BYPASS SCAM REVEALED

Thursday, June 13, 2013. 7pm. Ukiah United Methodist Church. 270 North Pine Street, Ukiah.

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In Willits, the California Department of Transporta­tion is in the process of paving paradise to put up an unnecessary freeway. It is arguably the most destructive development project to occur in Mendocino County in decades. It would cost more than $300 million and destroy the largest area of wetlands of any Northern California project in the past half-century, while doing remarkably little to alleviate in-town traffic congestion. Learn about the Bypass from people who have been on the frontlines working to stop it.

Featuring:

• Ellen Drell, Willits Environmental Center co-foun­der — With her husband, David, Ms. Drell has helped keep Little Lake Valley safe from the Willits Bypass for more than twenty years. The Willits Environmental Center is a party of the Clean Water Act lawsuit that aims to prevent the Bypass, which will have a federal court hearing on June 21st.

• Amanda “The Warbler” Senseman — Earlier this year, “The Warbler” spent 65 days in a Ponderosa pine tree in the southern interchange area of the Bypass route, helping to block construction and galvanizing an energetic struggle to stop the Bypass. She also conducted a 14-day fast to protest Bypass construction. She will share stories from her time in the tree, what motivated her, and the outcomes of her protests. More info: http://www.savelittlelakevalley.org/tree-sits/

• Will Parrish, Anderson Valley Advertiser — Will has written numerous stories about the Bypass struggle, deconstructing the political process that has allowed the Bypass to happen, a process that is hopelessly tilted in CalTrans’ favor, and detailing the ecological and social damage the Bypass has already caused and will cause. He also recently completed a short tree sit blocking con­struction of the Bypass.

More info: http://theava.com/archives/22001 or

http://www.savelittlelakevalley.org/2013/05/21/state­ment-from-red-tailed-hawk-the-greatest-gift-mendocino-county-could-give-the-world-is-to-stop-the-willits-bypass/

• Screening of the film “How Caltrans Sold the Willits Bypass” — This 10 minute short film com­piled by Redwood Valley resident Julia Frech breaks down CalTrans’ faulty and utterly misleading traffic engineering studies and rationale, which they used to sell the Bypass to policy makers and resource agencies.

Sponsored by: Little Lake Valley Defenders. More info: savelittlelakevalley.org; littlelakeactioncamp@gmx.com

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MARSHALL NEWMAN, who has been providing delightful accounts of his life here in Anderson Valley during the 50s, 60s and 70s, lived on a property at the end of Rays Road in Philo that his family named El Ran­cho Navarro. They sold to a Findhorn-like communal group that renamed the place Shenoa, who within a few years sold out to the only people with enough money at the time, the “dot.com” crowd. The current owner, one Jeffery Skoll, worth somewhere around $4 billion according to Forbes for his role in co-founding eBay, is a real piece of work. Wealthy almost beyond belief, Skoll seems to have captured the hearts of many outside the Valley with high profile contributions to what he calls “social entrepreneurship.” In Anderson Valley he is more like a ghost. Initially buying Shenoa under the name 91624 Holdings, LLC without telling anyone who he was, he made all employees sign a contract that they would never reveal his name if they were to ever dis­cover it in the course of their work. Eventually, because that’s what everyone kept calling it, he did start identi­fying the property as Shenoa. There are eight houses and 14 “cabins” which are more like fully addressed small bungalows. Besides a large cafeteria kitchen and dining room, there is a swimming pool and tennis courts all with myriad access to the river. All of this including the residences are unused and have been for a few years except for possibly one living space used by a mysteri­ous woman by the name of Rebecca. Rebecca seems to be the one calling all the shots for Skoll at Shenoa and most of her shots when it comes to local community members have been unfriendly. A recent stroll along the river on the back side of Golden Eye winery has revealed that Shenoa for some reason has reactivated a long inac­tive water pumping site and is currently taking water out of the river throughout a 3 or 4 inch diameter pipe. With record low flows in the Navarro it would seem that such water usage for one single woman undertaking no agri­cultural activities is obscene. We would try to get ahold of Skoll to find out what’s the deal but he has an admin­istrative firewall apparatus built around him that has proved impossible to penetrate. In the Good ol’ USA even the Canadian wealthy do as they damned well please.

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AS PREDICTED, late Monday afternoon local fire spotters saw smoke wafting up from the remote hills north of Fish Rock Road in the vicinity of the Mailliard Ranch near what is known as “Camp Creek.” After con­firmation from a CalFire air spotter, local crews based in Yorkville made their way through the steep terrain to the lightning caused tree-fires which were slowly spreading to nearby grass and put them out.

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LAST YEAR there was a show down of sorts over pub­lic access to the Navarro River in the Philo area. Signs had been suspended on cables across Indian Creek to stop campers at State owned Indian Creek Campgrounds from accessing the river as well as signs posted on the support structure to the Shenoa bridge and one on a pole dug into the river bed itself. People using the river for summer fun and recreation were often accosted by mem­bers of the Van Zandt Resort clan and told it was private property. At one point David Severn’s grandchildren were chased away by a Van Zandt in-law packing a gun on his hip. Severn argued that the California State con­stitution guaranteed public use of California rivers up to the high water mark for all forms of recreation. He pointed out that multiple court rulings upheld this right and challenged those attempting to claim private owner­ship to either back down or go to court. They chose to back down and removed the signs and stated that they would not be chasing anyone away. So it is a new year and though the signs have not been replaced, one man and his son, who were camping at Indian Creek Camp­ground were told by a polite middle aged woman that they were not welcome on the river. We are hoping that this is just a fluke and that not all Van Zandts have been apprised of the current situation and last year’s agreemtn. If not and the run-offs continue we’ll have to sic Severn back on them.

Ask almost anyone, anywhere in the world, about a place they’d like to visit, and chances are “Paris” will come up sooner rather than later.

(Full disclosure: Please do not assume that the author of this piece doesn’t know or has forgotten that a big percentage of the world’s population is busily engaged each day not in deciding when and how to get to Paris but in such mondanities as trying to not starve to death; find sufficient unpolluted water; locate a place where kids can be taught to read; and, in general, avoid insult and injury from corrupt, brutal governmental agencies.)

“I think having land and not ruining it is the most beautiful art that anyone could ever want to own.” — Andy Warhol

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There was no plan, well, no real plan, when we bought land in the Anderson Valley. We didn’t “plan” to be farmers, to manage a small business, to have our family working with us, to go to market every week, to hire people, to build a kitchen. The reasons for the move were vague — the backyard in SF was small, my parents had recently died and left me some money, I became fascinated by the concepts of permaculture after I signed up for a CSA, and I had met Steve on a High Sierra backpack several years prior and we wanted to create something together that kept us outdoors and active.

The rolling storm that is Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring thundered through its hundredth anniversary last Wednesday, the 29th of May. I spent most of the day at 39,000 feet, high above global festivities that included a Rite marathon on New York’s classical music radio station, WQXR, culminating in a live performance of the piece for solo piano by Vicky Chow. Across the Atlantic in Paris fourteen versions of the work were done at the Theâtre des Champs Élysées, where The Rite was first performed a hundred years ago.

At least in the economy cabin, the onboard movie was sadly not the 2010 Coco Chanel & Igor Stravinsky, a biopic duet shot in the Théâtre des Champs Elysées that gives a compelling, if somewhat ponderous, sense of the opening night tumult: the composer smoking as he paces nervously backstage; the impresario Sergei Diaghilev putting a brave face on the wreckage; and the choreographer Vaslav Nijinsky freaking out in the wings; top hats being pulled down over the ears of battling partisans out in the audience.

Neither the in-flight mags nor the SkyMall took heed of the greatest—or at least most documented—tempest in music history. Among the fashions there weren’t any repro headbands as worn by the fertile maidens clad by Nicholas Roerich, the Russian folklorist who developed the scenario of the piece under the working title The Great Sacrifice and who designed the sets and costumes. There was no Stravinsky dance-till-you-drop workout DVD on offer, no War of the Rival Tribes video game for the wee’uns to amuse themselves with. And no springtime round dance of the flight attendants during the safety demonstrations nor a sacrifice of the Chosen One under the murderous wheels of the drinks cart.

From Coast to Coast—from Seattle to Detroit to Newark—no signs of the historic day were evident in the airports either: no plaintive bassoon solos seeping from the sports bars; no pulsing, shock chords emanating from the Body Shop; no Brooks Brothers salesmen sporting fake gray beards enacting the stooped and angular Procession of the Sage around the pink button-down shirts and dark blue pin-striped suits. The travel industry went about its choreographies of flight and commerce, oblivious to the echoes of history also in the air.

An airplane is the wrong place to be for the Rite of Spring, that most earthbound of works with its the stamping, pawing, clawing at the ground, its the smashing of self and soil, its the longing for death and regeneration at ground level.

The Augurs of Spring, the opening dance music of the Rite that still shocks—or, at the very least, thrills—a hundred years on, bursts forth after the Introduction with its plaintive bassoon solo, one of the most famous passages in all classical music, whether a hundred years old or a thousand. Stravinsky gave the first dance scene a visceral, violent music. The superimposition of E major and E-flat major chords in a succession of wild, unpredictably accented eighth notes destroys any sense of rhythmic hierarchy: phrase and periodicity are reduced to pure nerve-fraying pulse. The oompah of the nineteenth-century ballet or the ceaseless one-two-three of the waltz are all about civilization and the projection of a future, both immediate and long-term: the regularity of cultivated dance steps moving gracefully under the domed ceiling of a theatre safe against the elements for centuries to come. The Agurs seem to bring all that crashing down.

Extreme harmonic dissonance was not new. The dark often violent dissonance of Arnold Schoenberg and his followers was already descending on the musical world by 1913. Their revolutionary course for new music had led to a real riot—one that made the Paris contretemps seem like harmless pantomime—at one of their concerts in Vienna two months before the Rite of Spring. The defining chord Stravinsky’s Petrushka of 1911 combined C major and F-sharp Major triads in blindingly bright arrays.

But what was so shocking about Stravinsky’s music was its rejection of traditional musical temporality. This music holds the listener hostage to the moment. It abducts one from the comforts of long-term thinking and hearing. In place of the decorous and expected unspooling of time that had made Western music tick for centuries, the Rite projects the most intense sense of clinging to the now and doing so on the edge of the abyss. With each chord of the Augurs it’s as if life and death, regeneration and annihilation, collide again and again, some of these accents bursting from the texture with explosive force.

The bitonal blasts are paradoxical—a modernist evocation of primitivism conjured through the most sophisticated management of meter and orchestration. Prehistoric Russian tribes did not dance to symphony orchestras. From this point of view the ballet was pure nonsense. Just imagine things from the opposite end of the spurious narrative of civilization: an Ogallala Drumming Circle breaks out into Beethoven’s Ninth. The Times of London critic, writing after performances in the English capital in the Summer of 1913, pithily diagnosed the dilemma: “If M. Stravinsky had wished to be really primitive, he would have been wise to score his ballet for nothing but drums.”

When Stravinsky first played the Rite of Spring for Diaghilev at the piano, the frightened impresario asked his composer how long the dissonant chords of the Augurs of Spring would go on for. Stravinsky replied: “To the very end my dear, to the very end.” Like everything Stravinsky said, that was exaggeration but nonetheless captured a fundamental truth about the piece.

The musicologist Robert Fink has put together a five-minute-long chronological collage of various performance of these epic-making chords from the first recording on a Pleyel pianola roll made by the composer in 1921 to Gustavo Dudamel leading the Simon Bolivar Youth Orchestra of Venezuela in 2010. Along the way there are four versions by Stravinsky, three under the baton of Pierre Monteux, who led the first performance of 1913, and two each by Boulez and Bernstein, among many others. For all its alleged primitivism the effect of this repetitive medley is that of a locomotive lurching forward from one tempo to the next; now somewhat faster now somewhat slower, now more percussive, now more muffled. Is it chugging forward or backwards? Into the future or the past? Or does the train follow a track that simply circles back to its beginning?

Stravinsky liked to displace the blame for the disastrous premiere onto Nijinsky’s choreography and what the composer disparaged as its “knock-kneed Lolitas.” In 1914 a concert performance of the Rite in Pairs was greeted with huge enthusiasm, not withstanding the opinion of the dean of French composers Camille Saint-Saëns, who stormed out of the concert, agreeing with Puccini that Stravinsky was crazy.

As Fink’s loop confirms, the afterlife of the ballet music was as an independent concert work. Given its failure, the ballet was quickly lost, but painstakingly reconstructed some seventy years later by dance historian Millicent Hodson and presented by the Joffrey Ballet in the 1980s. Hodson’s version of the work was also mounted by the Mariinsky Theatre Orchestra and Ballet in 2003 under the direction of Valery Gergiev and that production is available on Youtube in all its vibrant, violent color.

David Yearsley is a long-time contributor to CounterPunch and the Anderson Valley Advertiser. His latest book is Bach’s Feet. He can be reached at dgyearsley@gmail.com.

“Humankind has not woven the web of life. We are but one thread within it. Whatever we do to the web, we do to ourselves. All things are bound together. All things connect.” — Chief Seattle

On several occasions during the summer when I was twelve-years-old, I felt certain I was on the verge of understanding how everything fit together, and I do mean everything. I would find myself sitting or standing very still and feeling all the countless separate parts of reality coalescing and clicking together; and with every passing moment I would become more and more excited as the myriad fragments fell into place in relation to each other and in relation to the entirety of everything else. And I felt sure that if I could only hold still a few moments longer without being interrupted, the mystery of life, of the universe, would be solved for me, and ever after I would live in a state of blissful knowing. Yet every time I felt I was only a few seconds away from such a complete understanding, something would interrupt my reverie, and the exquisite construct of the totality of everything would collapse.

I could not, as far as I knew, intentionally precipitate such reveries, though I tried to do so many times that summer. I would go off into the woods far from other people and sit absolutely still for hours on end, hoping my stillness would incite the myriad separate parts to begin their coalescing, but that never happened. I did have marvelous experiences sitting so still in the woods, but those glorious occasions when I nearly grasped my own grand unified field theory only came unbidden and when there was a high probability of being interrupted.

One evening that summer, standing under an olive tree not far from our house, I was so certain the last piece of the vast puzzle was about to fall into place, I held my breath so as not to disturb the grand finale. But then my mother shouted, “Dinner’s ready!” and the miraculous vision shattered.

I was in a foul mood when I came inside to eat, which prompted my father to ask, “What’s wrong with you?”

Before I could think better of speaking about such things to my father, I tried to explain how close I had been to a moment of comprehensive understanding, to which my father replied, “That’s just infantile magical thinking. You might as well say you believe in God, and you know how ridiculous that is.”

I knew it was folly to say anything in response to my father when he got on his atheist soapbox, so I held my peace as he lectured me on the idiocy of my thinking and feeling. Little did I know that my father was a preview of the many people I would encounter in my life, and whom I continue to encounter, who consider my experiences of the mystical nature of life either hackneyed spiritual crap or delusional nonsense.

“Only connect! That was the whole of her sermon.” — E.M. Forster

When I was fifteen, I made the B basketball team at Woodside High School, though I was not a starter. Indeed, on our twelve-man team, I was the twelfth ranked player and rarely got into a game. Every day, following an hour of exercises and drills and practicing plays, our starters would scrimmage against the second five, with I and the other third-string fellow subbing onto the second-string team.

One day our coach sent me into the scrimmage, and for reasons I have no plausible explanation for I was overtaken by a power transcendent of the usual power that animated me. Suddenly the other players, many of them taller and bigger than I, seemed small and weak and slow moving, and I moved among them like a speeding giant. Prior to that scrimmage I had never been able to leap high enough to touch the ten-foot-high rim, but on that day I could reach above the rim. I snatched rebounds away from our tallest players and scored with an ease that was, in today’s vernacular, sick. I shot from near and far, made dozens of shots without a miss, and so thoroughly dominated the game that even those starters who had previously looked down on me were full of praise for my playing.

After practice, our coach called me into his office, and when he was convinced I had not ingested some illegal substance, said he was going to put me into tomorrow’s game against Sequoia as a reward for my extraordinary play that day. I thanked him and spent a restless night anticipating my first chance to shine in a real basketball game.

