcel, and that’s as far as it got. There are still cows on that pasture today, but definitely no housing, affordable or otherwise on the land. Nothing was ever officially proposed for the site. It’s still a mystery to me why the parcel was ever selected for a housing start in the first place.

The second project was proposed for a parcel in a subdivision along Highway 101, about a mile north of Laytonville. The plan called for building a mobile home park, something that definitely met the goal of constructing affordable housing, although there was some opposition from neighbors of the project: They said it would attract “trailer trash.” The Water District and the owner-developer agreed to a plan to extend a water main to the site, and install hydrants, water meters, etc.

However, following 18 months of on-again, off-again planning and dealing with the county permitting process, the project drifted into the ether, which is the same place you can currently find most affordable housing in this county.

(Jim Shields is the Mendocino County Observer’s editor and publisher, and is also the long-time district manager of the Laytonville County Water District. Listen to his radio program “This and That” every Saturday at 12 noon on KPFN 105.1 FM, also streamed live: http://www.kpfn.org.)

ON YER MARKS!

Get ready, 'cause it's almost time for the 28th annual Anderson Valley Variety Show at the Philo Solar Grange! As always, we've got two unique nights of super, special, silly, stupendous acts to share with you. Each night is different, so you'll want to be sure to attend both Friday and Saturday, March 9th and 10th, so you can see them all. We have a great plan for getting tickets to you so that you can be sure to get in! The tickets will be available the week of March 4th-8th at both Lemon's Philo Market, and the Anderson Valley Market in Boonville. It will be $5 for kids under 12 and seniors over 65, and $10 for adults between the ages of 13 and 64. These pre-sale tickets will sell out by Friday. There's a limited number of tickets available to purchase during the week before the show, because we're saving 100 tickets to sell at the door each night of the event. This way, if you have a ticket, you will get in! The doors to the Grange will open at 6:30, a half hour before the show, which starts at 7:00. You'll want to get there early, though, because as always, there will be a long line and a fun party in the parking lot beforehand. Dinner will be available both nights, Friday, the Teen Center will be selling pozole, and Saturday, Jay will be selling his famous rib dinners. The senior bus will be picking people up at the senior center in Boonville and at the post office in Philo. Any seniors riding the bus will be admitted early so that they can be sure to get seats.

CATCH OF THE DAY, March 3, 2019

NICHOLAS BRITTON, Covelo. Concealed stolen weapon, controlled substance, probation revocation.

JACOB DELOSSANTOS, Redwood Valley. Resisting, probation revocation.

JOTHAM FORD, Willits. Disorderly conduct-alcohol.

ANGELA FREASE, Covelo. Controlled substance for sale, transportation.

DAVID FREEMAN JR., Covelo. Controlled substance, probation revocation.

JENNIFER GARCIA, Ukiah. Disorderly conduct-alcohol.

LESLIE HAY, Leggett. DUI-alcohol&drugs, suspended license.

GABRIEL JAMES, Ukiah. Disorderly conduct-alcohol.

CARMEN KING, Ukiah. DUI.

MICHAEL MILLER, Fort Bragg. Parole violation.

JACOB PARMELY, Ukiah. Parole violation.

AMANDA RONALD, Arcata/Ukiah. DUI.

JAY ROSENBERG, Manchester. Fugitive from justice.

JASON SANDERS, Ukiah. Paraphernalia, probation revocation.

YVONNE SMITH, Ukiah. Disorderly conduct-alcohol.

RILEY WATSON, McKinleyville/Ukiah. Disorderly conduct-alcohol.

YOUTH CLIMATE STRIKE, March 15, 2019

https://www.youthclimatestrikeus.org

theguardian.com/environment/2019/mar/01/youth-climate-strikers-we-are-going-to-change-the-fate-of-humanity

SAN FRANCISCO SHOCKED by Public Defender’s Sudden Death and Police Response

by Ann Garrison

San Francisco Public Defender Jeff Adachi died suddenly on Friday, February 26, causing shock waves among all those who knew and admired his pioneering work in criminal justice reform. Public Defenders’ offices around the country look to his example and frequently call the San Francisco office for guidance.

