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MCT: Friday, December 6, 2019

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AN APPROACHING FRONT will bring periods of rain and gusty winds to northwest California today. Numerous showers, some with heavy downpours, will persist through Saturday evening. High pressure will begin to bring drier weather by late Sunday, and will persist through the beginning of the upcoming week. (National Weather Service)

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A MAJOR STRUCTURE FIRE that started in a residential rental bungalow across the street from the Boonville Post Office and next door to AV Market just after noon on Thursday, escaped into three neighboring buildings before firefighters could control it. By 5pm four buildings were a total loss, including the popular Pic-N-Pay convenience store that provided supplies and a laundry service to many Boonville locals, as well as the neighboring Lizzby’s Restaurant and Bar, formerly the storied old Boonville Lodge.

Responding first were one AV fire engine and two CalFire units. But by the time they got going the fire had broken through the roof of the originating structure. The fire was stoked by a stiff 10-15 mph breeze blowing out of the southeast toward the northwest into the Mexican restaurant which adjoined the second unit on fire.

A large crowd of locals gathered across the street to watch the flames jump from that roof to a neighboring residential structure and then onto the roof of Lizzby’s Mexican restaurant and then on to the Pic-N-Pay convenience store (all one building with a common flat roof) as flames burst into the damp overcast sky above.

The occupants of all three buildings escaped unharmed but are now unhoused and displaced, several of whom had to sit on the curb across the street from the fire watching firefighters vainly try to save their homes and possessions as they went up in flames.

A few raindrops began as the incident unfolded, but they didn’t help much. By then three buildings were fully engulfed with the roof of the first residence collapsing as the roof of the second residence spewed flame.

By about 2pm a small army of fire equipment arrived from all over Mendocino County — CalFire, AV Fire, Comptche Fire, South Coast Fire, Elk Fire, Ukiah Valley Fire with pumpers and water tenders and support vehicles — to attempt to contain the fire to the three burned buildings.

The large number of fire engines parked on Highway 128 to battle the blaze created a significant traffic blockage leaving stranded drivers in both directions confused about what to do. Some tried to get through using the fairgrounds back road but didn’t know where exactly to go or what the route was.

Downwind neighbors at Tom Town and the Farrer Building were worried that flames or embers might be blown off the Pic-N-Pay roof into the neighboring large eucalyptus trees and make it even worse. But by mid-afternoon firefighters had stalled the progress of the roof fire over Pic-N-Pay which continued to burn as firefighters pumped water from above and inside.

Around 3pm the Pic-N-Pay roof was still burning as the recognizable sign over the building — formerly identifying the Boonville Lodge and Restaurant, now Lizzby’s restaurant — dramatically tipped and then collapsed onto the roof and down into the burning structure, threatening the power and utility pole which services the north end of Boonville. PG&E reported that 16 customers lost power during the fire.

Traffic was backed up in both directions of 128 and up on the Ukiah and Mountain View roads from about 1pm until 5:50, when vehicles began to be routed through the west end of the Boonville Fairgrounds via Lambert Lane and then back out onto 128. At around 3pm the CHP posted there would be about a five hour traffic wait until 128 could be re-opened, but the estimate was subject to change. By 6pm traffic was still backed up on Highway 253 as it approached Highway 128. By 8pm Caltrans had declared Highway 128 re-opened.

Around 3:30pm it was clear that four buildings, three small residences and the Pic-N-Pay/Lizzby’s complex, were a total loss. The Pic-N-Pay store’s outer shell was still sort of intact, but its contents had been gutted as the fire came down from the roof and firefighters pumped water inside and out. The destroyed buildings were all flammable old-growth redwood slab framing dating back to before WW2.

One of the houses on the south side of P&Pay, now in ashes, dates back to the first settlers in Boonville: the Windom family. Someone subsequently covered the old house with a brick facade some time later, probably in the 30s or 40s. In the pictures now it is just a pile of bricks.

By evening, at least thirteen people were known to be displaced and Lizzby's Bar and Restaurant destroyed. Pic-N-Pay is a total loss. A third small residential rental unit behind and attached to the two front bungalows was also burned to the ground. Several other structures and residential trailers further back were fortunately saved.

This Boonville fire is the worst in the Anderson Valley since October of 1997 when the famous Mannix Building (built in 1945) was destroyed by a huge fire, displacing a half-dozen people who lived in the apartments above the ground floor commercial space where the Anderson Valley Advertiser was housed for many years.

The devastated properties are owned by David Johnson of Sonoma.

Wednesday night, as if a harbinger of today's catastrophe, a chimney fire at a home next door to Boonville's Methodist Church was miraculously confined to its top floor by fast-responding Boonville fire fighters.

Boonville rallied to help the families burned out by today's fire. Donation buckets began to appear around town by evening Thursday and several people recommended extra donations to the local Foodbank at the Methodist Church.

Note from the Boonville Hotel: "Hi dear people, the hotel is still planning to be open Thursday night serving up cups of soup & cheese biscuits. We'll put out buckets to raise funds for the fire victims and food bank plus invite the firefighters. Come if you can, and no worries if you can't. We are here to take care."

Latest Fire Victims Donation Info - let your own organizations know! Items or monetary donations from you or your groups/businesses can be dropped off at the AVCSD located at the Boonville fire station 14281 highway 128. Checks can be made out to Sueno Latino. Mail can be sent to PO box 398 c/o AV Fire Dept. If you have a business please try to collect funds over the weekend. Check back here within 24 hours of how you can donate online through Facebook. (The fundraiser is still in a pending state).


PD COVERAGE: pressdemocrat.com/news/10422815-181/fire-in-mendocino-county-town

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DAY ONE REDWOOD CLASSIC

The 62nd Redwood Classic started Wednesday and here are the scores for the first three games.

  • Cloverdale: 16, 19, 21, 13. T: 69
  • Point Arena: 7, 4, 0, 3. T: 14

Top Scorers: Dylan Muller (Cloverdale) - 18, Tyler Ruys (Cloverdale) - 13, Taylor Bowen (Point Arena) - 5, Jojo Baker (Point Arena) - 3

  • Valley Christian: 19, 11, 14, 23. T: 68
  • Round Valley: 8, 8, 8, 10. T: 34

Top Scorers: David Bacon (Valley Christian) - 18, Hunter Clary (Valley Christian) - 15, B. Britton (Round Valley) - 9, J. Martinez (Round Valley) - 8

  • Fort Bragg: 19, 24, 18, 8. T: 69
  • Anderson Valley: 7, 8, 7, 3. T: 25

Top Scorers: T. Mehtlan (Fort Bragg) - 22, W. Curti (Fort Bragg) - 12, David Parra (Anderson Valley) - 10, Audie Hanes (Anderson Valley), 5

Courtesy, Kaitlin Espinoza, AV High School

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(photo by Annie Kalantarian)

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SUPERVISOR WILLIAMS:

Ambulance service across Mendocino County is beyond crippled with an unstable hodgepodge of public and private units. Zero responsive bids were received under the multi-year effort to identify an exclusive operating area partner (think franchise agreement). The market told us that servicing our county is not lucrative. In fact, many 911 transports run at a loss. Months ago we began discussing a sales tax to subsidize service, but opposition from City of Ukiah stalled the process. Ukiah wants to engage in a study, but has not been enthusiastic about a sales tax irrespective of study conclusion because of competing needs and limited revenue options for cities. I appreciate the funding realities the cities face. Their arguments have merit. Without support of the cities, a tax would be difficult to pass.

