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MCT: Wednesday, December 11, 2019

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WEAK HIGH PRESSURE will briefly provide most of northwest California with some dry weather for part of today, with fairly mild and overcast conditions otherwise. Wet weather will return in earnest by the end of the day, with periods of light to moderate rain continuing into the weekend. (National Weather Service)

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P.J. STONE

PJ Stone (born June 15, 1966) died Wednesday, December 4, 2019 at home from a heart attack. He is survived by his mother Kay, sister Betsy and niece Saidie, brother and sister-in-law Andy and RaeAnn, their children Max, Andrah and Jack. He adored his raft of nieces and nephews. He is also survived by his aunt, Sally Schmitt, and a host of cousins. PJ was a bartender at the Boonville Hotel in Boonville and El Rio in San Francisco, and was briefly the owner of Soundbite Bar in Boonville. PJ loved music (especially the Grateful Dead), comedy, reading and time with his friends and family. Throughout his long disability, he was one of the bravest people his family and friends had ever known. PJ is known for his huge generous heart, ability to make friends, hearty laughter, wicked sense of humor (as evidenced by his failure in a self timed jumping rope class in college). PJ will be missed enormously by everyone who knew him.

PJ Stone (left), in the 90s (right)

In lieu of flowers, please make a donation in PJ’s memory to Lifeline for Vets at the National Foundation for Veterans www.nvf.org

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FROM SUPERVISOR WILLIAMS:

Passed unanimously: BOS - December 10, 2019 - item 6b

Discussion and Possible Action Including Direction to Executive Office to Perform Operational Feasibility of Proposed Measure B Funded Facilities
(Sponsor: Supervisor Williams)

Summary of Request:
Measure B will provide ongoing annual funding of approximately $1.8-2.1M. The County is presently considering significant expenditures related to planning Psychiatric Health Facility, Crisis Stabilization Unit and Crisis Residential structures. Prior to committing funds for construction or planning of structures, the County should determine feasibility of operating these new facilities. Feasibility should include availability of necessary personnel, recruitment and relocation costs of necessary personnel, trends in operating expenses at similar facilities in other counties, anticipated structure maintenance and trends in State/Federal reimbursement. The operational feasibility report will better ensure success and mitigate planning and construction of facilities beyond our operational abilities.

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CHIEF LIZARRAGA TO RETIRE

At the Monday, December 9th Fort Bragg City Council meeting, Police Chief Fabian Lizarraga announced his resignation, effective in May, 2020. That would mark a five year tenure as chief of police in Mendocino County's second largest town. Previously, Lizarraga spent more than three dozen years with the Los Angeles Police Department. The surprise announcement came during the staff comments section of the Fort Bragg City Council meeting. The Chief was hired in March of 2015 from southern California besting a field of over 30 applicants for the position.

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SUNDAY AFTERNOON WITH KATY TAHJA, DEC. 22, 4-5PM

A Kelley House Event

Local author Katy Tahja has just published her latest book, “An Eclectic History of Mendocino County.”

Copies are flying off the shelves at bookstores, but we will have gift-wrapped copies signed by the author available to purchase here at Kelley House. During this casual one-hour presentation, Katy will entertain us with a trivia quiz covering fascinating topics in our county’s history. White deer? Tobacco farms?

Find out more at the Kelley House on December 22nd at 4:00. Admission is $7 and $5 for members.

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SPORTS PHONE IS BACK! The popular show returns to the KZYX airwaves on Friday night, December 13th, at its new time, 7:00-8:00 pm. Co-hosts Jim & Jerry Young will interview local coach Vincent Lee as well as getting caught up on all sports topics we have missed in our month off the air.

Please call in and be part of the Sports Phone every Friday at 7:00 pm, right here on KZYX & Z - 88.1 FM in Fort Bragg, 90.7 FM in Philo and 91.5 FM in Willits & Ukiah.

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THE DECEMBER 19, 2019 PLANNING COMMISSION AGENDA has been posted to the department website at the below link:

mendocinocounty.org/government/planning-building-services/meeting-agendas/planning-commission

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NOT FAR from Lake Pillsbury...


Two Nights at Pine Mountain Lookout by Nik Daum (Nov 24, 2014)

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WOMEN TAKE OVER THE COURTHOUSE

On Tuesday morning at 8:15 Her Honor, Presiding Judge Ann Moorman, administered the oath of judgeship to Victoria Shanahan, recently appointed by Governor Newsom to fill the vacancy left by Judge Reimenschneider, who retired after a fleetingly brief stint on the bench (with no cut in pay, sure). Reimenschneider was himself appointed by Governor Brown. This leaves the juvenile court, Department F, dark these past few years. Judge Shanahan, now officially The Honorable Victoria Shanahan, joins a bench of predominately female judges, Cindee Mayfield, Ann Moorman, Jeanine Nadel, Carly Dolan, and one lone male judge, Keith Faulder.

We understand that Judge Shanahan, back when she was a Deputy DA along with Deputy DA Keith Faulder, used to complain about how "masculine" the Mendo Bench was -- intolerably so! We hope she now finds the gender split more to her liking. Since that time Ms. Shanahan was a prosecutor in the Sonoma County District Attorney’s office. After an unsuccessful ran for District Attorney there against incumbent Jill Ravitch (herself a former Mendo Assistant DA), Ms. Shanahan has been in private practice as a defense attorney.

