MCT: Saturday, March 16, 2019

• Sunny
• Bob Meadows
• Elk Potluck
• BOS Climate
• Ticketed
• Pacific Outfitters
• Richardson Grove
• Police Reports
• Free Expression
• Truth Fairy
• Mosque Massacres
• Yesterday's Catch
• Chicken Virus
• Beware Limos
• Super Blooms
• Bereavement Ritual
• Pet Adoptions
• Corporate Execs
• Museum Exhibits
• Reefer Boy
• Oliver Poem
• Fragile America
• Political Difference
• MMR Study
• Shelter Animals
• Journalism
• Ken & Barbie
• Gardens Event
• Terrorist Prez
• Mendocino Theatre
• Community Care
• Rigged System
• Wildlife Films
• Marco Radio

HIGH PRESSURE over the area will continue to promote dry conditions through early next week. A return to a wet pattern will be possible around the middle of next week. (National Weather Service)

BOB MEADOWS

Robert Curtis “Bob” Meadows died Thursday morning, March 14, 2019 at home of cancer. His wife of 29 years, K.C. Meadows, and his brother Wayne Meadows were by his side.

Bob was born May 3, 1947 in Washington, D.C. and grew up in Maryland. He attended Duval High School in Maryland and Maryland University, graduating with a degree in English literature.

He spent his early career managing bars and restaurants in Washington D.C. and he and K.C. moved to California in 1989. They were married under the Chinese redwoods at the Mendocino County Courthouse by the County Clerk on Jan. 2, 1990.

The couple settled in Hopland and Bob found a job at the Mendocino Brewing Company in Hopland where he bartended and traveled to beer shows for the company. He left MBC when the original owners sold it to Vijay Mallya of India. Bob then was hired by Fetzer wines and worked in the tasting room at the former Fetzer Valley Oaks in Hopland, also working special events and doing tours of the winery’s organic garden. When he left Fetzer, he had a short stint at the Maple Creek Winery in Yorkville but soon was hired as tasting room manager at the Graziano Family of Wines in Hopland where he worked until he retired in 2013. He continued to work part time there until the summer of 2018.

Bob was a raconteur, enjoyed people and never met a stranger. He was a good friend and loved to be wherever family was gathered. He was a wonderful writer and still wrote long thoughtful letters on yellow lined legal pads to friends and family. He loved being host at the many gatherings with K.C. at their home in Hopland and was grill master at most of them. His Maryland crab cakes were the family’s Christmas Eve staple. He was happiest camping and enjoying the outdoors. He was a nature lover and could identify almost any tree from its leaf and any bird from its plumage or call. He could sit for hours on his front porch watching the myriad of birds that gathered at the feeders he kept full all year long. He was a World War II history buff and in 2011 fulfilled a longtime dream to travel to Normandy to see the landing beaches. He and K.C. traveled often and he was as happy at a campsite in the woods as he was in a Paris brasserie. He loved golf and was a devoted S.F. Giants fan. In 2017 Bob was united with a son he never knew he had, Jonathan Both of Washington D.C. and was thrilled to establish a wonderful bond with him.

Bob is survived by his wife, K.C., son Jonathan and his wife, Larissa; his daughter from a previous marriage, Jennifer Meyers of Annapolis and her husband, Russ; his brothers Wayne Meadows and his wife, Evonne of North Carolina, and Bill Owens and his wife, Alice, of South Carolina and numerous nieces and nephews and their children. He had four grandchildren: Izzy Both, and Rion, Jake and Will Conley. He was predeceased by his older sister Jackie Johnson who helped guide him in life during his younger years.

Donations in Bob Meadows’ memory can be made to the Hopland Volunteer Fire Department, 21 Feliz Creek Road, Hopland, California, 95449.

SUPES TAKE ON CLIMATE CHANGE

3/19 call for BOS action on climate crisis

Next Tuesday morning, March 19th, Mendocino County Board of Supervisors will be discussing proposals regarding action by the County Supervisors to counteract climate change (agenda item 6d). MCJC Coast Climate Crew is joining with inland environmental groups to ask the Board to actively engage and prioritize local effort against global warming. We already see the devastation locally in the destruction of the abalone fishery and the wildfires. Having coastal people at this meeting is important because we want the Board to know how important this issue is to our community. Action is picking up. You can join this crucial effort, spread the word, help carpool people to this meeting in Board chambers at 1070 County Administration Center, Ukiah.

Lisa Fredrickson yes@mcn.org

(Ed note: Expect temperatures of 140 degrees the next day)

SOMEONE IS ABOUT TO LOSE A SERVICEABLE VEHICLE

Check the trunk for bodies and haul it outtahere!

ALIVE & WELL

Editor,

We would like to address a false rumor that our Ukiah Pacific Outfitters store is going out of business:

This year, 2019, will be our 10 year anniversary in Ukiah! We opened our doors in FALL of 2009 where Chris Ostrom, co-owner lives and works. We opened in Ukiah because we feel this active city, and its surrounding area, needed a quality outdoor store. Without our quality gear, clothing, footwear, and expert advice one would have to drive up to 70 miles away to find anything like what we offer our customers.

Since opening up 10 years ago, our local community has supported us and embraced us throughout the years. In 10 years there have been lots of changes to local “Brick and Mortar” outdoor retail stores AND online shopping. Other businesses that could be considered similar to ours have come and gone. We have made some dynamic changes to our offerings as well, based on what our Mendocino community wants. We would love to offer everything outdoors, but we need to factor in what our Mendocino community is supporting, via sales, and the size of our location.