Adachi took his job seriously. He made sure that every defendant represented by his office got the best trial possible—not just a plea deal—and he wasn’t afraid to go up against the police. He once astonished me by answering the phone and talking about a case I was covering for KPFA Radio-Berkeley from 7 to 8 pm on a Saturday night. He was dedicated and generous with his time.

Adachi was also a founding member of San Francisco’s Reentry Council, which aims to ease former prisoners’ transition back into society with more than a “flying fifty [$].” He created programs to encourage at-risk kids, mostly kids of color in poor neighborhoods, to aspire high and avoid entering the criminal justice system. Among those programs were Back-to-School Celebrations including backpack and school supplies giveaways. He argued a precedent-setting case to eliminate the inequities inherent in California’s monetary bail system.

He made a film, Ricochet, about the trial of José Inez García Zárate, an undocumented Mexican immigrant accused of shooting and killing a young woman, Kathryn Steinle, on Pier 14 in San Francisco. Before Zárate’s acquittal, President Trump shamelessly jumped on the case to fuel his national anti-immigrant crusade.

Zárate is a dark-skinned Spanish speaker of visually indeterminate race, but the person who called 911 from the pier identified him as an African American.

“Coming Home While Black,” a recent report by Katy St. Clair, Public Information Officer for the public defender’s office, appears on the office website. It’s the story of a Black man returning to his apartment building after being acquitted of all charges against him only to be refused entry by a security guard.

On May 2016, after a rash of police killings of Black and Latino youth, Adachi told the press, “We do have a Ferguson problem in San Francisco.”

Willie Ratcliff, publisher of San Francisco Bay View, a Black newspaper that focuses especially on racist police violence and mass incarceration, has often said, “Black people love Jeff Adachi.” Adachi himself attributed much of his motivation to his own experience as the son of Japanese Americans interned in a miserable concentration camp during World War II.

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Investigation into Adachi’s death

The circumstances of Jeff Adachi’s death remain murky. This week it came out that he had recently tried to get Christopher Wirowek, Chief of Operations in the Medical Examiner’s Office, fired for lying during a homicide case. Nevertheless, Wirowek is now investigating his death with the help of San Francisco Police, whom Adachi often challenged. Bay Area broadcast media have covered a police report full of sensational details—that he died in a North Beach apartment with a woman who was not his wife, and that there were various intoxicating substances in the apartment plus a receipt for t-shirts bought in Bogota, Colombia. Matt Gonzalez, the Chief Attorney in Gonzalez’s office who is now the Acting Public Defender, told the press, “It has been disappointing to hear—I’ve been told, I don’t know if it’s true—that the police or members of the department, who did not like Jeff, have been trying to spread rumors, trying to make the circumstances of his death more salacious and trying to suggest all kinds of misconduct. I guess that’s what happens when you’ve been a fighter against them and battled them the way he did.”

Gonzalez later expressed concern about the investigation into Adachi’s death and said, “I’ve had a lot of cases over the years, and this is not normal.” Now the SFPD are investigating what they say was an unauthorized release of the police report that has been prominently featured on local broadcast news. No one has publicly suggested foul play in Adachi’s death, and Gonzalez has said he believes it was caused by some sort of heart attack.

There will no doubt be huge attendance and outpouring at Adachi’s memorial service on a date as yet to be determined. Setting aside the mysterious circumstances of his death, he should be remembered for his lifelong defense of those abused and incarcerated by a brutal and racist criminal justice system. In November 2018, he penned this letter to San Francisco Mayor London Breed to oppose a proposal to transfer inmates from San Francisco to Alameda County if a particular San Francisco jail were permanently closed:

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November 2, 2018

Dear Mayor Breed,

It has come to my attention that you may be considering approving the transfer of some inmates from the SF County Jail, many of whom are our clients, to Santa Rita or Glen E. Dyer Jails in Alameda County. Although I am keenly aware of the poor condition of SF County Jail #4 and the need to close it as soon as possible, I urge you to reject the proposal to transfer people to Alameda County.