True to his word, our coach put me into the game midway through the first half, and I immediately grabbed a rebound and took a shot. But when my shot missed the mark, our coach took me out and never played me again. I was disappointed, of course, by the brevity of my playing time, but I was also aware that whatever extraordinary power had possessed me the day before was entirely absent on the day of my debut. Nor did that power return to me again until the very last day of basketball practice that year.

To end the season on a dramatic and competitive note, the coach created six two-man teams and we had a tournament to determine which duo would be crowned champions. I was paired with the other lowest ranked player, and we were expected to lose to all the other teams. But that transcendent power came into me again and we demolished our opponents, including the team composed of our two star players. We won so easily, much to the chagrin of our coach, that the biggest star of our team gave me the ultimate compliment by saying, “What are you on, man? I want some.”

What was I on? Fools Crow, the revered Lakota holy man said (in the inspiring book Wisdom & Power) that there is an inexhaustible source of spiritual power ever present in universe, and that those who consciously or unconsciously empty themselves of ego may invite this spiritual power to work through them. Fools Crow said he used prayer and ritual to make of himself a hollow bone to be filled by this spiritual power with which he accomplished his healing work. And that’s what I think was going on those times when I played basketball so much better than I had ever played before; I was filled with spiritual power and became an instrument of the unfathomable universe.

“There is nothing in the world that is not mysterious, but the mystery is more evident in certain things than in others: in the sea, in the eyes of the elders, in the color yellow and in music.” — Jorge Luis Borges

One of my favorite stories about the Mbuti people of the Ituri rainforest in the Congo is that Christian missionaries found it almost impossible to convince the Mbuti to believe in, let alone worship, a punitive God because the Ituri forest, which the Mbuti believed to be the most important of all gods, provided them with such abundance and so obviously loved them. I think of this story whenever I encounter people who consider my belief in the mystical nature of existence to be hackneyed spiritual crap or self-delusion.

Yesterday, for instance, I began to write an email to a friend I hadn’t heard from in several months, and two sentences into my missive I received an email from that very friend. What made this seeming coincidence even more remarkable to me was that my two sentences were specific questions, and my friend’s email began with detailed answers to those specific questions. Is this proof of the mystical nature of existence or is it merely, as Buckminster Fuller suggested, that most of what goes on in Universe is inexplicable because we lack the technology to see or hear or measure most of what is going on in this and contiguous dimensions? Imagine what a surprise it must have been to discover radio waves? Who knew?

“Love is metaphysical gravity.” — Buckminster Fuller

When I first moved to Mendocino, I would go to Big River Beach almost every day to marvel at my good fortune and celebrate having had the courage to make the move. One day I was sitting with my back against a big log and gazing out at the breakers, when into my mind came the face of a woman I hadn’t seen in twelve years, a woman I had been smitten with during my last year of living in Sacramento. Her name was Ida and she worked in a bakery and I had spoken to her a grand total of five times, three of those conversations consisting of Ida asking me, “What can I get you?” and my replying, “Two blackberry muffins, please.” The other conversations were a bit longer because I ordered coffee, too.

Which is to say, I didn’t really know Ida at all. But every time I saw her, I felt a powerful jolt of recognition and love, and I liked to think, whether it was true or not, that she felt a similar jolt.

In any case, I hadn’t had a conscious thought about her in over a decade, yet here I was on Big River Beach seeing her vividly in my mind’s eye and wondering what might have happened if only I’d had the courage to speak to her at greater length and perhaps ask her…

After a delightful little snooze, I packed up my knapsack and headed back to the parking lot, and just as I was about to walk under the Big River bridge, a little girl came running toward me, shrieking with delight as her mother pursued her, her mother being Ida.

Todd Walton’s web site is UnderTheTableBooks.com.

“For mercy has a human heart, Pity a human face…” — William Blake

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She could be seen nearly any day of the week, sitting on the the sidewalk outside the market or liquor store. She would usually have her cats with her, crowded into a pet box. She wore several layers of clothing which she got from the free box, topped off by a floppy hat made of white cotton eyelet. Her name was Nellie.

Nellie painted whiskers on her face and colored her mouth with a blue felt pen that someone kindly bought for her. She could not go into the stores any more because she smelled bad. The shower program for the homeless at a local church had to be discontinued for reconstruction, so there was no place for her to bathe. The soup kitchen at another church was also discontinued, so she no longer had the assurance of a regular meal.

Vinson & McCormack

Continued from last week’s AVA, the Congressional hearing at which marijuana prohibition was debated. The witness, Dr. William Woodward of the American Medical Association, expressed opposition to the pending bill. He was relentlessly attacked by Fred Vinson of Kentucky (who would go on to become Secretary of the Treasury under Truman and then Chief Justice of the US Supreme Court) and John McCormack of Massachusetts (who would become the House Majority Leader in 1940 and eventually Speaker of the House). 

Fifty-five years ago the Giants moved from New York to San Francisco. I was four years old and occasionally hid in our large clothes hamper to pray for Willie Mays to hit a home run. Don’t ask me why, the clothes hamper. There must be some Freudian or Jungian interpretation to be had. Perhaps I was simply near the hamper when our one and only radio/record player provided a Russ Hodges or Lon Simmons call of a previous Mays homer. In the years that followed I cured myself of the need for the clothes hamper, but not of my devotion to generations of San Francisco Giants.

There is one supreme and universal law of human relations in all its manifestations, social, political, economic, cultural: people create no end of mischief in the hours when they are not sleeping. Any vision of history-yet-to-come must be predicated on this principle.

A correspondent of mine objected to the idea I floated a couple of times that Japan would be the first advanced industrial nation to “go medieval.” This prompts me to clarify that emphasis should be on the word “first.” The re-set to a much lower scale and intensity of human activity is certain for all nations; the only questions are the timeframe and the quality of the journey and those are sure to vary from one group of people to another.

I picked on Japan because their journey seems to have compressed and accelerated in recent years and also because there’s a lot to admire in their possible destination if history is any guide: a graceful culture of lower energy and high artistry. The transition between that older culture and the point of industrial take-off was also much sharper for Japan than so-called Western societies. They did not look back on the startling episode of Rome and they didn’t experience a thrilling “Renaissance” of rediscovery in its technical achievements — which eventuated in the Western discovery of a “new world” and all its exploitable resources. The Japanese were pestered by Catholic missionaries for a brief time beginning in the 1540s, but tossed them out in 1620s, along with the merchants who accompanied them — and then very consciously barred the door. They even gave up on the guns that the Euro-people had introduced, regarding them as unsportsmanlike. Finally, Commodore Perry from the USA landed in the 1850s, with all the weight of Western technological momentum behind him, and demanded access to trade there and Japan, in effect, surrendered to modernity.

They also thrived on it for a while. For one thing, they had a lot of beautifully-made exotic cultural objects to trade with the west, and their artisan skill level in things like ceramics and metallurgy made the transition to industrial technology of their own easy. In half a century, Japan went from an isolated archipelago of tea ceremonies and silks to building steel battleships and airplanes, and we all know the mischief that led to during the first half of the horrid 20th century: the Rape of Nanking, the Bataan Death March, the bombing of Tokyo, and Hiroshima. Then came Act 2: postwar economic revival, the SONY stereo, Mitsubishi, major league baseball, and really excellent automobiles. That went on for while, too. About 40 years.

There was one insurmountable problem lurking in the background: Japan did not possess any fossil fuels, oil or methane gas, to run all the equipment of modernity that they had ramped up. That didn’t matter so much when imported oil was $11-a-barrel, but it became crucial when the cost quickly rose to $100-a-barrel, as it did in recent years. It also began to matter that Japan’s bigger neighbor and age-old rival (and sometimes victim), China, ramped up its own industrial economy which, of course, consumed a healthy portion of what the world oil market put up for sale. By the early 21st century, China was eating Japan’s lunch (its bento box, shall we say) by manufacturing the same stuff that the Japanese had excelled at making, and all of a sudden the whole project of modernity in Japan hit the skids.

Then came the Tōhoku earthquake of 2011, and the giant wall of water that slammed, among other things, the multiple nuclear reactors at Fukushima. The Japanese industrial confederation had taken a certain amount of comfort in its ability to keep the electricity going by other means than fossil fuels. Now, all of a sudden, a nuclear dragon was loose upon the land, a veritable Godzilla, Japan’s worst nightmare. A year later, all but two of Japan’s nuclear power plants were shut down. By no coincidence, Japan also found itself wallowing in a trade deficit after decades of enjoying trade surpluses, due to the amount of oil and gas the nation had to import to keep the electricity running.

Japan’s energy predicament is expressing itself in a financial crisis, naturally enough, since finance is a set of abstract markers for what is happening in an economy — and the country’s finances are pretty much running amok as its political leaders try desperately to adjust to the new realities of powerdown. They are employing accounting fraud to offset the inescapable failures of capital formation under the circumstances, the same as all the other advanced industrial nations. As a purely financial matter it simply amounts to no longer being able to generate enough new wealth to pay the interest on old credit, or to justify the creation of new credit. Since credit is the lifeblood of industrialism, the sun is setting on that phase of history. Japan finds itself in a dishonorable quandary and in tune with some of its older cultural infrastructure appears to be committing suicide with a sword thrust into the guts of its banking system.

America, in contrast, is driving over the edge of the Grand Canyon, Thelma-and-Louise-style. Europe is drinking a poison cup in sumptuous seclusion. China and India will just look like lemming marches into the increasingly vacant sea.

Financial hara-kiri might be the best outcome for Japan — better, say, than a war with China over some desolate islands — if Japan were to retreat as rapidly back into a traditional artisan economy as it bailed out of in the 1860s. I realize this is a long-shot and includes many knotty elements not under discussion here, such as population reduction and the fate of Fukushima. Also, history is almost never symmetrical. Things don’t retrace the arc they came up. The journey will surely be bumpier. But Japan might get there first and set some interesting precedents for the rest of us.

At the heart of the matter is this. Industrialism is an entropic project. It accelerates and intensifies entropy, which is to say the drive toward disorder and death. Tradition in human societies is the great moderator of entropy. Of course nothing stays the same forever, but some of us would like to see the human project continue, and to get to a place where it can feel comfortable with itself for a while, perhaps even something resembling a new (and completely unfamiliar) golden age, when the people not asleep can be trusted.

Greetings one and all. If you are sitting comfortably I shall begin. A great sadness descended over many folks in the Valley last week with the tragic news of the death of 21-year old Raul Malfavon, ‘Turkey’ to his group friends, in which I would certainly include myself. A member of the AV High Class of 2010, Raul was a polite, smart, and always very cheerful young man, who was very popular among all those who knew him. Inevitably, rumors abound, but suicide is reliably believed to be the cause of death. This would be an unusual and unthinkable deed to most people in our Mexican community, coming from a society that has relatively very low numbers for such an act.

It is even more confounding when it is someone who was always so positive and even-keeled. Nevertheless, getting over a break-up with a girlfriend, a traumatic experience that Raul was apparently having trouble dealing with, is difficult for young people of every ethnicity; a time when the feeling that there is no point in carrying on is overwhelming and it doesn’t matter what any family and close friends, who know that things will get better, may say. When you’re in the kind of mental state occupied by Raul in recent weeks then that just doesn’t seem possible. It is so very sad. We will miss Raul’s reliable friendship, smiling face, and good-natured demeanor; may he find peace and light.

For your Quotes of the Week, here are a couple that speak to the issue of suicide. From novelist and social commentator George Sand (1804-1876) here are some wise words that may help others, “At such times, it seems we should tear out a single page from the book of our life and burn it, rather than throw the whole book into the fire.” And from Brittany Snow of the young people’s suicide prevention help group, ‘Love is Louder.’ we have, “Our movement is hopefully going to bring some awareness and make some noise when it comes to teens and young adults who are feeling suicidal or even just very sad, outcasts, or being bullied, and really feel like they have nowhere to turn to.” (www.loveislouder.com).

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Last Saturday was a little on the warm side wasn’t it? I was told by several people that it was in the low 100s where they were, and at The Nest in the west end of the Valley we saw 98°F at 3pm. Earlier I had flown into Boonville where there was a very sparse group of vendors who had braved the heat to work the Farmer’s Market while quite a crowd of tourist-like visitors were across the road at the Paysanne ice cream store — good move, I’d say. Other than that there were lots of cars but very few people on the streets and even at the Drive-In nobody was sitting outside. A lot of traffic seemed to be heading out to the assumed cooler climes on the coast and who could blame them?, I suppose. Nevertheless, the wineries appeared to be doing brisk business and the Farm Supply guys were working hard, loading hay and soil into the back of trucks in the very hot sun. I would have offered to help but my old back injury was flaring up (?). Fortunately, up at The Nest, it finally cooled off by about 9pm and Sunday morning turned out to be very pleasant indeed for the Pancake breakfast at The Grange. This week is apparently going to see several days of mid-70s temperatures, reaching the low 80s over the weekend. All very lovely, wouldn’t you say? Weatherwisely yours, The Climaturkey.

Public Service Announcements. Calendars and pens at the ready. #560. The monthly Community Drum Session is tonight, June 12; contact Rob 3897 or Andy 3020 for further details — at least it’s not bagpipes! (I’m half-joking). #561. The Vets from the Mendocino Animal Hospital will return to the Valley just once in June — and that is tomorrow, Thursday, June 13 from 2-3.30pm at the AV Farm Supply just north of Philo on Highway 128. New customers and their pets are always welcome and the vets have asked me to inform you that you do not have to arrive early and then wait a long time; everyone showing up at anytime before 3.30pm will be seen. #562. Dave Evans, hard-working owner of the Navarro Store and impresario in the world of local live music, informs me that the Deep End will once again be the scene for two very special live performances this summer — on July 13 it will be Roy Rogers and the Delta Rhythm Kings and then, on August 31, electric blues harmonica great Charlie Musselwhite will make his much anticipated return to the Valley. In the meantime, the store’s BBQ grill will be opening up this week on Sunday, June 16 and Monday June 17 with new cook Guy Kephart taking over from the almost but not quite irreplaceable Pablo. Following that, Guy’s Grill will be serving some of the best bbq food around from 11am to 3pm every Saturday and Sunday throughout the summer, plus into the night at the live shows. #563. The Sierra Nevada World Music Festival returns to the Valley over the weekend of June 21-23. For details go to www.snwmf.com. Most of you know the routine by now: great time for some; not so great for others —the AV way! #564. The Bite Hard Bicycle Road Race is on Saturday, June 29. #565. Later that afternoon/early evening, and surely an event that appeals to the majority, it’s a pig roast Hawaiian-style for the Senior Center Guest Chef Dinner prepared and presented by Chris Rossi of Rossi Hardware, Fal Allen of AV Brewing, Loretta Houck of Laughing Dog Books, and friends. This will be held outside at the Senior Center and tickets are limited. Call Gina at 3069 to get yours. #566. Finally on June 29, you can walk down the street a short distance from the pig roast to Lauren’s Restaurant where at 8.30pm it’s the ‘Sing-along-a-Liddy’ Community Singsong with hostess Patty Liddy. Sounds like a wonderful Valley Night Out to me!

Here’s the menu for the next week at the Senior Center. For lunches, always served at 12.15pm, the Center asks for a $5 donation from Seniors and charges $7 for Non-Seniors. On Thursday, June 13, the lunch will be Beef Tacos, Rice, Corn & Peppers, Salsa, and Avocados, with Pineapple Cake for dessert. Next Tuesday, June 18, Chef Marti Titus and her crew will be serving Chicken w/Kale, Rice Farro Salad and Kahlua Cake. Hopefully you will be able to attend, and remember: ALL ages are welcome!

Finally this week comes a brief comment from regular contributor, the often-despondent correspondent, The Old Buzzard. “By the time you read this the name of the new High School Principal will most likely have been announced. Claws and fingers crossed for the insightful choice of an individual who, to parents, students and faculty alike, will provide strong leadership; exhibit good people skills; show ability to balance ‘tough love’ and discipline with earned praise and encouragement; demonstrate fairness and consistency; be organized and prepared; have good listening skills; and be a visionary in the world of modern education. This decision is going to have a great influence on the future of the Valley’s schoolchildren. Hopefully those entrusted with the decision will have found such a candidate. Anything less would be disappointing and perhaps a sign that the Apocalypse is even closer than I thought.”