We won’t deny that the last couple of years have been difficult. We’ve seen some pretty traumatic things take place in our community from fires and a crash in the cannabis industry, to Lake Mendocino almost getting shut down to all recreational activities. There have been many other factors too.

But keep in mind that Pacific Outfitters in invested in the long term vision of our community and the community, in turn, supports us as a locally owned family business.

During these traumatic events, we’ve made some pretty dramatic changes. One of the big changes was removing our Bike Department from our Ukiah location. Part of making changes is reacting to what the community wants. While we liked having a bike shop, sales weren’t supporting it. Part of creating a long term plan is reacting to the changes in our community. We removed our bike shop and invested those dollars in our other departments that our customers frequented more. Those investments take nearly a year to reflect on the sales floor due to buying seasons ahead of time. Some people took that as us closing our doors, but what we were doing is reacting to what the community desires.

Keep in mind that during these difficult couple of years, Chris Ostrom, Co-Owner of Pacific Outfitters started a Mendocino Chapter of the PacOut Green Team. The PacOut Green Team has been responsible of saving recreational activities at Lake Mendocino through an act of Congress and has removed tens of thousands of pounds of garbage from Ukiah and Mendocino Counties beautiful places. We are also excited to now be expanding to the Willits area!

Pacific Outfitters is more than just a retail establishment. When you support Pacific Outfitters, you are supporting a family owned and run business that is invested in our community. We take pride in our expert outdoor advice and our technical outdoor Equipment, Apparel, and Footwear. We also take pride in introducing thousands of people to new outdoor activities that further improve their quality of life. We teach environmental stewardship to all ages through the efforts of PacOut Green Team. We support many organizations that promote outdoor activities in Mendocino County through the efforts of volunteering, donations and fundraising events.

DUI WITH COLLISION

On February 27, 2019, at approximately 2:09 p.m., Officers of the Fort Bragg Police Department were dispatched to the area of the 900 block of N. Main Street, for an on-duty California Highway Patrol (CHP) Officer reporting that they had observed a collision in the intersection of N. Main Street and Elm Street.

On scene, Officers determined that Herbert Engel, 75, of Fort Bragg, was driving northbound on N. Main Street when he failed to stop at a red light at the intersection of Elm Street. Engel entered the intersection despite the red light and narrowly missed a CHP Officer who was waiting to turn, before colliding with a UPS truck, which was turning northbound onto N. Main Street from E. Elm Street. The collision caused minor damage to the UPS truck and major damage to Engel’s vehicle. No parties were injured during the collision.

While completing the traffic investigation, Officers identified evidence that Engel was under the influence of alcohol, including the presence of open containers of alcohol in his vehicle. Field Sobriety Tests were conducted and Engel was ultimately arrested for 23152(a) VC (Driving Under the Influence of Alcohol).

Questions regarding this press release may be forwarded to Sergeant O’Neal at (707) 961-2800 ext. 120 or to toneal@fortbragg.com.

(Fort Bragg Police Presser)

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BURGLARY AT OUTDOOR STORE

On February 28, 2019, at approximately 8:47 a.m., Officers of the Fort Bragg Police Department were dispatched to a burglary in progress at The Outdoor Store. Officers responded Code Three (Lights and Siren), and arrived on scene within one minute. When Officers arrived, they observed Jeremiah Eckel, 40, of Fort Bragg, exiting the store window carrying merchandise. Eckel was placed under arrest without incident and transported to the Mendocino Coast District Hospital Emergency Room for a medical clearance due to lacerations he received while forcing entry into the store.

An investigation revealed that Eckel forced entry into the store using a large rock to break the store’s window. Eckel then removed several items through the broken window and damaged property inside of the store during the incident. Eckel was transported to the Mendocino County Jail once he was medically cleared by the hospital.

While a motive for the burglary is still being investigated, Eckel displayed suspected symptoms of mental health illness and being under the influence of a controlled substance during the arrest process.

Questions regarding this press release may be forwarded to Sergeant O’Neal at (707) 961-2800 ext. 120 or to toneal@fortbragg.com.

(Fort Bragg Police Presser)

WHITE SUPREMACISTS

by Franklin Graham

What can one say when at least 49 innocent people, and perhaps dozens more injured, are mowed down for simply wishing to worship their God? President Trump had plenty to say, it now is clear. He states that there is no rise in white extremism on the very day the news of the massacre broke. If that were not enough, he also posted a direct threat to anyone who opposes his rule, stating that he has the military, the police, and the motorcycle men to go after anyone who disagrees with him. Of course, we have heard such talk from Trump for at least two years. So what happens now?

My guess is that he will continue to sow hatred and division for however long he is president, and not doubt beyond. There are enough Philbricks out there to stoke his mania. Until such time as the so-called constitutional conservatives, such as GOP Senators, have had enough of this madness there will be no effective way to stop this nurturing of hate in this country. Because of our so-called freedom of expression, Facebook, Twitter, and a host of other web sites will continue to give facetime to fanatics, taking down their pages only after the fact of more violence. As a perversion of an old saying, better to let a handful of madness have their way than to muzzle the many innocent who want their access to the internet. The glorification of bomb-making, selling assault weapons, manuals on how to create mass terror are as free as cake recipes on the internet. Yell fire in a crowded theater and one could go to jail. But to fan the flames of hatred on the internet? Ah, that’s freedom of speech!

Oh, I’m sure there will be more congressional hearings on all this. Those running for office will put their markers down in speeches on how much the decry the violence. But in the end? Don’t hold your breath waiting for sanity to overcome our political elite, Democrat or Republican. Edward Abbey saw all this coming almost 50 years ago and wrote Desert Solitaire about just such threats to our way of life. Are we too far gone as a culture to step back from the brink? That may be what New Zealanders are asking themselves tonight.