My staff and I visit clients at County Jail #4 on a daily basis, and can see for ourselves how inadequate and potentially dangerous that facility is. But, the option of transferring our clients to Alameda County is much worse. There are many reasons for this:

Legal representation of our clients. The San Francisco Public Defender’s Office prides itself in having the highest standards of criminal defense, not just among public defenders but among all criminal defense attorneys. But, we cannot provide excellent service to our clients without access to them. Our staff of 103 attorneys need to meet with our in-custody clients regularly to develop their defense. At present, we visit our clients around the corner at 7th and Bryant, and also must travel to the San Bruno Jail. Having to travel to Dublin and Oakland as well would mean much more travel time for attorneys and travel expense for the City, and because our attorneys already have large caseloads, compromised defense for our clients. I was working as a Deputy Public Defender in the early 1990’s when San Francisco, for a brief time, housed clients in Alameda. I can personally attest that it was disastrous decision which was reversed after just a few weeks, since it was impossible for clients to be properly represented by our attorneys.

Access to families and loved ones. There is an overwhelming consensus that having strong community, family and support systems correlates greatly to lower recidivism and better outcomes in general. All of our clients are indigent, and traveling to Dublin will be a hardship for their families and communities. This will result in less contact with support systems, faith communities, mentors, etc. and ultimately poorer outcomes for our clients. Children will have less contact with their incarcerated parents causing trauma for them. In fact, the lack of family contact and community support will inevitably convince more clients to plead guilty in cases they could have won, just to get back to their loved ones.

Risk of illegal entanglement with Immigration & Customs Enforcement. San Francisco is a Sanctuary City and all government departments, including our Sheriff’s Department, are committed to this policy. Sadly, the same cannot be said for the Alameda County Sheriff. Non-citizens there are routinely apprehended by ICE upon their release from Santa Rita, and then subjected to indefinite detention and deportation—even if the non-citizen is ultimately acquitted of the charges against them or if those charges are dropped. San Francisco should not contract with any facility, such as Santa Rita, that has such an abysmal track record of colluding with ICE and its deportation machine.

The Alameda County jails are notoriously plagued by abuses and substandard conditions. Besides the additional cost of sending people to Alameda, San Francisco will expose itself to lawsuits from inmates and civil rights advocates. Just within the past year and a half:

• Four Alameda County Sheriff’s Deputies were charged with felony assault under the color of authority for abusing inmates. Two of them were also charged with witness intimidation and conspiracy to obstruct justice. (East Bay Times, 9/5/17)
• Another Sheriff’s Deputy was charged with assault by a public officer and assault with force likely to cause great bodily injury for staging an attack on an inmate by other inmates. (East Bay Times, 9/7/18)
• 386 inmates were taken away by ICE after the Alameda County Sheriff shared their release information with that agency. (KCBS Radio, 10/2/18)
• The Alameda District Attorney filed charges against a Sheriff’s office sergeant for illegally recording conversations between minors and their attorneys. (Oaklandnorth.net, 10/5/18)
• A woman in labor was locked in solitary confinement and gave birth alone in a cold, dirty concrete cell after guards ignored her cries for help. She and several other women have filed suit against the Santa Rita jail for abuses while they were pregnant. (SF Chronicle, 8/20/18)

San Francisco does not need to send County inmates to Alameda. There are better solutions:

Release people who are eligible for bail. The California Court of appeals in the Humphrey decision said that no one should be held in jail pretrial just because they cannot afford bail. Yet over 80% of the San Francisco jail population is being held pre-trial. Hundreds of these people are bail-eligible yet are being held in custody, because San Francisco has among the highest bails in the country. The Humphrey decision also held that the court should consider the least restrictive release conditions necessary to ensure public safety and a return to court. A wide array of release conditions are available here in San Francisco. The court or the sheriff should make use of these options to release anyone to Pretrial Services who is bail-eligible.