I’m outtahere! Until we talk again — Keep the Faith; be careful out there; stay out of the ditches; think good thoughts; remember to keep your windows cracked if you have pets in your vehicle; and may your god go with you. One final request, “Let us prey.” Humbly yours, Turkey Vulture. PS. Contact me with words of support/abuse through the Letters Page or at turkeyvulture1@earthlink.net. PPS. Hi, Silver Swan — see you soon to share a bottle of wine?

“POSSIBLY MULTIPLE TIMES”? Did the camo-Mex shoot at the deputy or didn’t he? Apparently, and more than once, too.

SHERIFF’S PRESS RELEASE: On June 11, 2013 at about 8:36am Special Agents from the Mendocino Major Crimes Task Force (MMCTF) arrived at a piece of property located in the 20000 block of Tomki Road in Willits, California.

 The MMCTF Special Agents had recently obtained a search warrant based upon an investigation that showed an illegal marijuana growing operation was in existence on the property.

 The Special Agents were assisted in the search warrant service by members of the County of Mendocino Marijuana Eradication Team, California Department of Fish & Wildlife, California Highway Patrol Aviation Division and Mendocino County Probation Department.

 Upon arrival a MMCTF Special Agent (Mendocino County Deputy Sheriff), a California Department of Fish & Wildlife Warden and a Mendocino County Probation Officer encountered a suspect, described as being a Hispanic adult male dressed in camouflage clothing.

 The suspect fled on foot into the property’s heavily wooded terrain and failed to comply with verbal commands to surrender.

 The three listed law enforcement personnel began a search for the suspect who appeared to be unarmed.

 During the search the suspect emerged from an area of bush approximately 30-40 yards from the Deputy Sheriff. 

The suspect was armed with a handgun and immediately shot at the Deputy Sheriff, possibly multiple times. The Deputy Sheriff shot back at the suspect who then fled off into the heavily wooded terrain once again.

Additional law enforcement resources were summoned to the property as a more intensive search was conducted for the suspect.

 The law enforcement resources included personnel from the Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office, California Highway Patrol, California Department of Fish & Wildlife and CalFire prevention officers. 

After several hours of searching the suspect was not located and the search was suspended due to safety concerns.

 The Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office in collaboration with the Mendocino County District Attorney’s Office is conducting an investigation into the shooting incident per county-wide protocol.

 The Deputy Sheriff has been placed on paid administrative at this time.

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LIGHTNING FIRES BURNING ON MENDOCINO NATIONAL FOREST

WILLOWS, Calif. – The Mendocino National Forest is currently locating and taking actions to suppress fires started by lightning during yesterday’s storm. The Forest received several hundred lightning strikes early Monday morning, primarily in the southern half of the Forest. Since yesterday, the Forest has identified approximately 10 fires on the Upper Lake Ranger District on the west side of the Forest and four fires on the Grindstone Ranger District, located on the east side of the Forest. All of the fires are small, between one-tenth and one-quarter of an acre. Most of the fires are contained and currently in patrol status. The Streeter Fire, located off Streeter Ridge on the Upper Lake Ranger District, discovered today at 12:20 p.m. is the only fire currently showing active behavior. It is estimated to be one-quarter acre, burning in heavy slash on steep terrain. The fire had helicopters dropping water to assist in containment. As conditions continue to dry out and warm up, Forest firefighters anticipate discovering more lightning fires in the coming days. Currently the Mendocino National Forest is not under fire restrictions. However, Forest visitors are asked to be careful with fire when recreating on the Forest. Following a very dry winter, there is an increased risk of wildfire this summer on the Mendocino National Forest. To report a fire, please call 911. For more information, please contact the Mendocino National Forest at 530-934-3316, or visit www.fs.usda.gov/mendocino<http://www.fs.usda.gov/mendocino>. Updates are also available on Twitter @MendocinoNF.

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EASY MONEY? Big Orange has plans to install an ugly guard rail on Highway 1 near where it intersects with Highway 128. This easy money construction project is changing the landscape of Mendocino County. During the first “easing” they tore out good culverts and replaced them with new. Since then they have extended guard rails, blocking views and channeling drivers where seldom, if ever, they somehow drove off the road. CalTrans is making these decisions without any input from Mendocino Council of Governments (the local transportation planning organization) and most of them are a waste of money.

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JIM MARTIN, manager of the big and very popular Navarro By The Sea Rebabilitation Project at the Mouth of the Navarro River has written a letter to the California Coastal Commission objecting to Caltrans’ plans to install a guard rail and widen the intersection of Highway 128 and Highway 1, the coastal highway.

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Hi Tamara and Bob,

Sorry for the last minute request regarding the Navarro Caltrans Project. I don’t know what happened to my public notice, but I never received the notice at my permanent mailing address in Emeryville and only found out about the hearing tomorrow when I decided just to check the California Coastal Commission website.

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I am requesting that the CCC please postpone a decision on this matter until at least their next meeting. I understand Caltrans’ desire to have this issue resolved after years in the planning, but there are substantive issues that have not been fully considered. I don’t have time at this late hour to prepare a thorough and appropriate comment letter for the CCC but implore them to allow me the opportunity to evaluate all of the Caltrans data related to safety, accident records, and alternative solutions, and lay out an alternative that addresses their concerns but still serves to minimize compromising the aesthetic beautify of this segment of the Coast and maximizes options for future treatments associated with the Coastal Trail. This is the first point inland visitors experience the open stretch of the Navarro River and have views to Navarro Beach and the ocean, before they even begin to climb the Navarro Grade. And a guard rail along this entire stretch would unnecessarily greatly compromise that aesthetic experience. And widening the road towards the river as proposed would provide no safe options for pedestrians along the straight segment of Highway 1 where a guard rail is now proposed. The same guard rail system that will compromise views of the Navarro River Estuary, Navarro Beach, and Ocean.

I have put in literally thousands of volunteer hours as Board President of Navarro-by-the-Sea Center where we are working diligently to improve the visitor experience and natural habitat in this area. NSCR just received a generous Whale Tail Grant from the CCC to improve the interpretive experience for visitors at Navarro River Redwoods State Parks, which is just south of this proposed Caltrans Project. My request to the CCC to postpone a decision on this application from Caltrans is based on my intimate familiarity with the area and deep sense that this project and the alternatives laid out with input from CCC staff are the wrong solution to address the safety problems, do not protect the sensitive visual resources of this area, and have not considered the limitations for options in the future alignment of the Coastal Trail through this area. I will work diligently with CCC and Caltrans staff to layout my concerns, present options and develop an alternative that addresses all of these concerns. I believe there is a solution, but I just need the time to work with CCC and Caltrans staff to demonstrate that.

Below is a quick outline of my four major concerns, I prepared in an email to one of the Mendocino County Supervisors. I apologize for it being in such a rough form, but I’m running out of time here and think it at least captures the issues.

First, this is going to be an UGLY guard rail that stretches from bridge all the way to the Navarro Grade. I completely understand the importance of extending a guard rail from the point where it currently ends on the Navarro Grade down to the level stretch of Highway 1 where there have fatalities with vehicles ending up in the river. But there is no need for a guard rail with the highway in its current alignment and a natural condition along the level straight alignment, with enough informal shoulder for vehicles to pull over (though they rarely do) and pedestrians to walk safely off the pavement edge.

By relocating the highway closer to the river along this straight shot, they put the edge of pavement right at the top of bank to the Navarro River. And of course then believe they need a guard rail. But in the process they block the first view travelers coming out to the coast have of the ocean and that entire stretch of the Navarro River for almost 1,000 feet. A gorgeous view that should be respected. Think of what happens when you reach the Navarro Grade that has a guard rail along most of it. We need the guard rail there because of the dangerous curves and a steep drop to the river. But the guard rail greatly diminishes the travelers experience and obstructs views, something we have to live with there.

Second, if you’ve ever tried to walk down the Navarro Grade, you take your life in your hands because you are forced to walk on the pavement inside the metal guard rail with sometimes no shoulder and nowhere to go on the outside of the guard rail. It is frightening and the same condition Caltrans is creating along the straight stretch by relocating the highway alignment closer to the river. Right now, pedestrians have a broad place to walk, ten feet or more in width on the south side of the highway. But there will be no room for pedestrians to walk on the outside of the guard rail (the safest place) because the entire shoulder would be occupied by the relocated travel lane and narrow shoulder (take a look at the cross sections and red stakes in the photos in the CCC staff report). Why is Caltrans making this portion of the highway unsafer for pedestrians than it already is when the alignment works fine for the straight stretch?

Third, Caltrans has not considered how these modifications are going to preclude “fitting” the Coastal Trail along this segment of the highway. Right now there is plenty of room to fit the coastal trail along the south side of the highway on the straight stretch, but with the realignment closer to the river and installation of the guard rail there will be no room to fit the coastal trail on this stretch. There are going to be enough challenges finding a solution for safe pedestrian access at the Navarro Grade and we should not be eliminating another 1,000 feet of usable alignment along the straight stretch. The only solution will be a retaining wall cut into the hillside on the north side of the roadway, and expensive proposition that will preclude implementation once the vehicle lanes have been relocated as is currently being considered.

Finally, I’m not happy with the guard rail system that is proposed on both sides of the intersection of Navarro River Road (NRR) with Highway 1 on the south side of the Navarro Bridge. It’s a challenge with the slope of NRR to see oncoming traffic, especially the southbound traffic on Highway 1. I don’t understand why they need guard rails on either side of the entrance to NRR, it just creates this man-made intrusion into an otherwise natural setting. And more money spent on guard rails.

Recommendations – Keep the straight alignment as it is or widen it to just the width necessary to meet standard travel lanes, don’t install the guard rail along this straight stretch that would interrupt views of the river and ocean, and leave room for safer pedestrian access and the future Coastal Trail alignment along this straight stretch. Limit the new guard rails to the curving stretch on the Navarro Grade to connect with the existing guard rail system.

Again, I’m requesting that the CCC please postpone any action on this item until I have had an opportunity to fully explore this issue and present feasible alternatives that consider the future alignment of the Coastal Trail through this area now.

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ALL MARTIN HAS RECEIVED BACK so far from a Ms. Gedik at the Coastal Commission is a link to some Caltrans technical files.

From: Tamara.Gedik@coastal.ca.gov writes:

Hi Jim,

Thank you for taking the time to discuss your concerns with me. With regards to your concerns regarding the justification for the safety needs of the project, I offered to provide you links the collision maps and responses Caltrans has provided to us.

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WHAT ARE THE ADVENTISTS DOING TO HOWARD HOSPITAL?

Editor:

What a difference a year makes!

Howard Hospital, what has happened to the patient/customer friendly small town hospital we had?

Back in 2011, I had the misfortune to be hospitalized FIVE times. Two for elective knee replacements, and three for emergency surgeries. As you can imagine, the hospital bills were staggering. By the grace of God I had purchased my own insurance the year before. Still, the amounts left over after insurance had paid were prohibitive. I received several statements and finally called to inquire about financial assistance. It was granted and the friendly people in the hospital’s finance department were a pleasure to work with.

Fast forward to 2012.

I had some Lab work done on two different occasions. Sept 2012 and Dec. 2012.

I received ONE statement on those accounts after my insurance had paid. Not able to pay at that time, I called and inquired about the same assistance program. Only now I was talking to someone in St. Helena. Something seemed very different! She barely seemed to comprehend the program I was asking about. Finally she understood and the paper work was sent. I filled it out and returned it on Jan. 22, 2013. (It was mailed to St. Helena). I did not hear back from them until Mar. 25, 2013. Assistance was denied.

I called to inquire why it had been denied since my wages had dropped drastically since 2012 when it was approved.

The woman I spoke with said, “Well your tax returns don’t show that.” I said, “Well the new returns would but I don’t have them yet.” They were basing their denial on information that was over a year old. She said I could reapply. The amount of paper work required was daunting. I then asked her if I could arrange to make payments. She said “Yes, you will receive another statement and you can go from there.”

That was the end of March 2013. I never received another statement from them on either account.

It should be noted that this is about the same time that Adventist Health consolidated its billing function for all five its hospitals in its newly formed “Adventists Health Northern Network.” The billing center would now be in Windsor, CA, and about a dozen HMH employees were affected. Patients at Howard Hospital no longer have a friendly, familiar voice to answer your billing questions.

I never heard another word from them until May 26, 2013 when I got a bill from a collection agency for the first bill. I immediately called the number listed at Adventist Financial Services and asked why? “Well, you didn’t pay”.

I asked why I hadn’t received a statement. I was told that the hospital no longer had a record of that account since it was sent to collections, and that I would have to contact that agency about the matter.

I asked about the other account and was told it was “in the chute” to go to collections this week.

I asked how I could stop that from happening. “Pay the bill right now.” she said.

“Can I make a payment on it?” I inquired. “No the whole thing has to be paid,” she said. “That is the only way.”

I asked her why I had not received any more statements after the original one. She had to ask her supervisor. “Well, if the client doesn’t pay after the first one, we assume they aren’t going to pay, so we save on postage by not mailing out multiple statements.”

WHAT??

I asked, “Even if a payment has been made on the account?” (which I had made on this one.)

She said “Yes.”

Well then, how the heck is a person to know how much more they owe? What is happening here? This has all taken place in the last six months! Not a year. Not two. SIX MONTHS!!!!

Is Adventists Health that hard up for cash?

Frank R. Howard Hospital has a reputation for being a treasured gem in our small community. The physicians and nurses and staff provide patient care that is unequaled in most places. And for us to have this in Willits is such a blessing.

In the years before I had insurance, the staff in the back offices of financial services were people we knew. Friendly people who were on your side and eager to help you work through the maze of higher and higher hospital bills. They cared as much about the patient as the doctors and nurses at Howard.

Now, a year later, that is not the case. My impression of the Adventist Health System Finance Dept is that they could care less about the people they are tossing to the proverbial wolves.

I should note that I have taken care of those bills. But, what about the people who don’t have any recourse but to be at their mercy?

What has happened to our friendly little small town hospital?

Nothing good has come from the ever-growing list of changes that Adventist has implemented so far. Is this the price we have to pay for the new hospital?

Please, Howard Hospital, bring back our friendly, small town, superior service. We don’t want you to be “Just like all the others.”

Roni McFadden, Willits

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‘MEET THE ARTISTS’ EXHIBIT TOUR AT GRACE HUDSON — On Sunday, June 23^rd, from 2 to 3:30 pm, the Grace Hudson Museum will host a “Meet the Artists” tour of “Points of Encounter: Catherine Woskow and Larry Thomas,” the Museum’s current exhibit of two internationally known and widely exhibited painters. Both Woskow and Thomas will be on hand for the tour, along with Curator Marvin Schenck. The open dialogue between artists, curator, and audience will focus on the inspiration and creative techniques behind the art. The event is free with Museum admission. The Grace Hudson Museum is at 431 S. Main St. in Ukiah and is a part of the City of Ukiah’s Community Services Department. General admission to the Museum is $4, $10 per family, $3 for students and seniors, and free to members or on the first Friday of the month. For more information please go to www.gracehudsonmuseum.org or call 467-2836. — Roberta Werdinger

RAUL MALFAVON, 21, of Ray’s Road, Philo, was found dead Thursday morning about 6. Malfavon, an unmarried single man who reportedly lived with his sister, is presumed to have hanged himself.

HAMBURG CLAIMS DAMAGES FROM THE COUNTY Dan Hamburg’s Claim Against Mendocino County [Attorney Barry Vogel's Letterhead] May 28, 2013 To: Thomas Parker, Mendocino County Counsel Re: Claim Against Mendocino County. Failure to issue a death certificate and burial permit for Carrie J. Hamburg, aka Carol Jean Hamberg who died on March 5, 2013. Dear Mr. Parker, I represent Daniel E. Hamburg, the widower of Carol Jean Hamburg, aka Carol Jean Hamburg who died on March 5, 2013, and the executor of her estate filed as Mendocino County Superior Court Case SC UK CVPB 13260080. Based on the continuing refusal and failure of Mendocino County to issue a burial permit for and a death certificate certifying the fact that Carrie J. Hamburg, aka Carol Jean Hamburg, is deceased and buried, this claim is hereby made pursuant to government code Section 910. The fact that she is buried on private real property does not negate the fact that she is deceased. A death certificate and burial permit should therefore be issued. The present amount of this claim exceeds $10,000 for the legal fees incurred to date by the claimant. The amount of this claim will continue to accrue until resolution and may result in an unlimited civil action. All correspondence regarding this matter is to be sent to me at the above address. Yours very truly, Barry Vogel, Esq.