Franklin Graham

Navarro

CHRISTCHURCH ATTACK: SUSPECT HAD WHITE-SUPREMACIST SYMBOLS ON WEAPONS

The suspected perpetrator of a massacre at two mosques in New Zealand displayed white supremacist symbols during the deadly assault that killed 49 people and triggered heightened security at mosques around the world.

The attack in Christchurch, the worst mass shooting in the nation’s history, shattered the illusion that New Zealand was one of the few countries beyond the reach of global terrorism.

The carnage, described by New Zealand’s prime minister, Jacinda Ardern, as one of its “darkest days”, prompted prayers and vigils around the world, and revulsion that live footage of the atrocity was allowed to circulate on social media.

Ardern said she would consider a total ban on semi-automatic firearms after the alleged gunman obtained five guns legally. “I can tell you one thing right now: our gun laws will change,” she told reporters.

Christchurch remained on lockdown on Saturday as the country’s security threat level was raised from low to high. Mosques across New Zealand and in other countries were warned to be vigilant.

In the UK and the US, police stepped up patrols in areas with large Muslim populations and around places of worship in direct response to the attack.

Responding to the attack on Friday, the UN secretary general, António Guterres, warned there was an urgent need to tackle Islamophobia across the world.

A man in his late 20s will appear in court in Christchurch on Saturday morning, charged with murder. Police did not name him or two other suspects who were being questioned, but Brenton Tarrant, a 28-year-old Australian man, identified himself as being behind the attack.

Some witnesses criticised the emergency services for being slow to respond to the shooting, claiming it took up to 20 minutes for the police to arrive on the scene in the largest city in the country’s South Island.

The attack, launched during Friday prayers when both mosques were packed, was livestreamed via a camera strapped to the perpetrator.

Horrific images of bloodshed and people desperately trying to evade the gunman were copied and shared on social media sites including YouTube, Facebook and Twitter, which struggled to remove the footage. Mainstream media organisations were criticised for hosting clips.

The gunman arrived at Al Noor mosque at 1.40pm, opening fire on about 400 people. He killed 41 people before driving four miles to the Linwood Islamic Centre, where another seven people were shot dead. One of the 48 people injured in the attacks later died in hospital. A bomb disposal team was called in to dismantle explosive devices found in a stopped car.

At Al Noor mosque, Khaled Al-Nobani said a man entered with two rifles, one a “pump-action [gun]”, and “started shooting everyone – young people, old women”.

He added: “He shot the first one on the gate, two people in the corridor, and go inside started shooting everyone.” One man was killed in front of his three children, Al-Nobani said.

He claimed police took 20 minutes to arrive. “We are in the middle of the city. The middle of Christchurch. There was no traffic about. You need two-minute [maximum] response.”

Carl Pomare and a colleague were driving past the mosque at the time of the attack. “I saw lots of people running outside the mosque … In the next second there was rapid fire and people were being knocked down like tenpins. I saw them being hit from behind, I saw them falling to the ground,” he told the BBC.

The pair stopped to help the injured. “There were lots of bodies and there was no sirens, no police or ambulance because this had just happened … It was a scene of carnage – we were there for a good 15 or 20 minutes, just civilians, helping these people as much as we could until more support came in,” Pomare added.

A survivor of the attack at Linwood described how a man tackled the shooter. “The young guy who usually takes care of the mosque … he saw an opportunity and pounced on [the gunman] and took his gun,” Syed Mazharuddin told the New Zealand Herald.

“The hero tried to chase and he couldn’t find the trigger in the gun … He ran behind him but there were people waiting for him in the car and he fled.”

Images from the gunman’s camera showed weapons and ammunition displaying white-supremacist symbols, including the names of a Swedish child killed in a lorry attack in 2017 and a man hailed for defeating Muslims in an eighth-century battle.

One ammunition clip had the words “For Rotherham”, in an apparent reference to child grooming gangs in the UK town.

In a 74-page document posted online, Tarrant said he wanted to create “an atmosphere of fear” against Muslims and claimed the Norwegian white supremacist and mass murderer Anders Behring Breivik had given his “blessing” to the atrocity.

The document calls for the targeting of Sadiq Khan, mayor of London, along with the German chancellor, Angela Merkel, and the Turkish leader, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.

Describing himself as a “regular white man from a regular family” who “decided to take a stand to ensure a future for my people”, Tarrant said he wanted his attack to send a message that “nowhere in the world is safe”.

Ardern said the shootings were an extraordinary and unprecedented act of terrorism. Muslim immigrants had “chosen to make New Zealand their home, and it is their home. They are us,” the prime minister said. “The person who has perpetuated this violence is against us is not us. They have no place in New Zealand.”

World leaders expressed sorrow, shock and anger. The Queen – New Zealand’s head of state – sent prayers and condolences to the bereaved, saying she was “saddened by the appalling events in Christchurch”.

Pope Francis denounced the “senseless acts of violence” and offered solidarity and prayers.

Donald Trump expressed his “warmest sympathy and best wishes” to the people of New Zealand after “the horrible massacre in the mosques”. The US president tweeted that “innocent people have so senselessly died” and added: “The US stands by New Zealand for anything we can do.”

The British prime minister, Theresa May, called the assault a “sickening act of violence”.

(theguardian.com)

CATCH OF THE DAY, March 15, 2019

ALBERTO ACOSTA, Ukiah. Probation revocation.