Prioritize Public Health treatment beds over jail beds. According to DPH’s presentation to the Work Group to Re-envision the Jail, an average of close to 200 people on any given day are sitting in SF County Jails waiting for transfer to behavioral health facilities. According to the DA’s presentation at the same meeting, individuals in Behavioral Health Court wait in jail an average of 120 days waiting for a bed in the community. The County must commit resources to getting people out of jail who need treatment. Both DPH facilities and community providers should be utilized. Jail is the worst possible place for people suffering from mental illness and substance abuse problems.

Provide supportive housing rather than cycling the unhoused in and out of jail. By all accounts, more than a third of the people in County jail at any time are homeless at the time of arrest. Many more are made homeless by their incarceration. The jail is an inappropriate, harmful and expensive solution to San Francisco’s homelessness crisis. People living on our streets need appropriate supportive housing, not jail beds.

San Francisco needs to be at the forefront of the movement to end mass incarceration. We need to stop dealing with poverty and public health problems by throwing people in jail. Neither building a new jail nor moving people to a substandard jail in another county will solve these problems. San Francisco needs to lead the way on this issue.

Thank you for your consideration and I look forward to continuing to work with you on criminal justice reform.

Sincerely,

Jeff Adachi, San Francisco Public Defender

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According to the Public Defenders’ Office, Adachi was trying to head that idea off at the pass. Mayor London Breed has not responded definitively one way or another, but no San Francisco inmates have been transferred to Alameda County jails yet.

(Ann Garrison is an independent journalist who also contributes to the San Francisco Bay View, Global Research, the Black Agenda Report and the Black Star News, and produces radio for KPFA-Berkeley and WBAI-New York City. In 2014, she was awarded the Victoire Ingabire Umuhoza Democracy and Peace Prize by the Womens International Network for Democracy and Peace. She can be reached at ann@afrobeatradio.com. Courtesy, CounterPunch.org.)

REMEMBERING MARY. Irv Sutley writes:

Friends,

Mary Mcchesney Needs Support

I am glad to hear back from so many of you who know Mary and are appreciative of her political activism, her kindness, art and writings. Apparently the GoFundMe link is not working at this time and until it is fixed, I suggest that you can make a contribution by mailing a check to Mary Fuller McChesney directly. At age 96, Mary is a treasure who deserves our support.

Her mailing address is 2955 Sonoma Mountain Rd, Petaluma, CA 94954. Please make your check out to "MARY FULLER McCHESNEY" and mark it "MFM legal" on the memo line

Also there will be several events coming up for people to meet on Sonoma Mountain perhaps as early as mid April. There may be chances to purchase and acquire some of the Fuller McChesney art works the sale of which will benefit Mary. Let me know of your interest and perhaps several of us can car pool.

Irv Sutley, Glen Ellen, irvsutley@yahoo.com

MEMO OF THE WEEK

IT'S BEEN ABOUT ELEVEN HOURS since I got up. It's dark and it's twenty-seven degrees outside and I haven't looked out there because it's doubtless icy. And where in the hell would I be going anyway?

After the mere fact of its happening (this may, after all, be a dream, mine or someone else's), the first thing I thought of was whether the AVA had published what amounted to another short essay I had written as an e-mail thanking them as hugely as I could for publishing nearly everything I sent since my articles on teaching and education (published together as Learning Curve [and available on Amazon]) were published there forty years ago.

Perhaps somebody has already copied it from Facebook and sent it to them. It probably doesn't matter anyway. Anybody over five or six years old who wants to can easily find it on Facebook. And the point was that in my opinion, the AVA is the finest newspaper in America, bar none. It tells the truth with an intelligence and passion gone from American journalism for a hundred years. And some of the best reporting you can find. It costs money to read it. It's well, well worth it.

