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MCT: Tuesday, July 21, 2020

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HOT CONDITIONS are expected once again today throughout interior areas, with cool and cloudy conditions along the coast. Isolated thunderstorms will be possible this afternoon and tomorrow afternoon near the Trinity Alps and Yolla Bollys. A very slight cooling trend is expected in interior areas Wednesday through the end of the week, but conditions will remain generally warm and dry. Cool and mostly cloudy conditions will persist along the coast. (NWS)

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MENDO BREAKS 200

ADDITIONS TO DASHBOARD ON JULY 20:

AGE GROUP

+ One case in the 0 - 5
+ Two cases in the 19 - 34
+ Three cases in the 35 - 49
+ Two cases in the 65-plus

LOCATION

+ One case from the North Coast
+ Seven cases from the Ukiah Valley

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MENDOCINO COAST CLINICS PROVIDES OUTBREAK TESTING

Fort Bragg, CA — In response to an urgent request from Mendocino County Public Health to help limit the spread of COVID-19 after outbreaks at local businesses, on Sunday, July 19, Mendocino Coast Clinics (MCC) doubled its planned COVID-19 testing operation, spending six hours hosting a first-come, first-served clinic that tested 186 people.

Mendocino County Assistant Director with Health and Human Services Bekkie Emery thanked MCC Executive Director Lucresha Renteria for “such an amazing partnership” allowing the two organizations to better safeguard local community members.

For MCC to shift gears so quickly required all hands on deck, according to Renteria. Initially, MCC had planned to offer surveillance testing for up to 150 people at a local church. Surveillance testing focuses on individuals with no coronavirus symptoms to monitor whether there is widespread community infection. Infected people without symptoms who have contact with a many members of the public—such as those who work at grocery stores, gas stations, restaurants, and hotels—can unknowingly spread the virus, so it is important they be checked. However, when Public Health announced that four Mendocino County businesses reported employees with positive tests, MCC shifted to outbreak testing.

Renteria said, “We got the request from Public Health on Saturday and the additional test kits on Sunday morning. Then we spent all day testing people, many of whom had been in contact with people from the businesses where the outbreaks occurred, like the dental office and the skilled nursing facility, along with the parishioners from the church. By 6:30 pm that evening, we’d sent all the data to Ukiah to be shipped to the Richmond lab.” Tests will be processed at Public Health Laboratory in Richmond, California, and results are within 72 hours. Anyone who tests positive will be called by Public Health and MCC staff will contact those who test negative.

The shift to outbreak testing required different paperwork and different tests, but MCC employees rallied to make it happen and community members seemed to appreciate it.

Renteria said, “I’d like to give a shout out to our community members who came to get tested. They respected our six-foot spacing indicators, and everyone was in masks. At one point, the line stretched around the corner, and still, people were patient and respectful.”

Mendocino Coast Clinics will continue to provide free surveillance testing through the end of August, thanks to the agreement that Mendocino County has with the University of California San Francisco (UCSF) and its grant-funded BioHub Lab. Testing at MCC is generally done twice a week by appointment. To be placed on the waitlist, people can call (707) 707-964-1251. The testing is open to all residents of the coast; there is no requirement to be an established patient at MCC and the test remains free of charge.

(MCC is a non-profit, federally qualified health center providing medical, dental and behavioral health care to residents from Westport to Elk and inland to Comptche in Mendocino County for more than 25 years. www.mendocinocoastclinics.org for more information.)

Lucresha Renteria, Executive Director

lrenteria@mccinc.org | (707) 964-1251

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BLACK LIVES MATTER PROTEST at Fort Bragg Town Hall, Saturday July 25, 3-5pm

Saturday marks the 2-month anniversary of the murder of George Floyd and not enough has changed to improve the situation for Black people in the USA. Please come join in a community protest at Fort Bragg Town Hall on Saturday July 25, from 3-5pm. Bring a sign if you want, there will be some speakers, a march, and updates on what is happening in the County and town regarding racial justice issues, and see how you can get involved to push for change locally and nationally.

We have been promoting social distancing and I believe everyone has been wearing masks at the protests these past 2 months. Let's keep that up while staying connected to each other, and connected to the work that needs to be done.

In sadness and rage,

Andy Wellspring

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Wooten

SIERRA WOOTEN is described by local media as spokesperson for the Mendocino Coast branch of BIPOC —Black, Indigenous and People of Color. She first came to public attention as among a small group of Coast people demanding a name change for Fort Bragg. Long-time Fort Bragg councilman, Lindy Peters, seems to have first encountered Ms. Wooten during a BLM demonstration in front of Fort Bragg City Hall as Peters, only a few feet from Ms. Wooten, took a knee remembering the murder of George Floyd.


(1) July 7, 2020 – Lindy Peters writes:

Hi Sierra,

Would you be interested in a Covid-19-safe interview to be aired by Mendocino Coast Media regarding changing the name of Fort Bragg? I have done a series of these called “What’s Goin’ On” that are catalogued on that website/Facebook page and air on local Comcast PEG Channel 3. They relate to the Corona virus pandemic. You can preview one there if you’d like. It is shot downstairs in City Hall and takes maybe 45 minutes tops. We keep interviews at 20 minutes or so. Three of us in the studio at a time and 6 feet apart on the set. I am the host but act solely as the interviewer and not a Council person. We can do it 2:00 pm either this Thursday or Friday or schedule it for next week if you are busy. Let me know.

Lindy Peters


(2) July 7, 2020 – Wooten writes:

Hi Lindy,

Thanks for reaching out. I would be interested in sitting down with you.

As you can imagine, I am quite busy and my scheduling is filling up fast. I have some work commitments, meetings and protests coming up this and next week, so the earliest I could be available is the week of July 20th.

I’ll have my assistant Samara, cc’ed here to look at my schedule and circle back to find a date and time that works.

Thanks!

Sierra


(3) July 10, 2020 – Peters writes:

Hi Sierra,

My schedule may vary a bit that week. Thursday July 23rd at 11 am or 2 pm is open however. Maybe Friday at 2 pm the following day as well. See if these dates are amenable to your schedule and thank you for getting back to me promptly.

Lindy Peters

City Council

Fort Bragg


(4) July 15, 2020 – Wooten writes:

Hi Lindy,

Just wanted to follow up, apologies for the delay.

I'm going to be tied up for the next few weeks and the earliest availability I have will be early in August. Hopefully that isn't too far out. 

My Assistant Samara, is copied here and she will work with you to find a time.

Also, if you have some questions, please send in advance. 

Thanks,

Sierra 


(5) July 16, 2020 – Peters writes:

Sierra,

You do not have 30-45 mins. to spare until August? Okay, but I am busy too. Just returned to work this week. Maybe we just forget about it. I had wanted to do this while the news was current and fresh. I am sorry we couldn’t find the time to fit it in our schedules.

Lindy Peters

City Council

Fort Bragg


(6) July 16, 2020 – Wooten writes:

No, I work a full time job and have other responsibilities. I’ve been given two jobs that I did not apply for and I have to find a balance that works for me. I’ve had to hire help just to handle BIPOC matters. This name change and racism in Fort Bragg isn’t going away tomorrow. 

I do not appreciate your tone. Check yourself.

This news is going to stay current and fresh. The country is watching. 

I’ve had numerous requests from media outlets and I’m happy to give them my time when I can. All have been very respectful of my time. Sorry this doesn’t fit your timeline but I don’t work for you. 

If you want my time, please work with my assistant Samara to find a time.


(7) July 20, 2020 – Wooten writes:

Hi Tabatha [Tabatha Miller, Fort Bragg City Manager],

I am reaching out as I have not heard back from either you or City Councilmember Lindy Peters regarding my email response on 7/15.