Where does this leave residents? You should ask your local fire department whether they will transport you in a time of need when an ambulance is not readily available. The shortage is not isolated to any one community or region. Ambulances are a shared resource. Recently a Ukiah ambulance was the nearest resource for an Albion 911 call. Not only is a 90 minute delay a life risk for Albion, but it also strips Ukiah of ambulance coverage. Medical helicopters can’t fly in bad weather or land in fog and are limited based on patient condition (very cramped working area). These situations now happen regularly. Being transported without pain management won’t be fun, but it can be life saving. It can also be viewed as a liability for fire districts, many of which rely on volunteers, but it’s probably better than leaving a patient without a ride. I say probably, because there are instances where paramedics can provide safer patient packaging through advanced treatment or knowledge. If public support shifts political will, we can add a tax or make cuts to other (sometimes duplicated) services. The shift in viability is the result of national policy trickling down. Until an answer emerges, do what is necessary to take care of yourself, family and neighbors.

Jason Wells (Adventist Health) and I have spoken about possibilities. They represent one of our best hopes at present, but there are hurdles. In order for Adventist to stage units in Willits, MedStar would need to relocate south (from their valuable Redwood Valley post), because reimbursement rates depend on a 25 mile separation. Inter-facility transfers between hospitals are a hospital responsibility and we see Adventist preparing to step up service, but keep in mind, IFTs on the coast are a tool we’ve used to subsidize 911 transports for years. In essence, losses from several 911 calls can be recouped by a transfer to UCSF. The revenue from these transfers was never designed to fund 911, but it worked for a time.

More concern than answers, but it’s my aim to be realistic. I ask for public involvement as we progress in the conversation of care and rebalancing of priorities.

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AMBULANCE SERVICE TRAGEDY

To the Editor:

Our family has suffered a tragic loss. Joan Davis aka “Lil Mama” passed at approximately 2:30 am on December 2, 2019. While we love our community, we believe this may have been prevented if she had been able to get transportation to appropriate and timely specialized care. We would like to tell you a little bit about our family and what happened. We were so pleased with the staff at Howard Memorial hospital and would like to thank them for the loving care they provided to our Lil Mama, after she suffered a major heart attack.

The Hosford family originally moved to our beautiful hometown of Willits in 1991. We have loved living in our wonderful little community all these years. Myself (Paul) and my beautiful wife Diana have raised two wonderful boys – Tim, who enlisted in the Air Force and served for 14 years, and Andrew who went on to get his Ph.D. at Texas Tech.

Both our sons have come back to this community to work at Sparetime Supply, Andrew and wife Laurin are raising their boys here in Willits, and Tim represents Sparetime at its new location in southern Oregon. Joan came to live with us in Willits in December of 2016, and brought with her beloved dog Mandy, and cat Wendy. She was very independent and spent her days caring for her animals, reading and spending time with family.

At around 2:15 in the afternoon, Joan was sitting in our living room, and started to feel off. She complained of nausea and dizziness. Soon after, she passed out for a short period of time, then woke up complaining of severe chest pains. Our initial thought was to call 9-1-1, but we realized it would be significantly faster to drive her ourselves, as we live about a two-minute drive away from Howard Memorial Hospital.

Upon arrival at Howard, the staff stepped into overdrive and immediately took care of her. By the time she got to her bed, she was suffering from extremely low blood pressure, shortness of breath, and severe chest pain. They initially thought it was probably a heart attack, but proceeded to run tests to determine the exact nature of what was going on. While the tests were taking place, the staff of Howard Memorial proceeded to provide expert medical care, and stabilize her blood pressure and breathing. This was all to prepare her for transport to Sutter Santa Rosa Regional Hospital’s Cardiac Cath Lab.

This is where tragedy struck and left our family heartbroken. While we understand that it was never guaranteed she would survive at age 87 from a massive heart attack, we, like all of the families in our little community want our family members to have the best chance of survival after any major medical condition that our local hospital does not have the ability to treat.

At around 5:30 pm, with Joan still in stable condition, Howard Hospital got approval from Sutter Santa Rosa Regional Hospital for the transfer. The next 5+ hours were torture for our family. Plan A was to get her on the REACH Air Ambulance as fast as possible (our family has had to use this service multiple times, and are continually thankful for its availability), but at some point, we were informed that the REACH Air Ambulance was not able to fly in the current stormy weather.

So, Howard was forced to resort to Plan B, and the staff let us know that they would have an ambulance to transfer her as soon as possible. We did not know what the timeframe for this was, but waited anxiously. We were informed that there was an ambulance that became available for the transfer, we just had to wait for it to arrive. After about a half hour, we learned our ambulance was re-routed to a priority 9-1-1 call.

This meant we had to move to Plan C. Although they couldn’t fly, the REACH Air Ambulance staff were committed to providing transport care via ambulance for her, which we were ecstatic about. Now we had to find another ambulance. Our amazing nurses at Howard Memorial explained that they were calling all locations they knew who would potentially be able to provide an ambulance: Fort Bragg’s Coast Hospital Ambulance, I believe there was another call to a Sacramento company, as well as to Ukiah Valley.

We even tried to use our own resources, by calling our family member CHP officer, to see if he could do anything. We sat there waiting, watching our sweet Lil Mama gasping for air, for multiple hours. Hoping and praying that an ambulance would appear.

When the ambulance and the REACH critical care crew finally arrived somewhere around 10 pm (7 and a half hours after her heart attack), Joan’s blood pressure had dropped again. The staff at Howard Memorial, and the crew from the REACH unit tried to get her stabilized for transport. Eventually at around 11 pm, the decision was made that they could not wait to transport her any longer, and that she would be moved in the fragile condition she was in.

My wife and I left to meet the ambulance in Santa Rosa prior to their departure. Unbeknownst to us, in between Willits and Ukiah, Joan went into cardiac arrest. They diverted to Adventist Health Ukiah Valley, where they continued lifesaving measures and re-established a pulse. As soon as possible, they continued towards Sutter SR.

Unfortunately, shortly after her arrival, for the second time that night, she went into cardiac arrest. We were led to her ICU room where we witnessed the lifesaving efforts they were performing. This image will never ever leave us. At this point, we asked them to discontinue resuscitation efforts, and now we are mourning the loss of our Lil Mama.

We cannot help but think, if the weather had been fine, and she was able to take that flight, and get to Santa Rosa, and have her surgery she would still be here. Or if there had been more than only one ambulance available in our city, she would have been transferred in a timely manner to make it to surgery.