During Redwood Summer Bruce roasted me in print, using me as an example of someone who complained loudly but never did anything politically useful. But he had been a guest for dinner at Wild River, been a guest I interviewed on KMUD, maybe his only appearance as anybody's guest. It was shortly after he got out of the county jail after getting into a scuffle with Lou Delsol, county superintendent of schools. A common enemy.

If I keep going on here I expect that I will be endlessly repeating these speculations, just like that Orange guy who calls himself our president who hugs the flag and lies. And he lies and he lied and he lies. And then it's about ever spewing his lies. And everybody's armed or standing near to someone who is. I'm confused. My Rodney Dangerfield signature line.

I am changing the subject here. Done here with that subject. The new subject is the evil weed. The herb. Marijuana. I have for decades felt that life is much more fully experienced when one is stoned. It opens all the senses. Removes all of the filters. The medical folks (every one I've met) says my use of it has nothing whatever to do with causing or intensifying my disease, congestive heart failure.

So when I started writing, I inhaled. And then inhaled again. The effects are instantaneous and deep. And you do things. Like writing this. And any tendencies toward paranoia immediately disappear. And you get shit done instead of just sitting there watching it snow. It's now just after six. It's probably snowing. The temperature out there is seven degrees below freezing.

Finally, I am done. I am afraid that I have lost any ability to make sense. I am just trying to communicate my observations on old age and my way of dying. Thanks to the six or seven folks who forwarded my Facebook essays to the AVA. I am honored to be here. Thank you. The clock ticks and it ticks and it ticks…

(Bruce Brady)

JAPANESE ANTI-SMOKING ART

ONE OF ‘BEST CHEFS IN WEST’ FOUND AT HARBOR HOUSE IN ELK!

Matthew Kammerer, Harbor House Inn, Elk, CA

Chefs who have set new or consistent standards of excellence in their respective regions. Eligible candidates may be from any kind of dining establishment and must have been working as a chef for at least five years with the three most recent years spent in the region.

sf.eater.com/2019/2/27/18242028/james-beard-awards-2019-bay-area-sanfrancisco-semifinalists-chefs-restaurants

SPECIAL THANKS

Editor:

There are many heroes of the Russian River flood of 2019 — firefighters, swift water rescuers, shelter operators, Office of Emergency Service coordinators and regular folks with canoes or rowboats. Most are known to few, but all deserve our thanks.

One particular group, however, deserves special thanks. The people who make decisions about releases from Lake Sonoma kept a major flood from becoming an even larger catastrophe. On Tuesday, water was flowing into Lake Sonoma at a rate of over 13,000 cubic feet per second. All but a small amount was impounded in the lake, keeping it from flowing down Dry Creek, into the Russian River and on to Forestville, Guerneville, and Monte Rio.

Between Monday and Wednesday, Lake Sonoma’s storage increased by over 44,000 acre feet. Just imagine if that had been added to the flow we all saw last week.

I don’t know who the people are who made those decisions, but everyone affected by the flood owes them tremendous gratitude. A sincere thank you to them and all the other unknown heroes in our community.

Phil Grosse

Petaluma

READING THE BARD

THE WHOLE CITY is torn up with construction and reconstruction and re-everything. There’s a huge, ugly tower that’s now dominating the skyline, and it’s called Salesforce. They have the audacity to put such a vulgar title to [one of the] biggest building[s] west of the Mississippi: ‘Salesforce.’ And that’s what’s happening to this city—it’s becoming totally a Salesforce project, you might say. It’s total commercialization of the city. There is construction going on all over this city. It hasn’t hit North Beach yet, where we are, but it’s getting there. This is Boomtown, USA. It’s the biggest boomtown since the Gold Rush days in the 1850s. — Lawrence Ferlinghetti

CAREY MCWILLIAMS: THE MOST IMPORTANT AMERICAN AUTHOR MANY DON'T KNOW

Mar 01, 2019

Truthdig contributor Peter Richardson is the author of “American Prophet: The Life and Work of Carey McWilliams,” now out in paperback from the University of California Press with a foreword by Mike Davis. We asked him about Carey McWilliams and his achievements.