I copied you specifically on the email because you are the City Manager and need to be aware of misconduct. The white silence I am receiving from the City of Fort Bragg is quite concerning.

When “White Fragility” kicks in a person will cry, leave, withdraw, argue, deny, focus on intentions, seek absolution or avoid. Behaviors that both you and Lindy are demonstrating.

As a Black & Mexican woman and business owner here in the City of Fort Bragg, I do not appreciate appointed or electrical officials treating me with disrespect when they are the ones asking for a favor.

City Council member Lindy Peters emailed me on 7/7 asking me to sit down with him to have an interview regarding the name change of Fort Bragg on Channel 3. I emailed him back to let him know I was interested but had to work and already had scheduled obligations, but would find a time. As my schedule began to fill up, I realized I would not have the capacity to really do an interview until mid August as I wanted to watch Lindy’s episodes, have him send me questions and work with my media team to make sure all talking points stay on message for MendoCoast BIPOC. This is a reasonable process for anyone in Advertising and Public Relations.

Instead of being a professional, City Council member Lindy Peters needed to have a dick measuring contest with me. Right? He needs to let me know that he is “busy too” and that I should just make time for him. And that if I don’t make time for him, he doesn’t want to have the conversation with me because in August the story will not newsworthy or relevant.

Why are Tabatha Miller and Lindy Peters so complicit with this type of misconduct?

A professional, mature person would not have to stoop this low.

On September 25, 2017, the City Council adopted Resolution 4035-2017 regarding Tools of Civility to enhance public debate and that City Council would promote and adhere to these tools in conducting business of the City of Fort Bragg.

Tools – https://city.fortbragg.com/DocumentCenter/View/6728/Rules-of-Civility?bidId=

Resolution - https://city.fortbragg.com/DocumentCenter/View/6730/Resolution-4035-2017?bidId=

The 9 “Tools of Civility” include: paying attention, listening, be inclusive, not gossiping, showing respect, apologizing, giving constructive criticism, taking responsibility and telling the truth as you know it.

At the time this Resolution was put into place, Lindy Peters was the Mayor. Lindy has served on the City Council from 1992-2004. He served as Mayor from 1996-1998 and 2016-2018 and Vice Mayor from 2014-2016. Lindy has more than two decades working in a leadership capacity dealing with tough issues and first hand experience in community engagement.

But when I, a Black-Mexican woman, who is a City of Fort Bragg business owner and constituent asks respectfully to have a interview in the middle of August, the experienced City Council member has a temper tantrum? 

There is an inability to withstand challenges or being challenged. The racist status is very comfortable for white people.

City Council member Lindy Peters email response and tone was rude, unprofessional and uncalled for and unacceptable. No human being deserves to be talked to that way. Lindy may feel very comfortable talking to his wife Sarah like she is a piece of property but I’m not his wife Sarah and he will not talk to me that way.

Lindy may not have like having to wait but that does not give him the reason to treat a human with such disrespect and lack of compassion.

As James Baldwin said, “We can disagree and still love each other….unless your disagreement is rooted in my oppression and denial of my humanity and right to exist.”

Those who have chosen the profession of local government management and public service need to recognize that establishing and maintaining effective working relationships with council members and the community is critical. 

Every day we are seeing white people in power showing their racist true colors. When these racists get pressure in the front, they start back peddling and make excuses like claiming mental health illnesses. Racism is an illness and based on Lindy’s comments, he is very sick and may be a detriment to his health and other staff and community members in the City of Fort Bragg.

https://nypost.com/2020/06/09/tamara-harrians-husband-blames-mental-illness-for-arizona-incident/

If you look at Lindy Peters personal Facebook page, out of 357 friends, I did not see one Black or Brown person in his friends list. Why is his friends list so segregated? 

https://www.facebook.com/lindy.peters.7

Thomas Jefferson, a founding father also claimed not to be a racist because his girlfriend and sex slave Sally Hemings was black. People are deeply contradictory.

For some reason the City of Fort Bragg just doesn’t think racism is here in our town. But the more I research this town, I keep finding examples where the racism keeps coming up.

“Back in May 2018, Fort Bragg City Clerk June Lemos apologized Friday for comments she posted were deemed racist, homophobic and anti-Semitic, noting her use of an image that showed a woman astride a blue ox bearing a yellow five-pointed star.”

https://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/news/fort-bragg-city-clerk-apologizes-for-social-media-post/

The City Clerk apologized, said she never meant to hurt anyone and it was bad judgment on her part.

“Mayor Lindy Peters said Lemos made a mistake but meant no offense. She probably shouldn’t have posted anything. I think she got caught up in it, not realizing the ramifications. She feels awful.”

Based on the City Clerks misconduct, Tabatha Miller issued an apology “on the city website and a council decision to hire a demographer to assess the claim, and would have a training session on “discrimination and harassment” for all city employees to be held within the next three weeks. City policy on use of social media will be included in the training. The city manager declined to comment on whether Lemos had been disciplined.”

Some accountability from the City of Fort Bragg but what was the consequence of June’s behavior? When there is no consequence for misconduct, our government sends the message that we reward bad behavior. 

I’m assuming Lindy Peters attended this discrimination and harassment training in 2018 but is showing the same ugliness to a member of the community, just 2 years later. Racism is the norm.

Our community deserves ant-racist policies and an anti-racist City Manager, City Councilmembers and staff.

If we look at this article from 1999, we can see just how long Lindy has been abusing his power in office and heckling and disrespecting citizens of Fort Bragg.

https://www.theava.com/archives/90360

This behavior is clearly the norm and has been acceptable for years. Racism is in our policies, institution and people.

If you see something that is not right, fair or just, you need to do something. 

Maybe you aren’t doing the right thing because you are looking for a new job. 

“On Monday, July 20 and Tuesday, July 21 from 4-7 p.m. the Helena City Commission will virtually interview five candidates for the permanent City Manager position.” You are on the short list of candidates and you probably shouldn’t be. Helena City Commission needs to understand that you do not practice anti-racism and would be a liability for that city. Our country needs more diversity in our government that will be empathetic and just to all people so we can eradicate white supremacy. We don’t need more Karens filling these positions of power that influence and allow racist policies in our neighborhoods and institutions.

https://www.ktvh.com/news/helena-news/helena-city-commission-to-virtually-interview-five-applicants-for-city-manager


(8) Wooten writes: @ Helena City Commission:

I’ve tried to search for Tabatha Miller’s Facebook or social media presence and there is nothing, if anything at all. When there is trouble finding information about a person and the types of people she associates with, it’s because the information is troubling. There are plenty of qualified candidates out there that are well-rounded, diverse people who can lead your city better and be more inclusive and work to be anti-racist. Simply saying you aren’t racist isn’t enough. 

The City of Fort Bragg is working on healing and MendoCoast BIPOC has demanded that Tabatha Miller be apart of our healing process as she has been the City Manager for the last 2 years and still has more work to do for our community since she has been the leader overseeing our financial crisis. She has a very cold personality and needs professional development in this area. I do not have confidence that Tabatha Miller understands racism and would not be able to appropriately determine when she saw something racist. Please consider your options and if your city would want to deal with this kind of person.

The City of Helena already had to pay $165,887.51 to former City Manager Ana Cortez in exchange for her resignation. It sounds like Cortez also needed to further develop her interpersonal skills to allow her to more effectively communicate internally and with outside agencies and the public. It’s not sustainable for the City of Helena to keep paying people to leave.


(9) Wooten to Tabatha Miller @ Tabatha Miller:

While you are still on the City of Fort Bragg’s payroll, please act in your capacity as the City Manager and address this councilmember for misconduct.