Judge Shanahan will preside over the misdemeanor calendar in Department B, and Judge Mayfield will go back to family court in Department C, bumping Judge Dolan up to fill the vacancy left by retiring Judge John Behnke in felony court, Department H. Judge Nadel will stay in the civil court, Department E; Judge Faulder will stay in felony court, Department A; Judge Moorman, having been re-elected to serve another two years as Presiding Judge, will continue to hold down overflow and field odd cases in Departments G and F. Judge Reimenschneider was well within his rights to retire after only enough time on the bench to try on his robe, but we hope Judge Shanahan has a more traditional — not to say "conservative" — sense of duty, and will stick it out for at least a little while.

(Bruce McEwen)

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MERRY CHRISTMAS FROM SENIORS ON BIKES Fort Bragg, CA

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ANDERSON VALLEY FIRE DEPARTMENT would like to express our deepest condolences to all of the families that were impacted by the very unfortunate event yesterday. Our sympathies go out to each one of you during this extremely difficult time.

A big thank you to all of the AV locals and volunteers who have stepped up so quickly to help out. We would also like to thank our neighboring fire agencies for providing mutual aid: Elk FD, Ukiah FD, Redwood Coast FD, South Coast FD, Comptche FD, Hopland FD, and CalFire.

We are blessed to live in such a great community that is so willing to get involved when then need arises! Although difficult at times, it is our privilege to serve this community.

Respectfully,

Chief Andres Avila

Anderson Valley Fire Department

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LISTEN UP, MARMON, a Willits reader writes:

Willits has Willits Community Services & Food Bank — regular food bank distributions plus emergency food. They don't limit food distribution to people with a local address.

Willits Daily Bread: "Willits Daily Bread serves four (4) evening meals each week to hungry people… anyone who comes, no matter their circumstances." Run by a rotating group of churches and other nonprofit groups.

Saturday Brown Bag Lunch program, rain or shine, lunch for anyone in City Park or outside City Hall every Saturday. No vetting of circumstances or address or transient status.

I can't compare what Willits does with what other towns of its size do, but James Marmon’s claim that "The City of Willits doesn’t have a homeless problem because they limit who they feed" is just not true.

There certainly are homeless people in Willits; there's entries about "illegal camping" every week in the police log and just ask the fire chief about campfires out along the creeks during fire season. I'd say, if any official action can be credited for making the homeless population less visible — i.e., less of "a problem" to the community at large, if not to the homeless themselves — it could be efforts to enforce the panhandling ordinance which has many limits on where and how asking for money is allowed.

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ED NOTES

KATE LEE is retiring as boss of the Fort Bragg Advocate/Beacon. I've always been fond of Ms. Lee, a grand lady in the old sense with whom I had absolutely nothing journalistic in common, but with whom I always managed a cordial relationship. True to the ruthless tactics of the hedge fund that owns the Advocate/Beacon, The Willits News and the Ukiah Daily Journal, KC Meadows of the Journal, another grand lady, will now assume responsibility for the Advocate/Beacon along with her responsibilities for the Willits paper and the Journal.


BREAKFAST BURRITOS are now on offer at the Navarro Store, meaning The Valley's morning shift can get off to a healthy start with a BB at the Anderson Valley Market and at Navarro.


THERE'S was a line at the tax collector's window Monday morning when I popped in to pay my property tax, resenting that whatever portion of it goes to fund the lush retirements of the unemployables who've managed to luck into Fifth District Supervisors seats over the years. I parked, as always, in the space marked "Reserved For County Counsel." Who says those hacks get preferential parking? As Mendo trash czar and unindicted car bomber Mike Sweeney, an absolute stickler for the rules as applied to everyone except him, used to say, "Show me the statyoot!" I second that Mike, and all of us here in Mendo look forward to your tell-all memoir all the way from your New Zealand exile. You beat all the statyoots, dude, and we look forward to learning how you, Mendo's only master criminal, did it.


THERE WERE a lot of evil rumors around when the young Advocate reporter Kelci Parks died that she had succumbed to opioids. No, the poor thing died of natural causes stemming from a bad heart.


ANOTHER STORY IGNORED BY PRESS DEMOCRAT — Add to the long list of major local stories ignored by the Santa Rosa Press Democrat, the huge federal and state bust of a major amphetamine ring based in Cloverdale (and other parts of Sonoma County) and Contra Costa counties. The feds arrested 11 people and are looking for more NorCal crank distributors. If one gang was based in Cloverdale, well, gee, isn't Cloverdale kinda close to Mendocino County with its innumerable tweekers? These arrestees were undoubtedly moving dope up and down 101 to all regions of the Redwood Empire.

Feds: Huge Mexican/Californian Meth Smuggling Ring Busted, More Than 30 Pounds Seized In Sonoma And Contra Costa Counties — Feds Used Wiretaps, Undercover Drug Buys

by Nate Gatrell

A federal and state operation based in Sonoma and Contra Costa counties has resulted in the arrests of 11 people the FBI says are connected to a major drug smuggling ring that brought multi-pound shipments of methamphetamine into California from Mexico.

In three separate complaints, federal prosecutors have charged the 11 with conspiracy to distribute meth and heroin. More charges may be coming; detailed court records name numerous other uncharged co-conspirators residing around the North Bay.

A sworn statement written by an FBI agent describes illegal border crossings, phone conversations where suspects reportedly discussed price negotiations for pound deals of meth, and ongoing discussions between the man authorities say was the leader of the ring — Eduardo Guzman Torres — and his main supplier south of the border.

During the course of the investigation, authorities conducted raids in San Leandro, San Jose, Sebastopol, Guerneville, Cloverdale and several homes in Santa Rosa, according to court records.