GRANDFATHERING SLUDGE

Editor,

Mendo County Supervisors under cover of darkness tried to grandfather sewage sludge composting.

SO THIS IS CIVILIZATION. Spent a day in Edinburgh, concluding that if Americans were still teachable we could learn how to manage cities from the Scots. For example, the center of San Francisco — and let’s call the center of our fairest large town the cable car turnaround at Powell and Market — is a medieval spectacle of drunks, drug addicts, cruising criminals, and the unsequestered insane. At Edinburgh’s civic center a nexus of bus, cab, train, restaurants, and coffee shops in the shadow of the magnificent castle, I counted exactly four bums in as many blocks, three of whom presented neatly printed messages asking for money. With a merry hands-across-the-waters, “Here ya go, pal,” I dropped some coins onto one man’s handkerchief-sized cloth, realizing too late I’d gifted him to the tune of about five bucks because I haven’t mastered the money here. “I’ll be fooked,” the bum exclaimed through a toothless grin. “A fookin’ Yank!” There were no visible lurks of the ubiquitous type menacing the public areas of every city and town of any size in America, and a national health service that treats crazy people rather than freeing them to die on the streets. Of course a national health care system is “socialism,” and we can’t have that, can we?

AS A MENDO-FRISCO GUY where an antiquity is a sagging wooden structure from 1850, Edinburgh, as all the towns I’ve seen, is aulde, as the splendid Princes’ gardens in the town center bear constant reminder. “Christian worship continuously on this site for 13 centuries,” and at regular intervals statues of Western Civ’s pivotal contributors. I paused before the monument to Sir James Young Simpson, inventor of anesthesia, sending up a prayer of gratitude before moving on to Thomas de Quincey, pioneer stoner. This is a very large garden, planted heavily in rhododendrons that made me think of my old friend Vern Piver of Fort Bragg who grew prize-winning rhodos. How Vern would have loved this place where I also marveled at its ecumenism at a plinth commemorating “Friends of the International Brigade Association to honor the memory of those who went from the Lothians and Fife to serve in the war in Spain — 1936-1939.” Denounced and hounded in the US as radicals and communists — “premature anti-fascists” — the International Brigades have been written out of American history. Here, they get a place of eternal honor.

THIS POEM was engraved on the plinth honoring the Scots who fought in Spain:

Not to the fanfare of trumpets

Nor even the shirl of the pipes

Not for the offer of a shilling

Nor to see their names up in lights

Their call was a cry of anguish

From the hearts of people of Spain

Some paid with their lives it is true

Their sacrifice was not in vain

CITIES AND TOWNS END ABRUPTLY in miles of green, sheep-studded open country. Similar landscapes in Liberty Land would be festooned with No Trespassing signs and electric fencing. Here, the population is trusted to walk where they might, the national assumption being that people can be trusted not to violate unimpeded access, including fishing access which is carefully parceled out in between public and private lengths of stream. You pay to fish the private, the public are public.

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NATURE WATCH, MIKE KALANTARIAN WRITES: Wednesday morning, rolling along Highway 128 just east of Navarro, I was startled by the vision of a large white deer descending off the roadway. I pulled over to get a better look. (I’d seen the fabled White Deer of Bell Valley, but compared to this apparition you’d want to rename them off-white or kinda grey.) The doe was vivid albino white and leisurely heading south, through the brush, with two little fawns in tow. The spotted fawns had all their regular brownish stripes and light spots, and weightlessly sprang away when they heard me approaching. Their mom, glowing in the morning light, calmly looked up from her grazing, and I marveled at her ability to, thus far, elude all predators.

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FOR THE FIRST TIME EVER, WE AGREE WITH JARED CARTER. (Of course if Charles Hurwitz wanted to do it…)

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To the Editor: I’ve been following, with sympathy for the parties involved, the issues presented by Dan Hamburg’s decision to bury his wife, Carrie, on their rural property without required governmental approval. Dan’s and Tom Allman’s positions are the easiest to understand. Dan loved his wife; she wanted to be buried there. Tom doesn’t want to precipitate a problem over an issue that will be around for awhile; in the short term nothing turns on the answers, so he wants to sit back an see if and how it works out. Barry Vogel is the guy I’m sorry for. His best pal of many years has done some thing blatantly illegal that is now being publicized, and Barry is expected to come up with a solution. But once the wave of sympathy passes, I’m left with the belief there are a couple of issues pre- sented by these events that are too important to push under the rug. The first is that a modern society, even a small rural society like ours in Mendocino County, won’t work well if either(i) just a few self-selected people like Dan Hamburg, or the rich client Doug Bosco wrote about a few days ago in the Press Democrat, can decide what rules will apply to the use of scarce resources like real estate, or (ii) every property owner can decide for themselves what rules will apply to the use of real estate. The second issue implicates Barry Vogel’s argument that the State constitutional right of privacy allows a surviving husband to bury his wife on a piece of property without regard to State and Local laws governing burials and land use. Probably, or at least possibly, Dan and Barry believe the County Counsel and Board of Supervisors, along with the Sheriff, will want to avoid appearing heavy handed with Dan and will reach a compromise that will allow this grave site to remain where it is and resolve the lawsuit in a manner that even provides Barry with a legal fee, paid by the County, for reaching a successful resolution to a novel and difficult constitutional law question. I think either result would be a serious mistake. It is, and always has been, a basic tenant of State and Federal law that property – real and personal – should be used and usable over time consistently with the rules governing its use. Even an “owner” can’t create a nuisance, pollute, or waste property, thereby taking it out of the economy, because later on its proper use will be important to the viability of the area of its location. Allowing a current owner to devote a parcel of real estate to use as a cemetery is contrary to these concepts, at least without clear rules governing parcel size, additional or future grave sites, maintenance, closure, etc. Obviously, no one would argue that every owner of a city lot can decide by themself to create a permanent grave site on the lot; so, the question arises: how large does the parcel have to be, and what other characteristics must it have, before its owner can unilaterally turn it into a cemetery; does the owner have to accept for burial anyone who applies, or can he/she control access? These questions are too important to let Dan decide by himself. When he became a supervisor he swore to uphold the laws and constitution of the State. He should back off his current stand and do so. But, that’s not the end of the matter. Barry’s constitutional argument should also be expressly rejected, not just left unanswered. The “right of privacy” protects living individuals – that is not Carrie, only Dan – from certain governmental, or governmentally supported, intrusions. It does not provide an individual with authority to overturn or ignore existing, well established rules in order to carry out private desires that can be attained only by violating existing law. The County Counsel and the Sheriff need to make that clear, not back away from the issue. — Jared G. Carter Ukiah

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A PRETEXT STOP WITHOUT A PESKY PRETEXT.

A READER, looking at a recent Sheriff’s Press Release, notes:

Manscratcher of the week: Nuchols, arrested for scratching her beau. By the way, investigative traffic stops are unconstitutional, unless there’s an actual traffic violation.

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On June 7, 2013, at about 6:57pm, Deputies from the Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office were dispatched to the 700 block of Port Road in Point Arena for a reported domestic related dispute. Deputies also received information that the involved parties were associated with a newer black Ford Mustang. While responding to the location, Deputies observed a vehicle leaving the area that matched the provided description. Deputies initiated an investigative traffic stop on the vehicle and made contact with the two occupants. Both occupants readily admitted to being cohabitating partners and the involved parties of the reported dispute. Deputies observed that the adult male had a visible injury to his arm and observed that the female, Christina Nuchols, 36, of Glenhaven, California, was intoxicated. Deputies were able to determine, by speaking to both parties, that Nuchols scratched the male during the alcohol related argument and caused the observed injuries to the male. Nuchols was subsequently arrested and transported to the Mendocino County Jail where she was booked on the open charge of Domestic Violence Battery and held in lieu of $25,000.00 bail. Nuchols was also booked on two active arrest warrants issued out of Colusa County. Nuchols had a $25,000 bail felony warrant for possession of a controlled substance and a $10,000 bail misdemeanor warrant for being under the influence of a controlled substance.

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THE WILLITS POLICE have determined that the razor-in-the-burger was indeed in the burger but had fallen there accidentally. 2 inch blades are used to clean the grill, and substitute blades are stored above it. The razor-burger’s purchaser was not injured. Mendocino County’s hard-hitting Health Department has advised the franchise to store the blades away from the grill.

TO MANY HUMBOLDTIANS, Willits is predominantly a place where a brief, internal “taco or burger” debate is waged as part of a trip down the 101 to catch a more dependable flight. Well, perhaps you should watch the following impressively thorough news report courtesy of Nick Monacelli of Sacramento’s ABC News 10 — a rising star if ever there was one. It may influence your future decisions. It seems, sometimes, Willits’ fast food restaurants let razor blades slip into their hamburgers. Specifically, between the cheese and the meat. Read this story by by Nick Monacelli of KXTV out of Sacramento about 46-year-old Yolanda Orozco’s chilling tale and then ask yourself this question: If we don’t build that Willits Bypass, am I next? (Hank Sims — Courtesy, LostCoastOutpost.com)

* * *

Willits, California — A local woman bit into her Burger King hamburger and found a razor blade.

On June 2, relatives of 46-year-old Yolanda Orozco went to the Burger King in Willits and ordered a few hamburgers.

“I bit off of it, I checked for onions and then I saw a razor blade in there,” said Orozco.

Fortunately, she didn’t take a big bite.

“I was in shock. I was just looking at it. Somebody at Burger King was careless,” she said.

Officer Mark McNelley with the Willits Police Department took the call.

“To be honest with you, I thought it was going to be a hoax,” he said.

The razor blade was the kind that can be bought at almost any hardware store. It had a single edge and “009-RD” etched into the side.

Orozco said the blade was hidden between the burger meat and the cheese.

McNelley and his partner spent six hours investigating, trying to determine who was malicious enough to intentionally place the razor on the burger.

However, they soon discovered there was no criminal wrongdoing, that no one intentionally did this. Rather, the officers determined it was an accident that could have easily been prevented.

That night, Burger King employees took the officers on a tour of the restaurant.

“And that’s when we saw the disconcerting sign of three other razor blades in close proximity to food,” McNelley said.

In such close proximity, one blade apparently fell onto Orozco’s burger.

According to the police report, employees told officers they use the razor blades for cleaning purposes. McNelley found them above the condiment area, on the counter in front of and even above the burger warming trays.

“I was definitely surprised. I didn’t expect to see that,” McNelley said.

Because no one broke any laws, the Willits Police Department has closed its investigation, but the Mendocino County Department of Environmental Health has stepped in.

Inspectors are mandating better training and a better system to track and store the blades.

Orozco said management from the restaurant has contacted her.

“They’ve called me and offered to see what I need. But right now, I’m just really paranoid,” Orozco said.

The Burger King Corporation issued a statement, reading:

Food safety is a top priority for BURGER KING® restaurants globally. Burger King Corp. has strict food handling and guest policies and procedures in place that all crew members are required to follow. Franchisees are responsible for implementing these policies and emphasize the proper food safety procedures to all crew members. The franchisee, who independently owns and operates this restaurant, is fully cooperating with the Willits Police Department.

Burger King’s media relations department did not respond when asked if using razor blades to clean was an accepted practice at its restaurants.

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CONTINUING the drive to rebuild the state’s infrastructure, the California Transportation Commission (CTC) today allocated $1 billion in funding for 153 transportation projects that will strengthen the state’s economy by sustaining and creating jobs while providing congestion relief for motorists statewide.

“We’re building transportation improvements that will benefit the state for decades to come and boost job growth in every region of California,” said Caltrans Director Malcolm Dougherty.

The allocations include nearly $541 million from Proposition 1B, a 2006 voter-approved transportation bond. In total, more than $15.5 billion in Proposition 1B funds have been put to work statewide.

Highlights of the funding allocations include:

Humboldt County – About $2 million to seismic retrofit three bridges along Route 101 near Trinidad.

Mendocino County – Almost $560 thousand to improve the intersection of Routes 1 and 20 near Fort Bragg to meet Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) requirements. (Caltrans Press Release)

LAST WEEK the Santa Rosa Press Democrat ran a story titled, “Winegrowers facing labor hurdles as harvest season approaches.”

The story began “Grape growers and farmers throughout the state are facing a range of challenges finding and holding on to laborers as they head into harvest.”

That was followed by this claim: “State enforcement agencies are cracking down on wage and labor violations, labor groups and activists are targeting farm companies with negative campaigns, and fewer workers are crossing the border from Mexico, grape growers were told Friday at the annual trade show held by Sonoma County Winegrowers.”

And: “Unions have been emboldened by recent changes to the California Agricultural Labor Relations Act…”

Trouble is, there’s no evidence that any of that is true.

“Unions”?

There’s only one “union” in California that might be “emboldened” by recent changes to the CALRA. That would be the United Farm Workers. A quick look at their webpage called “key campaigns” deals with immigration, heat-related injuries, a not-yet-passed bill to make it a bit easier for workers to join unions, the harm caused by methyl bromide and methyl iodide, etc. There’s nothing about “negative campaigns” against growers, nor does the UFW even have a facebook page.

There are no news stories, no press releases, no new government programs…

Nor could we find any evidence of “recent changes to the California Agricultural Labor Relations Act.” (There are some bills pending, but they’re far from enactment.)

The California Farm Bureau issued a report earlier this month called “On-farm labor: As harvest pace builds, farmers report shortages.”

What does the very conservative Farm Bureau think the reasons for labor shortages are?

“California Farm Bureau Federation Director of Labor Affairs Bryan Little, who also serves as chief operating officer for the Farm Employers Labor Service, said he believes the reasons for the shortages are similar to those reported last year, including an aging workforce, people not coming to California to work, and an improved Mexican economy. Plus, Little said, people in Mexico talk to their relatives here and learn that the US economy remains sluggish. ‘Everyone that I’ve talked to seems to be having trouble finding people,’ Little said. ‘The side-effect of short labor is that workers have a lot more leverage, so they can be pickier about what work they’ll accept. I think growers are already adjusting to that by paying higher wages’.”

There’s nothing in that lengthy Farm Bureau report about agency crackdowns, negative campaigns, or any targeting of farm companies for anything.

So where does all this obviously baseless paranoia come from?

Saqui

It turns out that the PD reporter, Cathy Bussewitz, went to a trade show (ironically sponsored by the Sonoma County Farm Bureau) and wrote down what a self-described labor attorney out of the central valley named Michael Saqui said as if he was some kind of authority. Mr. Saqui’s business depends on scaring growers into thinking their workers are out to get them, when actually all most workers are out to get is fair wages and working conditions.

Mr. Saqui rattled off a standard list of rural labor myths, regardless of truth or applicability, and Ms. Bussewitz duly wrote them down and the PD duly printed them. Just like Mr. Saqui wanted.

The only labor problem mentioned by Saqui that has any validity is the obvious fact that border crossings have become difficult lately and the country’s immigration problems remain in the hands of people who either don’t want to solve it or have no clue how to solve it.

The closest Mr. Saqui got to a specific labor problem was, “In one case, a tomato grower represented by Saqui did not know it had been hit with a labor relations complaint until the retailer that sold its tomatoes was targeted in a social media campaign, Saqui said. ‘We had no idea that they had filed unfair labor practices against us, because we had not been served with them,’ Saqui said.”

Does that sound credible to you? Mr. Saqui, a supposedly experienced attorney for ag employers, didn’t know that a complaint had been filed against his client?

And, does that even sound like a serious problem at all?

Of course not.

Nor does Mr. Saqui describe the “labor relations complaint” itself, just that he said he didn’t get served with it — which means it was a legitimate complaint.

We were unable to find any examples of a tomato retailer being targeted in a social media campaign. (There were some labor complaints about fast food joints using burger-tomatoes picked by underpaid workers in Florida back in 2005 or earlier. Surely Mr. Saqui couldn’t be referring to that case, could he?)

We wasted almost an hour of on-line searching and we could not find any evidence of any state agency cracking down on any farm labor violations. Nor could we find any evidence of “labor groups” (aka unions) targeting farm companies with negative campaigns.

We did find that fewer farmworkers are crossing the border from Mexico.