Among the previously mentioned behavior patterns and actions, the problematic issues in this instance were:

City Councilmember Lindy Peters display of disrespect and temper directed at a City of Fort Bragg business owner, who is a Black & Mexican woman.

City Councilmember Lindy Peters attempting to renig [sic] on an offer to allow MendoCoast BIPOC (Black, Indiginous, People of Color) to be heard regarding the Fort Bragg name change on a Public Access Channel.

City Councilmember Lindy Peters communicating the clear expectation that he was entitled to rights and privileges above and apart from other media outlets because he is “special.” 

As per the 9 “Tools of Civility,” as a human, resident and minority business owner who is deeply offended by the tone and disrespect from an elected official, I deserve better and demand better. No one in my life talks to me this way and it’s not starting with City Council member Lindy Peters.

I am demanding an apology from City Manager Tabatha Miller and City Council member Lindy Peters.

Both of you should apologize for not paying attention and not respecting a stakeholders time.

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FUNDRAISER FOR THE WESTPORT VOLUNTEER FIRE DEPARTMENT IN 2020

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Westport Volunteer Fire Department is unable to sponsor its main fundraising activity – the Annual Barbecue -- this year. 

To help fill the fundraising gap, Mountain Mike’s in Fort Bragg and Ukiah has agreed to make a generous contribution to the Westport Volunteer Fire Department from the proceeds of sales during the first 4 Saturdays in August.

Enjoy great Mountain Mike’s food in Fort Bragg and Ukiah on August 1, 8, 15 and 22 and help support the Westport Volunteer Fire Department.

The Westport Volunteer Fire Department provides year-round initial 911 emergency response service for medical emergencies, motor vehicle accidents, traumatic injuries and fires on the Northern Mendocino Coast and has a response area covering roughly 108 square miles. 

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VICHY SPRINGS, 1930s

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TOO MANY TOURISTS

Supervisors:

I will make this short: Why is there no effort to shut down or slow tourists from coming to the Coast? Many people in the community are very upset with this lack of action. I live in Mendocino and there are hundreds, maybe thousands of campers and people in hotels, motels, and vacation rentals staying here. The support staff to clean their rooms and houses, wait on them in restaurants, bus their tables (yes, that means removing their soiled tableware), cook their food, check out their grocery items is at risk of contracting covid and taking it home. There are license plates from all over the US here right now and more arriving every day. How is this a good idea when we, ourselves are being told to stay home? I have written to everyone and so far, no replies and no action. 

Sincerely,

Judy Steele 

Mendocino

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UKIAH FISH HATCHERY AT STANDLEY STREET

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ED NOTES

ACCORDING to a letter from PG&E, some of us Boonvillians will lose power on Wednesday, July 29th between the hours of 12:15am and 6am while “new overhead equipment is installed.”

SOCIAL MEDIA POST raises a timely point: “As a community member I have an observation and concern. Out of 199 positive cases 116 of those are of Hispanic/Latino decent. And yet as I run my essential errands I notice first that only 1 store out of 5 I walked pass had any signage in Spanish. It was a long convoluted explanation of covid19 that became covered by other signage when the door opened. Second there are no universal signs. Some stores have hand written cardboard signs. Some have the long explanation of covid19. If as a town, county and state, we are required to wear a mask to help stop the spread then shouldn't there be universal clear signage in more than just English?”

HELP FUENTES RECOVER. Iconic Mendocino artist Larry Fuente’s home and art studio were tragically destroyed in a fire on Friday, July 3. Nationally known for his elaborately adorned assemblage sculptures, Larry lost much of his life’s work in the devastating fire. We send our condolences to Larry as we reflect on the magnitude of this loss within our local and national art community. Please join the Mendocino Art Center’s board, staff, artists and volunteers in support of Larry – donations at any level are greatly appreciated! Help us reach our $10,000 goal! https://www.gofundme.com/f/larry-fuente-fire-fun The Mendocino Art Center hosted Larry’s exhibition, “New World Hoarder,” August/September 2019. Mendocino Art Center

BILL HAND. Many of us remember Bill and his traveling vet’s clinic: Betty Lou Whaley writes: “I’m writing a short piece on Bill Hand who worked as a vet on the coast many years ago. He parked his "MASH” van on the beach east of Big River Bridge, and specialized in low cost spaying of cats. Does anyone have anecdotes they would be willing to share?” Marco McClean shared: “I’m not sure if it was Bill Hand or some other vet, but in like 1980 I heard on the radio that you could bring your pet to this vet truck for free; I didn't know that it was just to get a shot. A few months before, I had got a kitten from some people giving them away from a cardboard box by the front door of the grocery store, the way kids used to do. It got sick --weak, lethargic-- and I didn't have enough money for a vet, and Late Night Liz or Suzy Zipp or Rick Bondor or somebody at KMFB had said about the free vet, so I took it to the address, stood in line for about half an hour, and when I got to the door I said, "My cat is sick." The man exploded in fury, pointed to the western sky, shouted, "Take it the hell out of here! This is for well cats!" I fled, mortified. The cat died about a week later.” 

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COYOTE VALLEY LOOKING SOUTH, PRE-DAM

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A READER WRITES: This cannabis season in Covelo has been an explosion of illegal cannabis cultivation in Covelo because: 1) Humboldt does a great job of enforcement and drives all the illegal grows to Covelo because Mendocino has no enforcement infrastructure like Humboldt (sophisticated satellite imaging and active pursuit of enforcement) to perform enforcement; 2) Mendocino County has no coherent cannabis permitting process. ALL REGULATIONS ARE A BLACK BOX. Nobody really knows what the rules are and certainly NOT JAVIER RAU because he deals with them every day and the regulators have no management and thus ANYBODY and EVERYBODY grows in the black market — small farmers as well as Cartel players from Santa Rosa and the surrounds. The Black Market is not a concern for the legal cultivators EXCEPT for 1) legal cultivators are paying a lot to the County and State so their costs are high and it is nearly impossible to make money at this juncture in the legal cultivation market except for large indoor cultivators who have vertically integrated businesses (cultivation distribution and retail that isn't suppose to happen but does because larger sophisticated operators with capital have good legal advice).

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HOPLAND, 1935

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FIRST TIME BUYERS AND THIS MARKET

by Anne Fashauer

I spent most of Sunday with a young couple looking to purchase their first home. It was a fun day, rewarding, a little exhausting and it made me realize how much I enjoy working with folks purchasing for the first time. I don’t actually get a lot of first time buyers. Our prices in this area often preclude people from purchasing their first home here; additionally, finding work here that pays well enough to allow one to save enough to purchase or to make mortgage payments can be challenging.

I realized yesterday how much I enjoy working with first time buyers. I had not given it much thought before but yesterday I was driving around and listening to an audio book by Mel Robbins called Work it Out and she was speaking about paying attention to what it is about a job that gives you energy and it dawned on me that I enjoy this aspect of real estate. New buyers have a lot of energy themselves, they are super excited to see what is out there and what they might buy and what that new life will look like. They also have a lot of questions and I enjoy explaining the buying process to them. I enjoy sharing knowledge and this gives me that opportunity.

We viewed several properties and at one home that was vacant we stopped for a lunch break and I got to spend a while answering a lot of questions. This reinforced my feeling that I enjoy this part of my job. I get some of this from my more common clients - folks who have bought and sold before but have not bought “country” property before. They have the usual questions about wells and septic systems but they already know about down payments vs. deposits or about inspections. With first time buyers I get to really share all the knowledge I’ve gained over the past 12+ years.