In addition to Guzman — whose many aliases include Ramon Guzman-Jimenez, Fabian Cisneros and Heman Torres Garcia — prosecutors charged Juan Diego Gallegos-Moya, Ernesto Ochoa, Alfredo Tapia Sandoval, Marcos Alvarez Corona, Antonio Ramirez-Jimenez, Jose Rosa-Perez and Angel Rincon-Meneta.

On another docket, they charged Teresa Guzman-Rodriguez, and on a third case, Abilene Ramirez and Erica Lagunas were charged.

Altogether, more than 30 pounds of methamphetamine were seized in raids as well as in undercover buys, court records say.

The investigation started in Martinez, where the police department convinced a person — known in court records only as “Confidential Source 2” or “CS-2” — to become a government informant. CS-2 has pending state charges for drug and gun possession, as well as convictions for possessing weapons and drug sales, and a 30-year-old arrest for perjury, but has provided credible information to police before, according to court records.

The FBI says that CS-2 began dealing directly with Torres, setting up deals in Martinez for one to two pounds of meth at a time. (Ed note: One hit of meth supposedly weighs a quarter of a gram. There are about 454 grams to a pound, so a pound of meth is about 4 x 454 or over 1800 hits. At $25 retail per hit [according to a PBS documentary] a pound of meth would be worth between $40,000 and $50,000 at street value.)

Through working with CS-2, authorities gathered enough evidence to justify tapping the phones of Torres and several others allegedly connected to the ring.

In one call, Torres allegedly asked CS-2, “So you want a half-pound, right?”

“No, I want a P,” CS-2 replied, according to the affidavit.

“Twenty-two,” Torres replied, referring to a price of $2,200.

In other conversations, Torres reportedly coordinates resupplies with his source for the drugs. Authorities believe Torres illegally crossed back and forth over the Mexican/United States border at least twice during the course of the investigation.

A 136-page complaint details several incriminating phone conversations, and names other suspects in the ring who have not been charged. But authorities say the investigation is ongoing and that more individuals could soon face criminal charges.

Now that the criminal complaints have been filed in federal court, the U.S. Attorney’s office has 30 days to file indictments in the case.

(Courtesy, San Jose Mercury News)

TUESDAY AFTERNOON, the PD posted a truncated version of the federal meth bust, identifying Juan Diego Gallegos-Moya, 23, and Antonio Ramirez-Jimenez, 36 of Santa Rosa on charges of conspiracy to distribute and possession with intent to distribute controlled substances and distribution of controlled substances. Windsor resident Alfredo Tapia Sandoval, 20, also known as “Fredi,” faces charges of conspiracy to distribute and possession with intent to distribute controlled substances, as well as distribution of and possession with intent to distribute controlled substances.


ANOTHER ignored story involves the Press Democrat's ownership. Understandably, the cringing publication isn't about to unleash its own reporters on the people who write their paychecks, but a truly excellent story in the current Pacific Sun by Peter Byrne and Will Carruthers explains almost all of its finding in its title: "Burned: How daily newspaper owner Darius Anderson set up an emergency fund to rebuild Sonoma County, raised millions from his client, PG&E, then spent money on lobbying trips instead of helping victims of California's worst fire."

ANDERSON and former congressman Doug Bosco, own the Press Democrat. The revelatory expose also recalls another story the Press Democrat kept its reporters from revealing:

"…. Anderson's stake in the local news business paid off last year when a panel of arbitrators implicated him and Doug Bosco Boxer — his partner in Kenwood Investments and son of former senator for California, Barbara Boxer — in a fraud scheme that victimized a group of indigenous people. Just about a year ago, the San Francisco Superior Court affirmed the arbitrators' finding that Anderson and Boxer bilked the Federated Indians of Graton Rancheria when the tribe was trying to develop a casino in Sonoma County in 2003. The Press Democrat did not report the finding of fraud in its brief coverage of the court-ordered $725,000 award to the Native Americans…"

AND THEN there's Doug Bosco and the Northwestern Pacific Railroad, which he and the Democratic Party control, and the sway Bosco and his crooked pals holds over candidates and appointments generally with NorCal's cash-and-carry Democratic Party.


HELLO, HISTORY? GET ME RE-WRITE: The news that Fort Bragg police chief, Fabian Lizarraga is "stepping down" from the lucrative sinecure he shouldn't have stepped into in the first place, should include the fact that Lizarraga will have completed exactly five years in the job qualifying him for yet another lucrative pension on top of the lush package he gets from the LAPD.

THE EQUIVALENTLY MERCENARY FB city manager at the time Lizarraga was hired, Linda Ruffing, managed to pass over Fort Bragg's heroic (no exaggeration) John Naulty, the local cop who rightly should have gotten the chief's job over the Los Angeles pension-padder. (Naulty and Scott Mayberry, the latter another shaft victim of Ruffing, shot it out with the berserk tweeker killer who'd ambushed Sheriff's Deputy Ricky Delfiorentino, literally putting their lives on the line for Fort Bragg. Their reward? Naulty is ignored for the chief's job, and Mayberry is subjected to all manner of bureaucratic harassment from Ruffing. Of all the crummy personnel moves I've seen over the years, the Ruffing’s hit on Naulty was the crummiest. Ruffing, incidentally, presently enjoys a lucrative contract with the County of Mendocino to advise the County on relations with the Coastal Commission.


IT'S WAYYYYYY PAST TIME to consolidate the numerous water and sewer districts of the Ukiah Valley, an expensive patchwork of jealously guarded little fiefdoms whose net benefit is to lawyers, and whose net negative impact is on their captive ratepayers that brings them unnecessarily expensive water and sewage rates.