SONO CARRIGG, Ukiah. Parole violation. (Frequent flyer.)

TINA CARRILLO, Hopland. Probation revocation.

FRANCISCO CHAVEZ, Philo. DUI, suspended license.

ANDREW GARES, Lauderhill, Florida/Hopland. DUI-alcohol&drugs.

DAVID JOHNSON SR., Ukiah. Parole violation.

SKYLAR KING, Ukiah. DUI.

DENNIS MCMAHAN, Ukiah. Controlled substance, paraphernalia, suspended license, failure to appear.

MARIO PONTELLO, Lucerne. Camping in Ukiah, probation revocation.

GABRIEL SCHOONMAKER, Ukiah. Under influence, probation revocation.

MARTY SWAYZE, Ukiah. DUI, child endangerment, controlled substance, probation revocation.

TODD TAYLOR, Ukiah. Disobeying court order.

FRANK HARTZELL COMMENTS:

Lost is the anti-vaxxer-pro-vaccination argument is something to me of much greater importance - the long term consequences of using vaccines. SUPER DUPER deadly virulent strains of two chicken diseases, Marek's and Newcastle have emerged, thanks to vaccines. Newcastle is probably the worst disease in chickens and was declared dead and extinct in the USA. There are many varieties, including a natural one with low levels of virulence, and there is the DEADLY, virulent one that has emerged because of or despite vaccines depending on how you look at it. Every virus is different so its no guarantee that human viruses will ever do this, but some will. Chickens in the Los Angeles area have been hard hit by Newcastle (unthinkable 5 years ago) and now one has been found in Redwood City in the Bay Area. (Not RV) All chicken owners should look out. My advice? Avoid those $2 chickens produced in mega hatcheries, although that has not been shown to be involved with Newcastle, all the big hatcheries have spread the very deadly strains of Marek's disease and its getting worse. Buy from a small breeder and pay more...you will eventually….

CALIFORNIA'S SUPER BLOOM

Our unusually persistent December, January and February Rain Showers have brought the iconic Golden State's drought-stricken wildfire-ravaged hills, dales and deserts an extraordinary gloriously showy display of Springtime Wild Flowers.

There are many super bloom locations around South and Central California: including Borrego Springs, Joshua Tree, Temecula, Lake Elsinore, I-5/Grapevine, Lucerne Valley

THE BLIND LEADING THE DEAF & DUMB

by James Kunstler

You had to wonder why it took Nancy Pelosi so long to figure out that maybe impeachment was not the big rock-candy mountain that, for “the resistance,” marked the gateway to a Trump-free nirvana. It became obvious this week, through the release of the Bruce Ohr and Lisa Page transcripts, that RussiaGate was birthed entirely by persons in the employ of Hillary Clintion, with then CIA Director John Brennan as midwife, and the DOJ / FBI avidly assisting — all of them fully aware that the predicate was false. What’s more, the evidence timeline makes it clear that Democratic Party leadership, including Nancy Pelosi, knew it was false. Hence, the pained smile she’s been wearing these many months.

In the event of an impeachment proceeding in the House, all that would be revealed, especially if it got as far as a trial in the US Senate, where the defense is allowed to mount a case under rules of evidence. Imagine the howls of embarrassment on late-night TV when even ex-comedian Stephen Colbert would have to admit that he was gulled into acting as a shill for a seditious con.

I suppose Ms. Pelosi also made the calculation that any impeachment ginned up by the likes of Jerrold Nadler and Maxine Waters would be superseded by a slew of actual indictments among the above-mentioned former law enforcement officialdom, including perhaps former Attorney General Loretta Lynch and persons in the Obama White House. You might even include the enigmatic Robert Mueller, who appears to be liable for the destruction of evidence in his own inquiry, as well as malicious prosecution.

All the actual evidence in the public arena indicates that any “collusion” to interfere with the 2016 election involved agents of the Clinton campaign and US government employees, not Russians. Of course, it will not be so easy for Mr. Nadler and Ms. Waters to call off the committee exercises they’ve been rehearsing, but it will be fun to watch them pissing into the wind as the indictments roll out.

In his new book, Peak Trump, David Stockman called the RussiaGate affair “a Democratic Party Bereavement Ritual,” an excellent diagnosis. The breast-beating and garment-rending has gone on for more than two years, inducing a generalized hysteria that has made it impossible for this country to govern itself, and opening the door to some really serious mischief as the party’s new Jacobin wing sets up for the advent of an American failed state.

All of this is a prelude to equally serious tribulation roaring down the two-lane pike of finance and economy that will combine with the engineered destruction of institutional authority from RussiaGate to bring on the greatest crisis since the Civil War. The money is not there to perform any of the miracles of redistribution promised by AOC and Bernie Sanders — unless the Federal Reserve is coerced into printing a whole lot more money out of thin air, in which case the consequence will be that everybody gets to have a lot of worthless money that has lost its value.

If congress wants to play committee games, it might want to investigate how the USA is going to rack up another $2 trillion in debt to finance its operations before the 2020 election. They’re the ones who will have to vote to allow that to happen. The disorders of money coming down in the months ahead, RussiaGate aside, are sure to discredit both political parties. I doubt that Mr. Trump will survive it politically and the revenant Republican Party behind him is so devoid of credible leadership that it could dissolve altogether like an evening mist preceding the cold darkness of night. By then, the whole American political establishment will be, as Mencken quipped, like a blind man stumbling around a dark cellar looking for a black cat that isn’t there.