Most of my business is confined to the Anderson Valley but I found myself in Fort Bragg yesterday showing a property and also on Albion Ridge. Part of the reason for this is that my buyers haven’t settled on a location yet, but a large part of it is because there isn’t much available right now in Anderson Valley. There are 15 residential listings and two of these are in escrow. Of the remaining ones, eight are priced over $1,000,000 with four of those near or over $2,000,000. That is not a lot for a first time buyer to look at. And it really isn’t much for anyone to choose from; the buyers in those price ranges are fairly limited. Most properties in the lower ranges are moving and we need more to sell; I’ve said it a couple of times recently - if you’ve been on the fence about selling, now is a good time.

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MEANWHILE, IN UKIAH: On Thursday, July 16, at approximately 11:00 am, an officer on routine patrol initiated a traffic stop in the 900 block of Mazzoni St. due to a subject (Donald Sharp, a transient age 33) observed inside of the vehicle having an active felony warrant as well as being on active felony probation for possession of a controlled substance for sales.

Sharp

Once the vehicle stopped, Sharp immediately ran from the vehicle and ignored the officer’s verbal commands to stop. The officer ran after Sharp and was able to catch up with him after a brief foot chase. The officer was able to detain and arrest Sharp after a short struggle. After the officer walked Sharp back to the patrol vehicle, the officer searched Sharp and located just under a pound of suspected methamphetamine and just under an ounce of suspected heroin in his possession. Sharp was lodged at the county jail on charges of controlled substance for sale, transportation, paraphernalia, resisting, and probation revocation. Sharp’s bail was set at $125,000.

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BECERRA’S AWFUL ASSAULT

On Saturday, July 11th, 2020, at about 11:35 pm, Mendocino County Sheriff's Deputies were dispatched to a reported domestic assault in the 100 block of Lover's Lane in Ukiah, CA. Upon arrival, deputies were flagged down by concerned citizens who directed them to the 28 year old adult female victim who reported being physically and sexually assaulted by her live-in boyfriend. Evidence of the physical abuse was readily apparent and consistent with the victim’s initial statement. During the initial contact it was learned a seven year old female child remained in the apartment where the victim and suspect resided.

Deputies were able to make contact with the 7 year old child and escorted her out of the residence. There was evidence observed which was also consistent with the 7 year old child being physically abused. Both the 28 year old female and the 7 year old child were subsequently transported to Ukiah Valley Medical Center for treatment and care.

Becerra

Suspect Antonio Becerra Jr, 32 years old from Ukiah, was located inside the residence and taken into custody without incident. The Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office Investigations Bureau was contacted and responded to continue the investigation. Mendocino County Child Protective Services responded to assist with care and custody of the 7 year old child.

Following multiple interviews and search warrant service, Antonio Becerra Jr was arrested for the following felony charges: Assault with a Deadly Weapon; Inflicting Corporal Injury on a Spouse or Cohabitant; Sexual Penetration with a Foreign Object with Force or Fear; Inflicting Corporal Injury upon a Child; Violation of Probation.

The investigation continued following Becerra’s arrest and based on the information discovered the case was forwarded to the Mendocino County District Attorney’s Office for review and inclusion of additional charges.

Becerra remains in the Mendocino County Jail and is currently being held in lieu of $450,000 bail.

Due to the violent nature of this assault and information leading investigators to believe this was a prolonged assault lasting for several hours, Mendocino County Detectives are asking any residents of apartment complexes located in the the 100 block of Lover’s Lane who may have information contact the Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office Tip-Line at 707-234-2100 or the WeTip Anonymous Crime Reporting Hotline at 800-782-7463.

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COVELO ARSONIST 

On Sunday, July 19, 2020 at about 01:10 PM, the Covelo Volunteer Fire Department along with Cal Fire responded to a vehicle fire near the intersection of Highway 162 and Biggar Lane in Covelo. The reporting party advised the possible subject who started the fire was still in the area.

Sheriff's Office Deputies and Investigators arrived at the location and located Sammy Tanguileg, 45, of Covelo, near the scene. 

Tanguileg

Sheriff's Office Deputies determined Tanguileg was in and around a 2000 Chevrolet sedan, just prior to the vehicle catching fire. The owner of the vehicle, a 44 year old male from Covelo, was notified of the incident.

Arson Investigators from the Ukiah Valley Fire Department and Laytonville Volunteer Fire Department, along with Mendocino County Investigations Bureau detectives were dispatched to the incident. Following their investigation, Tanguileg was arrested for Arson and Committing an Arson during a State of Emergency).

Tanguileg was transported to the Mendocino County Jail where he is to be held in lieu of $100,000 bail.

Anyone with information related to this arson investigation, or who may have images or videos which could assist investigators, are asked to contact Detective Sergio Ochoa at (707) 463-4086. Additionally, information can be relayed through the Mendocino County Sheriff's Office Tipline at (707) 234-2100 or the We-Tip Anonymous Crime Reporting Hotline at (800) 782-7463.

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CATCH OF THE DAY, July 20, 2020

Badger, Bustad, French

RENEE BADGER, Hidden Valley/Willits. Taking vehicle without owner’s consent, stolen vehicle, probation revocation.

DAVID BUSTAD, Ukiah. DUI, no license.

AMBER FRENCH, Ukiah. Robbery. 

Gardner, Shrader, Tanguileg, Thomas

ROBERT GARDNER II, Lakeport/Ukiah. Controlled substance, paraphernalia, evasion.

TERRY SHRADER JR., Fort Bragg. Domestic abuse.

SAMMY TANGUILEG, Covelo. Arson, arson during emergency.

DARELL THOMAS, Fort Bragg. Disorderly conduct-alcohol.

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ON LINE COMMENT OF THE DAY

Something to be said about a pump shotgun.

Several years ago my 100 pound Akita was barking furiously at some tweeker messing around my back yard. (Sidenote I had a couple bikes stolen and some power tools stolen from my shed a few weeks prior to this event.) I told him to split through a window and no response.

Sensing my dog was about to go through the sliding glass window and no amount of attempting to calm her down was working.

I decided to fix the situation before this idiot got bit or my dog was hurt or killed.

I pulled my shotgun out of the gun locker and racked my unloaded shotgun near an open window and what do you know the guy jumped my fence and ran off. Never had another issue with people jumping the fence and rooting around.

There is something about that distinctive sound that everyone just knows is business.

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THAT MAKING AMERICAN GREAT THING

by John Arteaga

You know, there are many things that I would like to bring to the attention of local readers; important issues regarding, say, the design of our shared public spaces like Ukiah’s downtown, but damn if that increasingly bizarre and erratic person who somehow managed to become president doesn't take up all the air in the room! The daily stream of divisive words and tweets issued from the Oval Office demand rational responses in hope of saving any more of the low-critical-thinking-skills people who form his 'base' from being seduced by the Trump cult.

Yeah, it would be nice to write a whole column, as I have done in years past, pointing out the absurdity of the decades long city inaction on what one would think would be job one for a city council person concerned with improving Ukiah; the long time avoidance of dealing with the rotting hulk of the old Palace Hotel. It's especially glaring now with the contrast of the multimillion dollar State Street overhaul that is taking place right outside its tattered plastic window holes. 

Or perhaps I could write a lively column lampooning the ill-conceived plan to move the courthouse way down to the never-to-return railroad station, which will undoubtedly make for even more boarded up windows in our now Covid-battered downtown. 

Unfortunately, the Trump regime, out of some combination of negligence, incompetence and simply not giving a damn about anything but making money for himself and his 10th of 1% supporters, is making it a literal matter of life and death for so many people. Just as the scientific experts had predicted, the premature opening of the economy, so cheered on by the Orange man, is resulting in a surge in cases of the virus and deaths from it.

Despite a surprisingly small dip in his all-important poll numbers, I’m baffled by the fact that he still enjoys a 38% approval rating! How can this be? Do his supporters really not understand that his fiddling-while-Rome-burns response to the virus threat has already cost the lives of twice as many souls as all the young soldiers whose lives were squandered in the decades-long national folly of Vietnam? 