Truthdig: Your book traces the extraordinary career of Carey McWilliams, from his Los Angeles legal activism to his radical journalism and finally to his two-decade editorial stint at The Nation. You argue that he was one of the most versatile and productive public intellectuals of the 20th century. Why don’t more Americans know about him?

Peter Richardson: Yeah, it’s funny. Despite the accolades, he’s probably the most important American author that most people have never heard of. He has his fans, of course. Kevin Starr was one. He called McWilliams “the single finest nonfiction writer on California—ever” and “the state’s most astute political observer.” Mike Davis is another. “City of Quartz” is a kind of love letter to McWilliams. Over the years, McWilliams also won over the city room at the Los Angeles Times. When journalists need a quote about the city, they often turn to McWilliams or Joan Didion.

There are a few reasons McWilliams isn’t better known. First, he was a radical. He had powerful enemies, including J. Edgar Hoover, the Los Angeles Times and the Associated Farmers, which objected to his history of California farm labor in “Factories in the Field” (1939). When Earl Warren first ran for governor in 1942, he promised growers that his first act would be to fire McWilliams from his position in state government. The California Un-American Activities committee smeared him mercilessly. So even though he was accomplishing a great deal, he didn’t endear himself to those in power.

McCarthyism was a factor. By the 1950s, McWilliams was back in New York City, shepherding The Nation magazine through a difficult decade. Many of his friends were victims of the Communist witch hunt—in fact, McWilliams wrote a book on that topic in 1950, well before most people understood the dangers to our democracy. But that was typical of McWilliams. He was always a kind of early-warning system. In 1950, he called Richard Nixon “a dapper little man with an astonishing capacity of petty malice.” It took the rest of the country two more decades to figure that one out.

Finally, his style didn’t call a lot of attention to itself. His arguments were clear, fact-based, and hard-hitting. A 1944 Supreme Court opinion cited him four times on the Japanese internment. Other writers admire the clarity and power of his prose. He made it look easy, and professional writers know that it’s anything but that. He never went in for fireworks, but that’s probably one of the reasons that his work holds up so well now.

TD: You mentioned the Japanese internment during the Second World War. Did McWilliams write about other forms of racial and ethnic discrimination?

PR: Very much so. In fact, that’s one of the reasons he was always in trouble. He wrote a book in 1943 called “Brothers Under the Skin” that documented the histories of America’s minority populations. After it came out, reactionaries in the state legislature grilled him on the subject of interracial marriage, which was still illegal. He hadn’t written about that issue, but when he said he opposed those laws, they reported that his answer was consistent with the Communist Party line.

Click here to read long excerpts from “American Prophet” at Google Books.

He also wrote “A Mask for Privilege,” a book about anti-Semitism, and “North From Mexico,” which was a very important book on Latinos in the Southwest. At that time, there were very few works on that topic. Throughout the 1940s, he wrote almost one first-rate book per year.

He was also active in the community. He organized the Sleepy Lagoon Defense Committee after a group of Latino youths were railroaded for murder. That decision was overturned, and it’s still regarded as the Latino community’s first political victory in Los Angeles. He also helped calm the city during the Zoot Suit Riots, which was really a military riot that escalated after a scuffle between sailors and Latino youths in downtown Los Angeles. All of that material went into “North From Mexico,” but it also inspired “Zoot Suit,” the play and film written by Luis Valdez.

TD: You write that McWilliams wrote a Supreme Court brief for the Hollywood 10, the screenwriters and producers who were called before the House Un-American Activities Committee and convicted for contempt of Congress.