ON THE SUBJECT of district consolidation, it's also past time to consolidate the school districts of the County. It's extravagantly expensive, and a budget drain on actual classroom instruction.


ATTENTION FORT BRAGG (via Supervisor Williams): "We unanimously passed a change to the Mendocino Coast Hospitality Center contract for the Winter Shelter service. The County will pay up front with installment payments, hopefully eliminating MCHC’s need for a bridge loan" (From the City of Fort Bragg).

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ROOTS OF…

Editor:

Homelessness is one of the fruits produced by the tree of capitalism. You get an especially bumper crop of homelessness when you fertilize the tree with tax cuts for the 1% that result in cuts to mental health and other services, cuts to financial assistance, cuts to food stamps, cuts to education, rationing health care to those who can afford to pay and suppression of the minimum wage below the cost of living. Add in racism, homophobia, misogyny, xenophobia and scapegoating, and harvest the fruits of homelessness, drug addiction, gangs, endless wars, mass shootings and environmental destruction.

Until we, as a society, stop making choices based on how much profit the 1% receives, and start making choices based on what society and the Earth need, the George H.W. Bush One Thousand Points of Light Memorial Village will remain along the Joe Rodota Trail.

Bernie Hovden

Sebastopol

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CATCH OF THE DAY, December 10, 2019

Beard, Bearry, Haber

ELECTRA BEARD, Fort Bragg. Domestic abuse, probation revocation.

LIBI BEARRY, Redwood Valley. DUI-alcohol&drugs, misdemeanor

RUSSELL HABER, Gualala. Probation violation.

Hanover, Hutchins, Litzin, Ousey

KENNETH HANOVER JR., Covelo. Burglary.

JULIA HUTCHINS, Ukiah. Mail theft, obstruction of justice, probation revocation.

MARIA LITZIN, Covelo. Failure to appear.

KRISTO OUSEY, Ukiah. Disorderly conduct-alcohol. (Frequent flyer.)

Sanchez, Schwindt, Wright

DANIEL SANCHEZ, Fort Bragg. Interceptioin and divulgence of public safety communication to assist in criminal offense, community supervision violation, mandatory supervision sentencing, resisting.

LARS SCHWINDT, Ukiah. Assault with deadly weapon not a gun, elder abuse.

ANDREA WRIGHT, Ukiah. Probation revocation.

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BOMBS, BULLETS AND MILITARY HARDWARE ABANDONED BY U.S. FORCES have left Iraq “toxic for millennia”

The political and moral culture of the United States allows for bipartisan cooperation to destroy an entire country, killing hundreds of thousands of people in the process, without even the flimsiest of justification. Then, only a few years later, everyone can act as if it never happened.

beyondnuclearinternational.org/2019/12/08/first-the-u-s-invaded-iraq-then-we-left-it-poisoned/

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MCOE CELEBRATES RECENT GRADUATES INSTITUTE OF CAREER EDUCATION OFFERS CERTIFICATES IN SEVERAL HEALTHCARE FIELDS

The Mendocino County Office of Education (MCOE) congratulates its Institute of Career Education’s graduating class of Fall 2019. MCOE is dedicated to preparing students through both classroom and clinical training opportunities for high-demand careers in the healthcare industry. MCOE works in partnership with local medical and dental providers, where students can put their classroom education into practice under the watchful eye of experienced healthcare professionals.

“Depending on the program, students spend several months mastering new skills. These certifications often serve as an important starting point for those who wish to pursue higher-level healthcare professions. We’re very proud of our graduates. They’ve worked hard and deserve recognition,” said MCOE Adult Programs Manager Tami Mee.

MCOE honors the following students for achieving industry-recognized certificates in these healthcare areas.

Dental Assistant Graduates: Ashley Arroyo, Shannon Johns, Deanna Mora, Marina Share-Batres, Wendy Velasco, Kelly Wilkenson

Phlebotomy Graduates: Cristina Chavez, Raquel Contreras, Angelica DeLos Santos, Davina Gurley, Kassie Koelling, Emily Newton, Kasey Ricks, Kerry Snediker, Maricarmen Velasco

The above list represents those able to attend, though several other students also completed both programs. The program graduates 16 Dental Assistant students per year, and 20 Phlebotomy students per year.

To learn more about adult education training opportunities at MCOE, visit their new website at www.mcoe.us. Click on Schools & Districts, then choose Institute of Career Education.

(County Office of Education presser)

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ON LINE COMMENT OF THE DAY

Truth is another of those overworked words such as outrage. The truth that matters is being overlooked or even buried. Truth is millions of Americans that are a very short step into living out of their cars. The cars with the 7 year mortgage on them. Truth is that a whole bunch will go into their cars because some medical “professional” sent them a bill that they cannot pay off in a gizillion years. Truth is that the whole damn economy is a sham and a scam. Truth is that the deep swamp cannot be cleaned up because there is zero benefit to any politician for that to happen. Why would anyone expect someone to break their own rice bowl? The truth is the courts are a scourge. When some judge in Hawaii can render a ruling that constipates the rest of the nation is a system with a 1000 dictators. The truth is too ugly for the electorate to bear which is why the impeachment scam lives on and will keep living on beyond Trump’s lifetime. The electorate is too busy to give a shit because another bill just came in they cannot pay.

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“’Naughty or nice’ isn’t a thing anymore. Were you caught?”