Hysterias don’t last forever, but the economic depression ahead will last a long, long time, and the nation will have to find some way to adjust to a lower standard of living. None of the nostrums currently in the air — the guaranteed basic income, Medicare for all, the Green New Deal — will avail to alter that fate. The big question is just how disorderly and violent the journey through that will have to be.

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

EMPTY THE SHELTER

"On Saturday, March 30, Mendocino Coast Humane Society invites you to be part of our community-wide adoption event. Together we can Empty the Shelter and give every animal the loving home they deserve!

Pet adoption fees will be sponsored by Sport Chrysler Jeep Dodge Ram for one day only!

Come meet adoptable dogs at our special Mobile Pet Adoption on March 30 from 11 am to 2 pm at Sport Chrysler Jeep Dodge Ram, located at 200 E. Chestnut Street in Fort Bragg.

More dogs, and all of our available cats, will be waiting for you at our Adoption Center at 19691 Summers Lane in Fort Bragg, open 12-5:00 pm."

MOST OF THE PEOPLE implicated in the college entrance bribery scam are corporate executives, but the media has spent 98% of its time focusing on two B-list Hollywood actresses. — Jeff St. Clair

MENDOCINO COUNTY MUSEUM IN WILLITS HOSTS EXHIBIT OPENINGS ON APRIL 6, 2019

Mendocino County a Collector’s Journey: New Acquisitions from Dusty Whitney Exhibit Opening April 6, 2019

The Mendocino County Museum will be opening Mendocino County a Collector’s Journey: New Acquisitions from Dusty Whitney on April 6, 2019. This new exhibit, located in the Museum’s main gallery, showcases items from the newly acquired Dusty Whitney Collection which was donated to the Museum in 2018. Visitors will be able to learn more about how the Museum acquired the collection of unique Mendocino County artifacts from Dusty Whitney, as well as view a sampling from the collection including Skunk Train memorabilia, agriculture and logging artifacts, historic photographs and so much more! Stay tuned for an expanded exhibit from the Dusty Whitney Collection this summer.

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Special Exhibit from the National Archives

Over Here: Americans at Home in World War I

Showing April 6 – May 26, 2019

On April 6, 2019, the Mendocino County Museum will also open a new special exhibition from the National Archives, Over Here: Americans at Home in World War I. Because World War I was “total war,” the American home front was especially important to victory. Over Here: Americans at Home in World War I draws on the unparalleled holdings of the National Archives to capture the patriotic fervor of draft registration, the emotional good-byes of men leaving for training camps, the “hoopla” of Liberty Loan drives, the craze for volunteerism, and the violence of vigilantism. This exhibit runs through May 26, 2019.

Over Here is divided into three themes:

Mobilizing the Nation – Modern warfare demanded not just soldiers on the front lines, pilots in the sky, and sailors on the high seas but guns, ships, and crops from America’s factories, shipyards, and fields.

Stirring Patriotic Passions – In a war that was often described as a “crusade,” emotion, pageantry, and performance were weapons. Along with the Federal Government, local, state, and national organizations produced a variety of events that aimed at stirring feelings of patriotic obligation among Americans and encouraging sacrifice, volunteerism, and national service.

Policing Enemies at Home – Nearly all home front photographs encouraged national unity and saluted patriotic work, but a much smaller number hint at some of the anti-German hysteria, political unrest, and social conflict that lurked behind the patriotic fervor of bond drives, pageants, and parades. They show government as well as private groups and vigilantes striking out against those suspected of disloyalty.

In conjunction with Over Here: Americans at Home in World War I, Mendocino County Museum will also be hosting the following programs.

World War I Themed Programs—Free to the Public:

Saturday, April 6, 2019 – 2 p.m. – 3 p.m.

~Exhibit Opening with Live Music~

‘Till The Boys Come Home: Popular Music Of World War I

Featuring Linda Pack and Jack Leung, pianist

Listen and experience popular war time music of World War I. Join performing artist, singer, and the creator of the “Museum Roadshow,” Linda Pack, and pianist Jack Leung, as they take you on a melodic and historic journey of patriotic music of the Great War. FREE to the public.

Saturday, April 13, 2019 – 2 p.m. – 4 p.m.

Knit For Our Troops!

All are welcome to join a “Knit In” at the Mendocino County Museum. Just as many Americans knitted items for their boys “Over There” in World War I, Mendocino County Museum will be holding a “Knit In” to make scarves for our Military men and women today. Yarn and scarf patterns will be provided while supplies last. All knitted/crocheted scarves will be collected at the Museum by Friday, May 31st and donated to the Operation Gratitude: Hand Made with Love Program. For more information and how you can participate see our website. FREE to the public.

Thursday, April 18, 2019 – 2 p.m. – 3 p.m.

World War I Documentary Screening

Mendocino County Museum will be host a 45 minute documentary screening about the conflict and impact World War I. The film screening will be located within the Museum’s Wonacott Room. This program is FREE to the public.

Saturday, May 11, 2019 – 11 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.

Garden Workshop: In Legacy of WWI Victory Gardens

In legacy of the Victory Gardens of World War I, Mendocino County Museum will be hosting a Garden Workshop. Sarah Marshall, Gardens Project Coordinator with North Coast Opportunities, will present the workshop that will include: Home Gardening Techniques, Tastings of Freshly Grown Produce, and a Behind the Scenes Tour of the Willits Community Garden following the presentation (The Willits Community Garden is located across the street from the Museum adjacent to Recreation Grove Park). FREE to the public.

Thursday, May 16, 2019 – 2 p.m. – 3 p.m.

World War I Documentary Screening

Mendocino County Museum will be host a 60 minute documentary screening about World War I. The film screening will be located within the Museum’s Wonacott Room. This program is FREE to the public.