PR: Right, but that case never got to the Supreme Court. McWilliams knew most of those guys from his political activism in and around Los Angeles. He was also close with Robert Kenny, one of their lawyers, who ran for governor in 1946. McWilliams dedicated one of his most important books, “Southern California Country,” to Kenny that year.

McWilliams’ amicus brief was part of his larger effort to defend Americans who held perfectly legal but unpopular political views. Ironically, one of McWilliams’ editors—Angus Cameron at Little, Brown—was caught up in that. He was forced to resign as editor in chief for publishing left-wing authors like McWilliams. Arthur Schlesinger Jr., the Harvard historian, led the charge against him and McWilliams, who never forgave Schlesinger. Cameron didn’t land another editorial job until the 1960s, when Random House hired him.

TD: Wasn’t Angus Cameron also Hunter S. Thompson’s editor?

PR: Almost. Cameron offered Thompson a contract for “Hell’s Angels,” but Thompson ended up signing with Ballantine, which published the paperback edition. Then Random House published the cloth edition, but Thompson worked with Jim Silberman. In the meantime, Cameron and Thompson exchanged some really interesting letters about the nature of Thompson’s work.

McWilliams played a big role in all of this. In fact, he gave Thompson the story idea in the first place. Thompson was living in San Francisco and desperate for freelance assignments. McWilliams asked him to cover the Hells Angels and then ran his story in The Nation. Almost instantly, Thompson began receiving offers for a book-length treatment. “Hell’s Angels” became his first best-seller, and he acknowledged McWilliams on the dedication page.

After that, Thompson kept in close touch with McWilliams, probably hoping he would supply another great story idea. Douglas Brinkley, who edited two volumes of Thompson’s correspondence, said that McWilliams was the only editor whom Thompson really admired.

TD: How would you describe McWilliams’ editorial work at The Nation generally?

PR: He had a reputation for being right on the big issues, especially civil rights and Vietnam, and he was very clear about Nixon’s shortcomings. He also kept an eye on Ronald Reagan while he was running for governor. Even then, McWilliams was talking about dog-whistle politics, especially on the issue of discriminatory housing.

Probably the most important thing McWilliams did at The Nation was convert it into an outlet for investigative reporting. It’s much easier for magazines to run opinion and analysis, but McWilliams gave several writers the space to pursue bigger stories. By the late 1960s, muckraking was back in style, but McWilliams kept it going when most outlets were content to publish the government’s lies about Vietnam, for example.

TD: You point out that McWilliams really had two constituencies—those who read his books, and those who knew his work at The Nation.

PR: Right, and those two audiences didn’t usually intersect. When he went east to edit The Nation, he stopped writing books, so his California audience thought of him as an author in exile. Most of his readers (and colleagues) at The Nation weren’t familiar with his books. They saw him as the steward of a venerable magazine.

I think McWilliams modeled his career after H.L. Mencken, his boyhood idol, so it made sense for him to dedicate his energies to editing a magazine. But the 1950s was a terrible time to manage a left-wing magazine, and the 1960s ushered in a new kind of politics that didn’t play to his advantages. I love what he did at the magazine, but in some ways, The Nation’s gain was the country’s loss.

TD: Last question. What was the coolest thing you learned about McWilliams while researching his life?

PR: I suppose it was finding a letter in McWilliams’ archive from Robert Towne, who wrote the original screenplay for “Chinatown.” In the letter, Towne explained that a single chapter from one of McWilliams’ books—“Southern California Country,” published in 1946—inspired Towne’s effort, which won an Oscar in 1975. The chapter was about the region’s water politics. In addition to exposing the history of the Los Angeles Aqueduct, McWilliams was way ahead of his time in terms of environmental awareness. Anyway, Towne took that history and turned it into a Southern California epic. One of the fascinating things about McWilliams—who took a lot of criticism for what I regard as his decency and sanity—is how he inspired so many others to do their best work.