I’ve got to ask those who persist in supporting the man who Noam Chomsky, perhaps the world’s most quoted living intellectual, has described as the greatest criminal in the history of the world, “how’s that ‘make America great again’ thing going?” I mean just look at the once high level of respect that our country enjoyed before this grifter and his lackeys took it over, compared to the sniggering derision with which we are now regarded by the international community. We can't even go to Europe now without quarantining; what a reversal of fortune, that now we are the disease-ridden foreigners who must be kept out!

Look at the graphs of new Covid cases from almost all these other hard-hit countries, whether developed or undeveloped; almost all have driven their numbers down to relative insignificance, while the US's graph line, heads up and up, higher now than ever. The difference is that successful countries have governments that actually concern themselves with the health and safety of their people. This stands in sharp contrast to the big Covid losers of the world like the US and Brazil, who are led by vain bozos who pooh-poohed mask wearing until, in Bolsonaro's case, he actually came down with it.

I suspect that Trump's aversion to masks was based mainly on his concern that using one would upset his absurd comb-over coiffure. We are all paying the price.

Trump’s bromances with so many dictators (Putin, Duterte, Bolsonaro, Xi Jinping) along with his diplomatic hissy fits have alienated our government from all modern advanced democracies and has made the US a laughing stock among them, illustrated by the footage of a group of the leaders of the world’s leading advanced democracies trading stories of and laughing at him during a G7 meeting. 

Having withdrawn our country from virtually all our international agreements, from trade treaties like NAFTA and arms agreements like the one with Iran (because they were tainted by Obama?), we now find ourselves holding an empty bag while China wastes no time filling the void with an international trade agreement that doesn’t include us. Meanwhile, the Doomsday clock’s hands get moved closer to midnight after we throw away our monitoring of Iran’s nuke industries at the same time as we enrage the whole Islamic world by presuming to tell the apartheid state of Israel that, sure!, go ahead and annex all that Palestinian land that the rest of the world recognizes as illegally occupied. 

The idea of appointing his observant Jewish son-in-law, who has been subsidizing illegal ‘settlements’ in the West Bank for years, as the person to pursue peace in the Middle East would be funny if it weren’t so tragic for the people there. 

In the words of the always quotable Matt Taibbi, waiting for Trump to solve any of the enormous problems that our country now faces is like waiting for a gerbil to solve Fermat's Theorem.

As heartbreaking as all the loss of life that has occurred during the pandemic is, if the disastrous performance of Trump and his idea of government has shown itself to be will result in him being a one term president, at least something good will have come out of it.

As Prof. Chomsky says, if he gets another term, we will all be in deep, deep trouble.

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BIG RIVER

(photo by Susie de Castro)

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IT IS DIFFICULT TO SAY whether Halifax agreed with this policy [appeasement regarding Czechoslovakia], still more difficult to discover one of his own. He was fertile in negations. He was contemptuous of French statesmen, particularly of Bonnet; he seems to have been sceptical about Soviet Russia and the United States. He had no sympathy with the Czechs, and much impatience with Benes. Had he any greater faith in appeasement? Probably his visit to Berchtesgaden had given him a permanent distaste for Hitler; but Halifax passed much of his life among people whom he disliked. A Viceroy who could welcome Gandhi to his palace was not likely to be affected by personal feelings. The object of his policy, so far as he had one, was to buy time—though without any clear idea what use to make of it. His immediate object, like Bonnet’s, was to keep his record clean. Unlike Bonnet, he succeeded. Halifax was steadily loyal to Chamberlain; this loyalty took the form of allowing Chamberlain to shoulder all responsibility, which he was eager to do. Yet now and then Halifax gave a tug in the opposite direction; and this tug sometimes had an effect at the decisive moment. Such were the four men who, between them, settled the destinies of Western civilization. 

— A.J.P. Taylor, The Origins of the Second World War

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GOLD RUSH DAGUERROTYPES 

Sacramento Street, San Francisco, California, circa 1854–56

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MICHAEL BENNETT MAKES IT PLAIN

by Dave Zirin

In his first extended interview since our national uprising against racist violence, Bennett touches on the NFL, the importance of history, and what we can all do to reclaim society from the perils of injustice.

Michael Bennett is a multi-time NFL pro-bowler and Super Bowl champion. He also was one of the first players in 2016 to protest racial inequity and police violence during the national anthem, after Colin Kaepernick. Then, in 2018, he cowrote (along with Dave Zirin) the New York Times best-seller Things that Make White People Uncomfortable. Here, he gives his first extended interview since the protests began following the police killing of George Floyd. This has been edited for length and clarity. To listen to the entire interview, check out The Nation’s Edge of Sports podcast here.


DAVE ZIRIN: What was your reaction when you first heard about the murder of George Floyd?

MICHAEL BENNETT: It was overwhelming. What is it that makes people take life so freely? You feel so sad for his family. All he wanted was to talk to his mama. All he wanted was to see his family again, and still somebody wouldn’t allow that. The fact is that life is given to us by God, and to see somebody take it from somebody, it’s just hard to watch, especially since it’s constantly shown on TV. This creates a sense of numbness. It tingles down to your fingers and tingles down into your heart and to your spine. You feel like you can’t feel anything because it’s just so, so deep.

DZ: What about the marches in the street? We now recognize that this has been the biggest social movement in terms of sheer numbers in the history of the United States.

MB: We’ve come so far in this world because of technology, but still, the number-one issue with the world is the discomfort and the pain that we all feel, just as human beings. Technology hasn’t really solved that. Things happen faster, but I think when you see everybody in the streets, it’s because they feel that the “American dream” doesn’t represent or include them. It has never represented them in a way that they would have freedom.

It’s a reminder that we have so much further to go. When you think that we’re flying to space, but there’s still people starving and that we’re building new buildings, but there’s still people with no clothes on. There are still people dying from police violence. There’s still a lack of nutrition. There’s still a lack of education.

All these different things that are happening because of the color of somebody’s skin, makes you understand why people are coming out into the streets. It’s because people are coming back to their senses of being connected to humanity again. Have we put income over humanity? Have we put “things” over justice? We think about capitalism. We think about colonialism. We think about materialism. These are all the three things that we’ve been stuck on for a long period of time. I think we’re realizing that we’re really lost. We’ve been out of touch with the importance of the human being, and the importance of bringing people together, the importance of being united. I think that the racial injustice happening in this country is bringing people together in a way we haven’t seen in a long time.

DZ: Has it surprised you to see the number of athletes who’ve involved themselves in the struggle directly, even marching in the streets?

MB: I think it’s a little surprising, and it’s not surprising at the same time. There’ve been athletes speaking out in the recent past, but the number of athletes involved today is a little surprising. We’ve all been so attached to capitalism, and if anyone has suffered from that, it’s athletes because everything we do is from a capitalist mindset, from how we are first treated in the NCAA. We get in there at college and you’re already in the business. If you look at Texas football and the way that people treat high school players. There’s this idea that their body is a part of this capitalism. They’re almost subhuman. It breaks us and slowly take us away from our dignity and our connection to our humanity and our people. Athletes now are breaking away from that.

DZ: You were talking about these issues back in 2016. You were sitting during the anthem then to raise awareness. Do you feel vindicated by everything you are seeing?

MB: Nah, I don’t feel vindicated. I’ve been talking about this since I was a kid. The people before me have talked about it. It’s the history of Emmett Till. It’s the history of lynchings and sundown towns. It’s the amount of racial inequality and the racial disparities in America. The perpetual cycle of being over-policed. The perpetual cycle of race. The perpetual cycle of being held down because of skin color.