It has become apparent that our community is unknowingly suffering from a major ambulance shortage issue. And in our Lil Mama’s legacy, we are determined to share our story, and we will not sit silently until our community has the resources it needs to seek medical care in a timely manner.

We want to reiterate, our Lil Mama received amazing care by the Howard Memorial doctors and nurses, and we are whole heartedly thankful for the REACH Air Ambulance staff as well. But we all had to sit and wait due to a logistical issue, an ambulance shortage. Why is there an ambulance shortage? How does Willits deal with more than one emergency at a time? What if your 4-year-old had some sort of major accident, and was not able to get the care he needed because there was no ambulance available to transfer? Four years old or 87 years old, it doesn’t matter. Willits is in dire need of fixing this issue, especially heading into the winter, when the air ambulance may not be able to fly.

Our family decided to write this letter to the editor to tell our story and plead with our community to join us in our outrage at this sequence of events. We do not want to see any other family suffer due to this major issue in our county. It is unacceptable that there is a lack of ambulance services in our city; it should not be interrupted for a single day, hour, minute, or second. No one can know when that single second could cost a life.

The Hosford family implores you to join us and reach out to the following elected officials and county employees to remedy this matter as soon as possible:

  • Third District Supervisor John Haschak
  • Mendocino/Sonoma County EMS Coordinator Jen Banks
  • Mendocino County Sheriff Tom Allman
  • Little Lake Fire Chief Chris Wilkes

Paul Hosford

Willits

(Forwarded by Jennifer Poole of the Willits Weekly)

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NON-LETHAL WILDLIFE MANAGEMENT

To Mendocino Friends of Wildlife,

As you may know, the Mendocino County Board of Supervisors is now in the process of developing a wildlife management program that will help provide services, including education, to County residents who have conflicts with wild animals. This program will address issues involving threats to livestock from wildlife, as well as issues involving wildlife getting into homes, porches, basements, attics, etc.

This past year, as required by CEQA (California Environmental Quality Act), Mendocino County prepared an Environmental Impact Report (EIR) to assess the environmental impacts of both alethal “Integrated Wildlife Damage Management (IWDM)” program contracted with USDA Wildlife Services, and a “Non-Lethal Program Alternative” similar to that employed by Marin County.

The EIR process is now complete, and this matter is coming before the Board of Supervisors for a final decision on Tuesday, December 17th, at 9:00 am or as soon thereafter as the item may be heard, at the Board Chambers, 501 Low Gap Road in Ukiah.

This is the moment of truth. Now is the time for those of us who want our County to establish a non-lethal wildlife management program, in accordance with our shared values of peacefully coexisting with our wildlife neighbors, to step up to the plate. We need to send a loud message to our Supervisors: ADOPT THE NON-LETHAL PROGRAM ALTERNATIVE!

If you wish to address the Board at this meeting, you are allowed 2 to 3 minutes. I encourage you to speak from your heart about your own personal experience or other relationships with wildlife, speak to the science if you have a background in wildlife biology or related knowledge, or speak to any negative experiences you’ve had with Wildlife Services in the past.

Thank you for caring about protecting Mendocino’s precious wildlife!

For the wild,

Jon Spitz

Laytonville

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THE HOLIDAY COMMUNITY DINNER

SUN. DEC. 8, 5:30pm, AV GRANGE

Looking forward to the very special community event on December 8th? Yes, the Holiday Dinner at the Grange! Want to add to the pleasure by volunteering to help? Needed are mashed potato makers (potatoes provided), turkey bakers (local turkeys provided), meat cookers (local meat provided), appetizers, set up and clean-up crews, kitchen help, table greeters, kids activities, carvers, and dishwashers. Call Capt. Rainbow now at 896-3897 or email him at captnrainbow@pacific.net.

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AV FOOD BANK NEEDS A REFRIGERATOR!

The AVFB needs a large refrigerator. It doesn’t have to have a freezer as the AVFB has a stand alone large freezer. If you have a working refrigerator you would like to donate, or if you would like to contribute money to this important need, please contact Benna at: bennadanny@gmail.com.

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MENDO DA'S OFFICE: COAST THEATER SUSPECT HAS NOT BEEN 'CLEARED'

MSP received a message from a viewer (posted earlier) saying the suspect arrested in the armed robbery of the Coast Theater had been "cleared" of the charge in Superior Court Wednesday.

MSP emailed Mike Geniella, the spokesman for the Mendocino District Attorney's Office who was kind enough to reply in less than an hour:

"The message you forwarded re Mr. Vicchione is somewhat misleading, so please let's clear the air.

Following the District Attorney’s review of the investigation reports submitted by the Fort Bragg Police Department relating to the theater robbery in Fort Bragg, the case was returned to police for follow up. Thus, Mr. Vicchione has not been cleared of the robbery; rather, he remains a person of interest in an on-going Fort Bragg police investigation.

Vicchione

However, in a related but separate matter, during the course of the original robbery investigation it was uncovered that Mr. Vicchione, a parolee working as a maintenance employee at the Heritage House – had been involved in an ongoing stealing of personal property belonging to the Heritage House and converting for his own use and/or selling same at his Fort Bragg residence.

As a result of the voters previously having passed Proposition 47 – the Safe Neighborhoods and School Act -- that requires found stolen property to be of a value greater than $950 in order for the District Attorney to file a new felony charge, the DA strategically filed theft and stolen property charges against Mr. Vicchione as violations of his parole because the value of what was found was less than $950.

At a contested parole violation hearing conducted on Wednesday afternoon in Ukiah, a judge found true that Mr. Vicchione had violated his parole as charged and immediately sentenced the defendant to 90 days in the county jail. Mr. Vicchione’s parole agent advised the judge that Mr. Vicchione would be sent in short order to residential drug treatment and, thereafter, relocated off the Mendocino Coast."

This was the original message MSP received from a viewer Wednesday night:

"Mathew Arlin Vicchione has been cleared of the false accusations that he robbed the coast theater cinema. He went to court today (Wednesday) and NO charges were pressed in regards to the armed robbery there - he is innocent and he is doing a parole violation because of drinking when he had a 5B clause in his parole. He was sentenced to 90 days in county jail and an alcohol recovery program. Please let our small community know that the true robber of the coast theaters is still out there!!!”

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FOURTH GRADE raising money to help their community

The Anderson Valley Food bank and the Anderson Valley Senior Center were selected by the Fourth Grade classes of the AV Elementary School to receive a generous financial gift.

From Debra Pichler the teacher when asked what inspired this magnanimous project:

“We had several stories we were reading a couple of months ago that talked about adolescent entrepreneurs. One of the stories was how a fourth grader had started a penny drive and how much money she raised for different charities in her community. We started talking about how they could help charities in their community. The two that came to mind first was the food bank and the senior center. So I brought a big bank from home, they made posters and put them up all over the school, and we made announcements in the morning to remind everyone what we were doing. We set a goal we wanted to meet and they were off and running. I have never seen a bunch of kids so excited about raising money for someone/something else, especially when they started rolling up all the money and counting it. This is something I'm definitely going to do every year!”