Saturday, May 25, 2019 – 2 p.m. – 3 p.m.

Red Poppy Remembrance Craft

Join us in making Red Remembrance Poppy Lapel Pins this Memorial Day Weekend, as a way to remember and honor the men and women who have died while serving in the United States Armed Forces. This program is FREE to the public.

Museum Hours and Admission Information

Mendocino County Museum is located: 400 E. Commercial Street in Willits, California. The Museum is open to the public Wednesday-Sunday 10 a.m. – 4:30 p.m. Admission: Adults $4; Students 7-18 $1; Children 6 and Under FREE; Mendocino County Library Card Holders FREE. Visit us on our website for more information about programs, hours, admission, and more: www.mendocinocounty.org/museum.

Mendocino County Museum Contact Information:

CONTACT: Megan Dukett

Cultural Services Agency: Mendocino County Museum

Phone: (707) 972-6458

Email: dukettm@mendocinocounty.org

Website: www.mendocinocounty.org/museum

A POEM FOR MY GRANDSON, OLIVER

St. Patrick's Day, March 17, 2019

A child is sitting at his desk

writing his first poem.

Outside,

walking along a frozen road

in Rolla, Missouri,

a lost dog is trying

to make its way home.

The poem is about St. Patrick.

The fables of ecclesiastic history

-- their grimness and loveliness --

seem strange to the boy,

so he resorts to what he knows

…football metaphors!

But St. Patrick is no Tom Brady.

No Bill Belichick.

And so, the poem takes

some bizarre turns.

Somehow,

it all works. What is religion

to a young American boy

beams like light

from an endless white cloud

above a high mountain

into the loathsome

dark hearts of sinners

suffering from every depression.

The morning is born/the light spreads.

We greet one another.

We call our dog home.

—John Sakowicz

ON LINE COMMENT OF THE DAY

There are a lot of people patiently waiting for justice. We should be able to rely on the Dept of “Justice” to deliver, but they’re part of the corruption. And so we wait for the congressional investigations, but the left is complicit and the right is weak. So we wait for independent investigators (like Judicial Watch or John Huber) to complete their work.

We understand that justice will not be as sweet or as complete as we’d like, but we expect to see public humiliation, confiscation of assets, and incarceration meted out to those in leadership whose law-breaking is spectacular and arrogant.

“America” isn’t just any nation. It’s an idea, an idea about freedom, justice, and self-government. When that idea is so corroded by corrupt officials that we can no longer believe in it, “America” is dead.

I still believe. I still wait. But I’m afraid.

ATTENTION ANTI-VAXXERS

Editor:

A huge study in Denmark confirmed there is no relationship between the measles, mumps, rubella vaccination and autism.

This is the sort of science-based evidence that should be heralded and broadcast nationwide. An article in the Annals of Internal Medicine displays proven science and should convince skeptics to accept vaccines for their safety and effectiveness.

Here are the results, summarized. The study ran from 1999 through 2010, and there was follow up for another three years. They studied 657,461 children, every child born to a Danish mother between 1999 and 2010; about 95 percent received the MMR vaccine, most at about 15 months. These large participation numbers make it an awesome and very believable study.

The results found 6,517 young people with autism, some who had received the MMR and some who hadn’t. The study found no increase in the incidence of autism in those who received the MMR vaccine. There actually was a slightly smaller percentage of autism cases among those who had received the MMR vaccine.

This study adds to the data that MMR is very safe. Because of the vaccine, the United States was declared free of measles in 2000. But, sadly, cases among the unvaccinated continue, especially this year, and there was a preventable death from measles in 2015. Totally preventable.

Dr. David H. Anderson

Geyserville

FALL FROM GRACE

Since the early 2000s, journalism has been a precarious and embattled profession. The news industry has suffered staggering losses of revenue and employment, and journalists have become the targets of scorn and even hatred. The entire field has been politically reconfigured, as media outlets identified with different ideological positions provide their audiences with alternative versions of reality.

The profession’s fall from grace and the industry’s transformation have been all the more dramatic because of the advantages the news media enjoyed in the late twentieth century. Newspapers in most cities had consolidated down to one or two dailies, leaving the survivors with a near monopoly on print advertising in metropolitan markets. Although cable was making inroads, the three big broadcast networks still dominated television news. High-quality journalism itself was never very profitable in print or on TV, but it gave media organizations prestige and influence, and with their profits from advertising, they could afford it.

The monopoly held by the major news media also had the effect of marginalizing radical views on both ends of the ideological spectrum, creating the appearance and to some extent the reality of a broad bipartisan consensus in public life. Bolstered by healthy profit margins, the press was also able to cast itself as uncompromised by any commercial or partisan interest. Journalists and publishers who lived up to that standard of independence in the publication of the Pentagon Papers, the revelation of the Watergate scandal, and other great exposés became heroes.

This was the world that today’s older journalists knew when they were young. It was a world that concentrated power and profits but also enabled the press, insofar as its leaders were willing, to keep watch on government and business. David Halberstam’s The Powers That Be (1979), which focused on four exemplars of the era (CBS, Time Inc., The Washington Post, and the Los Angeles Times), was a chronicle of that world at its height.

In the early stages of the digital revolution, the print media saw the new technology as a means of reducing production costs and expanding their audience, and they were so self-confident that they gave away the news for free online. But print circulation began falling, and as the Internet developed in the early 2000s, Google and sites such as Craigslist siphoned off ad revenue the newspapers had depended on, and Facebook would drain away more. The full force of the digital wave hit a decade ago, at the same time as the Great Recession, plunging many newspapers into bankruptcy and leaving others struggling to survive.

