SEEMS LIKE every month there’s an announcement specially aimed at the dimmer sectors of our palest demographic. This month, it’s the news out of the Census Bureau that by 2043 “whites will no longer make up a majority of Americans.” The horror, the horror! You mean, are you saying, there won’t even be room for us in Redding?
SOME OF US RECALL the odd case of Mendo social worker, James Marmon. When Marmon complained that records at the Willits office of Children’s Protective Services were being altered and purged, Marmon’s supervisor, Bryan Lowery (now acting Director of Mendocino County Health and Human Services Department while Director Stacey Cryer is out on extended leave), informed Marmon that Lowery had deleted Marmon’s reports regarding a case Marmon had investigated. It seems that Lowery didn’t like Marmon’s conclusions. Marmon, in a letter he made public, accused Lowery that his “deletion of these documents was an attempt to cover-up an unlawful detention of two children in which he [Lowery] had misled Mendocino County Sheriff’s deputies into believing that a protective custody order (warrant) had been issued by the court.”
THE UPSHOT of Marmon’s brave attempt to act in the best interests of two children? He was fired and, as is the way in Mendocino County’s government circles, vilified by his superiors. Marmon has already been awarded $50,000 by the County for firing him, and he’s appealing his dismissal at the state level. Odd that the county would fire and reward the guy at the same time, but that’s what happened.
BUT IF CPS and Mendocino County fires a guy for trying to do honest, ethical work, how do you suppose those same people that fired Marmon will handle the beating death of the Fort Bragg child they blithely handed over to a known methamphetamine user? I’ll bet their shredder has gotten a lot of use lately.
LOOKING THROUGH what information we have been able to find on the Marmon case, much of it from Mr. Marmon himself, we saw the same old names all the way back to CPS atrocities of yesteryear — Becky Wilson, A.J. Barrett, Lowery. And now a dead infant. Isn’t it about time for the Superior Court and the Grand Jury to take a hard look at how this department operates?
THE GIANTS have re-signed Andres Torres, a one-year deal for $2 mil.
Nice to see Torres back. He was Mr. Clutch, or one of them, in 2010.
He can play any place in the outfield, great lead-off speed, a perfect back-up guy for Blanco and Pagan, and a very good hitter against left-handers.
Kapaernick, Allen
ADD LOOK ALIKES:
Colin Kapaernick
San Francisco 49ers
quarterback
and
Sarah Ann Allen
of St. Helena.
.
Reyes
A FELLOW CALLED ARTURO REYES has been named president at Mendocino College. A press release wafting out of Ukiah says, “Arturo Reyes is the Executive Vice-President of Academic and Student Affairs at Solano Community College. Previously, he worked as the Interim President/VP of Academic Affairs at San Jose City College and the Dean of Humanities and Social Sciences at Cosumnes River College. He taught Spanish full-time at Cosumnes River College and Will C. Wood High School in Vacaville, Calif. His education includes a BA and Teaching Credential in Spanish and a Masters in Educational Administration from CSU Sacramento. Currently, he is completing an Ed.D. in Educational Leadership at UC Davis.” He starts work on January 7th.
WHAT EXACTLY THE FEDS want from Mendocino County regarding Mendo’s now abandoned pot licensing program remains vague, but we hear they are looking for money. Does Big Bro want the zip-tie money because Bro thinks it derives from illegal drug activity? Are they looking for crooks who might have been skimming money out of the program? It’s unlikely Bro is interested in people who grew 5, 25, or 99 plants — but they could be. I mean, you’ve got all these lawyers sitting around in the Frisco Federal Building with nothing else to do. Apparently. If they want the infamous M. Cohen, they already have him and don’t need County records to nail a guy who was in business right in plain view. Individual supervisors? Doubt it, although you’ve got pro-legalization (Pinches), pro-pot (Hamburg), and pro-9.31 permit system (McCowen) sitting there. (Supervisor Smith strikes us as more of a Prozac person.) The Supervisors included pot legalization in their legislative platform for the current year. But we know that the feds seem disposed to emotional decision-making based on personalities, as in “I’m gonna get that SOB” as much as law, logic, or pesky ethical concerns. Speaking here as a whining taxpayer, I can’t remember the last time the US Attorney out of San Francisco nailed anything close to a dangerous person or entity. Ditto for DC, and we live in the country whose lead bankers robbed all of us.
Haag
BACK TO DOPE, and the dopes at the US Attorney’s office, Ms. Melinda Haag proprietor. Mendocino County issued 18 permits the first year (2010); 91 permits the second year (2011); voluntary zip-ties going as far back (I think) as 2009 and continuing through this year’s growing season. Different prices for zip-ties and permit applications in 2010 and 2011; different prices for zip-ties for applicants as opposed to 25 plant and under growers who just want the zip-ties; and permit inspection fees (retained by the inspectors) added on to the cost, with different numbers of required inspections for continuing permit holders and newbies; and different price structures for different inspectors. And although you could go back up and sort it out, I believe that all those funds were dumped into one account at the Sheriff’s Office, but spread over several different budget years. How much money did the program make for official Mendo? Who knows?