Now that is great teaching! Kudos to Ms. Pichler

— Benna Kolinsky

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FORMER ATTORNEY WITH JACKSON FAMILY WINES BUYING ANDERSON VALLEY BREWING

by Bill Swindell

Anderson Valley Brewing Co. of Boonville, a California craft beer pioneer that’s been overshadowed in recent years as younger consumers moved toward more hoppy beers, is being sold to a Healdsburg home brewer’s family under a deal announced Wednesday.

The Mendocino County brewery founded in 1987 produces beers ranging from amber ales to an oatmeal stout, but like other craft brewers it faces challenges of lagging sales and increasing consolidation led by major national brewers such as Anheuser- Busch InBev and Molson Coors.

Kevin McGee, an attorney who once served as legal counsel to Jackson Family Wines under the late Jess Jackson, and his family are buying the brewery from Trey White. The price tag was not disclosed. The roughly 50 Anderson Valley employees will be retained, including brewmaster Fal Allen.

“They are one of the pioneers. … The quality of the beers they have been making is world-class,” McGee said. “It’s about the idea that we can be part of the culture of the brewery and organization.”

The sale comes during a period of volatility in the craft beer market as growth has slowed. Mergers and acquisitions have ramped up, as well as brewery closures. For example, Constellation Brands Inc. said Tuesday it was unloading popular San Diego craft brewer Ballast Point Brewing Co. to a small Chicago- area brewer, Kings & Convicts, after paying a whopping $1 billion for it in 2015. Other venerable independent breweries such as Cloverdale’s Bear Republic Brewing Co. are reinventing themselves to get stronger footing in the highly competitive beer market.

There is relief in the craft beer sector that Anderson Valley’s buyer is a local family rather than a “big beer” corporation such as InBev, which owns close to two dozen craft beer brands, including its pending purchase of the Craft Brew Alliance of Portland, Oregon.

“We just see so many craft beer brands bought by big beer, and every one of those we’ve seen is a dimming of the light,” said Tom McCormick, executive director of the California Craft Beer Association. “We see the beer quality go down across the board and a demise of creativity.”

Anderson Valley makes a wide range of beers, but is known among beer aficionados for its Boont Amber Ale, a copper- colored beer that features the sweetness of caramel flavors. However, amber beers have faded in popularity among beer drinkers in recent years. It also has had recent success with its gose-style brew, a sour unfiltered wheat beer popular during the summer. Most notably, the brewery is not known for India pale ales, the hoppy style that represents up to a third of craft beer sales and is a fixture at any taproom in California and beyond.

McGee said he intends to help raise the brewery’s visibility through more aggressive marketing — noting that Anderson Valley’s Hop Ottin’ IPA won a bronze medal in the 2000 World Beer Cup — and remind consumers of its rich heritage, especially younger consumers who may not be aware of its history.

“A lot of the focus is just telling the stories of the brewery and all the things we have done in the past,” McGee said.

But he was adamant on resisting the latest trendy beers just to boost sales, such as the hard seltzer trend that is the fastest growing segment in the alcohol beverage market.

After leaving Jackson Family Wines in 2012, McGee has worked as a consultant to various wineries and CEO for a winery investment firm. He also is known locally for his Healdsburg Beer Co., a passion project of his in which, since 2007, he has produced home-brewed small batch cask ales available at a few taprooms. McGee will give up his consulting work, but keep Healdsburg Beer.

“He’s just a really thoughtful, humble and very intelligent person who also has that scientist/ artist background,” McCormick said of McGee.

McCormick remembers McGee when he first started his side brewing project and strapped kegs to the front seat of his Subaru as he made his deliveries to local pubs.

In his new role, McGee will be president and chief executive officer of Anderson Valley and leave the brewing to Allen and his team. His father, Michael McGee Sr., will be the brewing company chairman.

The Boonville brewer has been among the 100 largest independent breweries in the United States, according to the national Brewers Association trade group, McGee said. Prior to the acquisition closing on Dec. 13, McGee said he couldn’t disclose the brewery’s production figures.

In a prepared statement, White said he found “the perfect steward to lead the company forward. Kevin’s combination of business acumen and passion for quality beer make him ideally suited for the role.”

White had acquired Anderson Valley in April 2010 and turned it into one of the first sizable craft breweries in the country that packaged some beers in aluminum cans — a trend that now has become ubiquitous in the beer sector as younger consumers have gravitated to cans over bottles. Now its brews are available in 33 states.

The brewery began as a small 10-barrel brewhouse in the lower level of its first brewpub, the former Buckhorn Saloon, opened by David Norfleet and Kim and Ken Allen. In 1996, construction started on the current Anderson Valley brewery and taproom complex on 26 acres at the corner of Highways 128 and 253. It features a bucolic beer garden with views of the Anderson Valley, as well as an 18-hole disc golf course in the town of about 1,000 residents.

Brian Hunt of Moonlight Brewing Co. consulted with the original owners when Anderson Valley Brewing started and said he is bullish on the brewery’s future with McGee at the helm. He commended its tradition and sourcing of its own well water to give the beers a distinctive taste.

“The beers have always been solid,” Hunt said. “I’m really delighted they got a new infusion of cash, ideas and energy.”

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CATCH OF THE DAY, December 5, 2019

Aguilar, Alvarez, Amundson, Blackwood

ANTHONY AGUILAR JR., Ukiah. More than an ounce of pot, controlled substance, county parole violation, resisting.

ARMANDO ALVAREZ, Ukiah. Under influence, suspended license (for DUI & refusing drug test), false ID, false personation of another, resisting.

DAVID AMUNDSON, Ukiah. Failure to appear.

OREL BLACKWOOD, Oakland. Assault with deadly weapon not a gun.

Escobedo-Hernandez, Fouche, Malfavon-Sandoval

ERIKA ESCOBEDO-HERNANDEZ, Ukiah. Under influence.

RANDY FOUCHE, Grand Junction, California/Ukiah. Assault with deadly weapon with great bodily injury, grand theft, failure to appear.

JESUS MALFAVON-SANDOVAL, Philo. Controlled substance, probation revocation.

Martinez-Rodriguez, Munson-Chezik, Parra

FRANCISCO MARTINEZ-RODRIGUEZ, Fort Bragg. Torture, mayhem, assault with deadly weapon not a gun, false imprisonment, kidnapping, domestic abuse, probation revocation.

DEBRA MUNSON-CHEZIK, Willits. Burglary.

LUIS PARRA, New Hall/Ukiah. Concealed loaded handgun not registered owner, suspended license (for DUI), ammo possession by prohibited person, felon-addict with firearm, probation revocation.

Pooley, Sullivan, Turner

STEPHEN POOLEY, Taunton, Massachusetts/Ukiah. DUI.

JOHN SULLIVAN, Ukiah. Domestic abuse, criminal threats, probation revocation. (Frequent Flyer)

CHELSEA TURNER, Ukiah. Assault with deadly weapon with great bodily injury.