Yet there were promising signs too. New online media were creatively applying the unprecedented capabilities of digital technology, fostering new forms of public exchange, and receiving major infusions of capital. Since then, some of the new media organizations have begun to produce serious journalism and become genuine rivals to the traditional news giants, which have adapted to compete in the current environment. In the last few years, journalists who adhere to the profession’s norms have also had a revived sense of mission. Amid the torrent of lies from the highest reaches of government and disinformation on social media, journalism’s leaders are making unabashed claims that their business is “truth,” using that word without apology or qualification.

But because journalism has not been a lucrative business for some time, its ideals of truth-telling have become harder to uphold. The majority of digital ad revenue goes to Google, Facebook, and other companies that do not put it back into producing content; most newspapers no longer have the resources even for many of the routine stories they used to cover, much less for costly investigations. News organizations of all kinds are preoccupied with the new metrics of the digital economy and the old imperatives of revenue and profits. Survival depends on monetizing organizational assets, which in practice often means calling on editorial staff to work on business projects, ending the separation that was once a cardinal principle of journalistic ethics. …

(Paul Starr)

KEN AND BARBIE

Awake and writing just after the bars have closed. 2:15. A personal record. I am writing. This morning I'll visit with the medical folks to hear their plans for the rest of my life, such as it is. This is wonderful. It is the best good news. News grim to joyous. That's life. And that's death.

As the cabs pick up the last of those folks who just left the bars, my memories put up tiny puffs of energy. Ken and Barbie. Barbie and Ken. Ken was a teaching partner. Sort of. He ran Laytonville's Independent Study program alongside Continuation School, which was my morning. Ken was one of the most eccentric people I know. Knew. I was almost in sight of the Pentagon. Another colleague from Laytonville called one afternoon to tell me that Ken had just died. Fifteen minutes later, the doctor called to advise me that I had colorectal cancer. Seriously, this seemed like ganging up.

Ken's manner of dress every day had a streak of something like costuming. In my memory he always arrived for work wearing the same elbow-patched tweed sportscoat. And white satin basketball shorts with 'Giants' across the butt. Red high-topped Keds. Smoked Cuban cigars the size of hippo turds.

I had only met Barbie because she was my about-to-be second wife's teaching partner. Kindergarten, I think. We shared a hot-tub with the woman who would be my wife and Barbie's lovely pre-adolescent daughter. Barbie's folks were about the richest growers I knew. Barbie died shortly after. Breast cancer. Like another friend, buried just across the driveway.

Fine memories. Fine people. The world made a kind of sense for them that it has never made to us. They just lived their lives and their deaths. Reminding us that, indeed this too shall pass.

(Bruce Brady)

CALL FOR MUSICIANS, WINERIES, BREWERIES, & FOOD VENDORS

If you are interested in participating in the 27th annual Art in the Gardens as a musician, winery, brewery, or food vendor please contact: events@gardenbythesea.org.

IS TRUMPISM now replacing ISIL as a major Cause of Stochastic Terrorism? Trump has authorized public hatred and has encouraged that protesters be physically assaulted, and reporters trying to cover his Nuremberg Rallies have felt their lives in danger from overheated fans. This promotion of brown shirt violence toward journalists and the left and Muslims has not always been explicit, but the mentally fragile do not need explicit. Their febrile imaginations supply the missing instructions, to shoot people in mosques. New Zealand like nothing else reveals the lunacy of Nancy Pelosi taking impeachment off the table in the face of this monster in the White House, clearly mentally imbalanced, without conscience, narcissistic, a pathological liar, and promoting hatred and violence at every turn. After 9/11, America’s challenge was al-Qaeda-style asymmetric terrorism. Today, almost all terrorism in the United States has a white nationalist character, and the person promoting stochastic terrorism by the Far Right is the president of the United States.

— Juan Cole

More: juancole.com/2019/03/replacing-stochastic-terrorism.html

LOOKING FOR LAUGHTER?

Grab a ticket to see the hilarious farce THEY DON'T PAY? WE WON'T PAY!, now playing on the Mendocino Theatre Company stage! This classic -- and remarkably relevant -- comedy by one of Italy's most beloved playwrights, the Nobel Prize laureate Dario Fo, will have you laughing out loud! For tickets and showtimes, call the box office, 707-937-4477, or go to mendocinotheatre.org.

COMMUNITY CARE PROMOTES INDEPENDENCE FOR INDIVIDUALS WITH DEVELOPMENTAL DISABILITIES

March is Developmental Disabilities Awareness month, a time to raise awareness about individuals living with intellectual and developmental disabilities (I/DD) and promote their inclusion in every aspect of community life. Before the 1970s, it was common for such persons to be institutionalized. But a new social change movement challenged stereotypes and promoted the understanding that people with I/DD are integral members of society. Community service providers began to emerge to support these individuals.

One such provider is Community Care's Independence Plus, based in Ukiah, which offers a cluster of programs designed to promote independence and well-being for Mendocino County residents living with I/DD. Service providers in the Supported Living Services program deliver a wide variety of services that adapt to each client's individual needs. Workers attend appointments with clients, take them grocery shopping, complete important paperwork on their behalf, and visit them in their homes to make sure they are thriving. The Inclusive Senior Services program caters to older adults with a day program where clients meet in a social setting and engage in craft projects and field trips. The Therapeutic Arts and Performance Studio (TAPS) is an art studio where clients are encouraged to express themselves creatively through art projects and talent shows. Every week, these services enrich the daily lives of about 60 participants.