Because these issues keep happening, we have this obligation to our history and our humanity to act. We also must act because of our connection to what’s happening in Palestine, the connection to Indigenous people all around the world. It’s the connection to humanity and the intersectionality that leaves me vindicated, because when you stand on the right side of truth, then you don’t have to worry about darkness, because the light is on those issues. One who stands underneath the light is vindicated, anyway it goes.

DZ: How do you feel the NFL has handled this moment?

MB: I think it’s hard to say that you believe in these issues when you still have owners supporting Donald Trump. But I think the NFL is trying to find a common ground where they can find a balance of being a company and also being socially active. The question is whether this is about propaganda or is it about changing the lives of other human beings. I think the jury’s still out on that. We think that we can throw money at it, but this is an issue where, if you throw money at it and we don’t really put our hands in the ground, then it’s going to look like they didn’t have the real intention of changing society.

I think if you look at Roger Goodell, he has kind of missed the point and missed the opportunity. All his actions seem null and void when you look at the Colin Kaepernick situation. We’re thinking, OK if this commitment to justice is true, then why doesn’t Colin Kaepernick have a job? That’s an important part of the equation, but also it’s an important part to help change the policy and push the culture forward.

DZ: One of the fruits of all this protest has been the announcement that the Washington football team will change its name. What’s your reaction to that news that this really might happen?

MB: I’ve been saying this for a long time. This name change is an acknowledgement that there’s a privileged group of people in society who’ve been able to use racial slurs for profitability. I think you look at the Native American people, they’ve been overlooked when we talk about revealing the underprivileged of America. The consciousness of their rights hasn’t been paid attention to. As an intersectional resistance of people of color around the world, it’s important that we recognize the disenchantment there is with that logo and the importance of us coming together and really changing it. I think the NFL is starting to see that the world is not going to accept blatant racism in the way that it used to.

DZ: NFL fans are overwhelmingly white. They’re not exactly great when it comes to change. What message do you have for the NFL fan base out there?

MB: It’s not just our fans. I think it’s important that all people around the world attempt to understand the suffering of the many and try and really grasp the unimaginable tensions that are going to happen if we don’t make change. If we intend to hide, then eventually that mask that we keep carrying around won’t be enough and this social conflict that keeps coming around is going to get bigger and bigger and bigger. It’s going to create something that we all don’t want to have. It’s important that if we don’t understand the suffering and injustice of the many, then we won’t have the armor of our morality. We won’t have the armor of the connection of humanity. Society will fall apart because we’ll be so disconnected and will be so unjust and, at the end of the day, there won’t be any more peace. There won’t be any more rationality because, at the end of the day, everybody’s going to continue to fight.

I think there’s a point where we all have to stop being dishonest and come together and realize that if you break down our human DNA, our human philosophies, every human wants the same things. But at some point, we tried to create deception to act like we don’t want that and create a caste system to keep us from achieving the goals that we see as fair. The earth doesn’t need us. The earth continues to grow. The trees continue to grow. If we kill ourselves off, then that’s going to be our own issue.

DZ: That’s real talk right there. Last question for you. Just given everything that’s happened over the last several months, how do you think people should assess you, Colin Kaepernick, and all the work you’ve done over the last few years?

MB: People shouldn’t assess us. People should look at us as part of the whole. We’re just all part of the society that I was talking about. I think there’re so many truth-tellers that have been on this planet before us and put all that work into telling the stories of our history. To realize that we are part of a movement, is to realize that we’re part of history. That’s just the normal thing that everybody should be doing on the planet, being part of change. I think that’s why we’re seeing so many people in the streets, because everybody is being a part of the change. We’re no different. We’re not special in any kind of way. We don’t have any superpowers. All we have is a voice. All we have is a connection to human dignity and the survival of people who look like us and the survival of people who don’t have a voice.

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ON LINE COMMENTS OF THE WEEK

(1) I note that the comments here regardless of position taken, are generally from intelligent people. However, that isn’t the case with the vast, vast majority of the public including the voter category. Most cannot name their two state senators. Most cannot locate a given country on a map. Most are clueless of who Churchill was and why he might be important. Most have zero idea of what communism is and its sordid history of massive deaths. Throw in what the Federal Reserve does or what inflation really is and there is no avoiding disasters upon disasters. Typically it takes some 1500 hours of training to cut and style hair (so I’ve read somewhere) but it takes zero training to become a parent. It takes zero intelligence to vote. Am I a snob? Do I give a damn? We are on a downhill run with a national collapse going on. There is no solution. The deal is done. The question is how bad the pain will get? I’m thinking really, really, really bad.

 (2) Micro-Brew is up by 200%, and blackmarket too, but government Nanny State weed is obviously taking some sort of hit due to infrastructure changes needed to certify Safety for government workers making marijuana for profit. Non-profit growers are obviously not going to be taking a hit as they have steady clientele booked months ahead and on waiting lists. All in all I would say that COVID-19 has boosted industry sales and expectation of increased sales across the world one hundred fold, at least. Recreational drugs like marijuana are big time industries when lockdowns are instituted. Zero Hedge was uploading articles at the height that supported the recreation drug increase for industry. Slowdowns are temporary as sellers have to adjust sales to suit the climate, and environment. The modern law of armed conflict (LOAC)1 supports the following maxim: if enemy combatants can be put out of action by capturing them, they should not be injured; if they can be put out of action by injury, they should not be killed; and if they can be put out of action by light injury, grave injury should be avoided.

(3) Blaming the calamity that has been on the make for a few generations now on the orange man seems silly to me. The problems in this land are far larger than a single unlikely chief executive and his greatest faults are shown in his inability to change course, not his inability to maintain it. His few good ideas were the ones which were a large departure from business as usual in the post-WW2 era and they were the ones most kneecapped by the power centers and administrators. We are staring down the barrel of strife and hardship here at home, perhaps made into ethnic strife thanks to the rise of Wokeness and the victory the critical theory that forms the core of it in the universities and, now, the other power centers. His incompetence is a real fact but I believe it hardly matters relative the full picture. The most competent man alive wouldn’t have been able to keep the Titanic from sinking after it had already hit the iceberg. The tragicomedy is larger than suburbia, after all.

(4) I think Trump is a victim of his own success and counted heavily on the polls that kept saying he was going to lose. Melania always looked like she’d had it with him and who could blame her? She signed up to be the trophy wife and is now stuck with being First Lady and shielding her son from publicity. I don’t think we can escape and I don’t think it’s Trump’s fault this happened on his watch. He was good at what he did prior to the Presidency — sleazy real-estate deals, reality TV star whose only line was You’re Fired!, selling crap, cheating on his wife, going bankrupt, and having his face in front of a camera with ridiculous theories. This is a man who never held public office of any sort prior to 2017 and is being blamed for policies that were either put in motion or already in place before he came to office. And the more the media screams, the easier it is for the culprits who created this chaos to stroll away without blame.

(5) The pathologies are there for all to see, including a manhood that isn’t worthy of the name as witnessed by a seemingly endless parade of women claiming sexual abuse by powerful and not so powerful men, which inevitably leads to a question: where were the men in these women’s lives, you know, the fathers, brothers, boyfriends, husbands, that should have delivered knuckles and boots to the chins and nuts of those doing the abusing? It is an unbelievable dereliction, maybe historic, because when in history have we seen its like? Since when have sports coaches and movie-makers held such life and death power that they couldn’t be brought to heel by well-placed punches and kicks from outraged male relatives of these women? And what police force and judiciary worth their salt would dare prosecute such guys as protect their women-folk? A flapping-fish economy, a judicial branch that likewise isn’t worthy of the name as evidenced by a deluge of investigative malpractice, prosecutorial misconduct and a politically partisan judiciary that doesn’t even pretend to be objective. Is justice blind? Maybe, but not in a good way. 