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A FREE LIVE HOLIDAY READING AT YOUR LIBRARY

Christmas Classics & Mendocino Memories

Tales of the Winter Solstice

Gather friends, family and neighbors for a holiday treat at the Fort Bragg Library, 499 E. Laurel Street, on Friday, December 13, 2019 at 6pm for “Tales of the Winter Solstice”, a free live reading event with Linda Pack and R. Bobby.

Then at the Willits Library, 390 E. Commercial Street, on Saturday, December 14, 2019 at 3pm for “Christmas Classics and Mendocino Memories”,

Then at the Coast Community Library, 225 Main Street in Point Arena, on Sunday, December 15, 2019 at 2pm

And finally, at the Ukiah Library, 101 Main Street, on Saturday, December 21, 2019 at 3pm for “Tales of the Winter Solstice.”

This one-hour program will share cultural mysteries and stories about this darkest time of the year, including the Jewish holiday of Hannukah, Roman Saturnalia and the ancient Persian festival of Yalda. Lucky audience members will have an opportunity to have their fortune foretold by writings of the esteemed Persian poet, Hafiz. The program concludes with a complete reading of Dylan Thomas’ mid-20th-century masterpiece, “A Child’s Christmas in Wales.”

Linda Pack has been creating theatre in Mendocino County for more than 40 five years. She was a founding member of Gloriana Opera Company, and has performed and directed for Ukiah Players, Mendocino Theatre Company, and the Mendocino Music Festival.

In 2014, Linda conceived and created the Mendocino County Museum Road Show, which, for four years, toured the county with new stories of our rich past brought to life in spectacular theatrical productions.

R. Bobby has acted in, directed and/or produced shows for Ukiah Players Theatre, Willits Community Theatre, Mendocino College and Gloriana Opera Co. While living In Rhode Island from 2002-2018, Bobby appeared at Perishable Theatre, the GAMM Theatre, Counter Productions, and the Epic Theatre.

This free gift of seasonal stories for the whole family is presented by the Mendocino County Cultural Services Agency.

For more information about this event, please call R. Bobby at 401 864 5411 or email: rbobby918@gmail.com.

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BIG GARAGE SALE at the Little River Museum, Saturday 9-3. 8185 Hwy One, Little River. Across the street from Cobler's Walk Inn, just south of Glendeven Inn, north of the Van Damme curves. Lots of things all in good, working condition. NO rust. Some antiques and quality art in expensive frames we've been given, office equipment, garden tools gift quality, we're trying to imitate the dollar store, low prices, we want everything gone.

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SOROPTIMISTS 2019 HOLIDAY CRAFTS FAIR

Town Hall (Laurel and Main Streets), Fort Bragg

Friday-Sunday, December 6-7-8

You are invited to a special indoor craft fair at Town Hall, in the heart of downtown Fort Bragg

The “First Friday” in December is always a huge evening open house holiday tradition in town.

Crafts will vary from jams and jellies, to knick knacks, pottery and more!

Here's a chance to do your holiday shopping early for those one-of-a-kind exquisite crafts you can't buy in a store.

Doors open 10am daily Fri-Sun, and on Fri/Sat the craft fair is open until 9pm.

ON SATURDAY: Morning Coffee and All DAY Fair Trade HOT CHOCOLATE and Tea to SIP AS YOU SHOP for a donation! And Thanks to support from Harvest Market, Headlands Coffeehouse and Thanksgiving Coffee.

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(photo by Annie Kalantarian)

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KELLEY HOUSE MUSEUM EVENTS

Candlelit Shopping Tour and Scotch-Tasting Event, Dec. 14th 4-7pm. Next Saturday, we are joining with other local merchants to create a welcoming Second Saturday candlelit shopping experience in downtown Mendo. Come by the Kelley House between 5:00 and 7:00 and warm up with a drink! It's a relaxing way to mingle with other lovers of fine Scotch, while supporting a worthy organization. Sarah Nathe will be pouring flights of five single-malt scotches. $25 per person. There will also be a silent auction for 2-night stays at both the Brewery Gulch Inn and at the Sea Gull B&B, in Mendocino. These could come in handy for those out-of-town guests who'd rather have their own space when visiting.

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CRAB, WINE & BEER DAYS FUNDRAISER

Fort Bragg, CA — Tickets are now on sale for Crab, Wine & Beer Days, the annual Mendocino Coast Clinics (MCC) fundraiser on January 31 and February 1. The Friday night event features three dinner seatings at the historic Pentecost Hall in Fort Bragg where people can enjoy a cioppino dinner prepared by an all-volunteer kitchen crew and served by MCC staff. The following afternoon at noon in the big white tent at the corner of Main and Spruce Streets in Fort Bragg, attendees can enjoy a crab cake cook-off and wine tasting competition where Mendocino county chefs craft thousands of crab cakes to sample with local wine.

MCC Executive Director Lucresha Renteria said, “Friday night is great if you want to bring a big group for a family-style meal—eat there or pick up the cioppino to enjoy at home. Saturday’s event typically sells out. It’s a great place to enjoy incredible food and drink while supporting a great cause.”

According to Event Coordinator Tawny McMillan, “It is the signature weekend destination of Visit Mendocino County https://visitmendocino.com/‘s 10 day Feast Mendocino Crab Festival.”

The Friday night dinner seatings are at 4:00 pm, 6:00 pm, and 8:00 pm. Each seating includes a healthy helping of cioppino from the giant pot brimming with seafood, shellfish, and local Dungeness crab. It is served with Fort Bragg Bakery http://www.fortbraggbakery.com/ bread, tossed salad, ice cream, Thanksgiving Coffee http://www.thanksgivingcoffee.com/, bibs, and plenty of napkins, according to McMillan. This year, the event will also feature beer tasting from local breweries.

McMillan said, “Come and treat yourself to Mendocino County wines https://mendowine.com/ and microbrews in the Crabby Bar, peruse the silent auction, and ready your wallet when we pass the Crab Can to fund the future of MCC.”

The Saturday afternoon event includes crab cakes, Mendocino County wines and microbrews, fine foods, desserts and coffee from local purveyors throughout the county, including local favorites like A Sweet Affair, Kemmy’s Pies and Thanksgiving Coffee. It also features a silent auction, wine auction, and live auction with local celebrity Mendocino County Sheriff Tom Allman serving as the auctioneer.

Renteria said, “This event wouldn’t be possible without support from our sponsors. Big thanks to all of our sponsors, especially our premier sponsor Swithenbank and our media sponsor, KOZT FM — The Coast radio station.”

The sponsors help ensure that MCC can continue providing quality healthcare services on the North Coast as it has for the past 25 years. In many cases, MCC is the only provider for services such as pediatrics, obstetrics, behavioral health, dental care for uninsured children, medical outreach to local teens, Suboxone treatment to stem the opioid crisis, and free wellness and nutrition classes. By accepting private insurance, Medicare, Medi-Cal, and offering sliding scale options, MCC helps assure that no one is turned away because they cannot afford care.

For Wine & Beer Days details and ticket prices, visit crabwinebeermendo.org.