But we also found that some farm workers in marijuana country have discovered that growing pot pays more than the non-unionized mostly seasonal jobs offered by grape growers, most of which come with no benefits, and the few “benefits” that are offered (such as water, field latrines, transportation, etc.) are offered grudgingly or because they are legally required.

When it comes to farm labor issues, you’re actually better off going to the obviously biased reporting of the California Farm Bureau than you are of the supposedly “objective” reporting of the most prominent daily paper on the northcoast.

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IN THE GRAND TRADITION of imperial fraud, Obama will provide weapons to the Syrian rebels, many of whom are Taliban-oriented fanatics. Now, within our lifetimes, we’ve had the Gulf of Tonkin pretext to kick off the failed war on Vietnam; conjured weapons of mass destruction in Iraq that destroyed that society, leaving it in a permanent state of civil war; a war on Afghanistan that will return that country to the Taliban and warlords as soon as we withdraw; and now we have a bogus pretext of poison warfare to obligate us for years to people who hate US. Meanwhile, here at home, social chaos and onrushing, full-on economic depression.

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OBAMA: SWEAT THE SMALL STUFF FOR BIG JUSTICE

Time for the American People to Take Greater Charge

By Ralph Nader

The imaginative uses of the mighty presidency in American history and its bully pulpit have rarely been much above amateurish when it comes to helping people empower themselves. This has been the case even when the same party controls the White House and both Houses of Congress.

Consider the last opportunities when Clinton and Obama were in that enviable position, during 1993-1994 and 2009-2010, respectively. Both Clinton and Obama fell short, unable even to get an adequate public works agenda passed through Congress (Repair America) that would have produced good, un-exportable jobs in many communities.

Now Obama has lots of excuses as to why this and that cannot be accomplished. Due to his and the congressional Democrats’ inept political hands against the vulnerably vicious and corporatist Republican Party, Obama points to the Republican’s email Senate filibusters, and the stubborn postures of Reps. John Boehner and Eric Cantor as reasons for not really pushing, for example, for a very popular minimum wage that catches up with 1968, inflation-adjusted. (See timeforaraise.org.)

So let’s lower the bar and ask why Mr. Obama doesn’t just use his high visibility to put forces in motion that strengthen our democratic society without requiring legislation or tax revenues? Here are some suggestions, out of many:

1. Obama could announce his desire to speak to a convocation of leaders of national civic groups that have millions of members around the country. He could highlight their good works via the mass media. He could prompt more philanthropy, especially from the very rich, to these worthy organizations that work to help the poor, children, the environment, beleaguered communities and others in need. An annual increase of only $10 billion in private donations for more staff positions would produce more than 300,000 jobs a year and provide serious help to millions of people.

I wrote the president last year urging him to visit any Washington, D.C. hotel ballroom to meet with civic leaders, as did president-elect Jimmy Carter in 1976. The office of Michelle Obama replied that his schedule did not have time for such a gathering. Yet, he has gone to numerous distant factories to promote products, even going all the way to India to urge Indians to purchase Harley-Davidson motorcycles and Boeing airplanes.

2. After graduating from Columbia University, young Barack Obama worked for a few months at the New York Public Interest Research Group (NYPIRG) – a large and well-regarded, student-funded public interest organization involved in numerous community improvements around the state – advocating justice, not charity.

PIRGs operate in about 30 states. Not once has Obama addressed their gatherings and urged that all colleges and universities should provide similar check-offs that would enable millions of students to develop extracurricular civic skills and experiences while improving their society.

Engaging civil society helps balance Obama’s exhortations to students to seek occupational training at institutions of higher education. The president has declined to use his community organizing reputation in New York and Chicago to focus the public and the media on such simple ways to strengthen our weakening democracy.

There is no need to dwell much on comparisons of how much time he has spent cloistered with very wealthy campaign contributors who are further undermining our democracy.

3. The warring president might expend some of his fame to bring attention to those Americans who are waging peace through direct field involvement, advocacy or with peace studies. The corporate-criminal class gets the presence of the president at trade association meetings, but not the likes of the American Friends Service Committee or Colman McCarthy’s Center for Teaching Peace working to expand peace studies curricula at high schools and colleges (http://washingtonpeacecenter.net).

4. What about visiting events defending unions under attack by right-wing governors and their corporatist allies or encouraging workers in large companies to unionize as he subsidizes these corporate bosses with many programs?

Remarkably, President Obama studiously avoided going to Madison, Wisconsin in 2011 to support the rallying of workers against Governor Scott Walker’s moves to stripmine worker rights. He also banned Vice President Joe Biden (a self-styled union man) from accepting an invitation there by the Wisconsin Labor Federation.

By contrast, he walked across Lafayette Park in February 2011 to pay homage to the chronically selfish and anti-labor U.S. Chamber of Commerce. He could have gone around the corner to visit the AFL-CIO representing 13 million American workers, but he declined.

5. Championing, through check-off facilities, so that people can voluntarily band together around specific endeavors would be easy for the president. He could start by establishing check-offs for taxpayer watchdog associations on the 1040 tax return and periodic postal notices to residential addresses inviting people to join a postal consumers’ group. Corporations are massively over-represented compared to citizens at the councils of government.

All companies receiving corporate welfare from taxpayers should be required, as a condition of getting these subsidies, handouts and bailouts, to include in their bills and communications with customers invitations for consumers to band together and support nonprofit organizations with full-time consumer champions fighting for their rights.

Just about every industry in the country – banking, utilities, insurance, fuel, healthcare, food – is on the dole, one way or the other. This simple reciprocity would facilitate tens of millions of Americans to have an organized voice and expertise to defend and extend their livelihoods (http://www.citizensutilityboard.org/).

If President Obama sweats the small stuff, he will empower the American people to take greater charge of their government and their future over the destructive and cowardly corporatism that now dominates Washington, D.C.

(Ralph Nader is a consumer advocate, lawyer and author of Only the Super-Rich Can Save Us! He is a contributor to Hopeless: Barack Obama and the Politics of Illusion, published by AK Press. Hopeless is also available in a Kindle edition.)

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REGARDING last week’s item about billionaire Jeffrey Skoll’s local property known as Shenoa and his direct pumping from the river during record low flows, a knowledgeable local writes that Skoll’s pumping is probably legal: “The Shenoa property has had permitted riparian water rights to Rancheria Creek since July 19, 1956. The permit — though hard to find — can be seen on the internet. Water from the river was used for pasture irrigation from the late 1950s through at least the late 1980s. This permitted use predates EVERY current vineyard on the floor of Anderson Valley and certainly predates the wholesale granting of riparian rights in the 1990s (?) to some 50 or 60 vineyards (or, in some cases, individuals) that were pumping water illegally from the Navarro River watershed before they were caught. Although there has been a long hiatus between the previous use of the riparian right and the current use, it is permitted use. In short, Shenoa and Jeff Skoll have done nothing wrong here. I think acknowledging such would be a nice gesture.”

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CONGRESSMAN HUFFMAN’S LATEST STUNT: Your Congressman Will Limit Himself to $4.50 Per Day For Food — for a Week.

Atta, Huff! Press release from the office of Jared Huffman:

Congressman Jared Huffman (D-San Rafael) will take the SNAP Challenge next week, limiting himself to $4.50 per day for food, the average daily benefit for a recipient of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), formerly known as “food stamps.” This coincides with consideration of the House Farm Bill, authored by Chairman Frank Lucas (R-OK) which cuts $20 billion from SNAP. This bill will eliminate food assistance to nearly two million low-income Americans, and shuts 210,000 children out of free or reduced-cost school meals. Huffman will participate in the SNAP challenge for five days, starting Monday, June 17 and will keep a record on Twitter and Facebook.

“SNAP is a lifeline for millions of Americans families who cannot afford to eat without this modest assistance. That’s why the proposal by House Republican Leadership to slash funding for SNAP is so unconscionable,” Congressman Huffman said. “We need Congress to understand what these cruel austerity measures mean on a personal level rather than a generic statistical sample, which is why I’m taking the SNAP Challenge next week and learning what it means to live off of the average SNAP recipient’s $4.50 a day.”

47 million, or one in seven Americans, receives SNAP benefits. Nearly 75% of SNAP recipients are families with children, and more than a quarter of SNAP recipients are households with seniors or people with disabilities. Under the House Farm Bill, 850,000 households would lose an average of $90—nearly a full week’s worth of groceries—per month.

A provision in the bill would cause many working households to lose all their SNAP benefits merely because they own a car. For many families on the North Coast, a car isn’t a luxury—it’s a necessity for families who commute to work.

According to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, nearly 95 percent of federal SNAP spending goes directly to families to buy food. The remaining funding goes toward administrative costs, including reviews to determine that applicants are eligible, monitoring of retailers that accept SNAP, and anti-fraud activities.

— Andrew Goff (Courtesy, LostCoastOutpost.com)

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THIRTY-EIGHT POETS with other friends of the lively word, participated in the 38th Anniversary marathon Mendocino Spring Poetry Celebration at the Hill House — the ninth annual revival of this event, commemorating earlier readings in Mendocino town, as well as early activity in the ongoing poetry  communities of Point Arena, Ukiah, Willits, and elsewhere in the north counties.   Heard were Dan Essman, Zo Abell, Theresa Whitehill, Oasis, Jay Frankston, Dan Roberts, Roberta  Wertinger, Louisa Arenow, David Cesario, Steve Hellman, Jeanine Pfeiffer, Janferie Stone, Jewels  Marcus, Janice Blue, Marylin Motherbear Scott, Maureen Eppstein, Scott Croghan, Joe Smith,  Bill Bradd, Gordon Black, Tara Sufiana, Jacquelin Hewett, Cheri Ause, Janet DeBar, ruth weiss, Sharon Doubiago, Robert Yoder, Zida Borsich, Craig Chaffin, Michael Riedell, Linda Noel, Laura  West, Ethel Mays, Mitchell Holman, Rob Haughwout, Virginia Sharkey, Debra Pollen, Sam Edwards.  Pictures of the readers may be viewed here: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10200599814452396.1073741824.1070514439&type=1&l=2e3678c17f  Bassist Richard Cooper provided music. Choice comestibles were served. The readings were held in two sessions—one beginning at noon, the other at 6:00 PM, each with a break. Between the two sessions, participants enjoyed the town and the coastal headlands.  Dan Roberts conducted the readings and recorded poems to be broadcast in coming weeks on KZYX&Z,  90.7 FM in Philo, Public Broadcasting for Mendocino County.  Dan’s radio show, RhythmRunningRiver, admirably combines music and poetry. It is heard from  2:00 to 4:00 PM, West Coast time, on alternate Sundays, and streams at kzyx.org.  The event was produced by Gordon Black. Keep reading, keep writing!

AMERICA BEING A NEW COUNTRY, and now a fragged people who don’t know their neighbors let alone honor anything resembling the community we once knew, ancient Selkirk is a reminder, to this American, of how much we’ve lost. Imagine Thanksgiving, the homecoming game, the 4th of July, the county fair, a commemorative Veteran’s Day honoring the fallen all the way back to the Vikings, and the American begins to grasp the significance of what community history is to Selkirk. Half of my family rose from this place, a hill town in an area called The Borders not far from England whose bandits the Scots fought off for hundreds of years. The men doing the fighting are typically described as “ferocious,” in a culture emphasizing hardiness, tenacity and courage. Twenty of us are here to celebrate all of the above.

In 1913 my grandfather, a native of the town where his father had been a magistrate, was standard bearer for an ongoing event commemorating both the Battle of Flodden some 400 years ago and the ancient practice of common riding.

Selkirk’s warriors had joined an invasion of England under their last king, James, meeting the Brits at Flodden for a thorough defeat. Only one Selkirkian, a man named Fletcher, survived. He staggered back into town with Selkirk’s battle flag, waving it in slow, sad flourishes to silently explain the catastrophe to the townspeople. And then he dropped dead.

The common riding came later. It was an annual mass horse patrol of the town’s grazing areas to ensure that the savages the next ridge over hadn’t intruded. “These hills are soaked in blood,” a local summed up the area’s history, “all the way back and before the Romans.”

It’s a great honor to be selected standard bearer as the population from miles around remembers the Battle of Flodden and recalls the days of the Commons patrols. In 1913, my grandfather was a standard bearer representing the Colonial Society, which is not a collection of nostalgic imperialists, but an association of men and women drawn from the vast Scots diaspora. Us returnees were acknowledged as exiles in a large ceremony featuring some witty speeches — “I won’t say why Mr. Anderson was exiled” — and quite moving songs celebrating the beauty of the town. This year, my nephew, Robert Mailer Anderson, was standard bearer, a tense responsibility that culminates with the complicated flag ritual in which the standard bearers, in multi-step, choreographed moves set to a single trumpet (I think), re-enact that single surviving warrior’s return from the Battle of Flodden more than 400 years ago.

The standard bearer performs the flag ceremony before the whole town. Thousands of people assemble in the town square, all of them intently focused on the American to see if he can manage the physically taxing ritual. Nephew managed in fine style to huge applause.

Earlier in the day, came the Common Riding, several hundred horsemen thundering down the hill, then galloping back up the hill, a stunningly beautiful panorama of charging horses like this guy has never seen.

Selkirk takes these events quite seriously. The whole town turns out, from small children to ancient crones in wheelchairs. As a citizen of a rootless country now characterized by soul-destroying visual uniformity, the presence of so many young people at the week-long series struck me particularly; they were not only growing up in a place architecturally unchanged for centuries, their pride in sense of place was evident when they joined in the hearty, commemorative sing-a-longs. The work of local poets, including Walter Scott, hung from many walls of the town center which, at every turn, presents vistas of meandering stone walls, gardens, tree-lined lanes, and formidable old houses, large and small, also made of stone. And everywhere large, florid men and women. My people! My people! I felt right at home.

Anderson Road, Selkirk, Scotland

I was standing outside one event when there was a burst of applause to which a passing pedestrian responded, “Must have been another lie.” He didn’t laugh, but a mere visitor isn’t likely to understand the variety of local sentiment. Imagine a visiting Scot stumbling across the Mendocino List Serve! He’d think he’d wandered into a back ward of The Bin, but certainly wouldn’t conclude he was reading prevalent American opinion.

FOOTNOTE: The Scots under King James had invaded England where they fought the English of Henry the 8th led by the Earl of Surrey. The English won such a decisive victory, that was the end of kings for Scotland. Only one man from Selkirk’s contingent made it home. James himself went down fighting. Many of the Scot troops were aristocrats, as were the Brit soldiers. Those were the days that the ruling classes were at the front themselves.

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JOHN CHAMBERLIN has died. A well-known artist and musician on the Mendocino Coast for more than forty years, Chamberlin’s ingenuous graphics were often featured on event posters, and he was just as well-known for his gifts as a musician.

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A GIANT REDWOOD FOREST in northern Sonoma County that was on the verge of being divvied up and plowed over into a patchwork of high-end vineyards has been preserved by a public-private partnership that engineered what is being touted as the largest land conservation deal in California history.

The group, led by the east-coast based nonprofit Conservation Fund, purchased 19,645 acres of forest known as Preservation Ranch, just east of Annapolis, saving the vast ridgetop groves of redwood from being plowed over for vineyards.

The $24.5.million purchase is part of an effort by the fund to eventually preserve more than 125,000 acres of Douglas fir and redwood forest and use sustainable management practices to conserve critical habitat, restore native watersheds and support local economies through “light-touch” timber management.

 The ranch, which is 13 times larger than Golden Gate Park and will be renamed Buckeye Forest, is part of an experiment in Northern California in which redwood groves are being preserved and selectively logged in a way that allows the overall forest to grow faster, enabling the owners to gain credits in the state’s emerging carbon market.

The plan is to improve creek habitat for steelhead trout and restore coho salmon, which were wiped out in the area by repeated logging in the past. Several hundred miles of logging roads will be re-engineered or removed in an attempt to cut erosion and sedimentation that Kelly said devastated spawning habitat in Buckeye Creek and the other streams that drain into the Gualala River. (Courtesy, the San Francisco Chronicle)

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Redmond

TIM REDMOND has been ousted from his long-time position as the main guy at the San Francisco Bay Guardian. This isn’t good news for what’s left of independent journalism in San Francisco. Redmond has been an unwavering voice for The City’s beleagured working people, its renters and all the ordinary people who make The City go, a city long under the sway of big money Democrats. He’s also been a strong voice for what’s left of progressive political opinion generally.