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BY POPULAR REQUEST, here are the pictures of the Petit Teton’s blackberry maze near Yorkville! In the background you can see the monster fig tree with the hair net over it. Fig jam is next.

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IS THINKING CANCELLED?

by James Kunstler

Everything’s in play now. Consensual reality is on the run — the old certainties of US history and the receding promises of the future sink into a fiery sludge of the corona virus present. Things happen without apparent consequence. Authority is on lam. Coercion stalks the land rooting out thought-crime. Fantasies and delusions rush into the space that reason has vacated in fear of its life. Maybe better not think it all. But you can’t help it, can you? To be human is to be dogged by your own thought.

One thought I can’t help thinking is that the failure to resolve the dishonest operations of RussiaGate is a big part of what drove authority and responsibility, those two sentinels of sanity, AWOL. The crimes of officers in the FBI, DOJ, CIA, and other agencies go unadjudicated while clear evidence of their seditious misdeeds has been publicly documented and widely published. It seems as if this great matter of attempting to overthrow the president has come down to the sheer will of William Barr and John Durham daring to ignite the engines of consequence, and you wonder if they have any idea how their stalling damages the national psyche.

General Flynn, the American Dreyfus, remains twisting slowly in the wind despite the DOJ dropping charges against him. Judge Emmet Sullivan is busy destroying the credibility and authority of the federal bench with bad faith procedural shenanigans underwritten by Ben Wittes’s Lawfare claque of Beltway shysters maneuvering in the background to protect Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. Is it not past time for the DC Circuit Court of Appeals to force Judge Sullivan to end the case, or admonish and remove him?

Beyond all the legalese bullshit, an innocent man’s life is stuck unfairly and unjustly in limbo after three years of a malicious prosecution. Why has the attorney general not preferred charges against Gen. Flynn’s chief prosecutor, Brandon Van Crack — or, for that matter, against Robert Mueller, Andrew Weissmann and the whole Special Counsel staff — for withholding evidence and plenty of other obvious prosecutorial mischief? Mr. Barr has stated plainly more than once that the agency he took charge over in 2019 “us[ed] the criminal justice process as a political weapon.” Is that against the law or not? Does it injure this society to leave that question unanswered, month after month?

In a better society, the newspapers would have rushed to Gen. Flynn’s defense. Except our leading newspapers are so vested in years of their own untruth that they don’t dare to cover the story. Where is the consequence for Dean Baquet, editor of The New York Times, since Times staffer Bari Weiss disclosed his failure to control the ideological bullying, coercion, and hostility to fair play in his newsroom? Mr. Baquet has not just wrecked an institution; he’s made the whole business of covering reality look like a hustle. Does The New York Times’s board of directors not care about its reputation? Maybe the message is: why should anyone care about his or her reputation? And what kind of culture grows out of that code?

The mayors of New York, Chicago, Seattle, Los Angeles, New York, Minneapolis, Portland, Atlanta, and Washington DC have all allowed rioting, looting, property destruction, and arson to reign in their streets, and entertained measures to defund and hogtie the police, or abolish them altogether. These are all Democratic Party-controlled cities with Democratic mayors.

Do you suppose that voters have had a good look at these scenes and concluded that the Democratic Party is perhaps uninterested in civil order? And for what purpose, exactly? Does it reflect badly on President Trump that the murder rate under Bill de Blasio and Lori Lightfoot is suddenly off-the-charts while they are busy undermining police authority and its ability to protect the public. What do you make of St. Louis Chief Prosecutor (effectively DA) Kim Gardner moving to prosecute Mark and Patricia McCloskey for defending their house against a mob that threatened to burn it down? Missouri governor Mike Parson declared over the weekend that he’ll pardon the couple in short order if they are charged — at last, an unequivocal and decisive action on behalf of sanity.

There will be a whole lot more in the way of real-life problems to make the American people crazy in the months ahead. We have not even cleared up the affronts to decency and reason that happened before the corona virus landed and began destroying millions of lives and livelihoods. The siren call from anarchy is already blaring. Is there anything about this republic that you think is worth defending? Is thinking cancelled?

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

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FOUND OBJECT

26 Comments

  1. chuck dunbar July 21, 2020

    FOUND OBJECT:

    “Trump’s Peace Officers”
    “Aiming for Civility”

    • Joe July 21, 2020

  2. Judy July 21, 2020

    So, all this anger and accusations come from Mr. Peters stating:

    “You do not have 30-45 mins. to spare until August? Okay, but I am busy too. Just returned to work this week. Maybe we just forget about it. I had wanted to do this while the news was current and fresh. I am sorry we couldn’t find the time to fit it in our schedules.”

    Demands an apology?
    Interferes with Tabatha Millers applying for a job?
    Dick measuring contest?

    • John Robert July 21, 2020

      Right?!

      Talk about stirring up a hornets nest. This Sierra Wooten is a scary lunatic.

      Would bet Mr. Peters is glad he dodged that bullet. Poor guy was actually trying to do some good for the greater community.

  3. Lazarus July 21, 2020

    FOUND OBJECT

    Portland used to be known as “The City of Roses”.
    Now it appears to be a City of Plywood and Protesters…

    Be safe,
    Laz

  4. mr. wendal July 21, 2020

    re: SARAH WOOTEN

    Wow, what an ego; hers rivals Donald Trump’s. Did the other members of her group and those who donated to her GoFundMe campaign know this side of her before appointing her as spokesperson and promising her money?

    I hope the City Council can see that this is all just because Lindy Peters decided to sideline the interview. Who knows – he might interview someone else instead.

    Tabatha Miller is an excellent City Manager. June Lemos is an excellent City Clerk. We are fortunate to have them both. They are human, just like everyone else. They do not deserve the bizarre screed aimed in their direction. The issue in this instant is not racism, it is the Ego Fragility of Ms. Wooten.

    • mr. wendal July 21, 2020

      last sentence: “instance” not “instant”

  5. Eric Sunswheat July 21, 2020

    Bears Entering Connecticut Homes

    Jul 18, 2020 9:02 am ET
    ACROSS CONNECTICUT — The Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection this week reported an “unprecedented” number of black bears entering homes so far in 2020.

    It’s a trend following year-to-year rises in such incidents, resulting in an “unprecedented number of complaints and requests for assistance,” DEEP officicials said.

    Some of the interactions have been serious, including bears entering homes and “gravely” injuring both leashed and unleashed dogs, according to DEEP officials…

    DEEP officials said black bears that “access and consume human-associated food” like birdseed, trash and pet food on a regular basis become “habituated” or comfortable around people. That leads to becoming food-conditioned toward humans, DEEP officials said.

    That leads to “conflicts with humans” increasing and more property damage to houses and cars and injuries to pets and livestock, they added.
    https://patch.com/connecticut/across-ct/record-number-bears-entering-connecticut-homes-deep-says

  6. Cotdbigun July 21, 2020

    Dear Super-duper Important Sierra Dear,
    It’s incredibly ? Important to learn that the world does NOT turn around you ! Having to endure the terrible ? two’s at your age should be embarrassing, if you could just look past your Important self to see how silly you ? look ! You have ample time to waste throwing a temper tantrum but you can’t spare a few minutes promoting your cause without playing power games. Given a choice , most people would prefer to avoid the unpleasantness of having to deal with your self-centered BS.

    PS My incredible and unbelievable awesome acomplishments, businesses, ethnicity and sexual orientation have been omitted on purpose.

  7. James Marmon July 21, 2020

    RE: SIERRA WOOTEN V. THE LEFT COAST

    Racist pigs!