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FESTIVAL OF LIGHTS - 2ND WEEKEND

2nd weekend of Festival of Lights! Doors open at 5PM and last entry is at 7PM.

Parking is very limited! Please plan to take advantage of the FREE PARKING SHUTTLE picking up from the Mendocino Community College parking lot at 1211 Del Mar Dr beginning at 4:45 PM on a continuous loop and take you directly to the Gardens' entrance. The last shuttle pick-up from the College parking lot will be at 6:45 PM.

This weekend's calendar

  • Dec 6 - Mendocino High School Choir
  • Dec 7 - Jason Moore (acoustic folk-rock)
  • Dec 8 - Fort Bragg High School Choir

3rd weekend

  • Dec 13 - Francis Vanek Quartet (jazz)
  • Dec 14 - VISIT WITH SANTA - music by Small Hat Band (soul, southern rock, blues, and roots)
  • Dec 15 - HOLIDAY KARAOKE AND FREE PHOTO BOOTH - GroundLoop Events (DJ 80)

FINAL WEEKEND

  • Dec 20 - Chuck T (classic rock, country, folk, and blues)
  • Dec 21 - VISIT WITH SANTA and FREE FACE PAINTING - music by Matt Westmoreland (bluegrass and honky-tonk)
  • Dec 22 - UGLY SWEATER NIGHT - music by 2nd Hand Grass (folk-rock)

TICKETS are $10 each, children age 16 and under attend for FREE! All proceeds from this fundraiser event help to support this community event and the Mendocino Coast Botanical Gardens. Tickets are available at The Garden Store at Mendocino Coast Botanical Gardens, Harvest Market in Fort Bragg, Out of This World in Mendocino, or at the door (no additional cost). Tickets for Festival of Lights can be used for any day of the event and do not sell out for any date. This year we will have dedicated Will Call entrances at the main entrance and at the south end of the main parking lot. This way, if you have pre-purchased tickets you can get into the Festival of Lights using any entrance!

EVENT GUIDELINES: Dress for winter! Parking is free but limited, please plan to carpool or take the FREE Festival Parking Shuttle. Electric mobility scooters will not be available for rent during the event. Dogs are not allowed at the Festival of Lights. Mendocino Coast Botanical Gardens is well-known for its pet-friendly nature. However, during this special event, we ask that you please keep your pets (service animals excluded) at home or arrange for doggy daycare. No outside food or beverages allowed. Bring cash if you wish to purchase sweets or beverages. No smoking anywhere in the Gardens. Please stay on the lighted pathways. Children must be accompanied by an adult at all times. No refunds as all proceeds will be donated to our nonprofit botanical gardens. General admission guest passes are not allowed for entry; an event ticket must be purchased as this is a fundraiser for the Gardens.

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“CONSPIRACY THEORY” was introduced into the media by the CIA for the purpose of preventing the public from paying attention to skeptics of the Warren Commission Report and was used again to protect the 9/11 Commission Report. The term is now used generally to protect controlled explanations. It works because most people are accustomed to letting others do their thinking for them and adopt as their own whatever beliefs are considered to be the peer group views. Noam Chomsky-also labeled a Russian agent by PropOrNot-has explained how consent is manufactured and how the meaning of democracy has been changed to rule by elites.

In the days of print media, it wasn’t possible to demonize a writer. Letters to the editor had to have a point and could not rely on ad hominum attack, although such attacks sometimes occurred. But anyone can create a website and begin demonizing people. Demonizers also have access to Facebook, Twitter, YouTube—-as long as they demonize those whose demonization is approved of by the ruling Establishment. Truth, however, is almost totally missing from the world created by the Digital Revolution, a great castrophe for mankind. I am almost convinced that the digital revolution means the death of truth. Truth will become a myth like the Unicorn.

On this website and a few others—the percentage of sites that are honest and reliable is very small—you can still get some of the truth. I try not to make mistakes, but in a world in which truth is not respected, it is a challenge to be truthful as truthful information necessary to write truthfully is suppressed.

I can confidently say that unless it is an announcement of a traffic accident (terrorist unrelated) or the death of some notable person, everything you read and hear from NPR and the print and TV media is false. The “news” is propaganda designed to control explanations to serve the agendas of the ruling elites. The “news” is nothing else. The “news” is extremely hostile to truth and to those who speak it.

We all live in The Matrix. I am still escaping from it. Recently, I have been sharing with readers my escape from the long ago WW II lies taught to me as a child. These lies are so institutionalized that I doubt that most Americans—and even Germans—will ever be able to free themselves from them. Think about that for a minute. The outlook of the human population is formed by lies, and these lies are so much a part of them that they cannot escape from them.

What shall we call a dystopia such as this?

History is generally a result of self-serving elites manipulating masses. But on occasion the masses have responded to leaders who spoke and acted in their interest. These are the rare periods of reform and revolution. I write for several reasons. One is out of a sense of responsibility to truth. One is out of hope that leaders will arise from truth.

The question is whether those few who tell the truth will be supported. Support for Manning was inadequate. Support for Julian Assange was inadequate. Support for the Palestinians, dispossessed by Zionists of their country, their villages, their homes, their culture, their lives, was inadequate. I could go on, and I am certain that my readers can add to the picture.

The question before me is: Can I expect support for this website when Manning cannot expect support, when Assange cannot expect support, when the heavily abused Palestinians cannot expect support?

Who values truth in a world when a man can declare himself a women and be permitted to compete against women in female sports? How can it be that when prominent female sports stars complain of this farce that they have to apologize for offending the self-declared “transgenered” person? Are we experiencing a new form of decadence far worst than Sodom and Gomorrah, worst than the declining days of Rome?

Who values truth when some non-entity can close down truth by declaring that it offends them?

Who values truth when it can no longer be expressed in universities?

Who values truth when dogmas cannot be examined or questioned?

Many years ago I read a science fiction story—don’t remember who wrote it or where—of a dystopia, a country where at birth babies were tested to see if they had a “truth gene.” If they did, they were exterminated. Truth was an enormous threat to the system, and every precaution was taken to suppress anything resembling truth.

The suppression of truth is the most serious problem of our times. It is the defining characteristic of every Western nation and all of Washington’s vassal states.

Truth was a liberating force. This liberating force is escaping our grasp. We are being cast back in time to when truth was impotent and power in its brutality ruled.

This website is fighting against the organized destruction of truth. If you value truth, you must support this website. Otherwise, you are an accomplice in the extermination of truth.