All Independence Plus clients are referred by Redwood Coast Regional Center. Interested consumers should contact their Regional Center Service Coordinator for an introduction to the various services available. For general information about Independence Plus, contact the Program Director, Tiffany Outerbridge, at 707-463-8725 or visit www.communitycare707.com

OF COURSE COLLEGE ADMISSIONS IS RIGGED FOR THE RICH. THE WHOLE ECONOMIC SYSTEM IS.

It’s crucial that everyone who is not a wealthy movie star, hedge fund executive, or corporate CEO—that is, 99 percent of all Americans—sees this college admissions scandal for what it really is: a microcosm of the larger, corrupt system that works against working people, squashing their chances for advancement. This system is the reason that rich people and corporations got massive tax breaks last year while the 99 percent got paltry ones. It is the reason the federal minimum wage and the overtime threshold are stuck at poverty levels. It is the reason labor unions have dwindled over the past four decades.

This system is the reason we cannot have nice things. Despite all that land-of-equal-opportunity crap, the rich ensure that only they can have nice things, starting with what they can buy legally and illegally for their children and rising through what they can buy legally and illegally from politicians who make the rules that withdraw money from the pockets of working people and deposit it into the bulging bank accounts of the fabulously rich.

commondreams.org/views/2019/03/14/course-college-admissions-rigged-rich-whole-economic-system

WILDLIFE FILM FESTIVAL WRAPS UP

Three award-winning films

The International Wildlife Film Festival Tour will culminate Friday, March 22, with three award-winning short films at the Ukiah Civic Center, 300 Seminary Avenue. Snacks and live music, featuring George Husaruk on flute, will be available starting at 6:15 p.m. Films will begin at 7 p.m. Tickets are $10 for adults and $5 for children and are available at Mendocino Book Company or at the door.

“Camera Trap” (26 min.), tells the story of aspiring wildlife photographer Peter Mather as he puts everything on the line in his quest to capture one photo that will tell the story of the Porcupine caribou herd’s migration, one of the greatest land migrations on earth. “Camera Trap” was the 2018 International Wildlife Film Festival winner for Best Newcomer Film.

“Last Stand: The Vanishing Caribou Rainforest” (35 min.) takes viewers to the Pacific Northwest and into the largest remaining inland temperate rainforest on earth. This magnificent landscape is home to numerous First Nations communities, thousand year-old trees and critical habitat for endangered species such as mountain caribou. Industrial development has pushed this ecosystem to the tipping point. “Last Stand,” a Festival winner for Best Conservation Short, puts the Caribou Rainforest on the map before it’s too late.

“Tipping Point” (27 min.), explains climate change from a kid’s perspective, and shows kids what they can do to help solve the problem. Dylan is a 14-year-old filmmaker from the San Juan Islands in Washington who has gone on a quest to create environmental films for his peers to help save the planet. “Tipping Point” was a Festival winner for the category of Best Children’s Film.

This film series benefits the Redwood Valley Outdoor Education Project (RVOEP), a special outdoor environmental education program of the Ukiah Unified School District serving over 2,000 students each year.

To learn more about the RVOEP and see a full film schedule visit www.rvoep.org. For further information contact Maureen Taylor, RVOEP Education Coordinator, at 707-489-0227.

(Roberta Werdinger)

MEMO OF THE AIR: Good Night Radio, 9pm tonight (Friday, March 15) on KNYO Fort Bragg (and KMEC Ukiah), live from 325 N. Franklin, next door to the Tip Top bar.

Deadline to email your writing to be read on the air tonight is around 6pm or so. If you're not done by then, relax; just send it when it's ready and I'll read it next week. Or call and read it on the air yourself: 962-3022. Or visit, if you're in town. Waltz right in. Bring your musical instruments, legal dispute, evidence of psychic attack, freshly invented laser eyelash trimmer, hand puppets made of food, whatever.

I expect Willow, a fellow fan of the late Antonia Lamb, might come and demonstrate reading Tarot cards and other implements of magical augury. We'll see. Speaking of reading, of course I already have the usual vast folder of little bits of whatever I've been reading all week: science, political humbuggery, tangy snark, tidbits of useful lore on a hundred subjects and counting.

Tell your friends about Memo of the Air: Good Night Radio, /every/ Friday, 9pm to 5am on 107.7fm KNYO-LP Fort Bragg, and 105.1fm KMEC-LP Ukiah. Also there and anywhere else via http://knyo.org

A few amusements for while you wait for tonight:

Fun with flags. The big yellow happyface flag flashed past and I wondered: which country is that for? Besides alternate-reality America in one of the later /Sandman/ books. https://www.neatorama.com/2019/03/10/a-Film-of-Flags-2000-flags-animated-seamlessly/

Misery was. (17 min.) https://theawesomer.com/misery-was/516735/

Pat's steady 56-year gig playing piano-organ three nights a week at the Sip-N-Dip Tiki bar. Also, mermaids. She plays piano for mermaids. Why is there not one of these places in every village, hamlet and towering great city in the world? https://laughingsquid.com/84-year-old-piano-player-performs-with-mermaids/

And here's a how-to in case you ever have to shoot an intruder from your position of concealment under the covers in your bed, that for some reason is in a field in the increasingly plopping rain, with other people off-camera firing guns seemingly at random but possibly engaged in demonstrations of their own. Skip to about six minutes into it if you don't care to learn but you just don't believe me. By that point it's really coming down. https://tinyurl.com/ShootingThroughBlankets

Marco McClean, memo@mcn.org, https://MemoOfTheAir.wordpress.com