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SEASONAL WREATH WORKSHOP AND LAMBS AT HOPLAND REC

Join the UC Hopland Research and Extension Center on Saturday, December 14th to create your own seasonal wreath from boughs collected at the 5,358 acre research and extension center. Participants will be guided through the process with advice from UC Cooperative Extension Master Gardener Coordinator, Gabriele O’Neill.

“Many of our native plants have beautiful seasonal foliage, including the red berries of the Toyon, aka California Holly, Christmas Berry. We’ll enjoy learning a little about these beautiful native species as we work them onto wreath bases, making a stunning addition to your holiday decorations. Hot apple cider and gingerbread will also be provided to get us all into the spirit of the season” commented Hannah Bird, HREC Community Educator.

Families are welcomed to the event. Those who are interested may also take a quick visit to the lambing barn to see the first of the newborn lambs this lambing season. Over 40 lambs have already been born at the site. Newborns are kept safe and dry in the barn for the first days of their lives until they are ready to move onto pasture with their mothers.

The seasonal wreath workshop will take place from 10am-12pm on Saturday, December 14th, $25 per person covers the cost of all materials required to make one wreath. Hot apple cider and snacks will also be provided. Registration is required at http://bit.ly/HRECWreath or call Hannah at (707) 744 1424 ext 105.

There will be further opportunities to meet the lambs at family friendly events on January 11 and February 8, from 10am-12pm. Further details for the lamb visits can be found at http://bit.ly/JanuaryLamb and http://bit.ly/FebruaryLamb.

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RICK REILLY: ‘DONALD TRUMP WILL CHEAT YOU ON THE GOLF COURSE AND THEN BUY YOU LUNCH’

“Donald Trump is the worst cheat ever and he doesn’t care who knows,” Rick Reilly says as he describes a man he has known for 30 years. “I always say golf is like bicycle shorts. It reveals a lot about a man. And golf reveals a lot of ugliness in this president.

theguardian.com/sport/2019/dec/10/rick-reilly-donald-trump-golf-commander-in-cheat-book-interview

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PIANO EXTRAVAGANZA!

UKIAH CA. – On January 10, 11 & 12, 2020 the 28th Professional Pianist Concert will hit the stage with three concerts featuring nine different pianists at the Mendocino College Center Theatre in Ukiah. Performers letting the keys fly this year are Spencer Brewer, Elena Casanova, Wendy deWitt, Barney McClure, Frankie J, Tom Ganoung, Elizabeth MacDougall, Ed Reinhart and Charlie Seltzer. The musical styles range from classical to jazz, boogie-woogie to Cuban, Broadway to ragtime…..each performance will be different!

This utterly fun and stimulating series features the finest regional pianists on stage in a living room environment throughout the performance trading stories and melodies with two pianos on stage to accommodate impromptu collaborations. The event is an annual sellout because of the diversity, quality in a multitude of styles of music and humor that takes place throughout the evening. A special sculpture art show benefitting fire victims featuring Spencer Brewer and Esther Siegel will also be on display at the Mendocino College Art Gallery throughout the weekend…not to be missed!

Friday, January 10th at 7:00pm will feature Spencer Brewer, Elena Casanova, Elizabeth MacDougall, Ed Reinhart, Barney McClure, Frankie J and Charlie Seltzer. Saturday, January 11th, 7:00pm performance features Spencer Brewer, Elena Casanova, Wendy DeWitt, Tom Ganoung, Elizabeth MacDougall, Barney McClure and Ed Reinhart. Sunday afternoon’s 2:00pm performance will include Spencer Brewer, Elena Casanova, Wendy deWitt, Charlie Seltzer, Tom Ganoung, Frankie J and Elizabeth MacDougall. No two concerts are the same, so if you love piano and piano music, enjoy more than one performance.

The concert benefits the Ukiah Community Concert Association, Mendocino College Recording Arts & Technology Program and the Allegro Scholarship Program. Tickets are on sale at Mendocino Book Co. in Ukiah, Mazahar in Willits and online www.UkiahConcerts.org. Tickets are $20 general admission and $30 "I ‘Wanna’ See the Hands" limited seating. For more information call (707) 463-2738.

Sponsors are Sparetime Supply, Ken Fowler Auto, Savings Bank of Mendocino, Flow Kana, Yokayo Ranch, Mendocino College Recording Arts, Willits Furniture Center, Waterman Plants, K-WINE/MAX, KOZT-The Coast and KZYX/Z. Wine & refreshments will be provided by Ukiah Community Concert Association. The Center Theatre is at 1000 Hensley Creek Rd in Ukiah. There will be autographed CD's by the artists for sale in lobby.

Styles Of Music

  • Spencer Brewer- Contemporary Classical & Original Compositions
  • Elena Casanova- Cuban Classical & Jazz, Classical
  • Tom Ganoung- Originals, Rock, Classical
  • Frankie J- R & B, Soul, Gospel
  • Elizabeth MacDougall- Classical
  • Barney McClure- Outrageous Jazz
  • Ed Reinhart- Boogie-Woogie & Blues
  • Charlie Seltzer- Broadway & Show tunes
  • Wendy deWitt- Boogie Woogie & Blues

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SANDERS STATEMENT ON ARTICLES OF IMPEACHMENT

"Donald Trump is the most corrupt president in history, and he must be held accountable. Let me be clear: while the announcement of articles of impeachment is not a moment for celebration, I strongly believe they are appropriate and necessary, and I call on the full House of Representatives to pass them. … Once the House proceeds to impeachment, Leader McConnell must quickly schedule a full trial in the Senate, where I will uphold my constitutional responsibility as a juror."