(Paul Craig Roberts)

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ON LINE COMMENT OF THE DAY

I always laugh when people describe Old Man Winter as some sort of super scaled Santa who hibernates all year until it’s time for him to unleash the cold, icy winds of Winter. No! In my astral travels I saw him and he looks neither young nor old but more of a non-descript middle age I suppose. He is really gaunt in a way that makes you think of hunger and want but then at the same time he is very rugged and powerful. I don’t know how to verbally express the simultaneous conflicting qualities but they are there. But he never sleeps or rests actually. Did you ever see that movie The Colony? Well, Old Man Winter reminds me of the chief of the cannibal nomads in that movie because he too always wants more and more and more. If you think he is happy that his ice melts in the Summer Sun then you just don’t understand his nature. You are never going to get the hot world that you secretly desire (because you want to be right in everything). In fact, it isn’t very wise to tempt God. Remember how God says that he will completely confound man. And right now man thinks he knows that Old Man Winter is dying. LOL, you must not have remembered all of the treasures of ice, snow and hail that the Lord told Job he had stored. No, man even at his best is just a mere speck of dust in the sight of the Lord and knows almost nothing in the grand scheme.

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Rainer Maria Rilke and Clara Rilke Westhoff

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CONTROLLED BURNING FOR IMPROVED FIRE SAFETY IN THE UKIAH VALLEY

Ukiah, CA. December 4, 2019. – Over the past year, the County of Mendocino and the City of Ukiah engaged with lead agency CAL FIRE, and other key stakeholder groups to develop fire prevention and mitigation measures for the Ukiah Valley, including the western hills that border the city. Governor Gavin Newsom allocated $213.6 million dollars for fuels reduction and forest health throughout the state. The Community Wildfire Prevention and Mitigation Report (45-Day Report), prepared by The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CAL FIRE), written in response to Governor Gavin Newsom’s Executive Order N-05-19, identified 35 Priority Fuel Reduction Projects in California. The Ukiah Fuels Reduction Project was one of those. The 26,541 acre Ukiah Fuels Reduction Project will better protect approximately 39,000 residents in the Ukiah area.

Two components of the project are largely in place in the western hills, including a fuel break at the base of the hillsides and a fire break along the ridgetops. Work CAL FIRE has completed to date in the western hills can be viewed in the attached map. To date, this includes:

  • 14.1 miles of dozer fuel break using State and private equipment
  • 3.25 miles of fuel break
  • 223 total acres treated
  • 8,000+ personnel hours

The third component of the Ukiah Fuels Reduction Project is vegetation management in the form of controlled burning. Beginning this month, and continuing into spring as weather and air quality conditions allow, CAL FIRE will conduct controlled burning around the Ukiah Valley. This controlled burning will include piles of vegetation, and broadcast burning of larger areas to strategically reduce fuel loads and lessen the intensity of future wildfire in the area. Broadcast burning of hillside lands immediately west of Ukiah will be visible from the city. Burning activities will begin at approximately 10 am, and conclude at approximately 5 pm daily. Smoke will be visible throughout the surrounding areas as burning operations are conducted.

Residents have a critical role in creating defensible space around their own homes and property. Fire Marshal Kevin Jennings of the Ukiah Valley Fire Authority has been meeting with neighborhood groups and interested property owners to provide them with information about steps that should be taken to improve fire safety. Local groups are encouraged to contact the Fire Marshall with questions or requests for information. Additionally, information about how you and your family can prepare for wildfire can be found online at www.readyforwildfire.org.

The State’s Community Wildfire Prevention & Mitigation Report (45 Day Plan), written in response to the Governor’s Order can be viewed along with a project location web map viewer at https://www.fire.ca.gov/about-us/45-day-report/ . To receive current information from CAL FIRE, including announcements about controlled burning in and surrounding the Ukiah Valley, residents are encouraged to follow the CAL FIRE Mendocino Unit on Twitter: https://twitter.com/CALFIRE_MEU and on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CALFIREMEU/.

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THE COMMUNITY RESILIENCY PROJECT & the Ukiah Library invite your submissions of uplifting and affirming micro fictions, short stories, poems, visual art, comics, conversations, interviews, short essays, and hybrid works on the theme of New Ways Forward: Ukiah Powers Up during the Power Down:

  • How were you affected by the recent power down?
  • Did you come to the aid of others?
  • Did others inspire or help you out?
  • In what ways are you now more confident in your ability to rise to the occasion?
  • What clever strategies caught your attention?
  • Community Creativity: what to do in the dark?
  • What helped you make it through?

Our aim is to create a collection of community-based experiences and artworks that help to document ways we did & do support and hold space for one another during these challenging times. It also hopes to become a document that celebrates ways we each overcome our own myriad challenges so that we may learn from each other and our own strengths. Feel free to include any tales of individuals, businesses, agencies, or leaders that went out of their way to be helpful. What were some surprising benefits you encountered?

If selected for publication, your work will be bound and published in an anthology comprised of works created by other local artists and authors in Ukiah-area communities.

Please send all submissions to

ukiahresiliencyproject@gmail.com

by January 15th.

Thank you,

Melissa Eleftherion Carr

Branch Librarian

Ukiah Branch Library

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THE INLAND MENDOCINO DEMOCRATIC CLUB will hold our next meeting Thursday, December 12th at 5:30 pm at Slam Dunk Pizza, 720 North State Street, Ukiah, CA 95482. Let’s all join together to make our county an oasis of Justice and Peace. Together, in coalition, we can take progressive action and protect our county from the conservative nightmare. Come lend a hand. All are welcome. See us on Facebook and at http://inlandmendodems.org

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FOUND OBJECT

31 Comments

  1. Eric Sunswheat December 6, 2019

    Still, the wild popularity of kombucha is based primarily on the drink’s probiotic content and so the industry may wnat to consider coming up with standards of identity to give consistency to manufacturers producing the beverage. By doing so, it could provide some level of protection because then consumers will know what to expect in a beverage and manufacturers will have greater guidelines to avoid misleading claims on their labels.

    As the kombucha market matures, its sales are beginning to level off, potentially making it harder to weather repeated lawsuits as when it was a nascent, hot category. Food Navigator reported sales for the year ending February 24​ of refrigerated kombucha and other fermented beverages rose 21% to $728.8 million. Compared with a year before, sale velocities of the beverage were down, meaning more places are carrying kombucha, but may not be selling it as fast as before.

    https://www.fooddive.com/news/brew-dr-kombucha-faces-2nd-class-action-lawsuit-over-probiotic-bacteria-la/566788/

  2. Joanie Stevens December 6, 2019

    re:random facts
    Feeding polar bears people that thought the random facts post was funny (or the person that wrote it) would be much more beneficial to the community but would probably give the poor polar bears serious indigestion.

    • Betsy Cawn December 7, 2019

      Great story, Mr. Bedrock. This is how insane “Big Brother” has become, in our “politically correct” but scientifically stupid society.

  3. Louis Bedrock December 6, 2019

    “The great achievement of Rainer Maria Rilke was to win the hearts of all the princesses, duchesses, marchionesses, and baronesses of the Austro- Hungarian Empire and also of their respective husbands; to be invited to their castles, palaces, and homes; and to leave in them as payment nothing more a few poems. With them, his noble hosts would feel honored.