    James

  8. chuck dunbar July 21, 2020

    WHAT’S REAL IN PORTLAND

    To The Editor:

    “I live in Portland, Ore. I am 68 years old, a retired psychologist, a mildly left-of-center boomer. I want to report that Portland is not at all convulsed by a ‘violent mob’ of anarchists, as the acting homeland security secretary, Chad F. Wolf, claims, or anything close.

    A small number of protestors, generally far fewer than 100, gather each evening to protest peacefully. A few wrongheaded individuals paint graffiti or throw rocks, and that is certainly not OK. But two blocks away, in any direction, things are completely normal. In fact, I had not watched the news for a few days, and I thought the protests had stopped.

    There is absolutely no justification for the intrusion of federal troops to engage in tactics like kidnapping people off the streets in unmarked cars, as was done under the Pinochet dictatorship in Chile. This is clearly a case of President Trump wanting to create drama for his right-wing base, ginning up a state of anarchy that does not exist, so he can look tough to his base, and so he can try to scare people into thinking there is some kind of threat to America posed by people who disagree with him and his party.”

    Mark Tilson
    Portland, Oregon
    (New York Times 7/21/20)

  9. John Sakowicz July 21, 2020

    July 20

    Dear AVA:

    Thank you for publishing the old photos of Vichy Springs Resort. I was there last night with my wife. The property is pristine! It’s gorgeous, like a well-maintained park.

    In my opinion, Gilbert Ashoff, the long-time owner of Vichy Springs Resort, is the most responsible steward of a legacy property in Mendocino County. Mr. Ashoff saved Vichy Springs from Dan Hamburg. He saved Vichy Springs from Charles Mannon. He saved Vichy Springs from any number of slick operators who schemed to take over the resort, demolish it, and develop the property and make a quick buck.

    Mr. Ashoff continues to fight the Ukiah Gun Club on quality of life and environmental issues. The City of Ukiah’s old garage dump, closed in the early-1990s and never sealed, also remains a quality of life and environmental hazard for Mr. Ashoff.

    The Mendocino County Grand Jury found for Mr. Ashoff and Vichy Springs in all their findings. Let’s hope the courts do the same.

    — John Sakowicz, Ukiah

    • Joe July 21, 2020

      By all means Mr Ashoff should sue anyone trying to enjoy their form of recreation so that Mr. Ashoff can enjoy his quality of life. After all Mr. Ashoff never made even one dollar on Vichy Springs. The Ukiah gun club has been their long before Mr Ashoff ever even gave a thought to buying Vichy springs. That club is one of the few places people in California people can go enjoy gun sports safely. It is also one of the only places law enforcement can practice. Take it away and we will have plenty of people who will not know how to safely handle their firearms and law enforcement that is lacking in critical skills. There will also be more people practicing in unsafe places, maybe near you.

      • Stephen Rosenthal July 21, 2020

        Joe, for once I agree with you. The UGC is a great facility and would be sorely missed by many people, more, I dare say, than Vichy Springs Spa. I took my concealed carry class there with the legendary Ray Higbee. No reason both facilities can’t peacefully coexist.

        • Joe July 21, 2020

          Ray teaching his last classes at age 90 but will retire shortly. God bless him.

  10. Stephen Rosenthal July 21, 2020

    RE Sierra Wooten:
    Glad others have taken the time to expose her. Now I’d like to do the same.

    Let’s see, it took her five days to respond to Lindy Peters’s 7/10 email – “apologies for the delay”. LP responds promptly but his response doesn’t jive with her agenda (not the time definition of the word). Then on 7/20 she emails a lengthy harangue to Tabatha Miller complaining about LP. Among her claims is that she is “busy” and thus unable to commit 30-45 minutes for an interview, questions for which she wanted to review in advance. But between 7/16 – 7/20, she had time to compose a long rambling email filled with accusations and innuendo citing things from 2018, 2017, and an article from the AVA archives in 1999! Certainly that took more than 45 minutes, unless she had her “Assistant Samara” do the grunt work.
    But wait, that’s not enough for oh so busy Sierra. She emails the City of Helena, disparaging Tabatha Miller. Then she again emails Ms. Miller.

    If I was Ms. Miller, I’d sue her for slander. If I lived in Ft. Bragg, I’d boycott her business. I’m not and I don’t, but I offer my advice free to those who choose to use it.

    • Maxine July 21, 2020

      Yes, to all of the above. However, you know what I find truly troubling, she searches people on the internet and when she doesn’t find what she looking for she comes to the conclusion: “When there is trouble finding information about a person and the types of people she associates with, it’s because the information is troubling.” What? Not all people participate in social media. I’m sure a simple google search will tell you she’s the City Manager of Fort Bragg that’s all anybody needs to know.

      • Elizabeth July 23, 2020

        I was really troubled by that, too. Sierra made some Ok points, and the whole thing could’ve been handled better by both she and Peters, but jumping to some conclusion about someone because they don’t want to participate in social media is really manipulative and deranged. I left Facebook years ago because I think it’s helping to ruin our society. I understand that a lot of people in FB use it for community things (honestly, from what it sounds like, people just get mad at each other and fight a lot), but there should by no means be some social requirement to participate in something you don’t want to just to prove you are deserving of respect. That was really outside the bounds. And to interfere with someone’s job search?! My god. I’ve lived in several communities including small towns and have never encountered anything on par with that kind of behavior from private citizens towards a city manager.

        • Stephen Rosenthal July 23, 2020

          First let me state that I am not criticizing you. Just to be sure I took the time to reread Ms. Wooten’s screeds and I must say that I can find nothing that I would consider “some good points.” So I’m curious what she wrote that you would consider to be “good points.” Btw, I’m not on social media either, but in another AVA article I see where Ms. Miller has been subjected to vicious personal attacks on Facebook, among them by the aforementioned Ms. Wooten.

          Respectfully,
          Stephen

          • Elizabeth July 23, 2020

            Hi Stephen— No, you didn’t criticize me and I don’t feel criticized. I said “some Ok points” and not “some good points.” Since I thought they were just “Ok,” I’m not sure it’s a good use of time to parse them online. I don’t think the whole thing was a screed. You can disagree. That’s totally fine. Disagreement is healthy.

            “Some Ok points” was just one phrase in a larger response about what I felt were harmful actions Ms. Wooten took by digitally stalking the city manager and going one step further to interfere with her career and job prospects. I’m sorry to hear Fort Bragg’s city manager is subject to what can be abusive treatment when internet mobs get going. It’s an aspect of Fort Bragg I’m struggling to understand. As I stated, I’ve lived in small towns and grew up in a small city in a remote location, and just have never seen anything like the climate around local politics here.

  11. Susie de Castro July 21, 2020

    Hispanics

    Cuba
    TOTALS IN CUBA
    Confirmed
    2,445
    Recovered
    2,304
    Deaths
    87

  12. Bruce McEwen July 21, 2020

    FOUND OBJECT

    Saturday Market under the Burnside Bridge.

  13. Mike Turner July 21, 2020

    Counted 14 rhetorical questions in Kunstler’s flail of the day. Somebody send this poor guy a copy of Strunk and White.

    • Louis Bedrock July 22, 2020

      Mr. Turner,

      It would be helpful if you cited some of the claims and statements of Mr. Kunstler with which you disagree.

      I agree with some of his statements and disagree strongly on others. I’d be interested in learning the specifics of your challenges to Mr. Kunstler and seeing any links or documentation that support your argument.

      Respectfully,

      Louis Bedrock

  14. Tim McClure July 21, 2020

    Very illuminating interview with Mike Bennett. The connection between athletes and the capitalist exploitation of all things “human” is spot on. I appreciate people with a platform shining a light on a system that really benefits no one. The door has been opened, the light is on and a major change in how we see the world, and our fellow citizens is coming on. People unite, time is short.

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