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HOLIDAY CELEBRATION & SECOND SATURDAY GALLERY RECEPTION

Saturday, December 14, 5 pm to 8 pm

Free admission

The Mendocino Art Center hosts a free Second Saturday Gallery Reception each month. December's reception also serves as our Holiday Celebration and a thank you to the community for their continued support. Please join us for holiday cheer, hors d’oeuvres and wine. Also, the Artists in Residence will open up their studios - watch them work and view and buy new artwork created in the Mendocino Art Center studios. And, browse for great gift ideas in our Gallery Store and December's exhibitions:

Mendocino Art Center

45200 Little Lake Street at Kasten Street, Mendocino

707.937.5818

http://www.MendocinoArtCenter.org

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NO PARTY PREFERENCE POSTCARDS SENT TO VOTE BY MAIL VOTERS FOR THE MARCH 3, 2020 PRIMARY ELECTION

Katrina Bartolomie, Mendocino County Assessor-County Clerk-Recorder, Registrar of Voters would like to inform all Mendocino County Permanent Vote-by-Mail and Mail Ballot Precinct voters, who are registered to vote as “No Party Preference”, that a postcard was mailed out December 4, 2019 advising them as follows:

You are currently registered to vote as “No Party Preference” (NPP). Our records show you are either a Permanent Vote By Mail Voter or you will be in a mail ballot precinct and will not have a polling place for the March 3, 2020 Presidential Primary Election. You will receive a vote-by-mail ballot for the March 3, 2020 Presidential Primary Election that does not include candidates for U.S. President unless you return this postcard that was mailed out December 4, 2019.

Three political parties have allowed NPP voters to vote in their Presidential Primary Election: American Independent, Democratic, and Libertarian. Use this postcard to select a party and return it by December 27, 2019.

If you choose to vote for a Green, Peace and Freedom, or Republican Party Candidate, you must re-register to vote with one of those parties. You can re-register to vote online at www.registertovote.ca.gov. Last day to re-register to vote is February 17, 2020.

For more information on voting for U.S. President visit: www.howtovoteforpresident.sos.ca.gov or call the Secretary of State’s voter hotline at (800)345-VOTE (8683).

Requesting a party ballot for the March 3, 2020 Presidential Primary election does not change your registration; you will still be registered as a No Party Preference voter.

For additional information, please contact the Registrar of Voters office by calling 707/234-6819.

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FROM MEDIA'S TOP TEN RULES OF HATE

by Matt Taibbi

…Shortly after 9/11, Fox began a long streak atop the cable ratings. Beginning in the first quarter of 2002, the company would stay #1 for over 15 years straight.

A crucial part of its success was its reaction to 9/11. Post-attack America was afraid and needed someone to blame. Fox and its minions were more than happy to comply. They began using language about liberals that was extreme even by their standards.

Their fellow Americans, leading conservative thinkfluencers told them, were not just lily-livered suck-ups who pretended to be enlightened. They were actively in league with al-Qaida. Murderers. Traitors. Not just wrong, but evil.

Fox promoted Sean Hannity as their perfect vision of conservative manhood. The rectum-faced blowhard was celebrated for his daily fake victories over the intellectual patsy that was Alan Colmes.

Unlike Rush Limbaugh, who in his early days was a serviceably witty top-40 disc jockey in Pittsburgh, Hannity was charmless. He was not literate like William Safire or Bill Buckley, nor was he an entertainingly unstable wreck like Glenn Beck, nor could he talk volubly about Marx and other thinkers like Michael Savage, a person who clearly has read more than three or four books.

Hannity won fake arguments, preened, and spewed constant aggression. After 9/11, one of his signature attack lines was that liberals were in league with terrorists.

He wrote a book called Deliver Us From Evil: Defeating Terrorism, Despotism and Liberalism that came out in 2004. It was a paint-by-numbers hate-your-neighbor manual whose blunt cover was just Hannity’s coiffed head floating under the Statue of Liberty’s armpit.

The main argument was that liberals, by refusing to accept the existence of terrorist evil, were themselves part of the nexus of wrongdoing. They were insufficiently stoked about the capture and hanging of Saddam Hussein and, let’s face it, wimps. He held off for two whole pages before bringing up Neville Chamberlain.

Glenn Beck would take Hannity’s Neville Chamberlain thread and run lap after lap with it, pioneering the “Your neighbor is literally Hitler” movement. Beck was awesome at this. Al Gore was Hitler. Obama was constantly Hitler.

The National Endowment of the Arts was Hitler! (“It’s propaganda… you should look up the name ‘Goebbels’.”) ACORN was Hitler. The bailouts were Hitler (well, they actually were a little bit Hitler). Comedian Lewis Black had a hilarious Daily Show freakout when Beck even compared the Peace Corps to the SS!

Beck was a mixed-metaphor enthusiast who was capable of calling a target both fascist and communist, Hitler and Stalin, in the same telecast. But his money gimmick was Hitler. It won him a huge audience, until it also ruined him.

His Fox show was canceled in 2011 after he said Barack Obama had a “deep-seated hatred for white people.” Within two years he was apologizing for being divisive—but still carrying around a napkin that supposedly contained Hitler’s bloodstains.

There’s nowhere to go from Hitler. It’s a rhetorical dead end. Argument is over at that point. If you go there, you’re now absolving your audiences of all moral restraint, because who wouldn’t kill Hitler?

You can draw a straight line from these rhetorical escalations in right-wing media to the lunacies of the Trump era. As Noam Chomsky points out, Trump’s campaign was a familiar authoritarian pitch: “Go after the elites, even while you’re supported by the major elites.”