    This man with watery blue eyes was a wandering poet who went from mansion to mansion—in Venice, Capri, the Black Forest, Paris, Stockholm, Florence, Saint Petersburg, and Duino. Wherever he went, he would leave a trail of impossible loves.”

    https://www.theava.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/RainerMariaRilke.pdf

  4. Louis Bedrock December 6, 2019

    “Despite all his flights, there came a moment when Rilke found himself married. It was with a sculptor named Clara Westhoff; he lived with her just long enough for her to give birth to a daughter. Rilke’s style was to brush up against his lovers as if with the wings of angels. He sought a woman who would be the guardian of his solitude. Apart from that, the poet needed only silence. Clara gave him silence and distance, as did Lou Andreas-Salomé; as did the girl beggar in the streets of Paris, Marthe Hennebert, for whom Rilke provided shelter and education, and whose love Rilke won before he abandoned her.”

    —Manuel Vicent

    https://www.theava.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/RainerMariaRilke.pdf

  5. Eric Wilcox December 6, 2019

    Printing hate as random facts? I’m done with your paper.

    • Bruce Anderson December 6, 2019

      Agree. It slipped through, and we’re taking it down.

  6. Lazarus December 6, 2019

    Condolences to the town of Boonville.
    In the early ’70s, there was a downtown fire in Willits. It took out a bakery, sporting goods store and The Willits News.
    In the Willits community, the consequences of such destruction among the citizens who experienced it are still present.
    As always,
    Laz

  7. Lazarus December 6, 2019

    FOUND OBJECT

    I thought Jacko was dead…

    As always,
    Laz

  8. Emily Strachan December 6, 2019

    Random Facts: rather tasteless. New low.

  9. Randy Burke December 6, 2019

    Sad day for the town. I was caught in the traffic, and used Fish Rock to make it to the coast. A real turn out from the fire agencies. Tried to volunteer at the traffic block, but found it was better to stay out of the way and travel home. Really sorry for the town’s loss.

  10. Harvey Reading December 6, 2019

    “…Medicare wasting $50,000,000,000 to pay for sex change surgery…”

    Citation, please, and from a credible source. Sounds similar to what a commenter once posted here regarding the Canadian health care system.

  11. Louis Bedrock December 6, 2019

    Don’t blame the ANDERSON VALLEY ADVERTISER for the idea of feeding trans-women to the polar bears. I was the one who submitted the piece.

    I’m pissed off at the politics of some members of the Trans community who insist that trans-women are equal to birth women. They are not.

    A fetus is not a baby.
    Women don’t have penises.

    A man who has undergone an expensive sex-change operation is not a woman. Women’s clinics and women’s bathrooms should not be open to trans-women. Men—including trans-women, should not be allowed to compete in women’s sports.

    Medicare should not pay for cosmetic surgery—including sex change surgery. There are other priorities.

    Lighten up, for chrissakes.
    My article was no more serious than Swift’s “A Modest Proposal”.
    http://www.jacklynch.net/Texts/modest.html

    I don’t actually wish for anyone to be fed to polar bear except the Clintons.

    https://www.opposingviews.com/.image/t_share/MTU0MDAwMjIzMDc5NzY5MTcw/antipropositiononecartoonjpg.png

    • Betsy Cawn December 7, 2019

      The Lake County Behavioral Health Department is currently seeking participation in a “mental health” survey that includes these questions:

      “Please indicate your sex assigned at birth (Female, Male, Another sex, Prefer not to answer).”

      “Please indicate your current gender identity (Female, Male, Transgender, Genderqueer, Questioning or unsure of gender identity, Another gender identity, Prefer not to answer).”

      “Please indicate your sexual orientation (Gay or Lesbian, Heterosexual or Straight, Bisexual, Questioning or unsure of sexual orientation, Queer, Another sexual orientation, Prefer not to answer).”

      The linguistic conflation alone is bizarre, let alone the necessity to obtain this information in a survey related to “mental” health services — but illustrates the absurdity of the contemporary mental malaise obsessing the “helping professions.”

      If the “assignment” of my biological formation (genitalia) is by politically correct designation, what the fuck is “Another sex”?

      If my “identity” is so confusing that I’m not “sure” or have elected to mutilate my genitalia for the purpose of creating a “preferred” gender “style” of behavior, then I clearly don’t have enough to do or are so in love with my self that inter-personal relations are beside the point.

      If my “sexual orientation” is defined by either “gender assignment” or “gender identity” then I am not free to engage other humans in relations that are unfettered by sexual definitions.

      Of course, the sexual politics of the era — including faux feminism and blasphemous white male supremacy — are indicators of cultural confusion that illustrate the devolving social structure, obsessed with sexual display of attributes enhanced by billions of dollars spent on unnecessary material goods.

      The need to “compete” in today’s trivial and superficial personal “enhancement” diverts mental and physical energy away from meaningful and important functions, and results in the hysteria of the mainstream media and garbled governance we see all around us.

      “I say it’s spinach, and I say the hell with it.”

      See for yourself (and note that the questions are adapted to the primary selection of your “orientation” to the system):

      http://sgiz.mobi/s3/Lake-MHSA-Stakeholder-Survey

      (And, thanks again, Mr. Bedrock, and “boy oh boy” greetings and salutations of the day to the AVA.)

      As we used to say in the “old days,” GET A LIFE.

      • Louis Bedrock December 7, 2019

        Thank you, good sister Betsy Cawn.
        With all the problems facing us, the human race needs to be united.
        And they keep subdividing us!

  12. Brook Gamble December 6, 2019

    Random Facts? This is hate speech. I can’t believe you’re low enough to actually print it. And I’m ashamed to be a subscriber, although I can say I won’t be renewing.

    • Randy Burke December 6, 2019

      Ya gotta renew…This is the only true portal to the old news industry left. Please renew, as it is good for at least some really great links, and The Major, and the old boy owner carry us onward into some real local and regional news. Don’t despair, just reup on your subscription.

      • Randy Burke December 6, 2019

        BTW,I was always under the impression for 20 years that “Random Facts” were related to the “Catch of the Day.” N’est pas?

    • Louis Bedrock December 7, 2019

      Good piece.
      Thank you.
      I am a CP subscriber but somehow missed this.

    • Louis Bedrock December 7, 2019

      Good piece.
      Thank you.
      I am a CP subscriber but somehow missed this.

  13. Michael turner December 6, 2019

    Is Philbrick in charge of Random Facts now?

    • Louis Bedrock December 7, 2019

      Hi Michael:

      Blame me: not Mr. Philbrick or the AVA.

  14. Eric Sunswheat December 6, 2019

    The Pic N Pay fire distraction across the Hwy128 traffic blockade, distracted Random Facts that day.

    To be perfectly clear, among humans 3 facts remain clear.
    1.) Human brains are either male or female, not both nor interchangeable.
    2.) The purported goal in the restroom is to protect the vagina wombs from active penis intrusion or titillation, unless someone can describe reasoned circumstances, other than spewing hate and vitriolic confusion to never read again.
    3.) If there is ambiguity or confusion, another option is Pet Relief stations as are available at SFO airport, that is for the ambiguous, though not to say who is petting whom.
    Out of this pickle, Eleanor Clooney to the rescue, December 5th in Fort Bragg.

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