THE GUARDIAN, the SF Weekly and the SF Examiner are owned by a newspaper chain whose idea of newspapering is life style fluff. As free papers they depend on advertising and legal ads, and, one supposes, the latest in food and tattoos brings in the do re mi.

IT DOESN’T, and newspapers in print form are on the way out anyway, pushed aside by millions of bloggers and the Gizmo-dependent young who don’t read anything longer than a tweet. San Francisco is now a one paper town, the fast-fading Chronicle, editorially captive of the forces Redmond has always resisted.

Vogt

ACCORDING TO fogcityjournal.com, a guy named Todd Vogt who co-owns the San Francisco Newspaper Company which owns the Bay Guardian, “axed Redmond for refusing to cut three of six newsroom staff, according to a reliable source who did not want to be cited by name because of fear of retribution. Vogt is claiming to others within the organization that Redmond resigned, ‘which is a lie,’ the source said. Reached by phone, Redmond told FCJ, “At midnight last night I got a letter from Todd saying ‘your resignation is accepted.’ But I never submitted a resignation.” Asked why he was fired, Redmond said, “Todd and I had a significant disagreement over personnel.”

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A COASTAL READER WRITES: Dear AVA, Life is not fair, and death should be more bio-degradable.

About 20 years ago a teenage family member died and we explored options for organic internment. One option we investigated was to have home burial for the body and a ceremony in memory. The Burial Project from the Russian River area came to our home to consult on the subject, although I can no longer find them on the Internet.

If we applied for a burial permit, we would be submitting a formal request creating sanctified land on our property — forevermore. This burial plot on private sanctimonious land would be properly designated as a family gravesite, formal or informal, and attached to the description on the deed of trust. Naturally, some people with long illnesses have plenty of time to prepare for the permit. Others, not.

The pitfalls of even legal burial on family land is that if the property ever goes outside of the family, someone unrelated may own your loved-one’s bones and gravesite — unless you move the remains and take them with you for reburial elsewhere. Ghoulish, but true, this happens. The legal wrangling can be tedious and hideous. Expect one or the other. They all require permits to be legal.

One thing some families do when they take such chances and don’t have time for or don’t want to apply for a permit, is to pay for a regular gravesite in a cemetery plot; secretly weight a “closed” casket to the body weight of the deceased at the time of death; and have a closed casket funeral ceremony with following burial of the mock weighted coffin (sans body) in a regular cemetery. Then hope attendees and authorities believe what they think they’ve seen.

In actuality, you have a small closed-lip private funeral wherever you’ve chosen as your family plot on your private land. Some mourners like the idea of hiding the gravesite in plain sight, rendering it totally biodegradable, site unseen. Others make formal fences, a park or orchard, designating the gravesite in that protected way.

The Burial Project introduced sturdy enough corrugated cardboard coffins which were bio-degradable and would go dust to dust back to the earth with the cadaver, most easily. Today I notice that mushrooms are used to help the body decompose even faster. No cost for embalming, viewing hall, formal coffin and especially, the vault — which are all meant to strangely preserve the deceased’s body. Buddhists cremate the body to help the spirit of the person go on to their next best good. Body preservation is anathema to Buddhist belief.

Preservation of the dead is unnatural. Unless you’re planning on moving the remains around as many times as Lincoln’s well-travelled corpse (which, is reported to still look marvelous after several exhumations); why would you need preservation of the remains?

Some folks choose the secret funeral on private land without a permit, so they don’t get hassled. However, it is almost impossible to keep those attending the private ceremony silent about the nature of the organic funeral located on family land — for all the obvious reasons the Hamburg family is unpleasantly experiencing presently after releasing information about the burial of their beloved on family land without a permit.

Like everything else in life, choice is usually preferred, but there are sensible reasons to not let the burial of human remains happen in watersheds, flood zones, and many other obvious preserved “zones.”

Sanctimonious: Humble, meek, modest, holy.

Dan Hamburg: Pecksniffian, deceiving, false, goody-goody, holier than thou, hypocritical, insincere, pious, self-satisfied, smug, stuffy, unctuous.

The exact opposite of sanctimonious.

No wonder he didn’t know about it.

A BIG ENVIRONMENTAL GROUP is rumored to have offered $300k to the Skunk Line to repair and restore the collapsed tunnel in return for a conservation easement on the railroad right of way (or the part that’s not already in conservation easement, such as the old-growth redwoods on the Willits side at the switchbacks). It’s not official yet, but apparently an offer has been made and it’s hard to imagine the railroad line would turn it down. If the deal is done, it’ll be announced soon. If it pans out it’ll be a win-win in the honest sense of the term.

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A LOCAL READER advises that phone customers should be wary of switching to Verizon phone service to get the cheaper promotional rate for a relative’s or friend’s cellphone. After seven months of poor Verizon service, the local man tried to cancel and switch back to AT&T, but the fees and other added charges for switching were more than the amount saved for the cheaper cellphone/service (although the cellphone service itelf was ok). “The NSA should have a field day with this,” the reader said. “I’ll bet a lot of the calls their picking up are people who are only calling because of Verizon’s lousy service.”

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FISH ROCK ROAD will be getting some long-overdue “sediment reduction” treatment (presumably gravel and rock) in “multiple locations” later this year and into next year as part of the slow-moving “TMDL” (Total Maximum Daily Load) program for the Garcia River which mandates various kinds of attempts at reducing the amount of sediment in that fish-bearing river. 75% of the money will come from a state grant and 25% from the County road fund. Specific costs, schedules and locations will be announced after the contract is awarded.

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EXHIBIT B OF THE CONTRACTS with the Ortner Management Group and Redwood Management Company, the two companies which will provide adult mental health services for Mendocino County under the new privatization regime, describes the payments that Ortner and Redwood will get for their services. You might think that lawyers are well-paid for their “billable hours,” and you’d be right. But Ortner and Redwood take that one step further with a schedule for “billable minutes.”

ORTNER AND REDWOOD will get $2.61 per minute for “assessment/plan development/case conferencing therapy (individual, group and family)/ collateral services rehabilitation services (individual & group)”; and for “therapeutic behavioral services.” They’ll get $2.02 per minute for “case management linkage.” $3.88 per minute for “crisis intervention.” And $4.82 per minute for “medication management and support.” (Note: $2.02 per minute is about $121 per hour. $2.61 per minute is about $157 per hour. $3.88 per minute is about $233 per hour. And $4.82 per minute is about $290 per hour.)

THIS WILL BRING a whole new meaning to the phrase, “The meter is running.” At least with a taxi driver you have a decent chance of getting where you want to go, or at least knowing you’re not moving.

PS. At an average of, say, $3.00 per minute with a contract value estimated to be $6.7 million… The taxpayers would be paying Ortner for the equivalent about 18 people charging by the minute for one year. Redwood’s contract value is about $8.8 million which translates to the equivalent of almost 24 people charging by the minute.

THE CONTRACTS also call for the County to provide technical assistance training to these contract staffers, most of which is to teach the contract staff how to fill out and file their bills. You’d think that for hundreds of dollars an hour they’d be able to handle that themselves, but… There’s no indication of whether the staffers who are paid by the minute are also paid while they’re in training, but…

THE TRICKY PART OF THIS, beyond the obvious rip-off of course, is how the remainder of the County mental health staff will feel knowing their conversations with the contractor’s helping professionals who are now doing their jobs are being paid much more than they got as government employees — by the minute, much less the process leading to authorizing mentally ill people into privatized treatment programs knowing that having a helping professional talk to a mildly crazy person is going to cost hundreds of dollars for each hour of allegedly helpful conversation.

SINCE many of Mendo’s mentally ill are so-called “dual diagnosis” patients (i.e., their mental illness is intermingled with their addiction to drugs both legal and illegal), there’s a bottomless pit of clients to generate billable minutes with, whether it’s talking to the client, writing things down about the client or going to court to get the client institutionalized. Or detailing their bill down to the minute.

BILLABLE MINUTES. That may be the single biggest reason NOT to privatize mental health services. Reducing mental health services, some of which we’ll concede may help the client or his/her family at times, to how many billable minutes are involved in dealing with them is about as impersonal and inhumane as you can get.

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ONE OF THE INTERESTING THINGS about the County’s proposed budget for next year (starting July 1, 2013) is how the $53 million of “discretionary revenue” spending breaks down. (The rest of the county’s total budget of well over $200 million is driven by specific state and federal programs and grants over which the County has essentially no control.) Of the $53 million, the Sheriff, Jail, District Attorney, Public Defender, Alternate Public Defender, “Conflict Defender,” Juvenile Hall, and Probation, aka the criminal justice system (not counting the courts) get almost $31 million, or almost 60%. The rest is spread amongst some 40 other departments including the Executive Office, Clerk of the Board and the Board of Supervisors which together cost $2 million off the top. The other departments which cost more than $1 million are: Assessor, Buildings and Grounds, Information Services, Planning and Building, Social Services Administration, CalWorks/Foster Care, and In Home Supportive Services. The County spends almost $600k on “General Relief/Assistance,” but a good chunk of that is for the staff who provide it so the actual “relief/assistance” is only a fraction of the $600k.

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ASSET FORFEITURE is a subject that was frequently brought up under former District Attorney Meredith Lintott’s tenure when asset forfeiture values seemed disproportionately high. It has pretty much dropped off the public’s radar screen since DA David Eyster took office. But the program, mostly stemming from drug related arrests, continues to generate huge amounts of money for Mendocino County. In 2009 Mendo took in about $2.6 million and distributed about $2.1 million. In 2010, Mendo took in about $1.8 million and distributed about $1.9 million. In 2011, Mendo took in about $1.6 million and distributed almost $2.4 million. In 2012 Mendo took in over $2.3 million and distributed almost $1.6 million. And so far in 2013 Mendo is on pace to end up with about $2.1 million in seized cash and assets for the year. (The numbers don’t add up because apparently money is carried over from year to year and some of it is returned after criminal cases are concluded.)

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FISHING, ENVIRONMENTAL, FARMING GROUPS WILL SUE TO HALT DELTA PLAN

by Dan Bacher

In the latest escalation of the California water wars, a statewide coalition of fishing, environmental and farming groups on Monday, June 17 will announce the filing of a lawsuit to stop the Delta Plan, a document that lays the groundwork for the Delta water export tunnels.

The details of the lawsuit will be released to the media through a press release and 10:30 am conference call. The groups filing the litigation include the California Water Impact Network (C-WIN), California Sportfishing Protection Alliance, AquAlliance, Restore the Delta, Friends of the River and Center for Biological Diversity.

“The Delta Reform Act gave the Delta Stewardship Council a historic opportunity to remedy 40 years of water policy failures,” said Santa Barbara resident Carolee Krieger, executive director of the California Water Impact Network (C-WIN), a statewide water advocacy organization.

“The council instead failed to use the best available science – biological or economic – and adopted a status quo program that fails to fix the Delta or the water supply problem. The Council failed to honor its own mandate: the adoption of an effective strategy for the distribution of water and the preservation of the Delta,” Krieger stated.

The conference call will feature Carolee Krieger, representing C-WIN; Bill Jennings, California Sportfishing Protection Alliance; Barbara Vlamis, AquAlliance; Barbara Barrigan-Parrilla, Restore the Delta; Michael Jackson, Attorney for several groups; Bob Wright, Attorney for Friends of the River; Adam Lazar, Center for Biological Diversity.

Attorney Mike Jackson said the lawsuit’s purpose is to rectify the Delta Stewardship Council’s ignoring of the requirements placed on them by the Delta Reform Act.

Jackson explained, “As an example, the Delta Reform Act told the State Water Resources Control Board to do a water flow investigation to find out what it would take to protect the estuary. The state board turned in a flow recommendation and the Council didn’t use the flows in the plan.”

“The Delta Reform Act also instructed the California Department of Fish and Wildlife to report to the Council what the biological goals and objectives should be for species in the Delta. The CDFW wrote hundreds of pages in a report and turned it in to the Council. The Council not only did not use it, but didn’t even mention the goals and objectives in the plan,” he said.

“Finally, the Delta Reform Act instructed the Delta Protection Commission to write a report about economic sustainability. The Commission wrote the report and turned it in to the Council – and again, they didn’t use it,” said Jackson.

The common thread?

“In all three cases, the documents were inconvenient to the approval of the tunnels,” Jackson emphasized.

Jackson said the Delta Plan also violated the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) in ten different ways.

For more information, contact: Steve Hopcraft 916/457-5546; steve [at] hopcraft.com Twitter: @shopcraft.

The litigation by Delta advocates follows the lawsuit filed by the Westlands Water District and San Luis and Delta-Mendota Water Authority on May 24 to require the Delta Stewardship Council to revise the Delta Plan “to be consistent with the 2009 Delta Reform Act, which created the Council.” (http://yubanet.com/california/Dan-Bacher-Westlands-Water-District-Files-Lawsuit-Against-Delta-Plan.php)

“In particular, the action asserts that the Delta Plan fails to achieve the co-equal goals of Delta ecosystem restoration and water supply reliability established by the Act,” the district said.

“The Delta Plan may be the most incomplete environmental document I’ve ever seen and, in that regard, I do agree with Westlands,” said Jackson.

In other Delta news, a group of over 30 organizations from across the political spectrum have formed Californians for a Fair Water Policy. This statewide coalition is working to defeat the $54.1 billion tunnels project that will “unfairly and unnecessarily burden California’s taxpayers, ratepayers, and the environment.” (http://www.fishsniffer.com/reports/details/statewide-campaign-launched-to-defeat-governor-browns-50-billion-water-tunn/)

Besides being enormously expensive, the construction of the tunnels is likely to hasten the extinction of Central Valley Chinook salmon, Delta and longfin smelt and other fish species and would take vast areas of Delta farmland, among the most fertile on the planet, out of production in order to provide massive amounts of water to irrigate drainage impaired land on the west side of the San Joaquin Valley. The Delta Plan lays the groundwork for the construction of the salmon-killing tunnels.

The tunnel plan also threatens the Trinity River, the largest tributary of the Klamath River and the only out-of-basin water supply diverted into the Central Valley. The legendary salmon and steelhead river flows though the Hoopa Valley Indian Reservation and Humboldt County before joining the Klamath at Weitchpec.

To my knowledge, no river system or estuary has ever been restored by taking more water out of it.

More information about the battle to fight the tunnels is available at http://www.restorethedelta.org.

STOP THE PRESSES! In a hard hitting lead story by Brett Wilkerson in Saturday’s Santa Rosa Press Democrat called Wineries Court Gay Customers, Wilkerson begins, “Los Angeles couple Brian Chield and Bryan Hollingshead sat around a patio table Saturday sipping Rosso di Sonoma, a red blend from their host Petroni Vineyards, perched high over Sonoma Valley. For a warm weekend in Wine Country, the scene was hardly groundbreaking. But the pair of tasters and the half-dozen other same-sex couples with them were part of a new brand of gathering in the gay and lesbian community built around wine.”

GUESS WHAT, BRETT? This isn’t news, and I defy you and your craven editors to find a single reader who it’s of interest to. The Press Democrat‘s desperate pandering to the booze industry has managed to turn into a parody of itself.