He preached that modern life was a decadent failure (this from a man whose personal life was a monument to tacky consumption). A strong hand was needed to help our return to national values. In a debate with Hillary Clinton, he threatened to jail his opponent, a stunt that would have impressed Mobutu.

Anyone with an education saw the parallels. But Trump was legally winning elections, and he was aided by the fact that his riffs on corrupt elites rang true with audiences.

The financial bailouts had been an extraordinary betrayal of the population by the political class, which is why Trump scored when he painted Ted Cruz and Hillary Clinton as creatures of Goldman, Sachs. Citizens United meant political bribery on a grand scale was legal, and this theme helped Trump knock out Jeb Bush and Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio.

He ripped the Koch Brothers, and denounced his primary opponents as sock-puppet fronts for corporate PACs. Then he did the same to Hillary Clinton. These clowns are just fronts for someone else’s money, Trump told voters. With me, I am the money.

Trump, like all great con artists, depended upon true details to sell lies.

The major challenge for reporters in covering Trump was to explain him. Trump was a vote for anyone with a grudge, and in America, there is a spectacularly wide spectrum of grudges. I met one voter in Wisconsin who said the following: “I usually don’t vote, but I’m going Trump because fuck everything.”

The conventional wisdom was that Trump was Hitler, effectively, even before he got elected. “Is Donald Trump a fascist?” asked a Times Book Review headline shortly before the vote. (Several authors said “yes.”)

After the fiasco of Charlottesville, when Trump couldn’t bring himself to denounce open racists and said “both sides” were at fault, the term “white supremacist” and “white nationalist” became common to describe Trump’s tenure.

It was one thing to apply the terms to Trump, who deserves all of these epithets and then some. But his voters? Did it really make sense to caricature 60 million people as racist white nationalist traitor-Nazis?

The new party line was that we could turn off the thinking mechanism and move to pure combat. Charles Taylor of the Boston Globe, in a column under a scary photo of a man waving a swastika, summed it up when he scoffed:

“Those bent on understanding Trump supporters—as if there is something deep to understand—wonder how his working-class acolytes can vote against their own economic interests. What they refuse to see is that all Trump supporters, from the working class to the upper class, have voted their chief interest: maintaining American identity as white, Christian, and heterosexual.”

Before you can argue the justice of this point, realize what it means. If we’re now saying all Trump supporters are mainly bent on upholding the supremacy of white, Christian heterosexuals, that’s miles beyond even Hillary Clinton’s take of just half of Trump supporters being unredeemable scum.

It’s a sweeping, debate-ending dictum. There is us and them, and they are Hitler.

When I first started to hear this talk among reporters during the 2016 contest, I thought it was just clickbait. Of course race was a dominant factor in Trump’s rise. But racism as the sole explanation for Trump’s rise was suspicious for a few reasons.

Trump doesn’t happen in a country where things are going well. People give in to their baser instincts when they lose faith in the future.

A significant number of Trump voters voted for Obama eight years ago. Also, the Trump phenomenon was about a political and media taboo: class. When the liberal arts grads who mostly populate the media think about class, we tend to think in terms of the heroic worker, or whatever Marx-inspired cliché they taught us in college.

Because of this, most pundits scoff at class, because when they look at Trump crowds, they don’t see Norma Rae or Matewan. Instead, they see Married With Children, a bunch of tacky mallgoers who gobble up crap movies and, incidentally, hate the noble political press.

If all Trump supporters are Hitler, and all liberals are also Hitler, this brings Crossfire to its natural conclusion. The America vs. America show is now Hitler vs. Hitler! Think of the ratings!

It’s a fight for all the marbles. Politics is about one side against another side, and only one take is allowed now—pure aggression…

* * *

* * *

FAIR PLAY FOR BARBARA HOWE

To the Editor:

Best of luck to wrongly terminated Mendocino County Public Health Director Barbara Howe, and her husband, Chris, who, I believe, still works for the Mendocino County Department of Transportation.

It was recently reported that Ms. Howe is now working in Lake County , making half of what she made in her last job in Mendocino County. And she is living in a van. She eats mostly sandwiches.

I spoke with Chris twice soon after Barbara was fired. Chris visited my house one of those times — Barbara and Chris live in Deerwood, and I live in neighboring El Dorado — and Chris told me Barbara retained a lawyer after she was fired.

So, I’m left with two questions:

First, did Ms. Howe get any kind of a settlement for wrongful discharge and/or the reputational harm caused by Tammy Moss-Chandler’s false affidavit used in support of the bogus temporary restraining order?

Second, was the sudden departure of Heidi Dunham, Human Resources Director, in any way connected to the Howe’s firing and the temporary restraining order?

I ask because everyone knows that for many years County CEO Carmel Angelo has designated much of her dirty work to Dunham.

Wrongful terminations are one thing. Happens all the time with Angelo. But making false statements in an application for a restraining order is a crime.

Let me repeat: False statements to obtain a restraining order is perjury. Therefore Moss-Chandler, with coaching from Dunham, were at risk for legal action and potential fines and/or jail time.

When Judge Jeanine B. Nadel threw out the restraining order, did Angelo then proceed to throw Dunham under the bus?

Angelo’s abuse of authority is one of the reasons I’m running for 1st District Supervisor. Sacking Angelo, and her protégé, Deputy CEO Janelle “Mini Me” Rau, will be one of the first things I’d very much like to accomplish when elected.

Replacing the CEO form of governance with the CAO model is another thing I’d like to see.