(Truthdig.com)

NONPARTISAN

Editor,

It's almost 2020…time for term limits and campaign finance reform for the U.S. Congress. These are nonpartisan issues both Republicans and Democrats can agree on.

If you or I were making $1,600,000 each year, while on a $174,000 salary, we'd be in prison. Yet, the average net worth of a U.S. Senator goes up $1,600,000 annually.

If just a few members of Congress were getting rich, you might say it was a fluke, but when it's an average of ALL OF CONGRESS showing such incredible increases in their collective net worth, year after year after year, you know it's something highly suspicious, maybe unethical, and maybe even criminal.

Politicians get rich in legal ways. Book deals. Speaker fees. Think tank and university appointments.

But they also get rich in lots of other ways. Extortion. Bribery. Campaign law violations. Government fraud. Contractor fraud. False claims. Misuse of government funds. Kickbacks. Securities fraud. Loan fraud. Mortgage fraud.

The list goes on and on. Members of Congress are only limited by their creativity in dreaming up ways to get rich.

Put another way, public corruption is a violation of public trust. Public corruption is term which encompasses a large number of white collar criminal offenses. While the specific definitions of this offense will vary by the crime, the general definition of public corruption is the offering, receiving or giving of preferential treatment or "favors" in exchange for money, property, or other valuables. Most often, public officials are involved in multiple charges of public corruption. These cases involve officials who are accused of violating public trust.

Convictions are tough to get.

Why?

Because federal law enforcement resources are stretched thin, and they are getting thinner.

Extensive surveillance, long-term investigations, and complex undercover operations are some of the ways that the FBI may work to identify and expose public corruption, but all of it takes lots of time, money, and resources. Besides, enforcement has been drastically cut during the last 20 years. Federal law enforcement's focus has shifted to the never-ending, so-called "war on terror" since 9/11.

Summed up, the reward outweighs the risk for Members of Congress thinking about public corruption. And with no term limits, public corruption can be a life-long career.

Summed up, American politics is all about money and power, especially at the federal level, and We the People are nothing more than a captive market to be sold to the highest bidder.

A study of 20 years of Congressional decisions proved that regardless of which party was in control, the input of the bottom 90% of Income Earners in America had NO impact on Congressional decisions.

The only way Congress will represent the We the People, instead of the interests of Big Money, is when Congress is no longer a career that politicians chose to become rich!

With the second option of Article 5, we can impose term limits on Congress, and there's nothing they can do to stop us!

After term limits, we can move on to campaign finance reforms.

Why aren't these issues the subject of national debate as candidates announce their campaigns for President of the United States in 2020?

Why?

Where is CNN on covering these issues of term limits and campaign finance reform? Where is MSNBC? Where is Fox?

Where is the New York Times, our so-called "newspaper of record"?

Remember, these are nonpartisan issues.

And why is the national media's obsession with political personalities?

Personalities don't matter. Only MONEY and POWER matter.

The war isn't between Republicans and Democrats. It's the rich man's trick to have you believe that false narrative. The real war is between the power elites and the rest of us.

John Sakowicz

Ukiah

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NICK WILSON checks Sako's math: There's a false assumption in this argument, and that is that Congress members get rich AFTER they get elected. I have read that 50% of members of Congress are millionaires, but only 1% of the general population is. The same false assumption is made that only corruption could explain this fact because their salary is "only" $174K.

It is far, far more likely that a millionaire can get elected to Congress than a non-millionaire, maybe even 50 times more likely.

But if someone is already a millionaire before getting elected, their congressional salary is irrelevant to whether they are millionaires.

Sure, many members of Congress further enrich themselves through corruption such as taking bribes and "emoluments." I think corruption is prevalent in Congress. The political system is thoroughly corrupted by money thanks to some very bad decisions from courts that are stacked with judges that favor corporations and the wealthy over the common good.