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TODD WALTON’S great novel, Inside Moves, has been re-issued by Pharos Editions, “dedicated to bringing to light out-of-print, lost, or rare books of distinction.” Inside Moves is certainly a rare book of distinction, and Pharos didn’t have to beg another writer of distinction, Sherman Alexie, to write the introduction:

“THE FIRST DRAFT of this introduction was 33 pages. The second draft was 21 pages. You are reading the ninth draft. Why did I struggle to finish this intro and deliver it late to my publisher? Because I caught an elbow in the mouth playing pickup basketball, lost a front tooth, and cracked my upper mandible. Less than 12 hours after the accident I was in a dentist chair, stoned on laughing gas, as I received a human and pig bone combo graft in my face. Yes, I am part-pig now. So when I eat bacon does that make me a cannibal? After a few weeks of recovery, I began the early drafts of this intro. I wrote and wrote and wrote. The intro became a short memoir about my basketball life. It detailed my journey from clumsy grade schooler into farm town high school star to community college recruit who declined those offers and accepted academic scholarships to attend Gonzaga University where I played basketball with other hoops rodents and sometimes ran with the college team. Yes, I’m proud to say that I was able to run with a Division I college team and not completely embarrass myself. I used to be good. Not great. But good enough to play with almost anybody. But I am in decline now. Oh, I still play with former college and professional players, but I have become the old guy who hits a few shots, sets good picks, and will still hit the floor for loose balls. I’m the old guy who gets his face busted by elbows. But I’m also the old guy who ordered a field hockey goalie mask from New Zealand so I can protect my whole face as I returned to my weekly run. Yes, I’m playing ball with a still healing bone graft. I have to play. I would get so depressed without hoops that I’d feel a thousand little deaths. Todd Walton’s Inside Moves is about that same kind of crazy passion for basketball. It’s about that same kind of crazy passion for life. For physical and spiritual survival. I can’t begin to tell you exactly how much Inside Moves means to me. It is the best novel about basketball ever written. And I’m sure you just thought, “Wait, how many novels about basketball are there?” There aren’t enough, that’s for sure. Most of the great sports novels are about baseball. But I think inside moves ranks with the very best sports novels ever written. To give the most basic comparison, inside moves is the Bull Durham of basketball, except with war injuries, amputees, prostitutes, radical surgery, and the lonesome, lonesome wails of hungry souls. After you read it, you’ll want to play hoops with a broken jaw.” — Sherman Alexie

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RECOMMENDED READING: Highly recommended. If you only read a book every few years, read this one, the clearest explanation you will get of what the hell happened to US. “The Unwinding: An Inner History of the New America” by George Packer. This isn’t one of those massive, foot-noted jobs; it’s told along the lines of Dos Passos’ epic USA Trilogy with implicating headlines and quotes from the increasingly decadent political-financial-celeb elites who’ve profited from the destruction of millions of Americans and the places they live. The book reads like a novel, a very good novel. There’s great stuff in it from the inside on the looting of the system by Geithner-Paulson types and their enablers at the national level of government — mega-swine like Chris Dodd, the Clintons, dupes like Colin Powell, Newt Gingrich, Dianne Feinstein. The mysteriously remote Obama government has, as we know, deferred to all of the above, leaving US exiles in our own country, a country now overtly run by the very wealthy assisted by a permanent elected class, gutted regulatory agencies, a corrupted legal system, and a sock-puppet media. The only people who come off looking pretty good are Alice Waters, Elizabeth Warren and the minority of lonely souls left in our estranged land who try to fight back. How will it end? Not well, and Not Well is accelerating in ways headed straight for major disorder and huge suffering. Packer’s book confirms your worst suspicions, but it should be required reading as an accurate assessment of where WE are.

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COMMENT OF THE DAY: “At the heart of the matter is this. Industrialism is an entropic project. It accelerates and intensifies entropy, which is to say the drive toward disorder and death. Tradition in human societies is the great moderator of entropy. Of course nothing stays the same forever, but some of us would like to see the human project continue, and to get to place where it can feel comfortable with itself for a while, perhaps even something resembling a new (and completely unfamiliar) golden age, when the people not asleep can be trusted.” (Jim Kunstler)

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ARTWALK REMINDER!

Editor,

AVArts, AV Chamber of Commerce and Boonville businesses are currently organizing the 16th annual Boonville ArtWalk for Saturday, July 6th from noon-6pm.

Participating artists and craftspeople this year include: Peggy Dart, Paula Gray, Sony Hatcher, Rainbow Hill, Charlie Hochberg, Dennis Hudson, Tom McFadden, Cathleen Michaels & Anderson Valley Students, Alan Porter, Terry Ryder, Ismael Sanchez, Colleen Schenck, Susan Spencer & Michael Wilson, Dan Sitts, Denver Tuttle, Xenia King, Jan Wax & Chris Bing and others.

Tara Lane will be offering a special kids’ art activity on the lawn at Rookie-To, from noon-2pm. The gallery will be hosting a “meet the artists” reception, with music by Wild Oats, from 4-6pm. Lauren’s will also be hosting a reception, from 3-6pm, is featuring a special show of “Wildflowers of Ernest Clayton” (the grandfather Gene Herr and Nancy Praetzel). Aquarelle will have its wine bar open, and appetizers available, throughout the event.

There are still venues available for local artists and craftspeople who would like to participate in this fun event. Send an email to contact@av-arts.org, or call 895-2204, for more information. — Anderson Valley Arts, Boonville

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ON JUNE 17, 2013, at 7:48am the Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office was contacted by a person who had received second hand information of a possible homicide at a remote location on Spyrock Road in Laytonville. Based upon the reported information, personnel from the Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office, California Highway Patrol and California Department of Fish & Wildlife responded to the location. On June 17 at approximately 11:15am law enforcement personnel arrived at the location and found one deceased person, presumed murdered. Sheriff’s Detectives have responded to the location and have begun an investigation into the circumstances of the person’s death. Additional information will be disseminated by press release as the investigation continues. Anyone with information in regards to this incident is urged to contact the Sheriff’s Office Tip-Line by calling 707-234-2100. (Sheriff’s Office Press Release)

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RAILHEADS SEEK STILLMAN’S OUSTER FROM NCRA BOARD

by Hank Sims (Courtesy, LostCoastOutpost.com)

Stillman

A couple of months ago we had some fun with the news that Arcata City Councilmember Alex Stillman had managed to get herself appointed to the board of directors of the North Coast Railroad Authority, a body that has heretofore been more or less dominated by True Believers in Humboldt’s imminent return to the glory days of striped suspenders and choo-choo caps. In our writeup we channeled the voice of those who fervently dream of the train’s glorious arrival on the shores of Humboldt Bay after a decade and a half of absence, showering the land with riches untold. Hopefully we had a few yuks in the process.

Well, who’s laughing now?

At its regular meeting tomorrow night, the Eureka City Council will take up the matter of Mayor Frank Jager’s apostasy in voting for Stillman over full-bore railhead Doug Strehl, mayor of Fortuna. And someday next month, the Mayor’s City Selection Committee — a body that comprises the mayors of Humboldt County’s seven incorporated cities — will come together to decide whether or not to rescind their appointment of Stillman, and if so, who to appoint in her place.

The pressure seems to have come from attorney Bill Bertain of Eureka, who wrote an ominous letter to the Mayor’s City Selection Committee shortly after Stillman was appointed, back in May. In his letter Bertain makes the case that the selection of Stillman to occupy the NCRA board seat set aside for representatives of the incorporated cities along the old railroad line violated City Selection Committee internal procedure. Bertain charges that the committee’s governing rules and procedures require candidates for such appointments to submit their materials to staff three weeks in advance of a meeting. Neither Strehl nor Stillman did this. Therefore, Bertain says, the appointment is defunct. Unless the committee rectifies this, he hints, the committee is about to be on the nasty end of a lawsuit.

Bertain also declares Stillman ideologically unfit for the office. “By her public statements for quite some time now, Alexandra Stillman has disqualified herself from serving on the NCRA Board of Directors,” Bertain writes. “Although I understand that Alexandra Stillman has recently declared her support for passenger rail service between Eureka and Arcata, I believe she has consistently and vocally opposed to the return of freight service to Humboldt County.”

The threat was apparently enough to prompt the committee to review the matter with its lawyer and revisit the topic at a future meeting. But Marcella Clem, the executive director of the Humboldt County Association of Governments, under whose aegis meetings of the committee are held, says that her agency is completely confident that Bertain has no legal case. The three-week requirement, she told the Outpost, is not an application deadline; it says only that if candidates for a position wish to have their materials distributed to other members of the committee, then they have to get those materials to staff three weeks in advance. In fact, Clem said, any elected official could have shown up on the day of the meeting itself, back in May, and thrown their name into the hat then and there, with no advance notice at all.

So when the committee reconvenes, there will be two items on the agenda. 1). Should the committee reconsider its appointment to the NCRA? If so, and only if so: 2). Who should it appoint?

So is Stillman out? Maybe not! Back at the original meeting, Eureka Mayor Frank Jager initially supported Stehl but switched his vote to Stillman in order to break a deadlock. Only six of the seven mayors were present — Ferndale Mayor Stuart Titus was absent, for reasons unknown. Jager’s vote-switch has prompted the Eureka City Council to take up the matter at its meeting tomorrow night. The council will, in all likelihood, strongly recommend that Jager support Strehl in place of Stillman. In spite of his strong support for trails and rail skepticism — 
“It just boggles my mind that people would want to tie up [a trail] section between Bracut and Eureka waiting for something to happen,” Jager told the Outpost — he indicated that he would follow the council’s pleasure.

But that would only take us back to the original 3-3 deadlock, with Arcata, Blue Lake and Trinidad voting for Stillman and Rio Dell, Fortuna and Eureka holding up the Strehl banner. The whole question then hinges on Ferndale Mayor Stuart Titus — a reasonable person in a sometimes less than reasonable town.

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THE SLUNGSHOT/ROPE LOCK

by Bruce McEwen

Craig Barnett of Fort Bragg was on his way to check in with his probation officer and stopped at a second-hand store where one can often find a good deal on any number of useful things. On this occasion Mr. Barnett found a tool loggers often use to tighten down a rope on a load where steel cable isn’t necessary.

Barnett is a logger by profession and recognized the tool as a rope lock, something he would either use himself or offer to his employer, Anderson Logging of Fort Bragg. The problem arose when he reached the Ten Mile Court in Fort Bragg, where the probation office is located; he couldn’t get past security with the rope lock and since he was on foot, he couldn’t leave it in his vehicle. So he hid it in the bushes.

Mr. Barnett’s probation officer, Kathy Voorhees, saw him put something in the bushes and called security. While she kept Barnett in her office, the security officer, David Croft, went outside with a hand-held metal detec­tor and found the tool. Mr. Croft brought it to Ms. Voor­hees, and she, not knowing what it was, called in a cop, Deputy Eric Riboli, who said it was a weapon, a “slung-shot.”

We’ll get back to the slung-shot/rope lock, but first, by way of introduction, let’s step back and put this incredibly huge and powerful private contractor, Mr. Croft’s employer, Universal Protection Service (UPS) in perspective.

Universal Protection Service, with a local headquar­ters in Napa, is a subsidiary of the even mightier corpo­ration, Universal Services of America (USA). In 2009 UPS was placed on an exclusive list of approved providers of security for our courthouses by the Department of Homeland Security. UPS was also awarded Safety Act “protection.” The Safety Act of 2002 is part of the Homeland Security Act and encourages corporations to develop and deploy their own ideas about how best to “protect” us from “terrorists.” I shudder to contemplate what this kind of “encouragement” may be. But under the Safety Act, the “protection” UPS gets is limitation from liability to third parties (us) to a predetermined amount of liability insurance coverage, exclusive juris­diction in federal court for suits against UPS, prohibition on joint and several liability for non-economic damages, a complete bar on punitive damages and prejudgment interest, and a reduction in the plaintiffs’ recovery by amounts that the plaintiff receives from collateral sources.

“We are very excited that our application for the Safety Act designation has been approved,” Steve Jones, the co-CEO and Chief Operating Officer of Universal Services of America, told the Los Angeles Times. Mr. Jones then went on to gloat expansively about how nice it was to rake in billions of tax dollars and operate his various and extensive business interests with absolute impunity in these strange times.

Universal Protection Services was founded by former San Francisco Police Inspector Louis J. Ligouri, Jr. (along with a former US Secret Service Agent who is so deep under cover I couldn’t even find out his/her name). They like to hire off duty or retired law enforcement officers and police academy graduates, but they will take anyone who can come through one of their background checks without a blemish and finish a training course in Napa, at 505 Alexis Court. The mandatory drug testing leaves most of our unemployed locals out of the picture.

But the UPS staff at the County Courthouse in Ukiah and the Ten Mile Court in Fort Bragg are all devoted AVA readers and a pretty great team of officers who take their jobs seriously while maintaining a sense of humor and cordiality. They also have a nice collection of pocket knives and cork screws because so many people try to bring these prohibited items into the courthouse, then go back out and hide them in the bushes when they find out they can’t. The security officers then go out and sweep the grounds with a hand-held metal detector and collect the contraband items.

This was essentially what happened to Mr. Barnett’s rope lock/slung-shot. Security found it with the hand-held metal detector, called a wand. Probation Officer Voorhees and Sheriffs Deputy Riboli both considered the tool a weapon, Mr. Barnett was arrested for violating his probation, which prohibited the possession of any weap­ons, and the DA filed a petition to have his probation revoked and send him to prison. The hearing was held last week at the Ukiah courthouse, and DA David Eyster handled the case himself.

Ms. Voorhees was put on the stand and she said that as Barnett approached the courthouse she saw him drop something in the bushes. The security guard brought it in and she recognized it as a slungshot, “a weapon similar to a mace,” she said.

“Objection,” said Louis Finch. Mr. Finch is a lawyer from the Alternate Public Defender’s Office, and as such he was representing Craig Barnett, who was still in cus­tody, since the incident happened on May 16th. “The witness doesn’t know the legal definition,” Finch said.

Judge Richard Henderson overruled the objection. “She perceived it as a such,” he said.

DA Eyster said, “As a probation officer, is this [he had a photograph of the thing, which he was holding up for her to see] what you would consider a dangerous weapon?”

Ms. Voorhees said yes, it was.

“And as such, was the defendant, under the terms of his probation, allowed to have it in his possession?”

“No.”

“Did you see him put it in the bushes outside the courthouse?”

“I didn’t actually see him put it there,” Voorhees said. “He was behind the bushes and I couldn’t see his hands. But it looked like he was putting something in the bushes and the security officer found it there.”

“And you confronted him with it later?”

“Yes. He said he bought it at a thrift store.”

“That’s all I have,” Eyster said.

Mr. Finch is such a piss-poor lawyer that he wasn’t promoted two years ago when the head lawyer in his office, Mr. Robinson, retired. Finch is so bad he was passed over for promotion again when the next senior lawyer, Mr. Schlosser, went on extended medical leave last month. There were only the three of them, Robinson, Schlosser and Finch. Another lawyer from the regular Public Defender’s Office had to be brought in to super­vise Finch and handle all the serious cases, a Ms. Patricia Littlefield.

“Are you familiar with the tools used in logging?” Finch asked.

PO Voorhees paused thoughtfully.

“But you do know Mr. Barnett was sometimes employed by Anderson Logging, don’t you?”

“Yes,” Voorhees said.

“Do you know what a rope lock is?”

Again Voorhees took time to reflect.

Finch grew impatient. “How long have you been a probation officer?”

“About a year and a half.”

Here is another great job opportunity for the locally unemployed who can pass a drug test. Jim Brown recently retired as head of the county’s probation office, which has greatly expanded due to the governor’s pris­oner realignment program. Jason Locatelli of that office recently told me that as the system becomes more and more expanded, the need for probation officers continues to grow. This pseudo-cop field (probation and security) is the next big career opportunity in a world rapidly fill­ing up with criminals — all we need is one or two more “substance abuse-laws” (and the legislature is working on them frantically, mainly to justify the DEA) then we’ll all be either criminals or cops.

Mr. Finch said, “Did you ask Mr. Barnett what the tool was for and how it was used?”

“No.”

“Have you been through security at the courthouse entrance?”

“Yes.”

“So you are familiar with how metal objects are not allowed in the courthouse?”

“No.”

And she wouldn’t be, either. Not necessarily, at least. Because probation officers and all the other regular faces who the security people are familiar with are not put through the shakedown. A certain amount of common sense allows the business of the court to proceed without an overweening winnowing of everyone who comes and goes.

“But you are aware, are you not, that a lot of people put things in the bushes when they come into the court­house — metal things they can’t bring past secu­rity?”

“I haven’t seen them do that,” she answered. Given the fact that her one-way window in the probation office would give her an ideal opportunity to see such things, and that’s how Barnett got nailed, Mr. Finch made no secret of his suspicion that Ms. Voorhees was tinting her answer with the tincture of disingenuity. He snorted tersely and said he had nothing further.

Judge Henderson wanted to see the so-called weapon/tool but the DA didn’t have it with him. He offered to send someone for it, but Henderson said he’d just like to look a little closer at the photo of it, Exhibit One.

Deputy Eric Riboli was called to the stand and asked to rehearse some of his weapons training. Then he was shown the photo. He recognized it as the same item that had been found in the bushes outside the Ten Mile Court.

DA Eyster: “Are you familiar with the term slung­shot?”

Deputy Riboli: “I am, yes.”