Why the CAO model? Because the County CEO simply has too much power. Past Boards of Supervisors simply surrendered that power. And now the CEO has the power to bust up SEIU. Recent union-busting actions include consolidating county departments and outsourcing county work. Angelo outsourced most mental health services, first to Ortner, then to Redwood Community Services.

The CEO also hoards departmental financial data. That’s another abuse of power.

Don’t believe me? Read last year’s Mendocino County Grand Jury report, “Who Runs Mendocino County”.

See: https://www.mendocinocounty.org/home/showdocument?id=28581

I hate a bully.

—John Sakowicz, Candidate, 1st District Supervisor, and proud member of the Mendocino Cannabis Alliance

12 Comments

  1. James Marmon December 11, 2019

    RE: LISTEN UP MARMON

    Don’t get your panties in a knot Willits reader, I like what Willits food bank is doing, and Fort Bragg and Ukiah should do the same. If those two cities followed the Willits model when it comes to non-residents the homeless problem would be more manageable, less of a problem. I should have said Willits doesn’t have the same homeless problem that Ukiah and Fort Bragg has because they limit who they feed.

    “This does not mean individuals should not receive services! In times of emergencies, enough services should be provided to allow the individual to make it back home. The Willits food bank has successfully addressed this issue in a very compassionate way. When individuals do not meet residential requirements based on thoughtful and rigorous criterion, individuals are given a “3-day” bag of food. Furthermore, Willits Food Bank limits non-residents to just two “3-day” bags per year.”

    Mendocino County Marbut Report – Page 30

    https://www.mendocinocounty.org/home/showdocument?id=20042

    • Lazarus December 11, 2019

      Only a few years ago after women and children being hassled at Safeway, among other places, I heard, an informal group, made the offenders “an offer they couldn’t refuse”.
      Crude…? perhaps, but at the time it was effective since the local authority seemed reluctant.
      The beggers during that time moved on, or at the least ceased the harassment of women and children in public places.
      As always,
      Laz

  2. Craig Stehr December 11, 2019

    Hawaii Five-Om

    Mind centered
    Within heart’s glowing space
    Chanting the panchakshara mantra
    In the fourth dimension

    Craig Louis Stehr
    11.XII.’19
    Email: craiglouisstehr@gmail.com
    Paypal.me/craiglouisstehr

  3. Marco McClean December 11, 2019

    The paragraph you quote from the Pacific Sun: “Anderson’s stake in the local news business paid off last year when a panel of arbitrators implicated him and Doug Bosco — his partner in Kenwood Investments and son of former senator for California, Barbara Boxer — in a fraud scheme that victimized a group of indigenous people. Just about a year ago, the San Francisco Superior Court affirmed the arbitrators’ finding that Anderson and Boxer bilked the Federated Indians of Graton Rancheria when the tribe was trying to develop a casino in Sonoma County in 2003…” seems to say and then reinforce that Doug Bosco is the son of Barbara Boxer, or merely to say it and then say that Barbara Boxer bilked the Indians. Can any of that be true?

    Also I wonder if/how Gina Bean (Delfiorentino), the woman accused of the hit-and-run of Calum Hunnicutt, is related to Sheriff’s Deputy Ricky Delfiorentino (RIP).

    • AVA News Service Post author | December 11, 2019

      Thank you for spotting the typo. Doug Boxer is Babs’ son and Indian bilker.

  4. James Marmon December 11, 2019

    I just watched yesterday’s BoS meeting and it looks like they paid attention to my emails to them and my AVA comments over the past few days. The County used to have a PHF and they couldn’t afford to keep it open.

    The Measure B committee is a mess, now Adventist Health is back into the conversation again and should have never been taken off the table. Nurse Ratched even characterized the committee as nothing more than a big circle jerk. The next circle jerk in December should be a good one.

    It looks like the 3.3 million dollar contract and renovation of 3 of the Schraeder’s homes that they were going to turn into Crisis Residential Treatment facilities will be shit canned.

    James Marmon MSW

  5. Harvey Reading December 11, 2019

    Democrats are pendejos, too. Performances of the likes of Obama, the Clintons, and the current sorry democratic prezudenshul wannabes are gonna give Trump a second term, probably with a plurality of the popular vote. You don’t defeat sh*t with yet more sh*t.

  6. Cotdbigun December 11, 2019

    I googled pendejos/pics and Biden pops up! Hillary was second. LoL

    • Harvey Reading December 11, 2019

      I used your printed search string in Duck, Duck, Go and came up with nothing of the sort that you describe. Google is not something I knowingly allow to corrupt my computer. They lie and they snoop.

  7. Stephen Rosenthal December 11, 2019

    Re Lizarraga’s “retirement”: I know exactly how government pensions work, so when I read the announcement I thought the exact same thing about the five year timeline. The fix was in from Day One and two heroic police officers were shafted. And now the perpetrator of it, Ruffing, is “appointed” to a position so she can steal more money from the County. It happens everywhere, but Mendo is really corrupt.

  8. Harvey Reading December 11, 2019

    https://www.counterpunch.org/2019/12/11/who-will-protect-us-from-an-unpatriotic-patriot-act/

    The “Traitor Act”, along with its close relative, the REAL ID Act, should have been repealed long ago. They should never have been imposed in the first place. Only a country full of utterly foolish fascists would tolerate them. However, it is apparent that “country of fools” describes perfectly the United States, most particularly since the election of Ronald Reagan to the position of chief executive.

  9. H.H.Heller December 11, 2019

    Nothing lost, nothing ? n found

    Nothing found, nothing ? n lost

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