DA Eyster: “Can you tell me what this is?”

Deputy Riboli: “It could be used as a slungshot.”

Mr. Finch: “Are you familiar with logging tools?”

Riboli: “No.”

Finch: “Nothing further.”

Finch called his client, Craig Barnet to the stand and asked him, “Did you go to the Ten Mile Court on May 16th?”

“Yes.”

“Why?”

“I had an appointment with my PO.”

“Did you do anything on the way?”

“Yes. I stopped and shopped at a thrift store where I bought a rope lock.”

“A what?”

“A rope lock.”

“Can you explain how it works?”

“It binds a rope, so the harder you pull, the more it squeezes down on the rope. It is used for various tree and brush jobs in logging and brush work.”

“Do you often work in that kind of work?”

“Yes. I’ve worked as a tree faller, clearing brush, set­ting chokers and other things associated with logging.”

“Is this one of the tools you commonly use in that kind of work?”

“Yes, it is.”

“Why did you leave it in the bushes outside the court­house?”

“I’ve been there before with metal objects and the security people told me if I didn’t want to lose it, I’d have to leave it outside.”

DA Eyster: “How did you arrive at the courthouse?”

Barnett: “I got a ride.”

Eyster: “How did you get home?”

Barnett: “I walked.”

Eyster: “Do you remember this probation order?”

Barnett: “Yes.”

Eyster: “Is this your signature … right here?”

Barnett: “Yes.”

Eyster: “Do you remember reading this condition, this one right here?”

Barnett: “I don’t remember, but I must have read it.”

Eyster: “So you agreed to that condition?”

Barnett: “Yes.”

Eyster: “Didn’t you think it might be a good idea to ask your PO if this [the rope lock/slungshot] would be allowed for you to have?”

Barnett: “I just thought of it as a tool.”

Finch: “What were you going to do with it?”

Barnett: “I’d just got a job with Rob Shandell; I was either going to use it or give it to Rob.”

Finch: “Your honor, a lot of tools can be used as weapons. But it makes sense for my client to have this tool for his job. He has explained how it works and he has a logging background. There is a reasonable, inno­cent — as well as a sinister — explanation for why he had it.”

Eyster: “I’m not sure I’ve heard of a logger buying things at a thrift store.”

Henderson: “The explanation that the object is a tool is reasonable and so is the evidence from the officer that testified a device of this type can also be used as a weapon which is not unreasonable — so it is somewhat suspicious — but given the evidence that the defendant was working as a logger and the tool was part of his ordinary work tools, the court finds there is not sufficient evidence to hold him on the charges.”

Eyster: “Can I ask the court to order him to report to probation?”

Henderson: “Yes. So ordered.”

When Eyster loses a case against Finch, something must be up. Maybe they were just trying to show that the public defenders and alternates are something more than welfare recipients, after all.

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FINCH PREVAILS

To the Editor:

As a longtime admirer of Bruce McEwen’s work, it is with heavy heart I write to correct some recent assertions made in his article (“The Slungshot/Rope Lock”) detailing last week’s courthouse goings-on. McEwen describes a hearing held in Judge Henderson’s court in which DA Dave Eyster sought to violate Craig Barnett’s probation. Much of the information written was incorrect, starting with the misspelling of Mr. Barnett’s lawyer’s name, Lewis Finch.

The article then seeks to illustrate how inept the attorney is by pointing out that Finch was not hired as the Alternate Defender when a co-worker, Bert Schlosser, departed the office. The story says former Public Defender Patricia Littlefield was then appointed. Little of this is true.

Finch did not apply for a job which Schlosser did not hold, and did not step down from. The job was vacated by Berry Robinson 18 months ago and Patricia Littlefield was appointed. Ms. Littlefield has never, in her 26 years as a Mendocino County lawyer, been employed in the public defender’s office, always having been an associate of Richard Petersen’s law firm

Lewis Finch is described as a “piss poor lawyer” but no survey of local lawyers and judges would agree with this defamation, and in fact I’d bet most would say Finch ranks among the best criminal lawyers in the county. McEwen’s notion that Littlefield came to be the Alternate Defender “to handle all the serious cases” is unsupportable. In the past quarter century Finch has represented hundreds — perhaps thousands — of clients charged with everything in the penal code, from rape and murder to shoplifting and probation violations.

It should be emphasized that violating a defendant’s probation involves the lowest standard of proof in the entire criminal justice system. Think about it: The defendant is a convicted criminal and he agrees, as part of his probation, to obey all laws, including not dropping a gum wrapper on the sidewalk. A “preponderance” (a scant 51%) of the evidence is sufficient to violate, which makes it the lowest threshold in the business. For a DA to violate someone’s probation is equivalent to shotgunning fat trout in a small birdbath.

Yet Finch prevails. Eyster loses. McEwen cannot believe what he sees, and cannot believe it again when he writes the story, so he attributes the judge’s decision to a shady allegation that “something must be up.” He then thinks the DA’s “Maybe were just trying to show that the (Alternate Defender attorneys) are something more than welfare recipients after all.”

Well, OK, but I suspect McEwen’s ongoing and nonstop criticism of public defender lawyers coupled with his relentless admiration for prosecutors suggests something other than disdain for those on welfare.

Thomas Hine (Alternate Defender Investigator), Ukiah

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DAVID BROOKS, TOM FRIEDMAN, BILL KELLER WISH SNOWDEN HAD JUST FOLLOWED ORDERS

By Norman Solomon

Edward Snowden’s disclosures, the New York Times reported on Sunday, “have renewed a longstanding concern: that young Internet aficionados whose skills the agencies need for counterterrorism and cyberdefense sometimes bring an anti-authority spirit that does not fit the security bureaucracy.”

Agencies like the NSA and CIA — and private contractors like Booz Allen — can’t be sure that all employees will obey the rules without interference from their own idealism. This is a basic dilemma for the warfare/surveillance state, which must hire and retain a huge pool of young talent to service the digital innards of a growing Big Brother.

With private firms scrambling to recruit workers for top-secret government contracts, the current situation was foreshadowed by novelist John Hersey in his 1960 book The Child Buyer. When the vice president of a contractor named United Lymphomilloid, “in charge of materials procurement,” goes shopping for a very bright ten-year-old, he explains that “my duties have an extremely high national-defense rating.” And he adds: “When a commodity that you need falls in short supply, you have to get out and hustle. I buy brains.”

That’s what Booz Allen and similar outfits do. They buy brains. And obedience.

But despite the best efforts of those contractors and government agencies, the brains still belong to people. And, as the Times put it, an “anti-authority spirit” might not fit “the security bureaucracy.”

In the long run, Edward Snowden didn’t fit. Neither did Bradley Manning. They both had brains that seemed useful to authority. But they also had principles and decided to act on them.

Like the NSA and its contractors, the U.S. military is in constant need of personnel. “According to his superiors … Manning was not working out as a soldier, and they discussed keeping him back when his unit was deployed to Iraq,” biographer Chase Madar writes in The Passion of Bradley Manning. “However, in the fall of 2009, the occupation was desperate for intelligence analysts with computer skills, and Private Bradley Manning, his superiors hurriedly concluded, showed signs of improvement as a workable soldier. This is how, on October 10, 2009, Private First Class Bradley Manning was deployed … to Iraq as an intelligence analyst.”

In their own ways, with very different backgrounds and circumstances, Bradley Manning and Edward Snowden have confounded the best-laid plans of the warfare/surveillance state. They worked for “the security bureaucracy,” but as time went on they found a higher calling than just following orders. They leaked information that we all have a right to know.

This month, not only with words but also with actions, Edward Snowden is transcending the moral limits of authority and insisting that we can fully defend the Bill of Rights, emphatically including the Fourth Amendment.

What a contrast with New York Times columnists David Brooks, Thomas Friedman and Bill Keller, who have responded to Snowden’s revelations by siding with the violators of civil liberties at the top of the US government.

Brooks denounced Snowden as “a traitor” during a June 14 appearance on the PBS NewsHour, saying indignantly: “He betrayed his oath, which was given to him and which he took implicitly and explicitly. He betrayed his company, the people who gave him a job, the people who trusted him. … He betrayed the democratic process. It’s not up to a lone 29-year-old to decide what’s private and public. We have — actually have procedures for that set down in the Constitution and established by tradition.”

Enthralled with lockstep compliance, Brooks preached the conformist gospel: “When you work for an institution, any institution, a company, a faculty, you don’t get to violate the rules of that institution and decide for your own self what you’re going to do in a unilateral way that no one else can reverse. And that’s exactly what he did. So he betrayed the trust of the institution. He betrayed what creates a government, which is being a civil servant, being a servant to a larger cause, and not going off on some unilateral thing because it makes you feel grandiose.”

In sync with such bombast, Tom Friedman and former Times executive editor Bill Keller have promoted a notably gutless argument for embracing the NSA’s newly revealed surveillance programs. Friedman wrote (on June 12) and Keller agreed (June 17) that our government is correct to curtail privacy rights against surveillance — because if we fully retained those rights and then a big terrorist attack happened, the damage to civil liberties would be worse.

What a contrast between big-name journalists craven enough to toss the Fourth Amendment overboard and whistleblowers courageous enough to risk their lives for civil liberties.

(Norman Solomon is co-founder of RootsAction.org and founding director of the Institute for Public Accuracy. His books include “War Made Easy: How Presidents and Pundits Keep Spinning Us to Death.”)

IN SUNDAY’S UKIAH DAILY JOURNAL, Tommy Wayne Kramer conflates hippies and “the left.” He said the hippies have stopped lots of cool progress like rural bypasses erected by those prodigies of engineering, Caltrans. A discernible left hasn’t existed in this country since around 1970, and the occasional retro-hippie we sometimes see today is usually a grunge or rasta music person rather than a disoriented, long-haired beast wondering where Jerry Garcia went. I agree, and have often said, the hippie overlay discourages wider participation in resistance to this, that or the other thing. But the people leading these things around here, with the exception of the late Madam Bari, have always tended to put their jive “spirituality,” their costumes, their dope, their drum circles, their overweening piety, their totality of pure bullshit, ahead of the objective. A serious movement would move these people out of the way as the first order of business. But whatever else you might say about Judi Bari she didn’t lack clarity. She got the whole amorphous mass of hippies, nut cases, left over lefties, and a whole buncha conventional people rounded up and headed in the same correct direction.

KRAMER WRITES: “Then we had Redwood Summer a bit closer to home, and yes indeed, you could go right down the checklist: Trees were climbed, plus all the usual chanting, sign-waving, yelling and singing. And, presto, the logging stopped, the lumber companies folded, thousands of jobs were lost and the joyful protesters went back home. Tremendous success!”

IN LIVING FACT, the outside timber corporations cut all the trees down real fast in the interest of short-term profit-taking, leaving the Northcoast stripped of thousands of jobs that used to enable working people to make reasonably comfortable lives for themselves. Hippies did not destroy the timber industry. L-P and G-P and Charles Hurwitz managed that, and laughed all the way to many millions of dollars.

Bari

THE REDWOOD SUMMER protests led by Bari were most successful in drawing national attention to the crimes committed against the working people and the forests of this area, but the protests didn’t even slow the corporate onslaught. You could make a strong argument that the hippie factor gave the timber corporations perfect foils. The corporations could plausibly say, which they did, “Look at these dopeheads. They don’t even get out of bed until noon. You want them or do you want us?” That’s what Big Timber put out there and it resonated with much of the public.

WHEN BARI was car bombed by her ex-husband before Redwood Summer even got going, Bari herself became the object of “the movement,” the only movement in the history of movements to move steadily backwards. Loggers were caught between people who didn’t have to work, aka Bari and the hippie brigades, as Tommy Wayne would have it, and the timber corporations. The loggers lost. They had no viable allies.

I DON’T THINK the hippie factor discouraged mass turnout for the Willits protests. It never helps, of course, but I think most Willits-area people still haven’t grasped how dumb and expensive the Bypass is. No off and on ramps at Highway 20? Duh. When construction really gets going they’ll belatedly get it, but it will be too late. Unfortunately, the “hippies” were tardy getting into the trees on this one. But they’re right, just as the hippies of 1990 were right about the timber corporations.

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UPDATE: On June 17, 2013 at 7:48am the Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office was contacted by a person who had received second hand information of a possible homicide at a remote location on Spyrock Road in Laytonville, California. Before responding to the scene a Deputy Sheriff interviewed the reporting person who advised they had received a telephone call prior to contacting the Sheriff’s Office. The anonymous caller told the reporting person that their relative, the victim, had been murdered at the Spyrock Road location. Upon arriving at the location described by the reporting person, law enforcement personnel located a deceased Hispanic adult male suffering from an apparent gunshot wound. Sheriff’s Detectives responded to the location and initiated a homicide investigation. During the processing of the crime scene Sheriff’s Detectives noticed the presence of approximately 300 budding marijuana plants that had been recently cut as if to be harvested. The plants had been growing in an outdoor setting and inside of at least two temporary greenhouse structures. Sheriff’s Detectives learned the victim had been camping at the location while tending to the growing marijuana plants. The victim had been found in his camp in close proximity to the cut marijuana plants. A forensic autopsy has been scheduled for 06-19-2013 and currently the victim has yet to be positively identified. Sheriff?s Detectives are continuing their investigation and have yet to determine a motive or identity of any suspect(s) in connection with the homicide. Sheriff’s Detectives were aided in their crime scene investigation by the Mendocino Major Crimes Task Force, County of Mendocino Marijuana Eradication Team and the Mendocino County District Attorney’s Office. Anyone with information in regards to this incident is urged to contact the Sheriff’s Office Tip-Line by calling 707-234-2100. (Sheriff’s Office Press Release)

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Lombardi

JOHN SAKOWICZ WRITES: Retiring Mendocino County Savings Bank SVP, Marty Lombardi, will be my guest on my next show. In his 40 or so years at the bank, Marty helped bring the bank from $35 million in assets to about $1 billion in assets. Marty is also a past chair of the California Independent Bankers Association. To the best of my knowledge, despite his high public profile, Marty has never given an interview to the media — certainly not on KZYX. The interview will air on Friday, June 28, at 9am. We’ll take listener calls at: 895-2448.

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Tevaseu

THREE BOONVILLE MEN are coaching football at Ukiah High School. Logo Teveseu; John Toohey; and a new name to us, Ron Capazuto, Tom Brady’s high school coach at Serra High School back in the day. Ukiah seems to have an almost a one-on-one coaches to players ratio. When I was a 160 pound lineman and emergency quarterback back in another life time, we had one coach. He seldom spoke to me except to tell me to shut up. As I recall we had maybe six plays, one of which was an emergency, last ditch job where I, a baseball pitcher over-hyped as strong-armed, threw the ball as far as I could downfield in the general direction of a sprinter named Fred Thomas. Fred could cover a hundred yards in 10.5 with all that heavy 50′s era equipment on. We only tried it once but Freddy outran my longball pass. Our quarterback, Dave George, went on to play at Cal, and one of our linemen, Willie Hector, was all-everything at UOP and played a few seasons with the Rams. We knew nothing about training, less about weights. The coach was a math teacher named Miller. He’d have us run around the track a couple of time then do push-ups. Practices were like torture, the games exciting, although we never had a winning season in my high school years. Vallejo was the league powerhouse. Anymore, it’s a professionalized enterprise at the high school level, with armies of coaches, headphones and all the rest of NFL-ness of it. Anthropologists a thousand years from now will never puzzle it all out.

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JUST IN. The mystery of the Willits Coca Cola bottle has been solved. Boonville guy Jim Gibson tells us that he remembers visiting a relative in Willits way back in 1949-50 where he recalls the Willits Soda Works standing prominently on a corner of Main Street. Jim also recalls “a huge pile of saw dust behind the place like they used to use to keep bottled drinks cool.” Jim says he has a beautiful old seltzer bottle with the little faucet dispenser on the top inscribed “Willits Soda Works.”

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WHAT WITH A RECENT increase in crime plus festivals, miscellaneous events, and the constant deluge of 911 calls, the three new deputies recently hired by the Sheriff’s Department may help the Department cope. The new hires will likely go to the Mendocino Coast and to the always busy wilderness of the North Sector, that vast outlaw sanctuary beginning at Willits and ranging from Covelo to the east, Rockport to the west, Spy Rock and Bell Springs to the north.